Backlinks have always been one of the most talked-about ranking factors in SEO. And while it’s tempting to speed things up by purchasing them, here’s the truth:
Buying backlinks is one of the riskiest shortcuts you can take in SEO.
After 20 years of doing SEO across multiple projects and industries, I’ve learned that paid backlinks from agencies almost always lead to one of two outcomes:
- A short-term boost that quickly fades, or
- A long-term penalty that’s hard to recover from.
Why Buying Backlinks Is a Bad Idea
When you pay for backlinks, most agencies will build them from low-quality sites — link farms, spun blogs, or networks with little to no real traffic.
These links might make your SEO dashboard look impressive for a while. You’ll see the numbers go up:
- More backlinks
- More referring domains
- Higher domain rating
But sooner or later, Google’s algorithm catches on.
And when it does, those backlinks are either:
- Ignored completely, as they’re considered unnatural, or
- Penalized manually, which can push your rankings into oblivion.
If you’re lucky, Google will simply devalue the links.
If you’re not, your site could face a manual action — a real nightmare for any SEO professional or business owner.
My Personal Experience with Buying Backlinks
When I started UXsniff about three years ago, I was like many new founders — ambitious but impatient.
I wanted to grow fast and build domain authority quickly.
So I made the same mistake I now warn others about:
I bought around 2,000 backlinks from an SEO agency.
At first, it looked promising. The domain rating went up within a few weeks. It felt like progress.
But the results didn’t last.
Within months, those backlinks either disappeared or were removed from Google’s ranking signals. The growth flatlined, and I realized that I’d wasted both time and money.
The Turning Point — Focusing on Value Over Backlinks
After that experience, I decided to stop chasing backlinks entirely.
No more outreach emails, no more “link exchange” offers, and definitely no more agency-built backlinks.
Instead, I shifted my focus to what truly matters:
- Building features users actually love
- Making UXsniff genuinely useful
- Improving the product every single week
I didn’t spend a single hour trying to “build” backlinks.
I just worked on making something valuable enough for others to notice.
The Real Reward — Earning Backlinks Organically
Then, at the end of 2024, something amazing happened.
UXsniff was organically mentioned by two of the biggest names in SEO — Ahrefs and Moz.
Those two backlinks alone are more powerful than the 2,000 low-quality links I paid for earlier.
They came naturally, without outreach, without payment, and with genuine credibility.
That’s the kind of backlink you want — one that’s earned through usefulness and authenticity.
Final Thoughts
If you’re serious about SEO and long-term growth, here’s my honest advice:
- Don’t buy backlinks.
- Don’t chase quick wins.
- Focus on building something that deserves to be linked to.
Real backlinks come from real value — not from spreadsheets or agency promises.
And when your product or content truly helps others, backlinks will come naturally.
Because one genuine mention from Moz or Ahrefs is worth more than a thousand links from low-quality sites trying to game the system.