Reasonable Cost for Link Building Service

[Kingalan1]

We need about 5-10 high quality links to our website created every month. We need the link targets researched and outreach done to these sites.

The sites most be legitimate and high quality; decent domain authority, real sites, not phony low quality sites. Sites that would show traffic in similarweb.com with decent metrics. We absolutely want to avoid any link building schemes that could get us penalized. I have been told that such a project would take a qualified SEO about 8-10 hours per months (more during the additional month of research, less afterward).

As such, what is a reasonable cost for these 5-10 links per month? $300, $500, $700, more? I only want to work with a highly experienced SEO, native english speaker with extensive experience. What is fair? I don't want to overpay or to under pay.

Thanks,

Alan

[Lynn12]

You should contact SEOs and get as much info about backlinks criteria as you can and then you have 2 options: outreach by yourself or hire the SEO specialist that you can trust. Here are some tools for outreach that can help:

https://moz.com/blog/14-easy-ways-to-find-any-email-address-in-10-minutes-or-less

And there is not fixing price for a link building per time. Backlinks differ in metrics and the price depends on the relevancy (niche) and quality of a website (outbound links, content, permanent links or not etc). Compare prices from different sellers and make up your decision.

[TucsonAZWebDesign]

I'm guessing text embedded is another way to verbalize the usage anchor text? What is to my understanding with anchor is that you want a variety, but realistically given the fact you shouldn't have control of the domain, under Google's guidelines it shouldn't be a huge deal with these high authority backlinks. So it's not an absolute must take what you can get.

Plus if you get hooked up by somebody, say for instance a journalist, you don't really want to anger them. I actually got a link from "The Guardian" because I got super lucky, and was in the right place at the right time, helping out slander victims with some Reputation Management. Long story short when I got the back link, she had anchor texted with "Search Engine Optimisation".

Well like an idiot I wrote a super polite email treading as carefully as I could indicating that it was Z instead of an S... "That's The British Spelling!" That was a very terrifying moment, thank goodness she wasn't to mad and all was well haha! But yeah, taking what you can get is no big deal on a big 94 DA like that.

If I was you, I'd go about like this. NY Times would be a nice payload. I would go onto hunter.io and grab me every email address they have listed for all their columnists and editors etc. Hit all of them up individually, go at their twitters, socially engineer your foot in the door, whether it's implicating you have a story, or that you need someone good at writing articles and particularly loved their work.

Once you go from not communicating don't know them, to rapport, and back and forth conversation, you go from there.

[Kingalan1]

Hi Sean:

Makes a lot of sense. So what objective measures of quality can request when I hire an SEO firm to create links. I know there are page authority and domain authority but understand these can be manipulated as well.

My concern is that I will order 4-5 links for $2,000 and will be provided with 4-5 links purchased on FIVRR for $20.00.

How as a consumer can I protect myself from this scenario? Now I guess I can research potential links targets myself, but how do I ensure they are of decent quality? Should I ask the SEO to run initial research and then I can say what links I feel are OK?

Also, there will text embedded in links back to our site that the SEO will create. This text may contain a keyword, company name or other info. Should I specify text this should contain or leave it to the SEO?

[TucsonAZWebDesign]

On the business side of things @Kingalan1, I can totally understand looking at SEO from a consumer perspective it should be only reasonable that if you're paying a doctors wage that you could get at least a time estimate. The problem we face is that there are so many factors beyond not only the consumer, but the SEO strategists control.

I think what Chris Menke said, "you should be very, very well educated on the topic of link building before investing your company's money in it." is very crucial in the fact that the more research you put into SEO the better results plus the more money you'll save. In your position what I would probably do if you want VERY HIGH authority links is actually research into each one you want individually.

News Websites seem to be rather heavy hitters for example. So every News website has journalists that write articles which have email addresses to contact them. With some time and money invested you can very much expedite the link building process. I wouldn't go into setting goals of link quantity, but rather target quality. Because as I'm sure you know sometimes 1 link could be worth what 1000 others would provide you.

