The 7 Best Link Building Services for High Quality Links
Google’s algorithms have evolved and so has the quality requirements of an acceptable backlink. In fact, acquiring links the wrong way could send your company’s rankings plummeting.
You want to build links to your business, but you gotta do it the right way.
Our team has worked with countless services, agencies, and SEO products over the last decade. We’ve seen it all.
Here are the best link building services we will gladly vouch for.
Best Link Building Services – Overview
- Smash Digital – Best for super high-quality white-hat links for established brands
- The Brandon Agency – Best for PR
- WhiteSpark – Best for local SEO citations
- Podcast Bookers – Best for an innovative podcast-focused link campaign
- Newswire – Best for press releases
- uSERP: Digital PR and SEO
- Video Production Company: Covalent
Smash Digital: A Bold Approach to Quality Link Building
Would I really recommend Smash Digital, our company, as the first choice on this list?
Our dedication to a unique yet ethical white-hat approach to link building shows through a long list of client successes.
Check out how we increased a SaaS client’s revenue by 332%.
Our team, which boasts over 50 years of combined SEO experience, doesn’t settle for industry norms. This means a hard no to anything like link farms or other borderline shady strategies. Instead, we push the boundaries of tech and marketing innovation to secure high-quality, relevant links for our clients.
Here’s why Smash Digital stands out as a link building service:
We’ve built partnerships with thousands of website owners, editors, and marketers, ensuring your content gets featured on appropriate, high-quality sites.
We carefully select projects with a high success probability, prioritizing customer satisfaction.
We’re honest about who we can best serve. If your needs are around content creation or PPC management, we may not be the right fit.
We stand out for our commitment to link relevance and the white-hat approach, avoiding potential penalties from PBNs or link farms. Each link we provide is carefully vetted to ensure it won’t harm your site’s SEO performance.
We’ve built extensive connections over the years, fostering relationships between businesses, high-quality writers, and marketers.
Our fully managed service can help unblock your website if it’s stuck, leading to improved rankings.
If you’re searching for a top-notch, white-hat link building service, we at Smash Digital could be the perfect partner for your needs.
The Brandon Agency: Harnessing the Power of Holistic SEO Strategies
The Brandon Agency, a North Carolina-based public relations firm, has earned a unique spot in the world of link building services with their comprehensive approach to SEO.
They specialize in highlighting and utilizing the distinctive assets of your brand to help you stand out in a crowded market.
Here’s what you should know about them:
Driven by a blend of strategy, insights, and creativity, offering services such as brand strategy, web development, conversion rate optimization, and SEO.
Geographical location in the Carolinas doesn’t limit their service reach. They cater to clients across the nation.
Specialty in transforming data into actionable insights, focusing on delivering a high return on investment and measuring success against key performance indicators.
Use technology, data, and innovative storytelling to bring groundbreaking ideas to life and support business growth.
SEO services, which include both local and national SEO, adhere strictly to 100% white-hat techniques. As a Google Partner, they assure clients that their websites are safe from penalties.
Given their holistic SEO approach, commitment to white-hat techniques, and positive customer reviews, they could be a great choice for businesses looking for a high-quality link building agency to enhance their online presence.
WhiteSpark: Expert Link Building for Local SEO
If you’re a brick&mortar startup or you offer a local physical service, Whitespark could be an exceptional partner for you.
Unlike most link building companies, WhiteSpark specializes in building local reputation and increasing local traffic. They offer an array of solutions designed to enhance your visibility and improve website rankings:
Local Citation Finder helps businesses identify, improve, and track their citations across the web, allowing you to compare your citations with those of your competitors.
Build & Cleanup Service helps find and correct bad citations, like duplications or misspellings, which could negatively impact your SEO performance.
Reputation Builder aims to improve your business reputation based on reviews. It helps manage reviews effectively by directing positive ones to review sites and intercepting negative ones before they become public.
Local Rank Tracker for detailed ranking insights down to city or zip code levels,
Link Prospector tool for maximizing link opportunities
Review Checker tool for tracking and comparing online business reviews
Their services are individually priced, allowing you to customize your link building campaign to your specific needs and budget.
Whitespark’s services have been extremely beneficial for businesses of all sizes. By focusing on listings and citations, they ensure your business is well-positioned in local search results, giving you a competitive edge and supporting business growth.
