The (Sad) State Of Backlinks (Guest Posts) And The Market/Industry

HenryObi

HenryObi

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I've been wanting to create this thread for a while now, following my recent link acquisition from multiple sources.
This thread is kind of similar to this one started by @avdoktor, but from different angles.

I've noticed that many guest post and link insertion sellers, strictly work with lists. Lists that are shared by many people. There's hardly any new sites on their lists. Even when you're promised outreach and whatnot, you'll get link from a site that's on some random list being used by many others. Now, being on a list isn't the major issue in my opinion, but how that is used, the recklessness, disregard and lack of quality.

My few observations are, these sites that on these lists are being monitored 24/7 by gazillions of link sellers. If you mistakenly have your blogs linked from any of those sites, it won't take a day, you'll start receiving tons of emails from other sellers who want to sell your guest posts on other sites that are on the same list.

A few years ago, I used to have a BST where I sold guest posts and link insertion. I know how I used to source and hunt for links, I literally put in the work. I had Semrush subscription available at all times to always research sites. I narrowed by research down to specific keywords using both Google and Semrush, ensuring that when you get a link from me, it was from an actual website being run by a blogger that loves what they do. This is in fact the reason I never had any dispute or any customer coming back to complain about a link. Well, I left the market for personal reasons.

Coming back and seeing the garbage going on, feels very sad. Nobody wants to do any work. People just want to be given money without adding real value.

Pair this my observation with the one on the thread I linked earlier, you'd see that the industry has gone to the dogs.

How are you acquiring links now? Experiencing the same thing?
 
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HenryObi said:
I've been wanting to create this thread for a while now, following my recent link acquisition from multiple sources.
This thread is kind of similar to this one started by @avdoktor, but from different angles.

I've noticed that many guest post and link insertion sellers, strictly work with lists. Lists that are shared by many people. There's hardly any new sites on their lists. Even when you're promised outreach and whatnot, you'll get link from a site that's on some random list being used by many others. Now, being on a list isn't the major issue in my opinion, but how that is used, the recklessness, disregard and lack of quality.

My few observations are, these sites that on these lists are being monitored 24/7 by gazillions of link sellers. If you mistakenly have your blogs linked from any of those sites, it won't take a day, you'll start receiving tons of emails from other sellers who want to sell your guest posts on other sites that are on the same list.

A few years ago, I used to have a BST where I sold guest posts and link insertion. I know how I used to source and hunt for links, I literally put in the work. I had Semrush subscription available at all times to always research sites. I narrowed by research down to specific keywords using both Google and Semrush, ensuring that when you get a link from me, it was from an actual website being run by a blogger that loves what they do. This is in fact the reason I never had any dispute or any customer coming back to complain about a link. Well, I left the market for personal reasons.

Coming back and seeing the garbage going on, feels very sad. Nobody wants to do any work. People just want to be given money without adding real value.

Pair this my observation with the one on the thread I linked earlier, you'd see that the industry has gone to the dogs.

How are you acquiring links now? Experiencing the same thing?
Click to expand...
Manual outreach working the best for guest posts/niche edits... :)
 
BHW marketplace threads for links have been trash for years, with just a few (and I really do mean only a few) exceptions.

You can make an argument for using them for tiered links; but anybody buying them direct to their money sites only has themselves to blame. It doesn't require experience to deduce that it's a terrible idea to buy packages where your link will be posted on a website with negligible traffic & often over 250...500...1000+ OBL's from every niche under the sun.

The industry has gone to the dogs because there is still misguided demand for these links. It's the buyers responsibility to assess the value and most users still haven't grasped that "what worked" 5, 10 years ago, doesn't anymore. For as long as that remains the case, sales will continue to flow. The blame lies firmly with the buyer, not the seller. A fool and his money are soon parted.

HenryObi said:
How are you acquiring links now? Experiencing the same thing?
Click to expand...

Exactly the same as you. Outreach to legitimate websites with considerable traffic in "X" niche. Enquire about pricing, negotiate down, close.
 
Last edited:
I agree. Majority of the people are doing reselling, just copy/paste the data of so called blog websites which have multiple categories on them, fake DA/DR & fake traffic. They are just selling backlinks from them & there is no maintenance of these link farms. I always prfer manual outreach to relevant sites according to the targeted audience & niche.
 
Zakhej said:
Manual outreach working the best for guest posts/niche edits... :)
Click to expand...
Manual outreach sometimes is not feasible, you have to outsource it. Some sellers claim manual outreach but you'll still end up on one of those garbage lists.
 
