How Much Would You Pay For a Link?

May 8th, 2008 by Loren Baker, Editor | 7 Comments

If on-page optimization is the meat of SEO, relevant and quality linking is the bread, butter and dish it is served on.

Together, the mix of quality site optimization, targeted inbound linking, press relations, provocative content and social participation can transform a mid-level site into an authority destination within 3 to 6 months, changing the overall direction of your business, saving you money on paid search and jacking up your search driven sales.

In a Google driven world, linking can not only be the key that ignites success, but also fuels ongoing ranking and opens up new lanes of possibilities.

One question I have is, how much is your business willing to pay for a quality relevant link from a niche site which covers, reports on, intertwines with or is a direct part of your business niche?

[I’m not talking about paid linking, but paying a link building service.]

Responses are appreciated and I’ll be posting the results next week.

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Comments

7 responses so far ↓

CT Moore on May 8, 2008 at 12:20 pm

I think that SEO is maturing, that backlinks are mcuh less important than they used to be, and am therefore very skeptical about the value of links. Consequently, I’m more likely to pay only a lot for link, because I think that a link is only really worth it if its from a seriously authoritative site — the the NY Times, etc…
SearcH◆ EngineS WEB on May 9, 2008 at 4:43 am

Backlinks are not as important as one might think.

They do help you get pagerank - but it is the anchor text in the backlinks that count.

Sites with high PR will sometimes come under scrutiny by Google, and if suspected of selling links, will have their link juice taken away.

So before deciding what to pay, one has to be sure the site is not on Google’s list of suspects and that the site is not using the NOFollow tags.

Also, it is good to ascertain how many words will be allowed in the link. A one word anchor text does not really help as much as two or three relevant keywords.
SEO At a Glacne on May 9, 2008 at 7:12 am

Good if you mentioned the location of the link on the website to make the pricing easier … if it is a blog post in an active blog where the post will be buried many levels down the site after few months then it doesnt worth much (unless this post will hit some social media websites or get tons of track backs)
Mendy Ouzillou on May 9, 2008 at 11:24 pm

I view this question in one of two ways:
1) Indirect: The link is responsible for keeping me in the top ranking of a natural search thus leading to increased sales.
2) Direct: The link drives quality leads to my site and that leads to increased sales.

Regardless, it’s all about revenue. One link rarely makes any difference, so there has to be be a decent ROI. I’ll pay anything, if it means I get a return which is a multiplier of my investment.
Niche Traffic Tips on May 11, 2008 at 7:16 am

There is no zero option in the poll
There are too many factors involved in SERP position and increasing website traffic to invest money in a link building campaign that I may not have control of.
Gidseo on May 15, 2008 at 4:23 pm

SEO might be maturing but given the chance I’ll still take every decent link I can get for a client.
Credit Card Advance on May 19, 2008 at 1:09 pm

I would pay up to $250 for a very good quality link from a relevant website, but would never pay $500 to a link service company, since they would only deliver crappy quality, non related links.