Podcast Bookers: Pioneering Link Building Through Podcasts
Podcast Bookers, a podcast booking agency, offers a unique twist to link building.
Their link building strategy is to facilitate guest-appearances of business owners and experts on relevant podcasts, thus creating a backlink in front of a whole new group of potential customers.
The Podcast Bookers approach delivers exceptional results in SEO and lead generation. Here’s what you should know about them. They:
- Have an SEO-focused approach to podcast booking, ensuring clients not only secure spots on relevant podcasts but also maximize SEO benefits from their appearances.
- Avoid common industry issues, like outsourcing to offshore virtual assistants and targeting unsuitable shows.
- Cover everything from creating compelling pitches and preparing for interviews to optimizing interviews for Google and promoting them on social media.
- Serve a wide range of clients, including business owners, authors, and executives.
The Podcast Bookers package, starting at $500, includes:
- A dedicated booking agent
- Personalized pitching
- Scheduling and confirmation services
- Two guaranteed bookings per month
- Replacement provisions if a show cancels
For more exposure, they offer a comprehensive package at around $700 per month, with four guaranteed bookings.
If you’ve ever been told you have a radio voice, or if you’re into the podcast format, check out Podcast Bookers.
Newswire: Leveraging Press Releases for Effective Link Building
Newswire offers a slightly different approach to link building.
They’re a comprehensive media and marketing platform that curates and distributes press releases to hundreds of influential media outlets.
They offer scalable coverage levels, spanning from regional to international, allowing companies to control the reach and cost of their press releases.
Rather than focusing explicitly on link building services, they concentrate on press release distribution to amplify brand awareness and expand a company’s digital footprint. This increased media exposure can indirectly contribute to a robust link building strategy.
Whenever a company’s press release is picked up by a media outlet, there’s the potential for backlinks to be included in the published piece.
There’s potential for small businesses to create quite a buzz using the platform. If the press release catches wind, it can be a huge success, like the blogger outreach method with rocket boosters.
Newswire’s platform has consistently received top marks in customer satisfaction since 2018, emphasizing their wide range of expertise, transparency, and user-friendliness.
uSERP: Elevating SEO and Link Building with Content-Driven Strategies
uSERP, a well-known full-service digital PR and link building agency, has established itself in the industry through a focus on white-hat techniques.
They have a knack for acquiring high-authority backlinks using a variety of outreach and content-driven approaches. Their mission is simple yet effective: you appear in the content your ideal customers are reading, on websites you actually recognize.
This philosophy fuels their dedication to deliver effective and sustainable link building solutions and has lead to them becoming quite the experts at building links in fiercely competitive spaces.
And it works.
They helped monday.com achieve a 22% increase in organic traffic within just three months and have a proven record of success with other well-known brands like ActiveCampaign, Preply, Freshworks, and Hotjar.
Their comprehensive “Authority” service package includes:
- 22-24+ editorial mentions per month
- SEO consulting sessions
- A monthly keyword content plan
- Toxic link audits
- Competitor gap and
Anchor text analysis - On-page optimization audits, and more
Their transparency sets them apart from competitors, as they focus on building genuine relationships with renowned websites rather than just paying for link placements.
Of course, all of this doesn’t come cheap. You get high-quality service for a high-quality price.
uSERP doesn’t offer month-to-month plans. With a minimum monthly spend at $5,000, they require a minimum engagement period of six months with a 60-day notice for cancellation.
Covalent: Crafting Engaging Videos for Link Building Success
Here’s a different approach to link building services: video production.
Covalent is a video production company that uses storytelling to help businesses connect with customers. They’ve been around since 2012 and they’re known for:
- Authentic, heartful videos to spark emotions and actions from viewers
- On-time delivery
- A team of real video marketing pros with fresh ideas for every project
Covalent works closely with clients to create engaging content that captures the brand’s spirit.
Their clients hail from a variety of sectors – fintech, education, banking, retail, healthcare – and all have great things to say about Covalent.
Covalent’s ability to combine creative ideas, high-quality work, and dedication to showcasing unique brand stories with business goals has earned them rave reviews.
They might not be the perfect fit for every online business: some might benefit more from a dedicated SEO agency. But for certain niches, a well-crafted video can be a major plus for link building.
