The four kinds of link building companies
When people search for link building companies, they find very different businesses behind the same words. Some sell finished links one at a time. Some run a monthly program for you. Some sell software that you run yourself. And a newer group runs the whole process with a bot that you steer with a goal.
Each model can work. The question is what you pay for, what you can see, and who carries the risk if a link turns out to be a bad one.
- Per-link vendors. You order a link on a site of a given authority and pay a fixed price per placement. Fast to buy, hard to audit.
- Retainer agencies. A team runs outreach for you for a monthly fee. Good agencies are careful, but you mostly see a monthly report.
- Outreach software. You get a CRM for prospects and emails. Cheaper, but your team still prospects, writes, follows up and tracks.
- Autonomous bots. Software that does the agency work itself, from prospecting to live link checks, for a flat monthly fee. This is what BacklinksBot is.
How the cost models compare
Prices below come from public pricing pages and common market ranges at the time of writing. Plans change, so check each company before you buy. Agencies often charge a few hundred dollars per link, and the price climbs with the authority of the site.
| Model | Typical price | What you pay for | What you see |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-link vendor (Loganix, Editorial.Link and similar) | About $200 to $850+ per link | Each placed link | The final URL list |
| Retainer agency | Often $3,000+ a month | Team time and a target count | A monthly report |
| Outreach software (BuzzStream, Pitchbox and similar) | From about $19 a month to $825 a month or more, sometimes with an annual term | Software seats and limits | Everything, but you do the work |
| BacklinksBot | $199, $499 or $1,499 a month, half that billed yearly | The whole process as a subscription | Every prospect, email, reply and live link on one board |
One analysis, no signup. The first five targets with DR, strategy and why they fit.
Find my link gapsWhat to check before you hire any link building company
Google's spam policies treat links made to manipulate rankings as link spam. That includes buying links that pass ranking credit, large scale guest posting with keyword anchors, and private blog networks. A company that hides how it gets links is asking you to carry that risk blind.
- Ask where the links come from. Real outreach to real sites leaves a trail of emails and replies. A fixed menu of sites with prices is a sign of a link network.
-
Ask about paid placements. If money changes hands, Google expects
rel="sponsored". A company that promises paid links will pass full ranking credit is ignoring that. - Ask for the full list. You should get every URL, anchor and rel value, not just a count.
- Be careful with guarantees. No honest company can promise a fixed number of links from sites it does not own.
- Check who sends the emails. Outreach under your brand should come from your own mailbox, with an opt-out link in every message.
Where BacklinksBot fits
BacklinksBot sits between an agency and a tool. Like an agency, it does the work. Like a tool, it shows you every step. You set a site and a goal, for example ten DR50+ links a month under a $2,000 budget. The bot finds link gaps against your competitors, picks target pages, finds public contacts, writes personalized emails and sends them from your connected mailbox.
It follows up up to two times, sorts replies, drafts answers and negotiation replies, and checks each live link on the page for anchor and rel. Then it keeps monitoring the link and alerts you if it disappears. You can read the full flow on how BacklinksBot works.
We never charge per link. If a publisher asks for a fee and you approve it, you pay the publisher directly, capped by your campaign budget, and the bot proposes rel="sponsored".
When another type of company is the better choice
Honest advice matters more than a sale. A retainer agency can be a better fit if you need a large digital PR campaign with custom research, design and press work done by people. A per-link vendor can be faster if you only need two or three placements once and accept the risk.
Outreach software makes sense if you already have a skilled outreach person and only need a CRM. BacklinksBot is built for teams that want a steady stream of earned links every month without hiring that person or paying per link. For a deeper look at the agency route, see our link building agency comparison.
How to compare companies on cost per link
The fairest way to compare is cost per live link after a few months. For a vendor, that is the per-link price. For an agency, divide the retainer by links delivered. For a subscription, divide the monthly fee plus any publisher fees you approved by the links that went live.
BacklinksBot shows this number on the pipeline board on Growth and Agency plans, so you never have to work it out by hand. Plans and limits are on the pricing page. Results depend on your niche, your content and your goals, so we do not promise a number of links. You can see which sites already link to your competitors before you pay anything with the link gap demo.
- 1 Write down the links each option delivered, with URL, anchor and rel.
- 2 Remove links that dropped, went nofollow by surprise, or sit on sites with no real traffic.
- 3 Add up everything you paid, including any publisher fees.
- 4 Divide the total by the links that are still live after 90 days.
Questions people ask
What do link building companies actually do?
They get other websites to link to yours. Some sell placements on sites they have deals with, some run manual outreach for a monthly fee, and some, like BacklinksBot, automate the outreach and show every step on a board.
How much do link building companies charge?
Per-link vendors and agencies often charge a few hundred dollars per link, and more for high authority sites. Retainers often start around $3,000 a month. BacklinksBot is a flat $199, $499 or $1,499 a month, and half that per month when billed yearly.
Are link building companies safe to use?
It depends on how they get links. Earned links from real outreach are safe. Links from private blog networks or paid links without rel="sponsored" break Google's spam policies and can hurt your site.
Can a link building company guarantee results?
No honest company can guarantee links from sites it does not own. BacklinksBot does not promise a link count. Goal mode plans the volume and strategy mix to aim at your target and shows progress live.
Is BacklinksBot a link building company?
It is software that does the work a link building company does. You pay a monthly subscription, the bot runs the outreach from your mailbox, and you can stop anytime with access to the end of the paid period.