What Percentage of Websites Buy Backlinks? The 2025 Data Nobody Talks About

Key Takeaways

• 74.3% of professional link builders admit buying backlinks in anonymous surveys
• 92% believe their competitors buy links, yet only 30% admit it publicly (64.3 percentage point gap)
• The backlink checker tool market hit $1.3 billion in 2023, heading to $4.2 billion by 2033
• Average paid link costs $508.95 in 2025, up 512% from $83 in 2022-2023
• Only 6.6% of websites that bought links after Google’s March 2024 updates showed positive traffic trends
• 29% of link-selling sites died completely within ten months
• Google issues 400,000+ manual penalties monthly, but 95% of penalised sites never request reconsideration
• 55.98% of SEO professionals believe Google cannot effectively detect paid links

Introduction

Here’s a question that makes SEO professionals squirm…

What percentage of websites actually buy backlinks?

The answer depends on who’s asking.

When Authority Hacker surveyed 755 professional link builders anonymously, 74.3% admitted paying for links despite Google’s explicit prohibition against the practice.

But here’s where it gets interesting.

When asked in non-anonymous surveys where professionals represent their companies publicly? That number plummets to just 30%.

Welcome to the backlink buying industry’s massive confession gap… where everyone participates whilst publicly denying it.

I’ve spent three months compiling every available statistic, market figure, and documented case study on what’s become a $1.3 billion industry (tools alone) projected to reach $4.2 billion by 2033.

This isn’t a moral judgement or a how-to guide. It’s purely about understanding the reality of an industry that operates in shadows whilst generating billions in annual revenue.

The data reveals a massive disconnect between Google’s public stance and industry reality: the backlink purchasing market has grown 184% since 2016, with costs rising from $352 to over $1,000 per link.

Let’s examine what the research actually shows.

The Core Numbers: What Percentage of Websites Buy Backlinks?

Anonymous Surveys Show the Truth

Authority Hacker conducted the most revealing study.

They surveyed 755 professional link builders with complete anonymity… no names, no companies, just honest answers.

The result? 74.3% pay for links.

That number surprised even the researchers conducting the study.

Breaking it down further…

In-house SEOs pay 75% more for links than niche site owners, and experienced professionals pay 221% more per link than beginners.

This demonstrates that paying for links becomes more common and sophisticated with industry experience, not less.

The Confession Gap Tells a Different Story

Editorial.Link surveyed 518 SEO experts in 2025.

When asked if they believe their competitors buy backlinks? 92% said yes.

When asked if they buy backlinks themselves? The admission rate varies wildly depending on survey anonymity.

The Aira survey of 270 SEO professionals found only 30% admit to paying for links when identifying their companies.

Yet 69% of those same professionals believe buying links can positively impact rankings.

This paradox—believing it works whilst claiming not to do it—reveals massive social desirability bias.

BuzzStream’s 2025 survey found 87.3% of digital PR link builders claim they “never pay for link placements.”

Yet 92% of those same professionals believe competitors do.

That’s a 64.3 percentage point credibility gap.

What the Real Percentage Likely Is

Survey methodology matters significantly.

Authority Hacker’s anonymous approach yielded 74.3% admission rates.

Surveys asking professionals to represent their companies publicly showed admission rates as low as 30%.

A 2.5x difference based purely on anonymity.

The true prevalence of link buying likely falls in the 70-75% range for active link builders, not the 30% claimed in non-anonymous surveys.

Geographic Differences in Transparency

European marketplaces operate most openly.

WhitePress offers 100,000+ websites across 100 countries in 30+ languages.

ImpulsQ maintains 250,000+ websites in its database with 1,000 new pages added weekly.

Collaborator.pro features 37,000+ sites with 6,000+ verified through Google Analytics.

These platforms publish prices transparently, with links ranging from $10 to $50,000+.

Meanwhile, American practitioners maintain public denial despite 87.3% claiming they never pay whilst 92% believe competitors do.

This cultural difference—European acceptance versus American denial—shapes how the market operates.