What’s a Backlink?
A backlink, also known as an inbound link, is essentially a vote of confidence from one website to another.
In the vast digital landscape, websites continually connect and interact, with one of the most vital forms of interaction being through backlinks.
A website linking to yours is telling Google that your content is valuable and worth visiting.
Is Link Building Still Effective?
Search engines continually update their algorithms, and certain tactics that were once successful no longer yield the same results.
Where does that leave link building?
The answer is simple: link building, when done correctly, remains a powerful tool in your SEO arsenal.
Why is this the case? Search engines, Google in particular, see high-quality backlinks as endorsements. When a reputable site links to yours, it’s signaling to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy.
The key term here is ‘high-quality’. Links from credible, well-established websites with high traffic volumes are much more beneficial than links from smaller, lesser-known sites.
High-quality link building is about creating win/win business relationships.
You obtain meaningful links from authoritative and relevant websites by creating valuable content that’s worth linking to.
Why Do You Need Link Building Services?
With millions of startups fighting for the top spots on search engine results pages, standing out from the crowd can be a monumental task.
A high quality link building service can:
- Boost Search Engine Rankings – The more authoritative and relevant sites linking to your website, the better your site is likely to rank for your target keywords.
- Increase Website Traffic – When a well-regarded site links to yours, you may also see a surge in traffic from their audience in addition to a boost in search engine rankings. This is especially beneficial if the linking site has a large, engaged audience relevant to your business.
- Build Your Brand’s Credibility – Links from reputable websites are seen as a vote of confidence. When high-quality sites are willing to link to you, it sends a signal to both search engines and users that your brand is trustworthy and authoritative.
- Save Time and Effort – Effective link building requires a strategic approach, in-depth knowledge of SEO, and consistent effort. By using a link building service, you can free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.
- Build Niche Authority – By securing links on relevant websites, you position your business as an authority in your niche.
These are all major SEO benefits that can transform your business, but only if they’re done right.
Only a high-quality agency using white-hat link building methods can provide these services consistently.
What is White-Hat Link Building?
You may have heard of white-hat, grey-hat or black-hat SEO.
These terms refer to different levels of abiding by rules and policies, white-hat being the most ethical and black-hat using methods that directly violate terms of service.
Similarly, white-hat link building refers to techniques that are in line with Google’s guidelines and that prioritize value, relevancy, and authenticity.
It might take more time and effort in the short term, but white-hat strategy is the only reliable and sustainable way to build links in the long term because the search engines are on your side.
In other words, you won’t have to worry about waking up to your backlinks penalized by Google.
The best link building services know this, and have formed their link building strategy around acquiring white-hat backlinks as effectively as possible. Often without writing a word of content.
The Link Building Strategies of a High-Quality Agency
The general process of link building isn’t complicated. In fact, the fundamentals are mad simple:
Create content that is worthy of a link.
Find websites that could be interested in linking to that content.
Convince those websites to link to your content.
It’s when you start scaling this process and start building links en masse, while keeping consistent link quality, that things get interesting. Here are some strategies SEO companies use in a high-quality link building campaign:
Blogger Outreach
The idea is that you contact blogs and journalists publishing in your niche, so they get a valuable resource they can show their audience, and you get a link from their publication. The link must be relevant to the content and their audience, otherwise it’s just spam.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building is a strategy in which you find broken links (links that no longer lead anywhere) and then recreate the “dead” content. You then contact all of the websites with broken links and ask them to link to your new content instead.
Brand Mentions
The strategy consists of reaching out to any website citing your brand and requesting them to link back to your site.
Citation Link Building
Here you add your business to as many relevant directories as possible. Not only does this improve your online presence, but it also increases geo-relevancy, which is a great ranking factor in Google Maps listings for local businesses.
Citations can go for around 5 dollars each, which is really cheap for links.
Custom Link Outreach
Custom Link Outreach is a combination of some of the different tactics that we have mentioned in this article.
They tend do be more expensive, as this strategy requires a network of high-quality blogs and channels. Custom link outreach also requires a lot prior research and planning, that’s why we recommend this as a long-term solution for your company’s SEO efforts.
Incidentally, it’s one of the cornerstones of our link building strategy at Smash Digital.
Outsourced, it also requires plenty of trust between you and your link building agency.
