Last Updated on January 9, 2023 by SERP Kingz
The Short-Term Gain That Can Lead to Long-Term Loss
We get it. You want your site to rank higher—and you’ve heard that for that to happen, your site needs incoming links.
But you don’t want to spend hours researching sites related to yours and trying to establish communication with dubious “webmasters.”
You don’t want to wait for link exchange approvals that will probably never come.
And you definitely don’t want to sit around watching your site slowly and painstakingly inch its way up (or down) the SERP ladder as your competitors zoom ahead.
I hear you—I do.
But don’t get fooled by the siren song of buying backlinks.
Sure, it may seem like an easy way to get a short-lived SEO fix. A quick rush of “link juice” with the promise of overnight success—all for a low, low price. What could go wrong?
Here’s the thing: Google is on to you.
They’ve got systems in place to detect link farming. They’ve had those detection systems in place for years now—and they only get smarter with every algorithm update.
Buying backlinks is a surefire way to get put in the Google doghouse (though I hear it does have hammock computer chairs and a Lego room).
If there’s one thing Google hates more than anything else, it’s people trying to game their system and work directly against what they’re trying to accomplish. (They’re weird like that.)
And despite their cute, thought-provoking Google Doodles and lighthearted browser games featuring cacti-jumping dinosaurs, they will not hesitate to give your site the death penalty. Or at least throw it into online obscurity with no possibility of parole.
A too-good-to-be-true deal on a huge number of incoming backlinks may seem like an SEO bargain if you’re not aware of the risk. (And that’s what these supposed SEO companies are counting on.) But few things are as unequivocally “not worth the risk.”
Sure, you may get a slick-looking (or not) report in your email inbox proving that your business suddenly has tens of thousands of backlinks from domains with names like macadaynu.xyz, bestonlinemoney.paydayloan and OJ-trial-coverage.net.
All on blog posts that have 500+ external links.
Completely natural, right?
Unfortunately, these days Google can see through the façade of washed-up message board accounts, spammy post titles, and pages that are nothing but several pages of bright blue 1994-style text links.
(And if Google can see through it, Bing can’t be far behind—especially with their investment in AI.)
It’s also worth mentioning that the positive SEO effects of incoming links have been “softened” by Google considerably—presumably to discourage what they refer to as “link schemes.”
Just like content, when it comes to links, it’s generally the quality that counts. Not the quantity.
In fact, having more backlinks isn’t necessarily better.
And in the long run, instead of seeing your site rise to the top of the SERPs, you may find your website getting buried under a pile of manual penalties, algorithmic demotions, and general confusion as to why your website just won’t rank.
My advice? Don’t do it. Instead, create valuable, useful, high-quality content—and genuine links will come organically.
And if you’re doing everything else right, too, so will the rankings.
Final Thoughts
In the world of search marketing, buying backlinks is like playing with fire. Well, actually it’s like playing with fire that’s under constant surveillance by a fire marshal who’s out to get you.
It may seem like a silver bullet that can propel your site to the top of search engine rankings, but you’ll end up in worse shape than you were before.
The truth of the matter is that there’s no overnight way to get your website ranking at the top of the SERPs. All quality SEO takes time and effort.
And it’s a lot better to invest that energy into creating content and building relationships with other webmasters than it is to risk everything on massively-outdated and ineffective link schemes.
You’ve worked hard to get your business where it is. So make sure you don’t undo all of that hard work.
Don’t be tempted by the dark side of SEO. Don’t buy backlinks.