How Much It Costs to Buy Backlinks in 2025

The Average Cost Has Skyrocketed

The average acceptable cost per high-quality backlink now stands at $508.95 according to Editorial.Link’s 2025 survey of 518 experts.

Compare that to just $83 in 2022-2023.

That’s a 512% increase in just 2-3 years.

The cumulative increase from 2016 shows even more dramatic growth… 184% rise from $352.92 in 2016 to over $1,000 for quality placements in 2024.

Price Stratification by Quality Tier

The market has segmented dramatically…

BuzzStream’s analysis of 26,632 guest post sites found an average of $365 direct from publishers or $1,459 through vendors (includes 75% markup).

Specific Domain Rating pricing shows…

• DR 30 links average $91 (up from $30 in prior years)
• DR 45 costs $157 (up from $50)
• DR 60 runs $193 directly or $327 through agencies
• DR 80+ reaches $380

Premium editorial placements on major publications cost $900-$1,500, whilst Forbes and top-tier sites charge $10,000 per link or more.

MSN backlinks specifically cost $4,000-$7,000.

Industry-Specific Pricing Extremes

61% of SEO professionals identify gambling/iGaming as the highest-budget industry for link building.

More than five times the next category.

Individual backlinks in this vertical can cost up to $50,000, with typical monthly budgets ranging $20,000-$50,000 just to compete for top Google positions.

One expert quoted in Editorial.Link’s 2025 survey stated: “iGaming 100%, I’ve worked in the field before, and companies in that niche are comfortable spending $50K a link.”

Law firms rank second at 16.4% of respondents, followed by finance at 11.6%, health and wellness at 7.1%, and payday loans at 6.8%.

These YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) categories face both intense competition and strict Google quality requirements, driving costs to $800-$1,500+ per high-authority link.

For competitive niches across all industries, the average minimum monthly budget required is $8,406 (Editorial.Link survey of 518 professionals, with responses ranging from $4,000 to $150,000).

Regional Price Variations

European backlinks command the highest prices globally, starting at minimum €200 ($200+).

Switzerland and Austria represent the most expensive markets in Europe due to domain scarcity.

Germany employs unique practices where “SEO specialists build links via phone calls,” dramatically increasing costs and creating a distinct regional market.

North American links range $100-$1,500, with the U.S. averaging $370 per backlink in 2025 (up from $300 in 2021)—a 23% increase in four years.

Asian backlinks show the widest price variation globally, from $30 for low-traffic sites to $1,000 for premium placements in Japan, Singapore, and Korea.

South American backlinks offer the lowest global pricing at $60-$150 typically, extending up to $300+ for premium sites.

That represents a 50-fold price difference from the most expensive European links at $10,000+.

As we’ve seen with web design costs in Western Australia, Australian businesses face similar premium pricing patterns compared to regional or international alternatives.

The Size of the Backlink Buying Market

Market Size and Growth Projections

The backlink checker tool market alone reached $1.3 billion in 2023 and projects to $4.2 billion by 2033 (Data Horizon Research), reflecting 12.5% compound annual growth.

The broader SEO software market, which includes backlink analysis tools, hit $84.94 billion in 2025 and projects to $265.91 billion by 2034 (Precedence Research).

Link building services specifically capture 28-36% of all SEO budgets, with agencies allocating 32.1% and in-house teams dedicating 36.03% of their SEO spending to link acquisition.

Based on these percentages, the link building services market sits at approximately $20-23 billion currently, growing to $36 billion by 2030.

Market Share Distribution

North America controls 35% of the global SEO software market, with the U.S. alone representing 79% of North American activity.

Europe holds 24.4% market share, whilst Asia-Pacific captures 27% but grows fastest at 16.52% CAGR (2024-2030), projected to overtake other regions by 2030.

India specifically expects the highest growth rate globally from 2025-2030 as digital transformation accelerates.

Budget Distribution Patterns

Monthly budget distributions show…

• 38.43% of businesses spend $1,000-$5,000 monthly
• 46.5% spend $5,000-$10,000 monthly
• 7% exceed $15,000 monthly

46% of marketers spend $10,000+ annually on link building, whilst 22% allocate $1,000-$2,500 annually.

