In more detail
Legitimate approaches include:
- Digital PR: creating newsworthy research, data or commentary that journalists cite
- Linkable assets: tools, guides, templates or studies that other sites reference because they're useful
- Relationships: suppliers, partners, associations, sponsorships and events that naturally link to you
- Expert contributions: commentary or articles for respected publications in your field
- Reclaiming mentions: asking sites that mention you without linking to add a link
- Fixing broken links: finding links to your old URLs and redirecting or updating them
Google's spam policies define link spam as links intended to manipulate rankings. Examples include buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, excessive link exchanges, large-scale article marketing or guest posting with keyword-rich anchors, automated link creation, and requiring a link as part of a contract. Paid or sponsored links are allowed if they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", as described in Google's guide to qualifying outbound links.
Ethical link building is slow and uncertain. No one can honestly promise how many sites will choose to link.
Why it matters when hiring an agency
Link building is where agency practices differ most and where risk is highest. Google's hiring advice warns against SEOs who "talk about link popularity schemes" and says "You should never have to link to an SEO."
Ask exactly how links are earned, whether money changes hands, and for examples from recent clients. Treat fixed monthly link quotas, links priced by a site's authority score and private blog networks as red flags. Before starting, record your baseline with our Page Authority Checker so you can see whether the work changes anything.