Top Link Building Companies & Services: How to Make the Right Choice?
Search engines are focused on external links to determine the authority of the resource and material. That's why link building is traditionally used for SEO promotion. However, every year, the search algorithms are becoming more complex, and the systems get smarter. If previously, it was the number of backlinks that mattered, today, it's about their quality in the first place.
What Is Link Building
Google and other search engines rank sites based on many factors, with the following ones in particular:
History Note
A few years ago, link-building companies were actively buying backlinks on exchanges, inserting them in catalogs, i.e. build-up the quantity, not really caring about the quality. However, with Google's revolutionary changes, many companies discovered that such backlink solutions often lower their website positions, and sometimes even trigger search filters.
Some agencies chose to focus on website optimization, leaving link building behind. However, the practice has shown that the latter is still relevant - only the link-building principle has changed.
Why Link Building Agencies Are in Demand Today
The most authoritative websites today have a large number of external links. A significant part of such backlinks is available due to the hard work of link-building experts and their efficient strategies. You can search for in-house staff to work in this direction, but this process is extremely time-consuming.
The main link building expert competencies are as follows:
Even companies that specialize in website promotion, most often cooperate with a specialized backlink building agency.
Link Building Techniques
Before you start developing your website promotion strategy, you want to answer the following questions:
- Content quality;
- Content relevance. Regularly updated websites are more preferable to search engines;
- External citation (link building). A citation is any online mention of the name, address, and phone number of a business. If the page refers to sites with high reputations, it receives more weight.
- Constantly increase the linking mass;
- Monitor the quality of existing backlinks;
- Negotiate with owners of the corresponding websites;
- Create quality content, e.g. articles, reviews, etc.
- What type of backlinks do you need (nofollow, dofollow, sponsored, etc.)?
- What backlink providers will be appropriate?
- What methods can be used to get the right backlinks on the chosen websites?
Depending on your business needs, different link-building methods are used. They are usually divided into “white-hat,” “gray-hat,” and “black-hat” techniques. The top link building companies use only white-hat techniques, i.e. legal methods, which are worth discussing in detail.
Crowd Marketing
Backlinks are inserted on Q&A sites, forums, and blogs. In most cases, link-building agencies create special profiles on such resources, including backlinks in the posts. These can be recommendations, answers to questions about products, etc.
Advantages of the crowd marketing method:
- Helps dilute the website's backlink profile;
- Improves behavioral factors;
- Attracts additional traffic;
- Increases brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Crowd links in link building can be created by company specialists or use quality backlinks service. However, if you want to use crowdsourcing not only for external link building but also as an advertising tool, it's better to have such profiles handled by experienced professionals.
Submits
The essence of the method is to register the profile on social networks, video hosting services, review sites, directories, and other resources. In this case, quality backlinks help improve the credibility of the brand.
Examples of using submits in link building:
- Company profile in Facebook with a backlink on the page;
YouTube channel;
Being available on Google Maps, etc.
Sometimes link building companies create almost empty profiles, so they get one-time links. However, more often, they are used in integrated marketing:
- In social networks, the profile is developed by SMM specialists, increasing brand awareness;
- YouTube channel attracts an audience with the help of interesting and useful videos;
- Profiles on review sites help answer customers' questions and respond to possible negativity, thereby increasing customer loyalty;
- Link-building podcasts are becoming more and more popular among users.
Outreach
Outreach allows you to get more links through direct agreements with website owners. The method is considered one of the most expensive, even if link placement itself is free.
Link building company expenses include:
- Email marketing (sending link placement requests to potential partners);
- Negotiations conducted by a manager in case of manual placement;
- Creation of content for placement: quality articles, infographics, etc.
When using this link-building method, particular attention should be paid to content. It should be unique and attract the attention of visitors as long as possible. This will increase the value of the backlink and attract visitors to your website.
Multi-level Links from Leading Backlink Experts
When developing a comprehensive strategy, top agencies often turn to multi-level link-building.
Each link on the Internet has its own weight from the perspective of search engines. The weight depends on the reputation of the site and the popularity of the web page. To understand the nature of this method of link building, it's important to remember that if the site is becoming more popular (or the web page gets more "heavy"), the value of the inserted backlink also increases.
How link building companies use this method
The goal is to "fuel" the weight of the main link with auxiliary links:
- The first-tier link to the promoted website is inserted into a website with a high reputation. This can be an outreach backlink, guest post, a press release, or any other sub material;
- A few second-tier links are then posted on the page that point to a piece of content containing the first-tier link;
- Link building agency experts then add third-tier backlinks and so on. The number of tiers may vary depending on the need.
As a result, you help promote the resource page with a high reputation, which contains your link. The weight of the link itself also increases significantly. Thus, the link-building potential is fully revealed.
The advantages of the method:
- Safety. Even if the experience of link-building company experts (or your full-time employee) is rather small, there's no risk of backlink explosion. That is, your site will not fall under search engine filter because of the sharp increase in linking mass, as links lead to different pages and resources;
- Flexibility. Suitable for any site, including new ones. The farther away the link is from the first tier, the lower the quality requirements for content. You can save on the third-fourth and subsequent tiers by rewriting content or by using materials from non-professional authors;
- Efficiency. The method works even in the most complex cases.