In-house SEO specialists earn $53,000-$98,000 annually (U.S. Glassdoor data), or about $7,300 monthly including overhead—more expensive than mid-tier agency services.

What Methods People Use to Buy Backlinks

Guest Posting Dominates Usage (But Not Effectiveness)

Guest posting remains the most widely used paid method at 64.9% adoption, though only 16% consider it the most effective tactic.

BuzzStream’s analysis of 26,632 guest post sites revealed that 85.3% of guest posting sites fail to meet quality thresholds (defined as DR 40+ with 10,000+ monthly organic traffic).

Just 7.6% of guest post opportunities meet basic quality standards.

The remaining opportunities command premium pricing: $692-$957 for high-quality placements through vendors, with top-tier placements exceeding $3,000.

Response rates for guest post outreach average just 8.5%, though personalised pitches increase success rates by 40%.

Time investment averages three weeks from pitch to publication.

Digital PR Emerges as Most Effective

Digital PR has emerged as the perceived leader with 48.6% rating it most effective in 2025 (up from 67.3% in 2024).

However, only 17.7% actually use digital PR regularly in their campaigns… marking a massive adoption gap.

Digital PR practitioners generate an average of 15.58 links per month, with 33% of PR-focused link builders producing 31+ links monthly.

These typically cost $1,250-$1,500 per unique link or $6,000-$20,000 per campaign generating 10-40 editorial mentions.

66.5% of digital PR budgets fall below $10,000 monthly.

Success requires lightning-fast action: pitching within the first six hours yields 20% higher conversion rates.

Link Exchanges Remain Popular Despite Guidelines

51.6% engage in link exchanges despite Google guidelines against reciprocal linking.

Research shows 43.7% of top-ranking pages utilise reciprocal links (Ahrefs), and 66% of sites with any backlinks engage in reciprocal linking strategies.

This prevalence of exchanges makes purely natural link profiles extraordinarily rare.

Private Blog Networks (PBNs)

Private Blog Networks (PBNs) appear in 15.5% of expired domain purchases according to Editorial.Link’s analysis of 9,300+ domains, with 27% of expired domains used for casino websites specifically.

PBNs were named “most effective of the somewhat shady or risky tactics” despite high penalty risks.

A detailed study tracking 13 money sites found 75% showed improved rankings within 1 month with 40% average ranking improvement, though one site received a Google penalty and rankings collapsed entirely.

HARO and Journalist Outreach

46.3% of link builders use HARO (Help a Reporter Out) for legitimate media placements.

Those executing it properly report 20% response rates with structured processes.

More than 50% of placements secured through HARO in 2023 carried dofollow attributes, with 30% of articles publishing within one week and 50% within two weeks.

HARO links cost $750 each for 5 links ($3,750 total) or $625 each for 20 links ($12,500 total)—a 17% bulk discount.

The platform relaunched in April 2025 after Cision shut down the original service.

Similar to strategies outlined in our guide to link building for local Australian businesses, the most effective approaches combine multiple tactics rather than relying on a single method.

How Google Detects Paid Links (And Penalty Statistics)

The Scale of Manual Actions

Google issues 400,000+ manual actions per month according to Matt Cutts (former head of Google’s webspam team).

Yet processes only 20,000 reconsideration requests monthly.

That means 95% of penalised websites never attempt recovery.

This suggests either ignorance of penalties or deliberate black-hat operators who simply abandon sites and start fresh.

Google also receives 230,000 spam reports daily, taking action on 82% of them, and has blocked 25+ billion spammy pages cumulatively through 2018.

Penguin Algorithm Impact

The Penguin algorithm updates provide the only official Google data on detection scale.

Penguin 1.0 (April 2012) affected 3.1% of English search queries, whilst Penguin 2.0 (May 2013) impacted 2.3% of queries.

The critical shift came with Penguin 4.0 (September 2016), which made the algorithm real-time and changed the approach from penalising sites to simply discounting bad links.

This fundamentally altered the risk calculation—bad links now waste money but rarely destroy sites entirely.

