I Spent $15,000 On Backlinks, Here's What Happened
Jun 1, 2025
How I Spent $15,000 on Backlinks: The Results
Backlinks are essential for SEO. I spent $15,000 on backlinks in one month. This is how it changed my client's search engine results.
Why Backlinks Matter
There's a clear link between the number of good backlinks you have and how much money you can make with SEO. It's like going to the gym: the more you lift weights, the stronger you get. The more backlinks you build, the stronger your website becomes in search results.
Backlinks are like votes of confidence for your website. Google sees them as a sign that your site is trustworthy and valuable. The more votes you have, the higher you can rank.
Quality Over Quantity
Not all backlinks are equal. A link from a well-known site is worth more than a link from a smaller, less popular site. Think of it like a popularity contest. A vote from a celebrity means more than a vote from a random person.
Backlinks from sites like Forbes, MSN, and Yahoo are more valuable. It's challenging to determine precisely how much a single backlink can enhance your rankings. However, links from trusted sites will help more than links from smaller blogs.
Backlinks Take Time
Patience is key when it comes to backlinks. The real value of backlinks lies not in their immediate impact but in the results they produce over time, such as four to six months or even years. This long-term approach is crucial to achieving success in SEO.
Examples of Backlink Success
Here are some examples of how backlinks have helped my clients:
Client 1: Increased referring domains from 1,600 to 2,400. Traffic more than doubled, from 12,000 to almost 26,000.
Client 2: Increased referring domains by about 500. Traffic grew from 24,000 to 36,000.
Client 3: Increased referring domains from 384 to nearly 600. Traffic grew from 9,400 to almost 22,000.
Client 4: Doubled referring domains. Traffic went up from 6,000 to nearly 18,000.
These examples demonstrate that acquiring more backlinks over time results in increased traffic. More traffic can mean more money for your business.
The Problem with Most Backlinks
Many people struggle with building backlinks. SEO agencies, freelancers, and even PR firms often build backlinks that are not very helpful.
Guest posts are a common way to build backlinks. But most guest posts are not worth the effort. These sites may look good on paper, but they might not be relevant to your business. The site may not have much traffic, or it may not be experiencing growth.
If a site links to just anyone, it's probably not a high-quality site. Domain rating and traffic numbers can be misleading. These numbers alone don't necessarily indicate whether a backlink is good.
Quality Assurance Process
I've been purchasing backlinks for four years, and I've never had a site penalized for it. Every backlink I build must pass a quality check. If it doesn't pass, I won't build it.
Here's how I check the quality of a site:
Visit the site: I inspect the site to ensure it appears clean and user-friendly. Does it have too many ads or affiliate links? Does it cover too many different topics? The site should have a clear focus and be easy to use.
Evaluate domain authority: I use domain rating to quickly assess the site's quality. The minimum domain rating I typically look for is usually between 30 and 35.
Analyze traffic: Traffic is a good indicator of the value of a backlink. I only build links from sites that have at least 10,000 visitors a month. The traffic should be steady or growing. It should also be spread out across many pages, not just one.
Check the backlink profile: I examine the other sites that link to this site. I want to make sure the site isn't connecting to just anyone. I look for a balance between outgoing and incoming links.
How to Maximize Link Value
Most SEO agencies do guest posts because they are easy and cheap. However, they often don't take the extra steps to make the links valuable.
Once a guest post is published, they don't do anything else. They don't build internal links to it, which means it might not get indexed by Google. They don't promote it, so it becomes an orphan page. A link from an orphan page is not worth much.
What I Do Differently
I ask the publishing website to build internal links to the guest post. I even suggest which pages to link from and which words to use. This makes it easy for them to add the links. About 80% of the time, they say yes.
For the 20% of the time that they say no, I build tier links to the guest post. This helps it get indexed and pass value to my client's site.
I want to make sure every link I build is valuable. It's not in my client's best interest to build links that are easy and cheap.
Link Stacks
Each month, I meticulously put together link stacks for my clients. These are not just random links but carefully curated collections of different types of links. By combining various types of links, I ensure that my clients maximize the value of their budget.
Here are some types of links I use:
Guest posts and tier links
Link insertions
Reactive PR
Reddit and tier link building: Tier links are a strategy where we build additional links to the guest post, creating a 'tiered' structure of links. This helps the guest post get indexed and pass value to my client's site.
Press syndication
I usually pick two or three of these categories each month. I build about 5 to 15 links a month.
Anchor Variation
Anchor text, the clickable text in a link, is a crucial part of the link-building process. I use a variety of anchor texts to make the links look natural and organic, which is key to a successful link-building strategy.
For guest posts, I use branded anchors. These links point to the homepage or collection pages.
For link insertions, I use contextual anchors. These are keywords related to the topic of the page. They typically go to blog posts and collection pages.
For press syndication, I use branded anchors. These links go to the homepage or collection pages.
For Reddit and tier link building, I also use branded anchors. These links go to the homepage.
Get Started with Backlinks
Backlinks are a key part of SEO. By building high-quality backlinks over time, you can enhance your website's rankings and increase traffic. Remember to focus on quality over quantity, and don't expect to see results overnight. It takes time and effort to build a strong backlink profile.
Ready to take your SEO to the next level? Contact us today to learn more about our backlink-building services.