Guest Posting
Guest Posting is like blogger outreach, except this time you are the one writing the content and linking back to your website.
Same rules apply – only create valuable content to them and only link if it’s relevant to their audience.
Link Exchanges
Link exchange is the act of swapping links. Getting links from authoritative sites is no easy job, which is why many webmasters are willing to exchange links with other quality websites. This a quickfire way to get good links, but its not scalable.
Podcast Link Building
In a few years time, podcasts went from non-existent to one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. Not only that, podcasts offer something that very few other channels can offer—a targeted audience.
Links from podcasts in your niche can be incredibly good value.
Public Relations Link Building
Do you know what the folks at the Public Relations department do? Not even realizing it, they build links. By emulating what PR guys do in your work, you can produce better quality content and earn powerful links from highly reputable sources.
Resource Link Building
Resource link building consists of finding resource pages like Startupresources.io and trying to get them to list your business.
A good strategy is to find a resource page that no longer link to working site or service and request to link to your website instead.
Video Marketing & Outreach
A good way of getting websites to link to your website is by creating an educational video where you explain a problem in your industry.
Publish on Tiktok, Youtube or Instagram and ask your viewers to share the video. Then watch the inbound links roll in.
Here are seven of the best link building services we wholeheartedly recommend.
Red Flags – Link Building Tactics To Avoid
You now have a good selection of the best link building companies to choose from, and you know how they build high-quality links.
But what if you get an offer from an unknown company? How do you know if they’re good or not?
Here are some companies and link building tactics you should simply avoid:
The Hoth – Masses of low quality links
I don’t usually speak ill of other companies, but in this case I feel obligated to do it. It’s almost become a meme how notorious The Hoth is in the link building industry for building rotten links.
You’re not just wasting your time hiring these guys, you’re wasting your money.
They sell the equivalent of Fiverr gigs (see below), which is simply something to avoid when looking for long-term success.
The Hoth takes on so many clients and makes so many promises that they HAVE to appeal to PBNs and trash blog posts.
At Smash Digital, we’ve had to turn down many companies who come to us after the Hoth, as we don’t think the site can be revived afterwards.
Fiverr – Not for link building
It can’t be stated enough – don’t use Fiverr for link building.
Fiverr is a great platform for finding graphic designers, writers, interpreters, and other freelancers for a great price.
However, when it comes to search engine optimization and link building, Fiverr and its freelancers cannot deliver.
Getting hundreds of backlinks for a low price is an excellent sign that the supplier is probably using PBNs and other black hat techniques that are more detrimental to your site’s health than the potential benefit.
Overall it’s a shady practice that will easily be recognized and punished by Google.
You’re also very unlikely to prove the work has been done on your site. Search engines will catch on instantly if you use these services, and your search rankings will be negatively affected.
White-hat, clean SEO work, and organic links are the way to go.
Paid Guest Posting – Not a win/win deal
Even some of the best link building services resort to guest posting and blogger outreach to get quality backlinks.
But that doesn’t include paid guest post links.
There’s two reasons for this: First, sites that accept payment for guest post placements are at best questionable. You wouldn’t expect legit sites like TechCrunch or Wired to charge you 100 dollars to publish your post, would you?
Second, buying and selling links goes against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines!
Your site can (and will) be penalized if you resort to a shady black hat approach.
Private blog networks (PBNs) – Google’s favorite thing to hate
Having your network of private blogs (PBN) to generate as many backlinks as you can fancy is the epitome of every webmaster’s dream.
That is until you learn about the risks involved with using them.
Yes, PBNs can increase your search rankings, but can quickly become a liability if Google catches you.
Google hates PBNs as much as Bert Kreischer hates using a shirt on stage.
Backlinks can be thought of as votes of confidence. The more votes you get, the more Google trusts your site. But if people start to build links without earning them, the system will no longer work. That’s why Google will de-rank your site to oblivion if you are found guilty of using PBNs to build links.
Your Turn
Boosting your page’s link juice can be a demanding and lengthy task, so using available resources is appealing.
However, choosing the wrong agency can damage your site more than doing nothing.
Do your research and TRUST YOUR GUT.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to agencies and ask probing questions. Make sure they explain their strategy for securing high-quality links.
If you’re still unsure, the companies mentioned in this article are a safe bet for reliable link building services.
