SEO Strategy · 4 min read
12 Steps to Stop Buying Links and Start Earning Them
Short answer
Stop buying links by auditing what you paid for, removing or qualifying those links, and moving the budget into assets editors want to cite: original data, useful tools and newsworthy stories. Google's link spam policy treats paid links that pass ranking credit as spam.
Key takeaways
- Paid links are allowed only when marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow"; otherwise they violate Google's link spam policy.
- Use the disavow tool only if you have many artificial links and they caused, or will likely cause, a manual action.
- Redirect the link budget into one strong linkable asset per quarter and track the links it earns.
Buying links feels like progress. You pay, a link appears, a report shows a new referring domain. Meanwhile Google has spent years making those links worthless. This page is a 12-step plan for teams that want out: assess the damage, clean up only what needs it and replace purchases with links you earned.
Why should you stop buying links?
Because Google's link spam policy names buying links as spam, and its systems are built to cancel their value.
Google's spam policies list buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam, whether the payment is money, goods, services or free products sent in exchange for a link. In December 2022, Google announced a link spam update in which SpamBrain, its AI-based spam prevention system, could detect both sites buying links and sites used to pass outgoing links. The stated goal was to neutralize unnatural links.
So the usual outcome is waste rather than punishment. You pay for links that pass nothing. The rarer outcome, a manual action, costs far more.
How do you assess the links you already bought?
Start with an honest inventory, then check Search Console before you change anything.
- List every paid placement. Pull invoices, vendor emails and spreadsheets. You want URLs, dates and what was promised.
- Check the Manual Actions report. If Search Console shows an "Unnatural links to your site" action, that becomes the top priority.
- Export your links. The Links report in Search Console is a starting point; a third-party backlink tool adds more coverage.
- Tag each link: earned, paid with a qualifying attribute, paid without one, or unknown.
When should you remove, qualify or disavow links?
Ask for removal or a sponsored attribute first, and disavow only when you have a real manual action risk.
- Contact vendors you paid and ask them to remove the link or add rel="sponsored". Many will.
- Disavow only if both of Google's conditions apply: you have a considerable number of spammy or artificial links, and they caused or will likely cause a manual action. Google calls the tool an advanced feature and warns that misuse can hurt your performance.
- If you have a manual action, fix it fully, then file a reconsideration request explaining what you did. Google notes reviews can take days or weeks.
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Old paid links, no manual action | Leave them; they are likely ignored. Stop buying new ones |
| Paid links on live sponsorships | Ask for rel="sponsored" |
| Manual action for unnatural links | Remove what you can, disavow the rest, request review |
| Unknown spammy links you never built | Usually ignore; see our piece on negative SEO |
How do you earn links instead?
Build things worth citing and put them in front of the people who write about your topic.
- Publish original data. A survey, a pricing index or an analysis of public records gives journalists a number they can quote with your name next to it.
- Build a useful free tool. Calculators and checkers attract links from forums, course pages and resource lists for years. Our own SEO ROI calculator is the kind of asset we mean.
- Run digital PR. Pitch a specific story to a short list of relevant writers, with the data ready and an expert available. Our link earning and digital PR service works this way.
- Reclaim what you already deserve. Find unlinked brand mentions and broken links to your old URLs, then ask for a fix or redirect the old page.
Hypothetical example: a company spends $2,000 a month on 10 paid guest posts. Over a quarter that is $6,000 for 30 links that may pass nothing. The same $6,000 could fund one data study and outreach. If the study earns 15 links from relevant publications, plus coverage that sends buyers, the second option wins even before you count risk.
How do you keep the habit from coming back?
Change what you measure, because teams buy links when the KPI is link count.
- Report on referring domains from relevant sites, referral traffic, rankings for the pages the links support and revenue from organic search. Drop raw link counts from the dashboard.
Write a one-paragraph link policy and share it with every contractor: no payment for followed links, sponsored placements must carry the right attribute, and all outreach is logged. It removes the temptation when a vendor email promises "high DA links" at a discount.
Earned links are slower, but they keep working through algorithm updates. For a closer look at tactics that look like earning but are not, read about widget links and link bait.
Frequently asked questions
Will Google penalize me for links I bought years ago?
Often those links are simply ignored. Google says its SpamBrain system works to neutralize unnatural links, so their value disappears. A manual action is possible when the pattern is large and obvious, and it will appear in the Manual Actions report in Search Console.
Is sponsoring content with a link always against the rules?
No. Sponsorships and advertorials are fine when the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", which tells Google not to pass ranking credit. The violation is paying for a link meant to manipulate rankings.
How many links does a linkable asset need to earn to be worth it?
There is no fixed number. A handful of relevant links from respected sites in your niche usually beats dozens from unrelated blogs. Judge the asset by referring domains, the traffic and leads they send, and rankings on the pages it supports.