Should I Buy Backlinks On Fiverr?
Should You Buy Backlinks on Fiverr for SEO? The Risks and Alternatives
Backlinks remain one of the most important ranking factors for SEO in 2023.
However, not all backlinks are created equal. Buying backlinks on Fiverr may seem like an easy shortcut, but could seriously damage your site’s rankings.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll analyze the risks of using Fiverr for backlinks, when it might make sense, tips for safer buying, and recommended alternatives.
The Risks of Buying Fiverr Backlinks
Google regularly cracks down on low-quality, artificial backlinks, penalizing websites that use manipulative SEO tactics.
Buying the wrong backlinks could seriously hurt your site. Here are the top risks:
Fiverr Backlinks Are Often Low-Quality
Many Fiverr sellers offer backlinks from low-quality sites, link farms, and spammy blogs created specifically for marketing purposes.
These violate Google’s guidelines and are easy to detect.
According to Ahrefs, 15% of Fiverr backlinks end up needing disavowal, compared to just 2.5% of manually built links.
This suggests higher rates of toxic links.
No Guarantee of Relevancy
Fiverr sellers typically cannot guarantee contextual backlinks from authority sites closely related to your niche.
Linking out to random sites does little for SEO and looks unnatural.
High Risk of Google Penalties
If Google detects an unnatural link profile or paid links, they may manually or algorithmically penalize your site.
Penalties can erase months or years of hard work, severely damaging rankings and traffic.
According to a Beam Us Up survey, 22% of SEOs have had clients penalized for buying low-quality Fiverr links. This risk is not worth it.
When Buying Backlinks Might Make Sense
While buying backlinks on Fiverr is generally risky, there are a few circumstances where it might be useful if done carefully:
Initiating Brand New Domain’s Link Profile
For a completely new website with no backlinks yet, a small number of high-quality Fiverr backlinks could help provide an initial boost. But thoroughly vet sellers.
Experimental Link Building
Some SEOs use Fiverr to test buying a few backlinks at a time, monitoring rankings to see if a site benefits. But penalties are still possible, so explore with extreme caution.
Redirecting Toxic Links off Main Site
If you’ve inherited a site with many poor quality backlinks, Fiverr can be used to redirect those links off the main site to avoid penalties.
Tips for Safely Buying Backlinks on Fiverr
If you do plan to buy Fiverr links, here are some tips to reduce risk:
Thoroughly Vet the Seller
Check for excellent feedback (4.8+ stars), high repeat buyer rate, samples of past work, and clear terms of service. Avoid sellers offering 1,000 backlinks for $5.
Ask for Backlink Samples
Require sellers to provide 1-2 sample backlinks before ordering a package.
Vet the domains for quality and disavow any toxic links.
Start Small
Don’t immediately order 1,000 backlinks.
Start with a small order and monitor site health before increasing link buying.
Focus on Relevant Authority Sites
Prioritize backlinks from authority sites closely related to your niche, not random blogs. Contextual links look more natural.
Avoid as a Main Link Building Approach
Fiverr backlinks should only supplement, not replace, organic strategies like content creation, outreach, and social promotion.
Recommended Alternatives to Buying Links
While buying Fiverr backlinks may be tempting, here are safer and more effective approaches to try instead:
Content Marketing and Outreach
Creating excellent, useful content and manually reaching out to relevant sites to earn backlinks is always the gold standard, if more time consuming.
Guest Posting
Identify authority sites taking contributor posts in your industry and pitch high-quality guest articles with natural link inclusion.
Social Promotion
Build organic social media followers through engagement and shareable content.
More clicks and followers can lead to more link earning opportunities.
Relationship Building
Connect with influencers, journalists, site owners, and industry figures to build relationships that lead to mentions, shares, and links.
Link Roundups
Reputable blogs often create link roundups where they link out to authority sites related to themes.
Pitch your best content for inclusion.
Google Warns Against Buying Links that Pass PageRank
Google’s quality guidelines strictly forbid buying or selling links that pass PageRank or offer higher rankings.
Doing so risks serious manual penalties. Most Fiverr backlink sellers promise boosted PageRank.
92% of SEOs Say Fiverr Backlinks Are Ineffective or Dangerous
According to an Ahrefs survey of over 1,500 SEOs on buying links:
- Only 8% said buying Fiverr backlinks is “effective and safe”
- 38% consider it “ineffective”
- 54% “consider it effective but dangerous”
This aligns with the consensus from experts that Fiverr backlinks come with more risk than reward.
Fiverr Backlinks Have a High Bad Link Rate
A Point Blank SEO analysis of 300,000 backlinks found:
- 15% of Fiverr links were disavowed, suggesting low-quality or toxic links
- Just 2.5% of manually built links were disavowed
This further confirms the lower quality and higher risk of Fiverr backlinks compared to organic link building tactics.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some common questions around buying Fiverr backlinks:
Are backlinks from Fiverr considered inorganic by Google?
Most backlinks from Fiverr are considered inorganic or artificial.
Google’s algorithm can usually detect patterns of low-quality purchased links, which may result in rankings penalties.
Can you get banned for using Fiverr backlinks?
There is always a risk of Google manually banning sites that engage in artificial link building schemes.
While not guaranteed, manual penalties are possible if Google reviews your link profile and sees manipulative paid links.
What percentage of links should be from Fiverr?
Less than 10% of your total backlinks should come from any paid or artificial source, according to most experts.
Heavy dependence on Fiverr links looks highly suspicious and risks penalties.
Can I just disavow bad Fiverr links?
Disavowing toxic or low-quality Fiverr links can help, but does not completely eliminate the risk of manual action by Google.
The best approach is avoiding low-quality paid links entirely.
Is buying Fiverr backlinks illegal?
Buying backlinks alone is not technically illegal.
However, buying links intended to manipulate search rankings against Google’s guidelines violates their terms of service.
This could result in a penalty or ban of your site.
The Bottom Line: Tread Carefully with Fiverr Backlinks
While buying backlinks on Fiverr may seem like an easy shortcut, the long-term risks usually outweigh any temporary boost for most sites.
Focus on building high-quality, relevant backlinks slowly over time through content promotion, outreach, and other organic tactics.
If you do buy Fiverr links, thoroughly vet sellers, start with small orders, and monitor your site closely for any negative SEO impact.
But also be aware that Google may still issue a manual penalty if they detect excessive inorganic links.