Most SEO Professionals Believe Google Can’t Detect Sophisticated Links

Here’s the shocking reality…

55.98% of SEO professionals believe Google is NOT effective at identifying and discounting paid links (Editorial.Link 2025 survey).

Only 44.02% think Google successfully detects paid guest posts and niche edits.

One expert noted: “Whilst cheap farm links are fairly easy to pick up, identifying paid guest posts or niche edits is hard as long as they’re relevant.”

This perception—that sophisticated paid links evade detection—helps explain why the practice remains so prevalent despite Google’s prohibition.

Unnatural Link Profile Statistics

A comprehensive CognitiveSEO study analysing 100,000+ links from 8,000 websites found…

• 39.9% of websites have up to 10% unnatural links
• 43.4% have 10-50% unnatural links
• 20.7% have over 50% unnatural links

Surprisingly, websites with highly unnatural profiles showed over 70% nofollow links—contrary to the belief that dofollow links are the primary unnatural indicator.

35% of all unnatural links have low influence/quality, and almost 50% come from web directories.

Penalty Recovery Statistics

Google issues approximately 750,000 manual penalties monthly for webspam, translating to roughly 8.3% of sites receiving penalties for various violations each month.

The business consequences are severe: 60% of businesses receiving a Google penalty fail within six months, with only 40% remaining operational.

Among survivors, only 30% manage to recover rankings within a year, whilst average traffic losses reach 50% immediately following penalties.

Algorithmic penalties require 3-6 months or longer to recover from, whilst manual penalties take weeks to several months depending on severity.

Only 10% or less of penalised site owners submit reconsideration requests, suggesting most either lack knowledge of the process or have violations too severe to remediate.

Major Company Case Studies: When Big Brands Got Caught

J.C. Penney (February 2011)

One of the most documented penalties after a New York Times investigation exposed their use of SEO agency SearchDex.

Rankings dropped approximately 70 positions for major keywords, falling from #1 to positions #68-78 for terms like “living room furniture” and “Samsonite carry on luggage.”

Their average position for 59 search terms plummeted from 1.3 on February 1st to 52 on February 10th.

Recovery took 90 days after firing the agency, disavowing links, and restructuring URLs.

Despite the penalty, J.C. Penney reported only minor impact, noting just 7% of their traffic came from organic search.

Overstock (February 2011)

Offered university students 10% discounts in exchange for .edu links with exact match anchor text.

The penalty dropped them from top 3 to pages 5-6 for major keywords, causing a 5% decline in sales and $30 million loss in stock value (from $1.08 billion to $1.05 billion market cap).

The penalty lifted after 2 months following link removal and a formal SEC filing acknowledging revenue impacts.

Expedia (January 2014)

Employed massive paid link campaigns including WordPress theme footer links (hidden in black text on black background), article submissions, press releases, guest posts, directories, and microsites.

Lost 25% of search visibility and suffered a 20% traffic drop.

The “vacation” keyword dropped from #1 to #20—a 19-position fall.

Stock shares declined 3-4% when exposed by SEO consultant Nenad Simicevic.

Neither Expedia nor Google officially confirmed the penalty.

BMW (February 2006)

Used doorway pages with keyword stuffing and cloaking (showing different content to Google than users).

Google completely removed BMW.de from the index for 3 days with PageRank dropping to zero.

Current estimated daily traffic loss would be 71,600 visitors.

The site was reinstated after removing offending pages, and the case made international headlines as an early example of a major brand penalty.

Rap Genius (December 2013)

Ran an affiliate scheme offering bloggers link exchanges.

Traffic plunged from 700,000 unique visitors daily to 100,000—an 86% drop.

However, after admitting fault and quick cleanup, the penalty lasted only 10 days to 1 week, making it one of the fastest documented recoveries.

Forbes, Interflora, BBC, Mozilla, and Home Depot also received documented penalties, with traffic impacts ranging from 11-day penalties (Interflora, shortest) to multi-month drops.

Google Japan even penalised itself in 2012 for buying links to promote the Chrome browser, maintaining the penalty for 11 months to demonstrate fairness.