Did you report such sellers if they’re marketing one thing and selling other. But I want to add when I used to actively buy in past for clients I did get some unique sites which I had not seen before from BHW sellers but they did charge a good price but it was worth it.
 
HenryObi said:
Manual outreach sometimes is not feasible, you have to outsource it. Some sellers claim manual outreach but you'll still end up on one of those garbage lists.
Click to expand...
Manual outreach by yourself, outsourcing it from here or anywhere else is paying at least 10x more and sometimes paying 10x more for some garbage...
 
Now all the new sites you see on someone's list are solely created for selling backlinks, not for the users. That's the reason you will see the garbage.

And outreaching the actual site with actual helpful content is a little bit difficult. That's why you don't see many sellers doing that.
 
Thunder Digitals said:
And outreaching the actual site with actual helpful content is a little bit difficult. That's why you don't see many sellers doing that.
Click to expand...

It's not difficult at all. It's not even time consuming.

In any given niche; let's say we want to perform initial outreach by targeting the 20 highest authority sites. This would take less than half an hour. You then forget about it until replies start to drip-feed in. It's child's play.

Basic email template enquiring about link insert/guest posts/homepage links - with an offer to pay. That's all you need.

As for the helpful content angle, nobody successful is doing outreach that way in 2026 (unless they are a MASSIVE authority site).

Fast forward 30 days and congrats...
You have a stronger, relevant, natural looking link profile... something that less than 1% of BHW marketplace threads can offer you. Congrats.
 
the problem is everyone is chasing placements instead of audiences. a backlink is a byproduct of relevance, traffic and trust. not a commodity.
 
AslanXYZ said:
a backlink is a byproduct of traffic
Click to expand...

No, you've got this the wrong way round.

Eyes on the page does mean you'll sometimes get linked to from other sites naturally - albeit rarely. But those eyes aren't there until the links are.

Traffic, in a Search vacuum, does not exist without links. They come first.
 
HenryObi said:
I've been wanting to create this thread for a while now, following my recent link acquisition from multiple sources.
This thread is kind of similar to https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/i-audited-some-paid-guest-posts-after-buying-them-here-is-how-webmasters-are-quietly-scamming-us.1815986/ started by @avdoktor, but from different angles.

I've noticed that many guest post and link insertion sellers, strictly work with lists. Lists that are shared by many people. There's hardly any new sites on their lists. Even when you're promised outreach and whatnot, you'll get link from a site that's on some random list being used by many others. Now, being on a list isn't the major issue in my opinion, but how that is used, the recklessness, disregard and lack of quality.

My few observations are, these sites that on these lists are being monitored 24/7 by gazillions of link sellers. If you mistakenly have your blogs linked from any of those sites, it won't take a day, you'll start receiving tons of emails from other sellers who want to sell your guest posts on other sites that are on the same list.

A few years ago, I used to have a BST where I sold guest posts and link insertion. I know how I used to source and hunt for links, I literally put in the work. I had Semrush subscription available at all times to always research sites. I narrowed by research down to specific keywords using both Google and Semrush, ensuring that when you get a link from me, it was from an actual website being run by a blogger that loves what they do. This is in fact the reason I never had any dispute or any customer coming back to complain about a link. Well, I left the market for personal reasons.

Coming back and seeing the garbage going on, feels very sad. Nobody wants to do any work. People just want to be given money without adding real value.

Pair this my observation with the one on the thread I linked earlier, you'd see that the industry has gone to the dogs.

How are you acquiring links now? Experiencing the same thing?
Click to expand...
This is actually a really solid observation. A lot of sellers are definitely recycling the same public lists over and over, and it shows in the quality. Proper manual outreach and real niche research has basically become rare now. I’ve seen the same pattern too—same footprints, same sites, just rotated around. Curious to see how others are handling link acquisition these days.
 
I found myself in the same boat.

I think I purchased close to 10 different link building services from BHW, most of them are spam garbage and I saw almost none results from them.

And then once my telegram handle leaked, I'm not getting daily requests for link building purchases.

Before I used to have my own outreach team, they delivered good results, but it was expensive to maintain.
 
I mean, that's just how it's...

You know, most people are here to make money, and that just leads to an endless path shit (when it comes to backlinks), and honestly, there are several issues to point here, but in short, the problem is not selling or reselling or lazy people.

There are services out there that just do what you're looking for: "real outreach".

Now, the main issue with those is: 1. They take a lot longer to deliver, 2. They are a lot more expensive, and 3. You usually get fewer links.

