Backlinks are crucial for validating your website’s authority and significantly improving organic traffic.
However, link building is often seen as a complex and time-consuming process. Many website owners and SEO professionals find it challenging to justify the extensive resources required for effective Link Building Services.
I’ve personally encountered numerous pitfalls in my link building efforts, but you don’t have to repeat those mistakes.
Are you looking for high-quality backlinks but find yourself too occupied to build them yourself?
If so, you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, I will outline 7 link building services that are proven to be effective in 2025.
Link building services are designed to save you time and allow you to concentrate on other critical tasks by implementing link building strategies that secure valuable links from relevant, high-authority domains.
Important Note: Always prioritize quality over quantity in your link building strategy. Low-quality or toxic backlinks can negatively impact your SEO and harm your domain authority, potentially leading to Google penalties, which can be difficult to recover from.
Let’s begin by identifying link building services you should avoid to protect your search rankings and avoid potential penalties.
First, 5 Link Building Services To Avoid At All Costs
Throughout my years of experience testing over 25 different SEO service providers, I’ve learned valuable lessons. Many services simply did not deliver the promised results.
(This experience motivated me to delve deeper and learn SEO strategies myself. But that’s a story for another time. 🙂 )
It’s clear that some backlink services are ineffective and can even be detrimental. Before I recommend the best options, let’s review the types of services you should definitely avoid.
Anything on Fiverr/Cheap Options
When it comes to SEO, services offered on platforms like Fiverr are often a poor investment.
The adage “you get what you pay for” certainly holds true, especially in SEO.
From personal experience, having purchased 855 gigs on Fiverr, I can attest to this.
Fiverr – Completed orders
While not all of these gigs were SEO-related, a significant portion were.
Looking back, many of the SEO-focused gigs I purchased resembled this:
Fiverr link building gig
While some of these services might have been marginally effective in the past, in today’s SEO landscape, particularly in 2025, they are largely ineffective and can even be harmful.
Let’s move on to the next category of services to avoid.
Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
Early in my SEO journey, I was drawn to the concept of private blog networks (PBNs).
I even went as far as building my own PBN and purchasing links from other PBNs.
PBN seller
PBNs were somewhat effective up until around 2017, when Google began to aggressively crack down on these networks.
Seroundtable – Google algorithm update targets PBN
Currently, Google’s algorithm is sophisticated enough to filter out the majority of backlinks originating from PBNs.
Furthermore, Google actively deindexes entire PBNs that are detected. This action renders any links you’ve acquired from these networks completely worthless.
It’s crucial to avoid PBNs entirely if you’re serious about sustainable SEO.
Paid Guest Posts
Guest posting, when executed correctly, can be a valuable component of a white hat SEO strategy.
(More details on effective guest posting strategies will follow.)
However, paying for guest post placements is a practice you should steer clear of.
There are two primary reasons for this:
Firstly, websites that demand payment for guest posts are often of questionable quality.
Consider this: would a reputable site like TechCrunch or Forbes charge you a fee to publish your content?
Certainly not.
Secondly, purchasing links through paid guest posts violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines regarding link building.
Google Search Central – Link schemes
Engaging in paid guest post “placements” or “editorial reviews” can lead to your site incurring penalties from search engines.
This leads us to the next category of ineffective link building methods: “push-button” backlinks.
“Push Button” Backlinks
These are often marketed as easy, scalable solutions, but in reality, they are detrimental to your SEO. Examples include:
- Blog comments (spam comments)
- Article directories
- Web 2.0 sites (low-quality profile links)
- Directories (generic, low-value directories)
Essentially, if a service promises hundreds or thousands of backlinks with minimal effort, you’re likely dealing with spammy links.
These spammy links can severely harm your website’s SEO, doing far more damage than good.
It’s advisable to avoid most “link building packages” that promise quick and easy results.
Finally, let’s discuss press releases in the context of link building.
Press Releases
In the past, press releases were a surprisingly effective method for link building.
Unfortunately, those days are long gone.
Despite this, many services still promote “press release distribution” as a viable SEO link building tactic.
Melbourne SEO services – Press release service
Currently, the vast majority of links included in press releases are nofollowed.
Globe News Wire – News release – Nofollow link
Moreover, Google has explicitly stated that they essentially ignore links from press releases for ranking purposes.
