1,000 and 1 Days in the Life of a Paid Link Strategy

What a Thanksgiving turkey and buying backlinks have in common

For the purposes of this article, paid linkbuilding or “buying links” refers to outsourced linkbuilding to unvetted SEO contractors or agencies in exchange for an agreed-upon number of links on a monthly or quarterly basis. While there are a handful of trustworthy SEO and digital PR agencies that will work closely with you to build sound content creation and promotion campaigns designed to drive high-quality coverage, unfortunately, they are few and far between (and they’ll cost you).

Who is this article for?

If you’re paying for links because someone—an SEO, agency, or employee— convinced you to do so, or you’ve joined a team that runs a paid link operation and you need help convincing them to reevaluate their strategy, I’m talking to you.

A Simple Case for Moving Beyond Paid Links

In honor of Thanksgiving, I want to share a parable from Nassim Taleb’s book The Black Swan entitled “the life of a Thanksgiving turkey”. In case you aren’t familiar, the short version is that everything is going exceptionally well for the Thanksgiving turkey…until it is suddenly not. Ironically, the turkey’s feelings of safety are at their highest when its risk of demise is at its maximum.

This could be your website on paid links.

Compare the fate of the turkey to that of your organic search traffic. Paid linkbuilding will likely buy you temporary performance, but it also introduces hidden risks that could take you to zero. If organic is one of your primary traffic sources, we’re talking about a risk of ruin that will take months or years to recover from (with the help of expensive consultants). Don’t let your traffic fall victim to the same fate as the Thanksgiving turkey.

Here’s a site [with an extremely spammy link profile] that was on a high growth trajectory, got hit with a brutal penalty, plateaued, and is now approaching zero.

Who am I to tell you this?

After fourteen years of leading digital PR and linkbuilding functions for major digital media companies, I have both earned and paid for hundreds of thousands of links. I spent a year building paid links myself, celebrating incredible site performance, followed by two years of frustrating, relentless damage control. Some sites survived; some didn’t.

I learned the hard way that strategic, well-executed digital PR and linkbuilding programs are worth the investment; they positively impact everything from website traffic, to owned audience development, to social and community engagement, and brand awareness.

The Risk is Real

Yes, I can admit that paying for links can work. However, it isn’t optimal and puts your traffic at serious risk. Sites that accept payment for links are not discerning. They often link to low-quality sites that aren’t willing to create good content to earn links, including competitors. These links are not unique nor are they in good company. They are easily detected and devalued/penalized.

The best case scenario is that Google ignores or devalues paid links*; at worst, they could be perceived as part of a manipulative linking scheme, subjecting your site to manual or algorithmic penalty. And don’t forget that anyone—hi, competitors—can report suspected paid links.

* Google ranking algorithms ignore paid links: Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst @ 13:55

Quantity vs. Quality Issues

Most of the time, your link builder will have a lower link quality standard to support quantity goals. While there is a proven correlation between rankings and link quantity, one authoritative link has a greater impact than 20 low-authority links*. Google PageRank and Domain Authority /Domain Rating use a logarithmic scale to determine domain authority, therefore the impact of a link on rankings from a DR 70 is exponentially greater than the one from a DR 20. Keep this in mind as you evaluate the quality of links built from by agency, if you choose to continue on that path.

*Google’s stance on quantity vs. quality: 27:07

The Truth about Syndication

You should also be aware that your agency will likely count syndicated links in their link reports (i.e. they built one link but claimed they earned 25). While that’s deceptive in and of itself, there is a common misconception that syndicated links pass link equity and positively influence rankings*. In my experience, syndicated links have minimal impact on rankings. However, the distribution can be great for brand exposure. The increase in brand credibility might result in a higher CTR in the SERPs and a greater success rate with media outreach.

Point being: there is nothing wrong with pursuing a content syndication strategy to extend the reach of your content and build brand awareness (in fact, I recommend it!); just don’t let anyone tell you that the syndicated links hold equal value to uniquely earned coverage.

*John Mueller on automatically generated links

My Hot Take

Fully outsourcing the construction and maintenance of your backlink profile is wreckless. I strongly believe that quality-driven linkbuilding strategies, when combined with consistent formula-based content creation and promotion, help to create a flywheel effect, driving natural and sustainable growth. It’s hard to find an agency who can do that with as much care for your website, brand, and business as you and your team.

This is all great, but where do I go from here?

Here Are Your Options:

1. Continue to pay for links. It can be a viable path, but don’t go into it blindly. Know the risks, and be okay with it.
2. Find a trusted consultant or agency who knows what they’re doing to help you earn links the right way (I recommend Siege Media, Shift 6, or myself). Link building/outreach/digital PR agencies can be difficult to vet. If you’ve ever used poor or ineffective SEO services, you know it’s hard to tell what is real from what just sounds good.
3. Build the linkbuilding capacity in-house. Yes, it’s possible to start building consistent, high-impact links to your site with fewer resources. To get started:
   • You or a member of your team can use services like Qwoted or JournoFinder to secure quotes and brand mentions for your company within your area of expertise.
   • Hire an intern or entry-level marketer to create and promote authoritative, highly linkable content on a regular cadence.
   • Employ a passive linkbuilding strategy that allows informational content to rank quickly, earn featured snippets, and become a quick [linkworthy] source for journalists looking to access FAQs, stats, and facts about your industry.

Side note: SEO Traction’s upcoming SEO course includes an entire module on building authority, with linkbuilding strategies designed to be manageable for SaaS founders and marketing leaders with fewer resources. Let us help you pivot to an organic, user-focused, PR-minded SEO strategy that drives rankings, builds authority, and protects your long-term brand integrity.

Happy Thanksgiving! Please, don’t let your site become the Thanksgiving turkey.

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