What Actually Works: Effectiveness and ROI Data

Short-Term Success Rates

A detailed study tracking 13 money sites with PBN campaigns found 75% showed improved rankings within 1 month, with average ranking improvement of 40% (excluding one outlier that received a Google penalty).

The #1 ranking result has 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10 (Backlinko study), creating strong correlation between links and rankings.

Position #1 captures 31.7% CTR, whilst position #2 gets just 0.78% CTR in some studies (other studies show position #2 at 14.91%)—a 30-40x difference in traffic.

Post-March 2024 Reality Check

Editorial.Link’s analysis post-March 2024 updates found alarming results…

Only 6.6% of sites that bought links (2,021 out of 30,388 remaining sites) showed positive traffic trends, whilst 93.4% experienced decline or stagnation.

Even more striking: 29% of link-selling sites went completely dead within ten months.

This suggests link buying works primarily when links come from legitimate, sustainable publishers rather than SEO-focused link farms—but those legitimate placements cost $500-$2,000 each, making campaigns expensive.

Real Case Study ROI Data

Mind the Graph achieved nearly 100% increase in referring domains and 217% increase in organic traffic through systematic link building.

PandaDoc gained 205 links in 22 months resulting in 212% traffic increase.

A ChatGPT statistics post accrued 350+ links over time with content creation costs of $5,000-$10,000, generating 5,000%+ ROI (BuzzStream/Root Digital calculation).

Link Lifetime Value

In personal finance, a NerdWallet link provides $380 monthly traffic value or $9,120 lifetime value (24-month calculation).

A Bankrate link generates $274 monthly or $5,928 lifetime value.

In the link building industry itself, an Ahrefs link provides $38 monthly or $912 lifetime value, whilst a SEMrush link generates $78 monthly or $1,872 lifetime value.

Overall Satisfaction Despite Risks

Despite the risks and declining effectiveness, 78.1% of SEOs report satisfying ROI from link building efforts regardless of methodology.

69% of marketers specifically said buying links positively impacted rankings for “very difficult keywords.”

For context on how these links contribute to overall ranking potential, see our comprehensive analysis of how many backlinks to rank on Google and ChatGPT.

The Massive Link Networks That Google Destroyed

BuildMyRank (Shut Down March 19, 2012)

Operated one of the largest and most successful private blog networks before Google deindexed the “overwhelming majority” of their entire network on March 19, 2012.

Unlike typical low-quality PBNs, BuildMyRank required unique, human-readable content and operated high PageRank blogs.

They immediately shut down operations and issued refunds, stating: “In our wildest dreams, there’s no way we could have imagined this happening.”

Thousands of websites relying on BuildMyRank lost all link value overnight in what was a manual review action, not algorithmic.

MyBlogGuest (Shut Down March 19, 2014)

Represented the largest guest blogging network with 73,000+ users and an average of 256 articles posted daily when Matt Cutts announced via Twitter on March 19, 2014: “Today we took action on a large guest blog network.”

The domain was completely removed from Google’s index and no longer ranked even for its own brand name.

The platform had an open policy requiring all links be DOFOLLOW with no nofollow allowed—users were blocked if they used nofollow links.

Hundreds of publishers received “Unnatural links from your site” warnings in Google Webmaster Tools following the takedown.

Owner Ann Smarty refused to change the nofollow policy and accused Google of “PR tactics to get more people scared.”

This case established that even “white hat” guest posting networks could face penalties if explicitly used for link building at scale.

The March 2012 Crackdown

The broader March 2012 crackdown also hit ALN (Article Link Network) and other major link-building services in a coordinated manual review effort that preceded the first Penguin algorithm update by just one month.

This suggested Google tested manual actions before deploying algorithmic solutions.

Where Backlinks Are Actually Bought: The Marketplaces

European Platforms Operate Openly

European marketplaces dominate the supply side with platforms operating openly…

PRNews.io leads with 107,000+ websites in its marketplace, offering placements from $10 to $50,000+ for sites like CNET.

WhitePress offers 100,000+ websites across 100 countries in 30+ languages (founded 2013 in Poland).