Seroundtable – Google ignores press release links
Negative SEO links
Negative SEO encompasses harmful actions intended to decrease a competitor’s organic traffic and search engine rankings. These tactics can include website hacking, spamming a site with toxic backlinks, and content theft.
While these practices are unethical and harmful, website owners should adhere to Google’s webmaster guidelines to mitigate the impact of any negative SEO attacks.
Regularly conduct a backlink audit of your site to identify and disavow any toxic backlinks. Detecting negative SEO links can be challenging if your backlink profile already contains unnatural or spammy links.
Now that we’ve covered what to avoid, let’s move on to the effective and recommended link building services for 2025.
7 Link Building Services That Deliver Results in 2025
1. Featured (Formerly HARO)
What It Is:
Featured, previously known as HARO (Help A Reporter Out), is a platform designed to connect subject matter experts with journalists and publishers seeking sources for their content. This facilitates the creation of high-quality, publish-ready Q&A content.
Featured homepage
By serving as a source for a journalist’s story through Featured, you have the opportunity to earn a valuable backlink to your website.
How it works:
The first step is to register as a source on the Featured platform.
Featured registration
Upon registration, you gain access to a dashboard that displays “Questions,” or queries from journalists.
Featured examples
These questions are requests for quotes, statistics, insights, or case studies that journalists need to complete their articles.
To participate, you simply respond to relevant queries with useful information.
Brian – HARO reply
If your response is selected for inclusion in the article, you are likely to receive a backlink.
Cost:
Featured offers several pricing plans, including a free option and paid plans ranging up to $199 per month.
Featured pricing
For occasional participation and responding to queries, the free plan can be sufficient.
However, if you are seriously pursuing placements and backlinks, investing in one of their paid plans is advisable.
Paid plans come with enhanced features such as early access to queries, unlimited answers, editorial support, and domain rating filters, which can significantly increase your chances of success.
Pros:
- High-Quality Backlinks: Featured can help you secure exceptional backlinks from prominent news websites and authoritative blogs. For instance, I obtained a backlink from Entrepreneur (Domain Authority 92) through a HARO query.
Entrepreneur – Backlinko mention
- Cost-Effective: Compared to many other backlink SEO services, Featured is very affordable, especially the free plan.
- Legitimate Links: The backlinks acquired through Featured are primarily from reputable websites, minimizing the risk of black hat SEO tactics or Google penalties.
- Quick Start: You can begin using Featured and responding to queries almost immediately.
Cons:
- Time-Intensive: Responding to Featured queries effectively requires consistent effort. To maximize your chances of being featured on high-profile sites, you need to monitor queries regularly and respond promptly.
- Hands-on Approach: Featured is not a “set it and forget it” service. It demands active participation and effort from you or your team.
- Homepage Links: Most links obtained through Featured tend to point to your homepage, like this example from Forbes.
Forbes homepage backlink
This makes it less effective for building direct links to internal pages such as service pages or blog posts.
2. Digital PR Agency
What It Is:
A Digital PR Agency specializes in enhancing your company’s visibility and securing mentions in relevant media outlets.
How it works:
Digital PR agencies typically collaborate with you to develop a compelling, newsworthy story that can be pitched to media contacts. This story could highlight a new product launch (if it’s sufficiently innovative), or feature unique content published on your site, such as an industry report or study.
Cost:
Most Digital PR agencies operate on a monthly retainer basis.
For agencies working with small to medium-sized businesses, monthly retainers can range from $2,000 to $15,000.
Further Reading: Top Digital PR Agencies
However, some PR professionals offer project-based packages, such as press kit creation and distribution.
Press kit PR package
Pros:
- High-Authority Backlinks: A successful Digital PR campaign can result in very high-quality backlinks from well-known and respected websites, such as Forbes or Fast Company.
- Full-Service Execution: PR agencies manage the entire process, including the often tedious task of pitching journalists, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.
- Established Media Network: Reputable PR firms have existing relationships with journalists and editors at major publications, which they can leverage to secure media coverage.
Cons:
- Link Focus Varies: The primary goal of most PR firms is media mentions, not necessarily backlinks. You might achieve a “mention” or “placement” on a major site, but it may not include a direct link to your website.
Backlinko mention in article
- Unpredictable Outcomes: PR outcomes can be uncertain. A campaign might be highly successful, or it could yield minimal results, perhaps only a single link from a less influential website.
