Should You Buy Backlinks?

Buying backlinks is a practice that you may have heard of, but you might not know whether you should do it.

Buying “cheap” backlinks in bulk from disreputable sources is a Black Hat SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) technique — a way of cheating or misleading Google and other search engines so that your website is ranked higher than it deserves to.

If you buy backlinks and have little to no control over where the backlinks are placed or what kind of content your backlink will appear in, you’re not doing off-page SEO right.

If you pay for a service that helps you to generate exposure, awareness of your brand, and backlinks, that’s a little different.

Generally speaking, the easier it is to buy a backlink, the less it’s worth.

This is because Google and other search engines don’t want to reward spammy behaviour. On the other side of the coin, backlinks that are very hard to secure, such as backlinks from government websites and university websites, tend to be worth a lot more because they’re harder to manipulate.

An example of the types of backlinks you want to avoid at all costs

Why You Should Not Buy Spammy Backlinks

Even though it doesn’t work anymore, it’s still possible to buy backlinks in bulk at ludicrously low prices. Ever seen this advert before? Or perhaps something like it?

Avoid this pop-up ad like the plague!

This is the essence of black hat SEO. If there was ever a link building or SEO strategy to categorically rule out, this would be it. Services like these tend to rely on link farms or low-quality “news” websites that link out to as many different services as possible.

The content on these sorts of websites is often gibberish and the links themselves tend to be completely useless.

Google’s SpamBrain system has changed what “risk” actually means for pages like this. In earlier years, the main concern with bought backlinks was a dramatic manual penalty. In 2026, the more common outcome is quieter: SpamBrain, Google’s AI-powered spam detection system, algorithmically identifies manipulative link patterns and devalues them, often without any notification in Search Console. Your rankings can slip because the bought links simply stop counting, with no warning and nothing to “fix” in the traditional sense.

This is arguably more insidious than a manual action, which at least tells you something is wrong and gives you a route back (a reconsideration request, once you’ve cleaned up your link profile). Algorithmic devaluation just happens quietly in the background — which is exactly why it’s worth understanding before you consider buying links at all.

Google’s Stance on Link Buying

Google is explicitly against the exchange of money in return for links.

This exchange of money can happen in many ways, and Google doesn’t say that all these so-called “link schemes” will definitely lead to a negative impact on a website’s search engine rankings. Rather, it says that these schemes “can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results” (emphasis ours).

The takeaway from this should be that the more direct and obvious an exchange of money is in return for a link, the less natural it is. The less natural it is, the more likely Google is to punish it. The reason Google uses “can” and not “will” is that there are some link building strategies which — while they involve the exchange of money — don’t fall into the same spammy bucket as some paid-for link schemes.

What’s the Difference Between Follow and No Follow Links?

We’ve already seen the difference between internal and external links. But there are also follow links and nofollow links.

Nofollow is an attribute that can be applied to a backlink by webmasters. It looks like this:

rel="nofollow"

In 2019, Google announced that it would treat nofollow links as hints rather than directives. In other words, sometimes Google will “count” a nofollow link and sometimes it won’t.

We’re not quite sure why Google made this change, but there’s some speculation that it was a response to many major websites moving to nofollow links as standard across their websites. Rather than lose these news sites as sources of information completely, Google made the change so it could continue counting backlinks from some of these sites. But as said, this is unconfirmed speculation.

Screenshot from Google’s Outbound Link Qualification guide

When Are No Follow Links Used?

Google gives us an example of when they recommend using the nofollow attribute:

“The nofollow attribute is for cases where you want to link to a page but don’t want to imply any type of endorsement, including passing along ranking credit to another page.”

At the same time that Google made changes to the nofollow attribute, they also added a new attribute named rel=”sponsored”.

Google explicitly stated that this is the attribute you should use if the link has been created for advertorial purposes or in exchange for any compensation (in other words, a paid-for link).

Put simply: the only compliant way to have a paid link pointing to your site is with rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow” attached to it. Both attributes mean the link doesn’t pass ranking credit — which is exactly why a paid dofollow link (one with neither attribute) is both against Google’s guidelines and, per the SpamBrain section above, increasingly easy for Google to detect and devalue on its own.

What to Do Instead: Earning Links That Actually Move Rankings in 2026

If buying backlinks is off the table, the good news is that the alternatives now outperform it. Here’s where to focus instead.

Digital PR

Digital PR — earning coverage and links through newsworthy stories, data, and campaigns rather than paying for placement — is consistently rated the most effective link-building tactic in 2026 surveys of SEO professionals, with one industry survey putting adoption at roughly 48.6% versus around 16% for traditional guest posting. It produces genuinely earned, editorially-placed links that carry far more weight than anything bought. See EN’s Digital PR and link building service for how this works as a managed service.

HARO and journalist outreach

Responding to journalist requests (via services like Connectively, the successor to HARO, or direct outreach to relevant writers) earns links from genuine news and industry publications, in exchange for expert commentary rather than money.

Competitor backlink analysis

Looking at where your competitors’ links come from — using a tool such as Ahrefs or SEranking — surfaces realistic, relevant opportunities: sites that already link to businesses like yours and are open to doing so again.

Content-led link earning

Original research, tools, and genuinely useful guides attract links naturally over time because other sites want to reference them. This is slower than buying links, but the links it earns don’t carry any risk of devaluation.

How Much Do Bought Backlinks Cost in 2026?

It’s worth understanding the going rate for bought backlinks, if only to see how poor the economics are. 2026 pricing surveys put the average cost of a quality backlink at roughly $500, up from around $350 in 2022 — with editorial placements typically running $350 to $1,000 or more on higher-authority sites, and guest posts averaging $220–$609. Cheap bulk offers advertised at $30–$150 for a “DR50+ package” sit well below all of these ranges, which is a reliable signal that they’re low-quality, high-risk, or both.

At this price point, buying backlinks is no longer meaningfully cheaper than investing in proper outreach for a genuinely earned link — without the risk of a SpamBrain devaluation. That’s the real case against buying: not just that it’s against Google’s guidelines, but that it’s no longer even the cheaper option.

Should You Buy Backlinks FAQs

Will Google penalise you for buying backlinks?

Google can penalise sites for buying backlinks, but in 2026 the more common outcome is quieter: SpamBrain algorithmically devalues the links so they simply stop counting, rather than issuing a manual penalty. Either way, the risk outweighs the benefit.

What is SpamBrain and how does it affect bought backlinks?

SpamBrain is Google’s AI-powered spam detection system. It identifies manipulative link patterns and devalues them automatically, often without any notification, which is different from a manual action that appears in Search Console.

What does a high-quality backlink cost in 2026?

2026 pricing surveys put the average around $500 per link, up from roughly $350 in 2022, with editorial placements typically running $350–$1,000 or more depending on site authority. Offers priced well below this range are a red flag for quality.

What is the safest way to build backlinks?

The safest approach is earning links through digital PR, journalist outreach, competitor analysis for realistic opportunities, and original content people want to reference — rather than paying for placement.

Is digital PR better than buying backlinks?

Yes. Digital PR produces genuinely earned, editorially-placed links with no risk of devaluation, and is consistently rated the most effective link-building tactic in 2026 surveys of SEO professionals, well ahead of guest posting.

What is the difference between a sponsored link and a bought backlink?

A sponsored link uses the rel=”sponsored” attribute, which tells Google it’s a paid placement and shouldn’t pass ranking credit. A bought backlink without this attribute breaks Google’s guidelines and is the type of link SpamBrain is designed to catch.

This article was first written by James Speyer and published in August 2020. It was revised and re-published by Luke Nicholson in July 2021.