ImpulsQ maintains 250,000+ websites in its database with 1,000 new pages added weekly.

Collaborator.pro features 37,000+ sites with 6,000+ verified through actual Google Analytics data and 3,500+ verified through Search Console.

GuestPostLinks offers ~30,000 publisher sites with powerful filtering by DA, traffic, language, and price.

Adsy features 100K+ platforms with automated content checking, whilst ReputePost provides 73,587+ websites from 7,000+ publishers.

Fiverr Represents Mass-Market Low Quality

Fiverr represents the mass-market low-quality end with 3.9 million active buyers in 2024 and 255,000 active sellers (2019 data).

The platform generated $1.135 billion GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) in 2023, with 57% from North America.

Average buyers spend $278 on the platform.

However, experiments buying 90,000 backlinks for $10 resulted in zero positive SEO impact—just spam comments on unrelated sites with no ranking improvement.

Outsourcing Patterns

56% outsource at least part of their link building (Editorial.Link 2025), though BuzzStream’s 2025 survey found 61% manage entirely in-house with 30% doing a mixed approach.

Only 30% of those using agencies report feeling “fully confident” in results.

Tool preferences show Ahrefs dominates at 64.6% usage, followed by Semrush at 24.8% and Moz at 11.6%.

For email finding, Hunter.io leads at 37.2% adoption.

Small Business Versus Enterprise Link Buying Patterns

Budget Differences

Small businesses spend $1,500-$3,000 monthly on link building campaigns, whilst enterprises invest $10,000-$15,000+ monthly on average.

A 3-5x difference.

Yet only 49% of small businesses invest in SEO at all (Manifest survey of 500 small businesses), and shockingly, only 9% consider backlinks important despite 50% tracking backlink quantity and quality.

This knowledge gap represents a significant missed opportunity, as 76% of mobile local searches lead to store visits within 24 hours.

Enterprise Challenges

41% cite link building as their most challenging SEO aspect (Lumar survey of 200+ digital leaders at companies with 10,000+ URLs), and 60% struggle with executing SEO at scale.

31% of enterprises use specialised link-building agencies compared to lower rates for SMBs.

21% of agency clients operate at enterprise scale, with 8% having monthly budgets exceeding $10,000.

Local Business Efficiency Advantage

Local businesses achieve results with just 20-30 quality links versus national brands needing thousands, representing a 3-4x cost advantage.

Average local link costs run $150-$400 compared to $500-$1,500 for national-level placements.

This efficiency advantage partially offsets smaller budgets, allowing local businesses to compete effectively in geographically constrained markets.

The Budget Allocation Paradox

53% allocate 25% or less of SEO budgets to link acquisition, yet 64% report that over 25% of their SEO work involves securing links.

This suggests systematic undervaluing and underpricing of link-building effort across the industry.

Alternative Signals Suggesting Widespread Link Manipulation

The Scarcity of Natural Backlinks

95% of all web pages have zero backlinks according to Ahrefs’ analysis of billions of pages.

More precisely, 96.55% of content gets no traffic from Google (Ahrefs study of 14 billion pages), and only 0.015% of pages without backlinks (2,997 out of 20 million) achieve 1,000+ monthly visits.

This extreme scarcity makes backlinks essential for commercial success, creating powerful incentive for manipulation.

Reciprocal Linking Prevalence

Among sites that do have backlinks, 43.7% of top-ranking pages utilise reciprocal links (Ahrefs), and 66% of sites with any backlinks engage in reciprocal linking strategies.

This prevalence of exchanges makes purely natural link profiles extraordinarily rare.

Massive Link Decay Rates

66.5% of links to websites since 2013 are dead/rotted (Ahrefs analysis of 174.3 million links pointing to 2,062,173 websites), and 74.5% of links are “lost” when including temporary errors.

Natural, high-quality links should persist; the massive decay rate suggests many were low-quality manipulative placements on unstable sites.

30% of social media links die within 2 years specifically.

Domain Authority Manipulation

Ahrefs DR and Moz DA can be inflated to 50+ for just $15-$100 according to Xamsor experiments (2024).

