How to find the best link building service for you by Stellar SEO

There’s no shortage of companies competing for your link building budget, especially since a 2024 Google leak reaffirmed the critical importance of links.

But there are also an overwhelming number of generic articles listing the “best” link building agencies or offering endless lists of questions to ask a potential agency. 

With so many options and questionable players in the SEO industry, it’s no surprise that many people have had one – or even several – bad experiences.

Ready to find out how to avoid your next SEO mishap and find the best link building agency – based on your needs?

We will. But first, a little about me.

I’m Travis Bliffen, the CEO of Stellar SEO, a 2024 Inc. 5000 fastest-growing link building agency. We’ve been around since 2012 and have built tens of thousands of links across many challenging industries. 

Based on my first-hand experience – and numerous conversations with customers who sought us out after choosing the wrong link building partner – here’s what I’ve learned.

What makes a link building service “good”?

If you decide to outsource link building, you need to check with a potential partner agency about whether:

• The links they build effectively boost rankings without creating more risk than you are comfortable with.
• Their approach, beliefs, and strategies align with your internal expectations.

While the link building process can become complex, link building is elementary. 

Focus on strategies to encourage high-quality websites to link to you more frequently than to your competitors. Your link building agency’s creativity directly impacts the quantity and quality of links you can secure.

The importance of aligning expectations with reality

If you’re ready to entrust link building to an outside agency, ensure your expectations are rooted in reality.

It’s easy to get swept up by promises of quick fixes or dramatic ranking boosts. However, SEO is rarely that simple. 

A solid link building agency will have to:

• Analyze your website and your business goals.
• Perform competitor analysis.
• Create a link building plan.
• Work with writers who will create your content.
• Work with an outreach team to find guest posting or link placement opportunities.
• Ensure quality control and review.

Given the amount of work put into every link, a quality link building company can be costly. This is why you should focus on the desired business outcome, not just vanity metrics. 

• What is the desired outcome from the link placements? Is your primary goal to generate referral traffic through link building? If so, that requires a different approach than links to boost organic traffic to key pages.
• What internal criteria does your team have? Some companies have a list of must-haves in any potential link placement. If your team has preferences, sharing these upfront will help the agency match you with the appropriate campaign type.
• How do you weigh risk vs. cost? A successful link building campaign should deliver a return on investment (ROI), though the timeline can vary. For instance, paid link campaigns often have a lower cost per link and deliver ROI more quickly compared to content marketing-based link earning. Both approaches can be effective, but it’s important to choose the one that fits your budget and comfort level.

Decide your goals and discuss them openly with your potential link building partner early. Otherwise, you will waste your time and money.

What to look for in a link building agency: More than just a pitch

Every agency will tell you it’s the best in the business. Your job is to determine which can back up their claims with substance.

To do that, you’ll need to know what questions to ask — and how to interpret the answers.

1. What’s your approach to link building?

A good link building company will be highly specific about its services and process. Its representatives must articulate their strategies clearly and explain how they plan to implement them to help your website.

This can include content-driven digital PR, outreach campaigns, and link magnets.

Vague or overly technical answers are a red flag. 

2. How do you measure success?

Look for companies that mention concrete indicators of ROI, such as:

• Organic traffic improvement.
• Keyword rankings growth.
• Conversions.

We get regular inquiries from companies looking to boost their DA (Domain Authority) or DR (Domain Rating). We first tell them that that’s a terrible reason to hire a link building agency. 

Due to acquiring excellent links, DA, DR, and other metrics will improve over time. However, having a clear strategy to generate traffic and leads during the process will increase your campaign ROI exponentially.

3. How do you control link quality?

A trustworthy link building company will have set standards for the links it provides. Not all links must come from high-DR websites, but the company must provide relevant links in your niche.

With backlinks, quality trumps quantity. 

Talk to the link building service about their screening process and any guaranteed checks or minimum metrics their links will meet. More importantly, ask them how to determine those standards and how your niche could impact the thresholds.

4. What will the reporting process look like?

If you’re outsourcing link building services, you must know what reports you can expect. Ask about the frequency of the reports, the kind of data you’ll see, and the company’s policy if the links don’t meet the agreed-upon metrics.

There is no right or wrong answer to this; you just need to determine if they will report what is important to you. If it isn’t part of their default reporting, ask if they can add it to your reports.

Spotting the red flags

Unfortunately, you’ll find that many shady actors call themselves a link building company, only to offer you personal blogging networks, link farms, and other harmful SEO practices. Here are some common warning signs:

• Too-good-to-be-true promises: It’s impossible to guarantee search engine rankings – there are too many factors affecting your position on Google. Any agency that promises guaranteed rankings or instant success is a sham.
• Low prices with big promises: High-quality link building requires the work of an entire team, plus often fees that many quality websites demand. If the link building company fee is suspiciously low, you’re probably paying for harmful, risky/spammy practices.
• Evasive answers: An agency that can’t clearly explain its link building techniques or dodges your questions is probably best kept far from your business.

Building a partnership that works

Digital marketing is more than just a one-and-done process. 

You will likely need to cooperate with the link building company for years – links die, and your website will stop giving you the necessary “juice.” In fact, 74.5% of links were lost in the previous nine years, according to Ahrefs.

That’s why you need to find someone who has been in the link building business for a long time and can maintain long-term partnerships. Focus on:

• Communication: Responsiveness is one sign of how much the company will prioritize your account. If it’s slow to respond or unwilling to provide clear updates, it might be a sign to look elsewhere.
• Tangible results: Ensure you see measurable outcomes, such as improved rankings, traffic, and conversions. Here is an example.

A real estate investor contacted Stellar SEO after getting hit by a Google helpful content update. We recovered his site traffic and 5Xed monthly visitors, significantly boosting motivated seller leads.

• Transparency: Demand transparency in reporting, quality control, fee structure, and any other aspect of work.

Trust, but verify to find the best link building service

Look for a link building agency that:

• Understands your niche.
• Has the right strategy.
• Measures its success using relevant metrics. 

Finding the right link building services isn’t about the cheapest option or the instant success. It’s about finding a team that has carried its clients through years of Google updates – and one you can see yourself working with for the next few years. 

Stellar SEO has an average client retention time of more than five years for direct clients. We also partner with several great digital marketing agencies that love our flexible white-label link building services.

While high-quality backlinks are only part of the equation for SEO success, they carry significant weight, making them a sound investment in 2025.

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