Is GSA Still a Good Option for Tier 2 Backlinks in 2025?

[Mamba Noir]

Love and Light Ya'll,

I’ve been in the game for a while, and back in the day, GSA Search Engine Ranker was a solid part of my Tier 2 arsenal. It was great for powering up Tier 1 links with mass backlinks, helping push authority to my main site. But with all the algorithm shifts over the years, I’m wondering—is GSA still worth using for Tier 2 in 2025?

• If you’re still using GSA, what strategies are working?
• Alternatives – Are there better-automated ways to build Tier 2 links?

 

[Mister Ghost]

Anyone who tells you otherwise, just doesn't know how to use the software in the correct way,

It's 2025, everythings getting automated. it's not the automation that is the problem, it's how you use the automation in the correct way.

There aint no software out there thats not working!

 

[Mamba Noir]

Anyone who tells you otherwise, just doesn't know how to use the software in the correct way,

It's 2025, everythings getting automated. it's not the automation that is the problem, it's how you use the automation in the correct way.

There aint no software out there thats not working!

Yea, as I dusted off my GSA software, I thought the same thing. At the same rate, things have changed so much I was a bit skeptical. It's been so long since I used it, I must tighten up my skills and rummage through some how to's.

 

[Mister Ghost]

Yea, as I dusted off my GSA software, I thought the same thing. At the same rate, things have changed so much I was a bit skeptical. It's been so long since I used it, I must tighten up my skills and rummage through some how to's.

It's just not using in the OLD ways, thats all.. i just got cheap domains and just tested different things. see what tanked and see what actually worked.

Be surprising that i've actually used it on some main websites directly, but not just your general mill of lists that everyone scrapes.

 

[Mamba Noir]

It's just not using in the OLD ways, thats all.. i just got cheap domains and just tested different things. see what tanked and see what actually worked.

Be surprising that i've actually used it on some main websites directly, but not just your general mill of lists that everyone scrapes.

That is my issue with the software. I don't want the lists that everyone else has and scrapes, I want a quality link list. And I guess that would need to be my main focus when setting things up. Like you said, I will have to play around with it. I literally need to optimize my campaigns and take a deep dive into the functionality of the software, while at the same time using best practices.

Overall, a good link list is and needs to be my goal.

 

[Mister Ghost]

That is my issue with the software. I don't want the lists that everyone else has and scrapes, I want a quality link list. And I guess that would need to be my main focus when setting things up. Like you said, I will have to play around with it. I literally need to optimize my campaigns and take a deep dive into the functionality of the software, while at the same time using best practices.

Overall, a good link list is and needs to be my goal.

Yep, it's all about the link list. The problem is, it's time consuming. I eventually hired a VA to literally do that for me, but took me a lot of training to get what i wanted.

plus, it needs to ROI on the VA.

 

[Mamba Noir]

Yep, it's all about the link list. The problem is, it's time consuming. I eventually hired a VA to literally do that for me, but took me a lot of training to get what i wanted.

plus, it needs to ROI on the VA.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you hire your VA from?

 

[LocalContractor]

Yep, it's all about the link list. The problem is, it's time consuming. I eventually hired a VA to literally do that for me, but took me a lot of training to get what i wanted.

plus, it needs to ROI on the VA.

do you have any guide/info you reccomend on how to find/build a link list.

I been seeing this software for so long and now that im thinking about building a pbn it seems like it would be a hell of a tool .

 

[Mister Ghost]

do you have any guide/info you reccomend on how to find/build a link list.

I been seeing this software for so long and now that im thinking about building a pbn it seems like it would be a hell of a tool .

Sorry buddy, I haven't really got a guide, it's been trial and error, so never really documented to show others.

If your building a pbn, you'll need some real deep pockets to get a high quality one that will actually do some damage. Make sure you really invest your time in 'what actually makes a good pbn' you can waste a lot of money on small time pbn's that don't actually benefit SEO.

 

[GetLinkz]

Love and Light Ya'll,

I’ve been in the game for a while, and back in the day, GSA Search Engine Ranker was a solid part of my Tier 2 arsenal. It was great for powering up Tier 1 links with mass backlinks, helping push authority to my main site. But with all the algorithm shifts over the years, I’m wondering—is GSA still worth using for Tier 2 in 2025?

• If you’re still using GSA, what strategies are working?
• Alternatives – Are there better-automated ways to build Tier 2 links?

GSA still has its place, but with stricter algorithms in 2025, it's riskier. Safer alternatives include niche edits, HARO, and AI-assisted outreach. For automation, tools like Link Whisper and tiered PBNs might be more effective. What's been working for you lately?

 

[LocalContractor]

Sorry buddy, I haven't really got a guide, it's been trial and error, so never really documented to show others.

If your building a pbn, you'll need some real deep pockets to get a high quality one that will actually do some damage. Make sure you really invest your time in 'what actually makes a good pbn' you can waste a lot of money on small time pbn's that don't actually benefit SEO.

thanks, Im just thinking to promote some local businesses which are fairly low hanging fruit. I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 local sites might be enough to push a site from ~9 to top 3

 

[Mister Ghost]

thanks, Im just thinking to promote some local businesses which are fairly low hanging fruit. I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 local sites might be enough to push a site from ~9 to top 3

Niche related forum posts from high traffic forums would help.

You'll just need to build a rapport in the forums first before leaving links. Forum links can do wonders for some low comp keywords.

 

[Deleted member 731332]

I’ll tell you my whole method for spammy t2 and t3 type links.

