6 Reasons Why You Should & Should NOT Buy Links to Increase Your Search Engine Rankings

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Buy your way to the top? At an Affiliate Summit session last week, Wil Reynolds advised his audience to buy links in order to improve search engine rankings. If everyone else in the niche is doing it, he says you can’t afford not to do it yourself. “Trying to rank well for the future is important, but you cannot forget what it takes to rank well today.”

Alright, Wil has a point. For competitive keywords like “mortgages” or “ringtones” it’s almost impossible to rank without leasing thousands of links and manipulating search results in that manner. Everyone else is doing it so you should be too, right? Well it’s a lot more complicated than that and we’ll take a deeper look into why you should and should not buy links as an SEO strategy. Be sure to read both arguments before starting your link building campaign.

Why you should buy links

1. Play catch up - You’re way too behind
If you’re starting a brand new site, you have a heck of a lot of catching up to do. If you really want to stay competitive and get in on the game, you may need to buy some links and get a jump start.

2. Compete in super competitive markets
As I mentioned earlier, some niches are just so competitive that it is impossible to rank without some sort of manipulation. For example, search for the keyword “credit cards” in Google. Don’t you find it funny that none of the major banks hold a top 10 ranking? This is mainly because the other sites on top are either engaging in blackhat methods to game the system or leasing huge amounts of links on various sites to gain authority. Simply put, if you don’t buy a link, you can’t compete in these markets. Google has no real way of controlling this as banning one site will only lead to another taking its place.

3. It’s faster
Ranking a site naturally could take a couple years. Buying links only speeds up the process.

4. It’s easier and less work
Let’s face it. Buying links is definitely easier than creating quality articles and services that attract natural links.

5. Everyone else is doing it
Drink up the Kool Aid, kids. Link buying seems like the cool thing to do…

6. If you do it right, no one will notice
As long as you don’t go through link brokers and aren’t blatantly obvious with your link purchases, search engines will have a hard time detecting which links are paid for and which are not. If getting penalized is your main concern, you can always inquire about paid links to webmasters directly and in private.

Why you should NOT buy links

1. Google forbids it and can smack you down with a penalty
If search engine traffic is important to you, you don’t want to risk being penalized and having your life line taken away from you. Obey the rules and play nice.

2. The reporting tool allows competitors to report you
The reporting tool in Google makes it extremely easy for competitors to bring your site to the attention of Google engineers and potentially get your site penalized or banned. Search engines might not be able to detect your paid links, but I’m sure your rivals are keeping a close eye on your every move.

3. Google can detect paid links with their algorithm
Although it’s fairly easy to hide your paid links from search engines, you can still trip some sort of filter and get your site penalized in the process. Since Google looks at your link profile and how quickly you attain certain links, paying for links may mean you are wading through dangerous waters - especially for inexperienced webmasters.

4. It’s unstable
Search engine algorithms change constantly. The paid link that cost you $1,000 yesterday may erode in value and do nothing for you tomorrow. Don’t just strive to build link equity. Build relevancy and real value on your sites.

5. In most niches, you can rank with other methods
Buying links isn’t always the best or most cost effective strategy for a lot of sites. Rankings can be achieved through a variety of other means such as by creating effective link bait, engaging in social media, and creating valuable articles and content that gain attention.

6. Not a great long term strategy
If your business relies on search engine traffic to survive, you definitely have the cards stacked against you. Don’t spend all your money buying links and trying to manipulate the search results. Instead, use the money to make investments that will add value to your sites for the long term.

As you can see, there are arguments to both sides of the paid links debate. Google has come out and attempted to scare webmasters into thinking their lives will be ruined if they buy or sell a single link. In actuality, paid links run rampant on the Internet and will continue to exist as long as Google and the other search engines place value on them in the algorithms. So the choice is really yours. Will you buy links or will you not?

As for me, I don’t buy links… Of course not. O:-) Matt Cutts could be around the corner.