So if you hire a professional SEO strategist to do these things for you, I would research into the quality of their work, and their results. But I wouldn't go into it with a certain expectation or time frame for any particular result.

[Kingalan1]

Hi Sean:

Apparently I may have misunderstand.

Keeping in mind that I as a business person I am trying to spend the least possible for the highest quality, how much do you think is reasonable to budget on a monthly basis for 4-5 decent quality links?

Thanks, 
Alan

[Kingalan1]

Hi NgEF:

So from what you say for about 4 for to 5 decent quality links around $800 to $1,000/month would be reasonable. But this would not include articles, infographics, content which I could either create or pay for. It would also not include featured blog posts which could run anywhere up to $1,000.

OK, so maybe $2,000/month is not that far off.

Do I understand this correctly?
Thanks, Alan

[TucsonAZWebDesign]

5-10 links in 8-10 hours of work high authority domains? When I'm rich I'm hiring that guy because I've been trying to  hustle a 2000 word blog with 2 custom infographics and a field study and I can't get any biters for a week now

[NgEF]

Just wanted to chip in on this topic as it's pretty close to heart for me as I've dealt with several similar questions just recently.

@Kingalan1, One thing to keep in mind is that a good link building program can include several variables which might increase the overall cost of the engagement. For example, is content creation part of the link building program? If so, is the content creation handled by the SEO agency or by your in-house team? Content creation is typically the most expensive cost involved for the agency as it means paying writers, paying for images, paying for the creation of video content, paying for infographic tools etc.

Also keep in mind that while outreach is one of the ways to get good and well researched backlinks, there are many other ways that might also include a cost to the SEO agency. A great example here would be if it makes sense for your business or website to look for a guest post or a featured blog by a prominent blogger that is also in your niche. I've seen reputable bloggers charge upwards of USD$1,000 per featured post. That cost should also be taken into account.

Ideally, I typically arrange for a set monthly charge for a backlink research program, then also have a fixed monthly budget for any additional costs. Of course, there needs to be full transparency on the SEO agency's end to provide invoices for any usage of the fixed monthly budgets. Also, if there are any other opportunities spotted by the SEO agency, they should also bring it to you and request for additional budget if necessary.

Just to provide some context, for a small to medium ecommerce website, I would charge about USD$300 for the backlink research hours (typically 4 to 5 hours monthly), and request for a USD$500 monthly budget for content creation, with monthly deliverables such as articles, infographics as discussed with the client.

Hope this helps!

[Kingalan1]

I simply want to understand what I am paying for. If a vendor takes 15 minutes a month and uses an automated systems to create links I would like to know. If the hourly rate the vendor is charging me is $4,000/hour I think I am entitled to know.

I am not fixated on $500, $1,000 or $2,000 per month. I am fixated on getting fair value. When one party (vendor) has more information than the customer, the customer is in a vulnerable position and apt to overpay. That is why I am asking.

It seems reasonable to pay an SEO what a CPA, a decent attorney or other professional earns on an hourly basis. But an hourly rate equivalent to a Fortune 500 executive or a neuro-surgeon seems excessive.

I am simply trying to determine what is fair and customary.

Thanks, Alan

[Chris.Menke]

Alan,

I have feeling that if you have to ask that question and your thinking starts off in the under $500 range, you may have a hard time understanding or recognizing why the actual cost for what you're looking for is going to be so much higher--and what you will actually be getting for your money. In any case, you should be prepared to sign a year agreement that binds you to pay a  total yearly sum and that stipulates exactly what your contractor is going to achieve for you.  Absent that, one or both parties is very likely back out early because of misunderstandings of what is being provided and/or what is required.

Linkbuilding is by no means a causal engagement--the future of your company/website is at stake. Just as you would educate yourself for any major investment by your company, you should be very, very well educated on the topic of linkbuilding before investing your company's money in it.