Many websites charge for guest posting, but should we pay?

Hi community,

I hope this isn't the typical back-linking question.

After submitting a guest post proposal to a blog, I received an automatically generated email that informed me of the guest posting fee and other websites the publishers owns.

I checked the websites DA. PA and spam score and all seemed fairly good. Though, I also checked out the website's back-link profile and it was full of high spam score back-links. So, to me this was a red flag and a website I shouldn't engage with.

I've read posts on this forum, stating that in practice, paying for links won't get you penalised, so long as you're smart about it. I agree with this logic to an extent. Google can't check your email correspondence etc, so unless the website is advertising that they're selling links, it shouldn't be an issue.

My question is, how far can we push this as SEO marketers and how likely are we to be penalised? In answering this question, please assume that the website you're talking about has a healthy back-link profile from relevant websites, though the back-link profile isn't quite that rich. Would adding some paid links hurt?

As you said, Google can't know if something is a paid link for sure. So, there is no difference whether you pay for the link or the link is free. The question just comes down to the quality of the link. Treat it as if you were doing white hat guest posting. Just ignore the money part. Would you take the link for free? Nobody can answer how likely it would be for you to be penalized. Anyone who answers that is just making stuff up. There are WAY too many individual factors that can't be answered by anyone except Google after reviewing the link.

Do you want to know if Google will discover you built backlinks? The answer is YES!

Do you want to know if Google will penalize you for building backlinks? The answer is "TIME WILL TELL"

If you read Google guidelines carefully, it clearly states building backlinks is a violation. But then, on the other hand, you cannot rank without backlinks.

In a nutshell, no one can answer your question with true certainty. You have to do your own testing and see what works for you. Those that have discovered "sweet spots" will never reveal it to you. SEO is now becoming a game for the big boys; if you have the funds you can set up your own backlinks.

I do know that private PBNs are still effective.

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/giveaway-guest-posting-on-high-da-pa-website.1099593/page-7#post-11895119

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/giveaway-guest-posting-on-high-da-pa-website.1099593/page-7#post-11895119