A backlink service sounds simple: you pay, and other sites link to yours. In practice, the phrase covers everything from a carefully placed article in a respected outlet to a bulk package of links nobody will ever click. The name tells you very little. What matters is what you can inspect before the money changes hands.
After 15 years in SEO, I judge these services with a short list of questions. This guide explains them, along with the metric most often used to sell links: domain authority.
What a backlink service usually includes
Most offers combine some of the following tasks. Ask which are included, because a low price often means that the work has moved to you.
- Finding sites. Either the provider shows you a list or you browse a catalog.
- Agreeing on publication with the site owner or editor.
- Writing the content. This is the costly part, and it is sometimes charged separately.
- Placing the link in a new article or an existing one.
- Reporting: at a minimum, the live URL and the date of publication.
- A guarantee in case the link or article disappears.
If you are comparing broader options, including agencies and managed outreach, read our guide to link building services. It sets out the four main models.
Why high DA backlinks aren't automatically good
"High DA backlinks" is a common sales promise. Domain Authority and Domain Rating are useful third-party estimates of a site's link profile, but Google doesn't use them, and they can be inflated. A site can show a strong score and still have few readers, publish anything for a fee and offer no real value.
That is why I look at traffic alongside authority. In our own catalog of 63,214 active outlets, 21,165 have a DA of 40 or more, but only 9,328 report at least 10,000 monthly visits. Authority and audience are related, but they are not the same thing. Our guide to choosing outlets by traffic goes into this in more depth.
| Signal | What it tells you | Its limit |
|---|---|---|
| DA or DR | Strength of the site's link profile | Can be inflated, and isn't a Google metric |
| Monthly traffic | Whether real people visit | Estimated, and needs checking over time |
| Traffic trend | Whether the site is growing or falling | Requires a year or more of data |
| Topic and market | Whether the link makes sense for you | Requires human judgment |
| Recent articles | Whether the site has editorial standards | Takes a few minutes to review |
Five checks before you pay
- Find out where the link will go. If a provider won't name the site before you pay, you can't assess the risk.
- Read the last 20 articles. If they jump between unrelated subjects with no editorial logic, the site exists to sell links.
- Check the traffic trend. A drop of 80% in the last year says more than today's authority score.
- Consider relevance. Is this a site your customers might actually read, in their language and market?
- Ask how the link will be treated. Google asks for paid links to be marked, for example with
rel="sponsored", and buying links to manipulate rankings breaches its spam policies. That risk exists with any provider, so don't accept a promise of "safe" links at face value.
Warning signs in a backlink service
- A fixed number of links for a low monthly price. Good placements can't be produced in bulk at that cost.
- A promise of guaranteed rankings. No provider controls Google.
- Private networks described as "our own sites". If one network is detected, every site in it can lose its value.
- The same anchor text on every link. Natural references use varied wording.
- No live URL in the report. You should be able to visit every placement.
Links that exist only to influence rankings rarely bring a penalty today. They are more likely to be ignored, which means you pay and nothing happens. Our note on how Google treats toxic links explains this further.
How much a backlink should cost
There is no single price, because you are buying a placement on a specific site. In our catalog, the median at DR 10+ is €285, and at DR 50+ with at least 1,000 monthly visits it is €795. There are also 884 outlets in that upper group at €100 or less, so price and quality don't always move together. Compare the site, not only the metric.
How Linkingpress handles it
Linkingpress works as a catalog. You choose the outlet before you pay, seeing its country, language, topic, traffic, DA and DR. The writing is included, or you can send your own article, and you can comment once on any draft we write. If an outlet removes the article within 30 days, we republish it or refund you.
There is no subscription or minimum order, so you can test a single placement. SEO agencies and online stores can start this way. See also our page of services or our guide to the importance of backlinks.
How to tell whether it worked
A live link isn't a result in itself. Check whether the page is indexed, whether it sends any visitors and whether the target page moves over the following three months. Keep a simple sheet with the date, outlet, price, target page and anchor for each placement. After a few purchases, you will have your own evidence of what works in your sector, which is far more useful than any provider's promise.
Frequently asked questions
What is a backlink service?
It is a paid service that gets other websites to link to yours. It can involve a catalog, a marketplace, managed outreach or an agency, and it may or may not include writing and reporting.
Are high DA backlinks worth it?
Only when the site also has real traffic, editorial standards and relevance to your business. A high score alone doesn't show that anyone reads the site.
How many backlinks do I need?
There is no universal number. Study the pages that rank for your target keywords and compare their referring domains and quality. Start with a few strong placements and measure the results after 90 days.
Are backlink services safe?
No paid link is free of risk, because Google's policies limit buying links. You can reduce the risk by avoiding networks, choosing real sites, varying anchors and marking links properly.