- High Cost: Public relations services are typically expensive. PR firms generally charge significantly more than SEO agencies, often 2-3 times higher.
Looking for a more budget-friendly option?
You can learn the strategies of Digital PR through courses like Mastering Digital PR Course, which provides a detailed understanding of effective digital PR techniques.
3. Content Marketing Agencies
What It Is:
Content Marketing Agencies are agencies that specialize in creating and distributing content for your company’s blog and other platforms.
How it works:
Content marketing agencies typically operate under two primary models:
#1: Monthly Retainer: You pay the agency a recurring monthly fee, and they commit to delivering a set quantity of content each month. This content can range from several shorter blog posts (around 500 words each) to in-depth, high-value pieces like long-form definitive guides (e.g., 4,000+ words).
#2: Per-Piece Fee: You agree to a fixed price for each piece of content. For example, you might pay a set fee, like $2,000, for a single, comprehensive long-form blog post.
Cost:
The cost of content marketing services varies widely.
However, most content marketing agencies have minimum monthly fees starting around $1,000. Depending on the scope and quality of content, these costs can escalate to $20,000+ per month.
Fixture Media – Coverage program
It’s generally true that you get what you pay for. If your budget is limited to $500 for five blog posts, you should not expect exceptional quality or highly effective content.
Therefore, it’s often more beneficial to work with agencies that prioritize quality over quantity, ensuring a better return on your investment.
Pros:
- Effective Link Building: Content marketing can be exceptionally effective for link building. Most of the backlinks to my blog have been generated organically by publishing high-quality, valuable content.
Backlink Checker – Backlinko
- White Hat Approach: This is a purely white hat SEO strategy. You avoid the risks associated with black hat techniques that could lead to penalties in the long run.
- Additional Benefits: Publishing excellent content offers numerous “bonus” benefits, such as increased traffic from social media, enhanced brand awareness, and improved audience engagement.
Cons:
- Content Focus vs. SEO Focus: Content marketing services are not always SEO-focused. If you need help with keyword research or on-page SEO optimization, you might need to seek additional SEO services.
- Variable Content Quality: Some content marketing agencies produce mediocre, generic content. To attract links, your content needs to be truly outstanding and provide unique value. Be wary of agencies offering packages that promise a high volume of content at a low cost, as quality often suffers.
- Promotion May Not Be Included: Your content marketing fee may or may not include content promotion. If promotion isn’t included, you will need to handle content distribution and outreach yourself to maximize its impact and link acquisition potential.
4. Blogger Outreach Services
What It Is:
Blogger Outreach Services are provided by individuals or agencies that specialize in promoting your content through manual link building and direct blogger outreach.
How it works:
These services handle the labor-intensive process of identifying relevant bloggers, finding their contact information, initiating contact, and managing follow-ups.
Some agencies also offer access to their existing network of bloggers and editors, which can expedite the outreach process.
Cost:
Most blogger outreach-focused link building agencies charge a flat fee for each link successfully secured.
Typically, you can expect to pay around $200 for a single, high-quality backlink.
Blogger outreach fees
However, some link building providers may charge a monthly retainer or an hourly rate.
Pros:
- Link-Focused Service: If your primary goal is to acquire backlinks, blogger outreach services are a direct and effective solution.
- White Hat Technique: Email outreach to bloggers is a white hat link building approach, provided it’s conducted ethically and avoids spamming.
- Quality, Contextual Links: Blogger outreach aims to secure contextual links from relevant websites, which are highly valued by search engines like Google. These are considered strong, “solid gold” links.
- Pay-for-Performance: You typically only pay for results, i.e., for each link acquired. While a cost of $200 per link might seem high, you are paying for a tangible outcome. Many SEO and content agencies do not offer such direct guarantees.
Cons:
- Limited SEO Scope: Most dedicated link building companies, like FatJoe, do not offer comprehensive SEO services. If you need a broader SEO strategy, this might not be a complete solution.
- Potential for Shady Practices: Some less reputable providers might add your link to low-quality PBN sites and falsely present them as outreach placements. It’s crucial to thoroughly inspect the sources of your links to ensure they are from legitimate, relevant websites.
- Content Prerequisite: You need to have high-quality content on your website before starting blogger outreach. Bloggers are unlikely to link to low-quality or uninteresting content.
5. SEO Agency
What It Is:
An SEO Agency is a full-service agency that manages all aspects of your search engine optimization, including link building as a core component.