I like to scrape lists for blog comments and guestbooks. I prefer A-Parser for scraping search engines. Use scrape box to crawl all internal links of the scraped link list. Then crawl all external links of the scraped internal link list. Then do that again on the resulting list.

Run all those links through GSA PI.

Post as fast as I possibly can to everything it finds.

Get all the links out of all the failed folders that GSA couldn’t post to by platform. Then train zennoposter to post to the failed platforms.

GSA SER fails A LOT on engines it should be posting to. The engines haven’t been updated in a long time and some are dead platforms anyway. Probably 80% of what it should post to fails. If you load the failed urls into xrumer for forums and blog comments, xrumer will blow your mind on the success rate. SER really is unimpressive anymore,

Spend the time with zennoposter and you will have a solid link list that’s not spammed to death by what SER can still post to. 99% of people will not do it.

 

[domiic3284]

I’ll tell you my whole method for spammy t2 and t3 type links.

I like to scrape lists for blog comments and guestbooks. I prefer A-Parser for scraping search engines. Use scrape box to crawl all internal links of the scraped link list. Then crawl all external links of the scraped internal link list. Then do that again on the resulting list.

Run all those links through GSA PI.

Post as fast as I possibly can to everything it finds.

Get all the links out of all the failed folders that GSA couldn’t post to by platform. Then train zennoposter to post to the failed platforms.

GSA SER fails A LOT on engines it should be posting to. The engines haven’t been updated in a long time and some are dead platforms anyway. Probably 80% of what it should post to fails. If you load the failed urls into xrumer for forums and blog comments, xrumer will blow your mind on the success rate. SER really is unimpressive anymore,

Spend the time with zennoposter and you will have a solid link list that’s not spammed to death by what SER can still post to. 99% of people will not do it.

Hi I have some quick Questions to ask

1 How you scrape list of blog comments and guestbooks? Which footprints you use in link extracter
2 What you mean by lots of engines can I use only blog comments to power up my Web 2.0 sites??
3 How many types GSA support I mean there is lots of options but still how GSA will do this how it create links if i provide a list of forum directory etc how i check is GSA support that urls or not??

 

[Deleted member 731332]

Hi I have some quick Questions to ask

1 How you scrape list of blog comments and guestbooks? Which footprints you use in link extracter
2 What you mean by lots of engines can I use only blog comments to power up my Web 2.0 sites??
3 How many types GSA support I mean there is lots of options but still how GSA will do this how it create links if i provide a list of forum directory etc how i check is GSA support that urls or not??

1. I make my own footprints by analyzing commonalities found on individual platforms. Very simple. You need to learn what footprints are and then you can also make your own using publicly available footprints for the platforms you are interested in.

2. What I was referring to is the engines the software uses as a whole. I was not speaking about you or what you do. I didn’t know you existed when I made that comment. What you do is irrelevant to the statement about the issues with the softwares engines.

3. You should ask questions like this on the GSA forum.

 

[domiic3284]

1. I make my own footprints by analyzing commonalities found on individual platforms. Very simple. You need to learn what footprints are and then you can also make your own using publicly available footprints for the platforms you are interested in.

2. What I was referring to is the engines the software uses as a whole. I was not speaking about you or what you do. I didn’t know you existed when I made that comment. What you do is irrelevant to the statement about the issues with the softwares engines.

3. You should ask questions like this on the GSA forum.

dude : was referring to is the engines the software uses as a whole. I was not speaking about you or what you do. I didn’t know you existed : that was so hard ✌

Thanks for the suggestion

 

[Deleted member 731332]

dude : was referring to is the engines the software uses as a whole. I was not speaking about you or what you do. I didn’t know you existed : that was so hard ✌

Thanks for the suggestion

If I misunderstood your second question, I apologize. Reading it again it seems like maybe you were asking if blog comments and guestbooks is all that I recommend using for tiered link building?

If that’s the case, no. I don’t use those at all except on the lowest tier. The reason why I said I scrape for comments and guestbooks is because those are heavily spammed by automated software. By using my method of internal and external link extraction on those platforms you will get all the links on the upper tiers people are posting to using automated software. Namely contextual links from articles.

Scraping the lowest tier backlinks in tiered link building campaigns then extracting internal and external links 2x is faster, cheaper, and easier than actually scraping search engines for those platforms. You will get all the link lists, you will get all the backlinks opportunities people scraped for themselves etc. That is why I scrape for thos and extract internal and external links on the websites.

 

[Nicola Carey]

Is GSA SER Still Worth It for Tier 2 in 2025?

Been using GSA for Tier 2 backlinks for years, but with all the Google updates, I’m wondering if it’s still effective. Anyone still getting good results with it, or is it better to switch to something like SEO Autopilot, Cloud Stacking, or Web 2.0s? Looking to hear what’s working in 2025!

 

[NeedMyLink]

As Google has tightened its algorithm and put more emphasis on quality over quantity, it's now hard to get the same results from mass backlinking as it used to.

 

[Mamba Noir]

Safer alternatives include niche edits, HARO, and AI-assisted outreach

I have found some serious success using Link assistant when it comes to finding backlink prospects. Had the software in my arsenal for years and just now really unpacking it. HARO has been a bit confusing for me, guess that is why I never really committed to it.

As Google has tightened its algorithm and put more emphasis on quality over quantity, it's now hard to get the same results from mass backlinking as it used to.

I agree. Updates change everything. I have always leaned more towards quality over quantity, even when it came to tier 2 links.