What Is the Average Cost of a Backlink?

The average cost of a paid backlink depends on who you ask and what you count. Authority Hacker's survey of 755 link builders put it at $83. Ahrefs' own outreach to 450 sites found niche edits averaging $361.44, and its review of agencies puts guest-post placements at $250 to $400 per link. Elite placements on major publications run into the thousands, and bulk links under $50 are usually worthless or harmful.

So the honest answer is: a good backlink costs a few hundred dollars if you buy it, and buying it carries a risk that a free exchange doesn't. Here's what drives the price and what you're actually paying for.

The price ranges, plainly

Two Ahrefs pieces give the clearest public numbers. The guide to buying backlinks (updated July 18, 2024) reports the $83 survey average alongside Ahrefs' own test: pitching niche edits to 450 sites across nine niches produced an average quote of $361.44, and pitching guest posts to 180 sites produced $77.80. The review of link building services (March 15, 2023) adds agency rates.

What you're buying	Typical price	Source
Bulk links, PBNs, low-quality directories	Under $50, often "500 links for $10"	Ahrefs services review; skip these
Guest post, site charges you directly	$77.80 average quote	Ahrefs outreach to 180 sites
Niche edit, site charges you directly	$361.44 average quote	Ahrefs outreach to 450 sites
Guest post through an agency or service	$250 to $400 per link	Ahrefs services review
Niche edit through a reputable provider	$150 to $300 per link	Ahrefs services review
Editorial link via source requests (HARO-style)	$240 to $700 per link	Ahrefs services review
Digital PR retainer	$4,000 to $15,000 a month	Ahrefs services review

These are per-link prices. A serious paid campaign of 10 to 20 quality links a month runs into the thousands monthly, which is why link-building is often the single biggest line in an SEO budget.

What actually drives a backlink's price

The number isn't arbitrary. Four factors move it:

Authority of the linking site. The higher the site's Domain Rating or Domain Authority, the more a link from it is worth, and the more it costs. This is the biggest driver. (If those terms are fuzzy, here's what domain authority actually is.)
Relevance. A link from a site in your exact niche is worth far more than a random high-DR site, and specialist site owners charge accordingly.
Real traffic. A site with genuine organic visitors, not just a high DR score, commands a premium, because the link sends real referral traffic on top of SEO value.
Placement type. A link inside fresh, purpose-written content (a guest post) or inserted into an existing ranking article (a "niche edit") costs more than a footer or sidebar link, because in-content editorial links carry the most weight. That is why the niche-edit average ($361) sits so far above the guest-post average ($78): the article already ranks.

Dofollow vs nofollow matters too. Sellers charge for dofollow because it passes ranking signal. (Dofollow vs nofollow links explains the difference.)

The catch nobody prices in: risk

Here's what the price tag doesn't show. Google's spam policies list "buying or selling links for ranking purposes" and "exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links" as link spam, unless the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", which removes the ranking credit you were paying for. Google can, and increasingly does, detect and devalue paid links. The most common outcome isn't a dramatic penalty, it's quiet: you pay $400, the link gets discounted, and you get nothing. You just don't find out. In the worse case, a pattern of paid links earns a manual action that tanks your rankings.

So the real average cost of a paid backlink includes the odds that you're buying something Google will ignore. Is it worth paying for backlinks? works through that cost-benefit in detail, and is link building illegal covers the legal side (it's not illegal, it's against Google's rules, which is a different problem).

The alternative: backlinks that cost effort, not money

There's a whole category of backlinks with a very different price: $0 in cash. You pay in effort instead, and they carry none of the "Google discounts paid links" risk because no money changes hands for the link.

Earned links. Create genuinely reference-worthy content and let people cite it. Free, slow, and the gold standard.
Guest posts you write yourself on relevant sites. Free if you do the outreach and writing.
Source requests through HARO alternatives. Free, with editorial links as the prize.
1-for-1 link exchanges with other real, relevant site owners. You link to them, they link to you, both in-content. This is often the best effort-to-result ratio for a site without much authority yet.

We make Backlinkster, which runs the exchange model: whoever starts a swap publishes the partner's article first, the link must sit in a real article on the member's own domain, and each swap is verified by API. The free plan covers 5 swaps a month, Pro is $19 a month. It is not the right fit if you have no articles to host a partner's link in, if your brand cannot link out to other businesses, or if you need links from news publications that would never swap; for those, guest posting or digital PR is the honest route.

For most small site owners, the math favors the effort route: a few hundred dollars per paid link adds up fast and buys risk along with the link, while an exchange trades an hour of your time for a link Google treats as an ordinary editorial mention.

So how much should you spend?

If you do buy, don't go below the $150 to $300 tier for a niche edit or $250 to $400 for a guest post from a provider you've vetted. Cheaper links are usually a waste or a liability, and the link should carry rel="sponsored" to stay inside Google's rules. But before spending anything, exhaust the free routes: earned links, guest posts, and relevant exchanges can build a solid backlink profile for a new site without a single invoice. Money accelerates link-building; it doesn't replace the fundamentals, and it doesn't buy safety.

Frequently asked questions

How much does one backlink cost? Surveys put the average paid link at $83 (Authority Hacker, 755 link builders), while direct outreach found niche edits averaging $361 and guest posts $78 (Ahrefs). Agencies charge $250 to $400 for a guest-post link. The spread reflects site authority, relevance, traffic and placement type.

Why are niche edits more expensive than guest posts? A niche edit goes into an article that already ranks and is already indexed, so the link can count sooner, and the site owner knows it. Ahrefs' outreach found niche edits averaging $361 against $78 for guest posts, where you also supply the article.

Is it legal to buy backlinks? Yes. Buying links is not illegal, but followed paid links are against Google's spam policies. Google asks for paid links to carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", which keeps you within the rules but removes the ranking credit.

How much should a small business spend on backlinks? Often nothing at first. Guest posts, source requests and relevant exchanges cost time rather than money. If you do buy, budget $250 to $400 per vetted guest-post link, and read how to set a link building budget before committing to a monthly figure.

Are cheap backlinks worth it? No. Links sold at a few dollars each come from networks, directories and automated tools that Google's spam policies name as link spam. At best they are ignored; at worst they form a pattern that leads to a manual action.