How it works:
When you hire an SEO agency, they take responsibility for optimizing your website for search engines. This typically includes a range of services, with link building being an integral part of their strategy.
Cost:
The cost of SEO agency services is highly variable.
You can find budget-friendly SEO agencies offering services for as low as $200 per month.
200/month agency
Alternatively, agencies that cater to Fortune 500 companies can charge upwards of $20,000 to $50,000 per month.
However, the majority of SEO agencies charge between $500 and $5,000 per month.
Pros:
- Comprehensive Service: SEO agencies handle all aspects of SEO. You don’t need to worry about content creation, keyword research, or technical SEO. You simply engage the agency and they manage the process.
- SEO-Goal Alignment: Agencies align their work with your overall SEO goals. For example, they might create content specifically designed to attract links and ensure it’s optimized for your target keywords.
Cons:
- Inconsistent Quality: The quality of SEO agencies can vary significantly. Many agencies offer basic optimization services but may not deliver substantial results in terms of high-quality content and impactful link building.
- Link Building Focus Diluted: While most SEO agencies include link building, it’s just one component of their overall service. They also focus on other critical SEO aspects like mobile optimization and content strategy. This means only a portion of your budget is directly allocated to link building.
6. Guest Posting Services
What It Is:
Guest Posting Services involve hiring an agency to create and publish guest posts on relevant websites on your behalf, with the primary aim of securing a backlink to your site.
How it works:
Guest post services manage the numerous steps involved in guest blogging: identifying websites that accept guest posts, pitching content ideas, communicating with editors, writing the guest post, and ultimately getting it published.
This is a time-consuming and often complex process that these services streamline.
Cost:
Most guest post services charge a flat fee per guest post published, typically ranging from $100 to $500, depending on the Domain Authority (DA) of the target website. For example, The Hoth charges $200 for a guest post on a site with a DA of 30.
The Hoth – Guest post link
Pros:
- Legitimate Links (to a degree): You obtain links that are generally considered legitimate. While Google discourages “large-scale” guest posting for links, publishing guest posts on relevant, high-quality sites is generally safe and can positively impact your rankings.
- Referral Traffic Potential: A guest post on a prominent site in your niche can drive significant referral traffic to your website. For example, a guest post on the Buffer blog resulted in a noticeable spike in website traffic.
Guest post traffic
- Pay-Per-Link Model: Similar to outreach services, you typically pay only when a guest post is successfully published and includes a link back to your site.
Cons:
- Risk of Low-Quality Guest Posts: There’s a risk of “fake” guest posts, where some services might publish poorly written content on low-quality sites or even PBNs.
- Scalability Limitations: Google discourages “large-scale” guest posting for link building. If guest post links constitute a large percentage of your backlink profile (e.g., over 5-10%), you could be at risk of a penalty. This approach is not highly scalable for massive link acquisition.
7. Infographic Design Company
What It Is:
An Infographic Design Company specializes in creating infographics and other forms of visual content with the goal of attracting backlinks.
How it works:
Most infographic agencies offer a full-service approach, managing the entire process from topic ideation and data research to infographic design and creation.
Infographic agency services
Alternatively, you can hire a graphic designer to specifically design an infographic based on your existing content and data.
Cost:
For a full-service infographic creation, expect to pay between $2,000 and $4,000.
Full-service infographic service
If you only need the design aspect, costs are typically in the range of $1,000 to $2,000.
Pros:
- Effective Link Building Tool: While infographics are not as novel as they once were, they remain a very effective method for generating backlinks.
- Project-Based Cost: Typically, you pay per infographic project, without monthly retainers or ongoing commitments.
- Hands-Off Approach: The process is generally hands-off for you. You don’t need to be heavily involved in the creation process once the project is initiated.
Cons:
- Promotion Usually Not Included: Most infographic services do not include content promotion. You are responsible for distributing and promoting the infographic to attract views and backlinks.
- Variable Success: The success of infographics can be unpredictable. Some may go viral and attract numerous links, while others may not gain much traction. You might need to create and promote several infographics to achieve significant link building success.
Conclusion
These are the 7 link building services that I recommend for 2025.
Each service has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, as outlined.
However, these options represent some of the most effective and reliable strategies available for building quality backlinks.
Now, I’m interested to hear about your experiences:
What has your experience been with outsourcing link building?
Have you had positive, negative, or mixed results?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
