{"id":92775,"date":"2022-11-15T11:04:06","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T11:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/?p=92775"},"modified":"2024-01-02T16:43:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T16:43:03","slug":"link-building-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\/link-building-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey Of 755 Link Builders Shows What Works In 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Google recently came on record saying that links may be less important in the future<\/a> than they are today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while this is an interesting point for futurologists, it’s also an admission that links still play a MAJOR role when it comes to your site ranking on top of the #1 search engine today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, they’re probably still the main ranking factor<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the link building & creation process is still somewhat of a murky topic due to Google’s vague & punitive Webmaster guidelines on the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we decided to anonymously survey 755 professional link builders on how they build links, what works best \/ worst for them, and what it really takes to make link building work for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Key Takeaways From The Survey<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a summary of the most interesting findings and key statistics:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/span>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\n

About 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

\"distribution<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Site 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

\"distribution<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This 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

\"percentage<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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