Grey-Hat and Black-Hate Link Building Methods
Solid link-building outreach agencies do not use "grey-hat" and "black-hat" link-building methods because all of them have a high risk of getting banned from search engines.
"Gray-hat" methods imply certain manipulations with search engines, they do not show the real picture of the attitude of visitors to the website and the usefulness of posted materials. Most often, they are used in niches where high-quality "white-hat" link building is impossible in the first place. These can be online casinos, adult sites, and so on.
"Black-hat" methods are occasionally used to harm competitors. So link building companies should closely monitor the quality of linking mass on the website.
Below are a few examples of the most common "black-hat" methods.
Spam
Spam tactics often imply inserting a text link to a website, which has nothing to do with the subject matter of the web page to which it leads. Search engines consider such link-building tactics spam. Thus, once the resource is identified, they downgrade its ranking.
In addition, spam refers to web pages that have many links to different sites.
Private Blog Network (PBN)
This is a technically complex and time-consuming "grey-hat" method, which is still sometimes used by link-building companies. The essence here lies in creating a network of authoritative websites, which are then used to build backlinks for a single website. Some young link builders will consider this method worthy of attention to save money in the link building process.
Alas, search engines are quite successful in finding and exposing such networks. Usually, it's just a matter of time. Once the private blog network is identified, the promotion process will have to start all over at best.
301 Redirect
The 301-redirect link-building technique is when link-building companies buy a new domain (a similar-looking domain as the main website), start building lots of backlinks to that new domain from various sources, and redirect all those backlinks to the main website. All the negative "trace" of the link is assumed to remain on the new domain, and the site passes only its weight.
In fact, almost any search engine will quickly recognize a 301 redirect. There are, of course, various improvement methods, but Google analysts say they are all ineffective. Moreover, using such a link-building technique will most definitely lead to Google imposing sanctions on the website.
Website Hacking
There are plenty of website hacking methods out there. All of them, of course, are illegal - hacking a website is considered a cybercrime in any country. This technique doesn't make much sense because such "hacked links" will be soon identified by Google. The website will then be cleaned and protected.
Paid Links
Earlier there were a lot of websites offering web link-building services, which were basically exchanges for buying and selling links. Some of them still exist, although the method of working with temporary purchased links is considered "grey-hat" and ineffective.
Sometimes, link building companies, especially from Eastern Europe or Asia, still offer a rapid increase in link building by means of cheap paid links. However, search engines believe that getting external links is a process that should be gradual and natural. Any kind of cheating or manipulations will be classified as fraud, and websites with detected paid links fall under sanctions, are filtered, and eventually banned.
In addition, websites created to sell links have a low reputation. Link building in this case is almost useless, even if search bots don't detect any violations.
Once again, remember that grey-hat and black-hat methods of link building are risky to use, and their effect is extremely doubtful.
Things to Consider Before Ordering Link Building Services
It's important to understand that even the top link-building companies are engaged in working with external links. However, this is not enough for successful SEO promotion.
First, you need to make sure that your website is ready for promotion, otherwise, no link building service will help:
- Conduct an internal technical optimization;
- Fill your web pages with useful and optimized content;
- Test site usability: your project should be user-friendly and intuitive, as well as attractive for potential customers and site visitors;
- Consider mobile optimization, which is extremely important today.
Only after the resource is fully ready for promotion, it's time to engage in link building.
Web Link Building Services: Building an Efficient Strategy
Cooperation with any link-building company starts with link building strategy. For this purpose, specialists perform preliminary preparation:
- Study all your website's peculiarities, considering your set business goals;
- Analyze your competitors and their promotion methods;
- Choose priority donors;
- Create a detailed implementation plan.
At the same time, the best link-building agencies will never tell you the total cost of the project at once. At the stage of preliminary negotiations, you will only get approximate figures. In addition, strategy development and analysis are often paid separately. Once you agree on the plan, you will understand the necessary link-building budget required to achieve your business goal.
How Link Building Agencies Work
The first stage of cooperation is analyzing the market situation and the development of a link-building strategy for the website as part of an overall brand promotion strategy. This strategy is coordinated with the existing marketing strategy. It's also planned to cooperate with marketers, SMM specialists, salespeople.
As a result, link building strategy should be aimed at solving the main problems - improving the website's position in SERP for chosen queries, as well as driving traffic to the website. At the same time, link promotion will assist with increasing brand awareness.
Further, link-building companies work within the established plan. Agency experts make ongoing adjustments, if necessary. And you, as a business owner (or your responsible employee), will also receive monthly (or weekly) reports on the results.
Work on link building services is designed for a long period, from several months to several years. The largest companies control and grow a high-quality linking mass on a regular basis.
How to Choose the Best Link Building Company
When choosing your link-building business partner, you should be guided by the reputation and experience of experts in the company. The ratings, cases, as well as reviews of the link-building agency, will help you with this.
