What should you pay attention to when buying backlinks in 2020?

By 2020, link building will still be one of the most effective methods to get your website higher up in Google. At the same time, this complex process takes time, knowledge and energy. It is therefore not surprising that many Dutch companies buy their backlinks. Are you considering this as well? Then these are the 3 things you need to take into account:

Then these are the 3 things you need to take into account:

1). The quality of the backlinks
The quality aspect of link building will weigh more heavily in 2020 than in previous years. Unfortunately, buying good quality backlinks is the exception rather than the rule. Many providers offer stunts with low link building fees, but in return offer backlinks that have little effect and can even be harmful to a client’s link profile.

It is therefore important to only buy backlinks from a reliable link building agency that is known for its high quality. The backlinks that this results in almost always come from websites with a minimum Page Authority of 25 and a Trust Flow of 20. These statistics are an indication that these websites have a good reputation with Google.

And reputation is what 2020 is all about more than ever. Google takes websites with a great deal of authority (think of large blogs or national news sites) as its yardstick and assumes that they make no concessions to quality – not even in terms of outgoing links. If you buy backlinks on such websites, you greatly increase your chances of success in Google.

2). The context of the backlinks
Google is getting better and better at detecting not only the quality, but also the context of backlinks. Where quality is mainly about authority, context is about relevance. A naturally created link is almost always relevant – the page is at least partly about the subject of the website to which the backlink refers.

In an ideal situation, your backlinks therefore originate from websites in the same or a comparable industry as yours. Or sites that cover a broader load, but whose page with the backlink is about the subject of the target page. Therefore, it is generally best to include these links in the running text.

After all, naturally created links are rarely – as is the case with link directories, for example – part of a long list of other links. Google can easily see how links have been processed on a page. For a natural look and feel it is therefore advisable to only buy backlinks that are placed in unique and relatively long content (at least 600 words).

3). The technique behind the backlinks
Although it is tempting to focus on issues such as authority and relevance in link building, technology also plays a role that should not be underestimated. Just think of something relatively simple like an SSL certificate on the websites in your link profile. With many providers of backlinks such a thing is not self-evident, for example because many of the sites used are outdated.

Even more important is the possible interrelationship between the different websites in your link profile. For example, if many of them have the same IP address, Google understands that it may be a Private Blog Network (PBN). The link building then has no effect or leads (worse, but less likely in 2020) to a penalty in the form of a drop in Google.

When buying backlinks, it is therefore important to enquire. On which websites do the backlinks appear? Is there a detectable interrelationship? And do the sites meet Google’s technical requirements? Asking these kinds of questions in advance can save you a lot of trouble in the long term.

Conclusion
By 2020, the basic principles of high rank in Google will have changed little. Links are the connecting element between pages and websites and therefore play a crucial role in SEO. This means that companies are still achieving many successes when buying backlinks.

However, the ways in which Google checks and interprets backlinks have changed. The search engine’s algorithms are smarter and therefore better able to recognise the (un)natural origin of a link.

If you buy backlinks, it is therefore wise to make high demands on the working methods of the link building agency. Inform yourself about the quality, context and technology behind the created backlinks and work with a reliable party. Then you will benefit from link building for many years to come.