Link building, explained properly

Link building is getting other websites to link to yours. How it works, which strategies still earn rankings, what it costs and how to start.

A backlink is a link from another website to yours. How they work, why Google still cares, and what separates a good link from a useless one.

White hat link building earns links Google's policies allow, black hat manipulates rankings. Where every tactic sits, plus the grey hat middle.

What link building costs in 2026, by link type, with published prices from named providers, typical monthly budgets and what drives the price up.

Google's spam policies prohibit paid links that pass ranking credit. What that means in practice, the real risks, and how careful buyers vet a site.

How to outsource link building, comparing in-house, freelancers, agencies and platforms on cost, control and risk, plus what to ask before you hire.

Check the Ahrefs Domain Rating of any website for free, or paste up to 25 domains at once. Plus how to read the score and use it to vet link sites.

Paste bad URLs or domains and get a clean disavow.txt in Google's exact format, deduplicated and validated. Free, and nothing leaves your browser.

See whether AI search mentions your brand when buyers ask about what you sell, where you rank in the answer, and which sites the AI used as sources.

Blogger outreach means pitching relevant bloggers for a link or mention. How the process works, what services do, and how to tell good outreach from bad.

Guest posting means writing an article for another site in exchange for a link. What Google says about it, how to find good sites, and what it costs.

A niche edit, or link insertion, is a link added to an existing article on another site. How they work, how to vet them, the risks and the costs.

Local link building explained: where local SEO backlinks come from, which ones help the map pack, and how a local business can earn them on a small budget.

SaaS link building done properly: how software companies earn links to feature, comparison and integration pages, not just the blog, and what agencies do.

Link building for lawyers and law firms: the legal directories, bar associations and expert commentary that earn links, and the advertising rules.

Generative engine optimization (GEO) is optimising content to be cited in AI answers. What the research shows, how it differs from SEO and where links fit.

How to rank in AI Overviews: what Google says about eligibility, which pages get cited according to Ahrefs data, and where backlinks fit in.

LLM SEO is getting your brand mentioned and cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI assistants. What's documented, what studies show, and tools.

Ten link building services compared on price, minimums, who picks the sites and white label, grouped by use case rather than a ranking.

Eight link building agencies and managed services compared on monthly minimums, contracts, site control and white label, organised by use case.

Eight link building marketplaces compared on inventory, fees, minimum deposits, guarantees and white label, grouped by what each one is best for.

45 link building statistics on rankings, costs, outreach, tactics, AI search and Google spam, each linked to its original study and checked October 2026.

A dated index of published link building prices from named providers, checked October 2026, with median guest post prices in USD and GBP.

A plain-English link building glossary covering 120+ SEO and backlink terms, from anchor text and DR to PBNs, SpamBrain and AI Overviews.