74.3% of link builders pay for links.<\/strong> We knew this number would be high, but didn\u2019t expect it to be this high.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>We broke down the specific amount being paid and found that the average cost of a paid link is $83<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>However, when comparing those who pay for links vs those who don\u2019t, we found that paying for links yields only an extra 2 links per month<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>In-house SEOs pay 75% more for links than niche site owners. <\/strong>Nobody seems to have a problem spending other people\u2019s money.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>Looking at all links, when salaries are factored in, we found that experienced link builders can build links 41% cheaper<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>It takes an average of 3.1 months to see the impact of a link on search ranking<\/strong>, with very few saying it takes longer than 6 months or less than 1 month.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>Guest posting is, by far, the most popular link building tactic. <\/strong>This is somewhat contradictory to the point that the same people said creating content or linkable assets is the most effective link building tactic<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>Google has told us that nofollow is a hint, not a rule. Our participants agreed as 89.1% of link builders say nofollow links have an impact on rankings<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>Looking for a way to boost your results? Are you using social media for outreach? Link builders using social media build 22% more links than those who don\u2019t.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\nAbout This Survey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n We surveyed 755 link builders. 525 of them were niche site owners, with agencies, freelancers, and in-house SEOs making up the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nSite owners are the primary audience here at Authority Hacker. We cross-referenced the background of participants against answers to most of the questions, and that generated some surprising insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also asked participants about their link building experience. There was an almost even split across all experience levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis allowed us to cross reference experience with questions such as link building output, tactics and measurements of success. Throughout the survey, we consistently found that the most experienced link builders behaved very differently. We\u2019ll be sharing all these findings with you in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to our survey of 755 link builders, agencies had the most experienced link builders. This was almost double as much as other types of businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nExperienced Link Builders Can Build 3.57X as Many Links as Beginners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Link builders with more experience build more links. Nobody is going to be shocked by this revelation. What did surprise though, was the rate at which this gap increased as link builders gained more experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nLink builders with less than a year of experience build, on average, just 7 links per month. Many businesses like to hire link builders with no experience and train them up. This graph shows that looking for more experienced link builders may actually be a better solution these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Link builders with 5+ years of experience built 67% more links than those with just 2-5 years under their belt. This surprised us a lot. It\u2019s a huge gap and shows the value of working with very experienced link builders, the majority of whom work for agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nExperienced Link Builders Are 49% Cheaper on a Cost per Link Basis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n We cross-referenced data from link builder salaries with our data from the survey. This allowed us to work out a cost per link of hiring more or less experienced link builders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nExperienced link builders get paid around double the salary of junior link builders. Yet they deliver 3-4 times as many links. This results in a lower cost per link when hiring experienced link builders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/path><\/svg><\/span>Link builders with 5+ years of experience deliver links that are 41% cheaper on a cost-per-link basis than those from their less experienced counterparts<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/path><\/svg><\/span>Tweet this quote<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nCheck out our podcast on hiring Link Builders<\/a> to learn more about how to recruit the best talent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Survey Limitation:<\/strong> These numbers don\u2019t take into account link quality, though it\u2019s logical to assume that more experienced link builders can build better links. If true, this would only compound our finding that experienced link builders represent the best value for money.<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n \n\n\n\n74.3% Of Link Builders Pay for Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Most link builders now pay for links. Despite Google\u2019s guidelines, it\u2019s clear that most link builders still believe paid links to be effective. That is why three quarters report paying for links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe reality of the market in competitive niches is that you have to be open to paid links, or you lose out. Having tried it out ourselves on a couple of our other sites, they do work. You just have to be careful of paying for the wrong type of link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a growing number of \u2018link farms\u2019, which don\u2019t provide much SEO value but are still happy to sell you a link. These are difficult to spot, especially for less experienced link builders. We covered link farms<\/a> recently on our podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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