3 Link Building Pricing Strategies for SEO Agencies
Understanding Link Tiers
Before pricing your link building services, understand the tier structure:
- Lower tier links (guest posts, sponsored posts) — typically $300 or less
- Mid tier links (resource pages, roundups) — $750 or less
- Tier 1 links — usually range between $200-$300
- Tier 2 links — between $50-$100
- Tier 3 links — in the $30-$50 range
Strategy 1: Cost-Plus Pricing
Track your labor costs for link acquisition — strategy, prospecting, outreach, management, etc. If your total costs are $5,000/mo and you generate 10 links, your cost per link is $200. This is simply the cost to your business — you still need to add your desired margin.
Strategy 2: Vendor Markup
Work with link vendors and sell links at a higher price than what they charge. For example, if a vendor charges $150/link, you can sell links for $200/link. However, using link vendors to get links erodes margins quickly.
Strategy 3: Value-Based Pricing
Understand the monetary value of each link opportunity and what you should be paying per link based on the value it delivers to the client's campaign.
Most clients don't understand the value of link building, so it's hard to make a profit reselling them. The key is educating clients on the true impact of quality backlinks on their organic rankings and traffic.