The average range across authority metrics for the same domain spans 26 points on a 0-100 scale, indicating wildly inconsistent measurement.

SEMrush discovered 6.93 million links for 107 test sites whilst Ahrefs found only 2.43 million for the same sites—a 2.85x difference suggesting many links are low-quality or temporary placements that not all crawlers detect.

How Link Buying Behaviour Changed From 2016 to 2025

The Cost Evolution

Link buying costs increased 184% from $352.92 in 2016 to $1,000+ in 2024.

The steepest single-year increase occurred in 2020 (27.72% jump to $500) likely driven by COVID-19 digital transformation.

The “acceptable cost” for quality links surged even more dramatically from $83 in 2022-2023 to $508.95 in 2025—a 512% increase in just 2-3 years.

This reflects dramatically higher quality expectations and tightening supply of legitimate placement opportunities.

Penguin 4.0: The Critical Turning Point

Google’s Penguin 4.0 (September 2016) marked the critical turning point in the link buying market.

The update shifted from penalising sites to simply devaluing bad links, made the algorithm real-time (no more waiting months for updates), and operated at page-level rather than site-wide.

This fundamentally altered the risk calculation—before Penguin 4.0, bad links could destroy entire sites; after, they simply wasted money.

The result: gradual return to link buying from 2016-2019, then mainstream acceptance by 2020-2025, with 74% now participating.

Seasonal Patterns Remained Stable

Reddico’s analysis of 22,000+ links built from 2015-2023 found November consistently delivers 45-50% above average performance, whilst December drops 40-50% below average due to holiday closures.

July represents the lowest summer month at 25% below average, with the entire June-August period showing 20-35% declines.

The 90-day conversion window—where 80% of links acquired in any month result from outreach in the previous quarter—remained constant across all years.

Digital PR’s Recent Rise

Digital PR emerged as the dominant tactic only recently: 48.6% rated it most effective in 2025, up from 67.3% adoption in 2024.

This represents a fundamental shift from traditional guest posting, which despite 64.9% usage rates only 16% as most effective.

The rise of AI tools accelerated this transformation—86% of marketing professionals now use AI SEO tools, with 44.2% employing AI in link-building efforts specifically.

Those using social media plus AI build 22% more links than those without.

For comprehensive statistics on broader link building trends in 2025, the data shows continued market growth despite increasing detection capabilities.

What This Means for the Future of Link Building

Continued Price Increases Predicted

80.9% predict link building costs will rise over the next 2-3 years, driven by increased competition, declining guest post quality, and growing journalist inbox saturation.

Budget planning should account for 15-25% annual cost increases for maintaining competitive link acquisition rates.

Quality Has Definitively Defeated Quantity

93.8% of link builders now prioritise quality over relevance over raw link volume, marking a total reversal from practices even five years ago.

Minimum quality standards continue rising as Google’s algorithms become more sophisticated at detecting manipulative patterns.

Sites below DR 30 will struggle to provide meaningful ranking impact, whilst relevance and topical authority increasingly override pure domain metrics.

The Paradox Persists

The backlink purchasing industry exists in a paradoxical state: officially prohibited by Google, yet practiced by 74% of professionals and generating billions in annual revenue.

The massive disconnect between stated behaviour (30% admit in non-anonymous surveys) and actual behaviour (74% admit anonymously, 92% believe competitors do it) reveals an industry-wide conspiracy of silence where everyone participates whilst publicly denying it.

Enforcement Remains Inconsistent

The shift from Penguin 3.0 (penalties) to Penguin 4.0 (devaluation) changed incentives fundamentally—now the worst outcome is wasted money rather than site destruction, making sophisticated paid links a rational business decision for competitive industries.

The documented cases of major companies like J.C. Penney, Overstock, and Expedia losing 25-86% of traffic and suffering $30 million+ market cap losses demonstrate real enforcement exists.

Yet these penalties occurred primarily 2011-2014 during the “penalty years,” with few recent high-profile cases.

The Bottom Line

The data reveals an uncomfortable truth: 70-75% of active link builders purchase backlinks despite Google’s explicit prohibition against the practice.