And in a fast-paced, money-hungry environment like this, people don't want those exact same things; that's why those links list "solved" an early issue that turned into a whole different new issue. Their outbound link velocity is unnaturally high, and the prices are absurdly low.

I have worked on both sides, as well as in-house SEO and with agencies... honestly, I have learned two things:

1. Those shitty lists work (at least in early stages and with proper research)
2. You can't expect too much from a "20 links for $50 bucks" sale.

That leads us to a couple of solutions:

1. As an SEO, you MUST do your outreach manually in later stages (or from the beginning if you are a purist).
2. You have to pivot from a volume mindset to an asset-driven strategy (which comes with its own set of issues, lol).

Also, those solutions would cycle us back to the bolded main issue from the above.

So, TLDR: game is rigged, just do your own shit.
 
Zakhej said:
Manual outreach by yourself, outsourcing it from here or anywhere else is paying at least 10x more and sometimes paying 10x more for some garbage...
Click to expand...
I can confirm this. 10x is exaggerated, but I saw with my own eyes an agency selling my links at 3x price.
How I saw it? The agency by mistake added me to its internal email list :)
 
HenryObi said:
I've been wanting to create this thread for a while now, following my recent link acquisition from multiple sources.
This thread is kind of similar to https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/i-audited-some-paid-guest-posts-after-buying-them-here-is-how-webmasters-are-quietly-scamming-us.1815986/ started by @avdoktor, but from different angles.

I've noticed that many guest post and link insertion sellers, strictly work with lists. Lists that are shared by many people. There's hardly any new sites on their lists. Even when you're promised outreach and whatnot, you'll get link from a site that's on some random list being used by many others. Now, being on a list isn't the major issue in my opinion, but how that is used, the recklessness, disregard and lack of quality.

My few observations are, these sites that on these lists are being monitored 24/7 by gazillions of link sellers. If you mistakenly have your blogs linked from any of those sites, it won't take a day, you'll start receiving tons of emails from other sellers who want to sell your guest posts on other sites that are on the same list.

A few years ago, I used to have a BST where I sold guest posts and link insertion. I know how I used to source and hunt for links, I literally put in the work. I had Semrush subscription available at all times to always research sites. I narrowed by research down to specific keywords using both Google and Semrush, ensuring that when you get a link from me, it was from an actual website being run by a blogger that loves what they do. This is in fact the reason I never had any dispute or any customer coming back to complain about a link. Well, I left the market for personal reasons.

Coming back and seeing the garbage going on, feels very sad. Nobody wants to do any work. People just want to be given money without adding real value.

Pair this my observation with the one on the thread I linked earlier, you'd see that the industry has gone to the dogs.

How are you acquiring links now? Experiencing the same thing?
Click to expand...
You made some very valid points here. Quality outreach and genuine relationship-based link building are becoming rare these days. Respect to those who still put in the real work instead of relying on recycled lists.
 
For those saying that real outreach exists... Where? Who? I have tried about 20 different link sellers over the last few years. In every single instance their claims of outreach has been to post links to a bunch of PBN sites.

If you know anything about me you would know I am good for PBN links. When I want top notch outreach links I will pay, but people promise them and then deliver links on sites with that tell tale PBN look and spam content. Everyone seems to be delivering what the OP is talking about.

I'm starting to think the best way is to keep building your own sites on top of strong domains. Luckily this is pretty painless with AI.
 
Never bought any links from blackhatworld.com and never will. focus on content, 500+ articles of 1500+ words and your website will rank automatically. no use of links. follow "Income School" youtube channel.
 
jimbobo2779 said:
For those saying that real outreach exists... Where? Who? I have tried about 20 different link sellers over the last few years. In every single instance their claims of outreach has been to post links to a bunch of PBN sites.

If you know anything about me you would know I am good for PBN links. When I want top notch outreach links I will pay, but people promise them and then deliver links on sites with that tell tale PBN look and spam content. Everyone seems to be delivering what the OP is talking about.

I'm starting to think the best way is to keep building your own sites on top of strong domains. Luckily this is pretty painless with AI.
Click to expand...
The key thing to ask a freelancer is not if they say they do manual outreach, but HOW exactly do they manually outreach, how long it takes them, and to provide actual samples of what they've done. You can critique the method they use, but it needs to be at root manual. It could be as simple as, put the main keywords or search queries into a search engine, find the first 50 results, then ask the webmasters if they take guest posts or niche edits. It's unlikely that an article with a good search term in it, from the first couple of pages of results, would be from PBNs. If it takes weeks or longer to get a placement this way, so be it.
 
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