In some cases, to save money, people also turn to freelance link builders. However, it's important to understand that one person will not be able to cooperate with you constantly on a long-term basis. Such specialists can be involved in routine tasks. However, if you want a comprehensive service, choose among experienced link-building agencies only.
Mutual Understanding and Responsiveness
When interacting with any contractor, it's critical that firm representatives understand your goals and share your values/priorities. Communicate, ask questions, and carefully evaluate the answers.
If a manager or other representative of the link building company avoids giving direct answers or otherwise is extremely reluctant to get in touch, cooperating with this firm is rather questionable. Perhaps the company is already too busy or not interested in new clients at all at the moment.
Link Building Outreach Agency: Questions to You
Pay attention to questions from company representatives. If the company considers "white-hat" link building, they will definitely look into the following aspects:
- Your business features;
- Your main competitors;
- Implemented marketing tools.
Otherwise, most likely, they will offer paid links or some other "grey-hat" link-building methods, which are unlikely to bring good results.
Pricing Policy
Top backlinking services cost more than the average price on the market. Not every company can afford such a budget. However, if you are offered a bargain price, which is very favorable, you should also be cautious.
Choose from link-building companies with great experience - this will significantly increase your chances to achieve great results. Too cheap link building most often proves to be ineffective. In the end, you will just waste your money or even lose your position in search engines due to crucial mistakes in the link-building process.
Link Building Services: Roadmap
You should always understand when to wait for new content, when new posts are scheduled, and where (i.e. on what resources). Such information is usually included in the implementation plan. However, often link-building companies make adjustments, as they get results. Make sure that in addition to progress reports, the company will provide you with ongoing work plans for the month.
Often, in such interactions, links are posted along with press releases, news, and other company posts. As a result, integrated marketing works both as part of the link-building process, as well as for advertising and brand promotion purposes.
Promises and Visible Results
When it comes to website promotion, predicting final results is always a challenge. That's why top link-building services will never give you too bold promises. A reliable agency will typically predict the dynamics, traffic growth, increased positions, etc. However, there will never be a 100% guarantee in terms of the highest positions in Google SERP on the selected query by a certain date.
Most often, link-building companies that make big promises are inexperienced in the industry or, otherwise, use grey-hat or black-hat link-building techniques. We have already mentioned the disadvantages of these techniques, even considering the fact that this type of link building can provide fast results, which will result in site downgrading or even exclusion from SERPs. Google is always ruthless when it comes to shady link-building methods.
Best Link Building Services: Pricing
Link building services are evaluated individually for each project and largely depend on a list of the following factors:
- Set goals;
- Competition in the niche;
- Methods of promotion;
- Additional services;
- Company's reputation and experience;
- Region of the selected link-building companies, etc.
For example, top link building services often offer comprehensive cooperation, when they handle negotiations with website owners, emails, unique content creation, and much more.
As in other areas, the services of U.S. or Canadian link-building companies from the U.S. will cost more compared to agencies from Eastern Europe or India. Also, the experience and reputation of the link-building agency affect the price.
Changing a Link Building Company
Even if you choose the best agency offering top link building services, after a while, there's a chance that you will still become dissatisfied with the cooperation. Most often, the reason is that the company has simply run out of ideas. Otherwise, the interest of specialists in your project has decreased and it all turned into routine work.
Ideally, after achieving the set goals, cooperation still continues in terms of monitoring and support. However, if representatives of the link building company are slow and unwilling in responding, report only in case of any positive changes. If there are other reasons to be dissatisfied, you can always change your partner. Perhaps this will be the best solution.
Above, we have tried to explain the maximum possible aspects of cooperation with link-building companies. Choose wisely and avoid grey-hat and black-hat methods of promotion. Don't be afraid of changes and constantly improve your website.
FAQ
Which is the best type of link building?
There is no simple answer to the question - it all depends on the objectives of your business, as well as your website characteristics, and competition in your niche. Most often, a set of white-hat link-building methods is used, which includes multi-level links.
Which backlink service is the best?
In today's environment, using automated backlink services is impractical. Most often, they offer low-quality links and are used for grey-hat promotion. Choose the best agencies on trusted review sites, consider customer feedback, and check their positions in SERPs. All in all, you want to cooperate with professionals.
How much should I pay for link building?
The price of link-building services is calculated individually. It depends on the complexity of the project, additional services, e.g. creating unique content or newsletters, as well as the pricing policy of the agency.
Do backlinks still work in 2022?
Quality backlinks do not lose relevance over time. Thus, in 2022, they are still relevant. Google and other search engines continue to take external citations into account in their ranking algorithms. However, it's very important that links are or at least look natural, and their number increases gradually.
Is link building still the most powerful SEO strategy?
Yes, link building still remains one of the most powerful methods of SEO promotion today. It's not about the quantity but the quality of each backlink. In addition, most advanced link-building methods work in combination with a link to the website. Thus, you get improved brand awareness.
Why is quality link building so important?
The higher the authority of the resource where your link is located, the higher the search weight of this link. The search engine will "see" that your website is referenced by reputable projects and, thus, will improve its Google search rank. However, if you use low-quality external links, this will also be noticeable to search bots, which leads to lower positions in SERPs or even serious penalties.