The $1.3 billion backlink checker tool market (heading to $4.2 billion by 2033) represents just the tip of an iceberg, with the broader link building services market sitting at approximately $20-23 billion currently.

Average costs have skyrocketed 512% from $83 to $508.95 for quality links in just 2-3 years, whilst effectiveness data shows only 6.6% of sites that bought links post-March 2024 experienced positive traffic trends.

The 64.3 percentage point confession gap—where 92% believe competitors buy links but only 30% admit it publicly—reveals an industry-wide conspiracy of silence.

For Australian businesses navigating this landscape, the data suggests a clear path forward: focus on legitimate digital PR and high-quality editorial placements rather than bulk guest posting or low-quality link schemes.

The 29% site mortality rate for link sellers within ten months proves that shortcuts don’t work long-term.

Quality backlinks from sustainable, authoritative sources remain valuable… but the days of cheap, effective link buying are definitively over.

Your Next Steps

Ready to build a link acquisition strategy that works with Google’s guidelines rather than against them?

1. Book a strategy session – Get a comprehensive backlink audit and personalised roadmap
2. Focus on quality over quantity – One DR 60+ editorial link beats 100 directory submissions
3. Invest in legitimate digital PR – The 48.6% effectiveness rating reflects real results
4. Build for the long term – Sustainable link building compounds over 12-24 months

We’ve helped 150+ Australian businesses navigate this landscape whilst maintaining white-hat practices that don’t risk penalties.

Our approach combines ethical link building with cutting-edge content strategies that earn links naturally.

Let’s build your sustainable link strategy →

Sources and References

1. Authority Hacker. (2024). “71 Link Building Statistics [Improve Your 2025 SEO Strategy].” Anonymous survey of 755 professional link builders.

2. Editorial.Link. (2025). “Link Building Statistics 2025: Insights From 500+ Industry Experts.” Survey of 518 SEO professionals.

3. Ahrefs. (2024). “124 SEO Statistics for 2024.” Analysis of 35 trillion backlinks database.

4. BuzzStream. (2025). “70 Link Building Statistics (Based on Reports from 2025).” Industry survey data.

5. BuzzStream. (2025). “Link Building Pricing in 2025 (Statistics and Analysis).” Analysis of 26,632 guest post sites.

6. Backlinko. (2024). “We Analyzed 11.8 Million Google Search Results: What We Learned About SEO.” Brian Dean research.

7. KeyStar Agency. (2024). “Google Penalty Statistics 2025.” Penalty frequency and recovery analysis.

8. CognitiveSEO. (2024). “Toxic Backlinks Study: Analysis of 100,000+ Links from 8,000 Websites.”

9. Precedence Research. (2024). “SEO Software Market Size, Share, and Trends 2024 to 2034.”

10. Data Horizon Research. (2023). “Backlink Checker Tools Market Size and Forecast 2023-2033.”

11. Aira. (2024). “The State of Link Building 2024.” Survey of 270 SEO professionals.

12. Moz. (2024). “Local Search Ranking Factors 2024.” Industry research on local SEO signals.

13. The New York Times. (2011). “The Dirty Little Secrets of Search.” J.C. Penney penalty investigation.

14. Search Engine Land. (2011). “Google Penalizes Overstock.com for Paid Links in Educational Link Scheme.”

15. Reddico. (2024). “Best Time to Build Links: Seasonal Patterns Analysis.” Study of 22,000+ links from 2015-2023.

16. Lumar. (2024). “State of SEO 2024.” Survey of 200+ digital leaders at enterprise companies.

17. The Manifest. (2024). “Small Business SEO Statistics.” Survey of 500 small businesses.

18. BrightLocal. (2024). “Local Consumer Review Survey.” Annual research on local search behaviour.

19. Search Engine Land. (2024). “Google March 2024 Core Update: 45-Day Rollout Analysis.”

20. WhitePress. (2024). “Marketplace Statistics.” 100,000+ websites across 100 countries.

Note: All pricing and statistical data verified as of September-October 2025. Market conditions evolve continuously—regular monitoring and adaptation remain essential for sustained success in ethical link building practices.