Cheap links in SEO in 2020. Does it make sense to use it? How to earn?

External links.External link signals are among the top ranking factors.

Are cheap links beneficial ? How to make money on sites with cheap links?

Let’s deal with the topic further.

1 – Cheap links in website promotion

With expensive external links hosted on reputable sites, it’s pretty straightforward. What about cheap links? Do you need low quality links when promoting your site in search results?

What are cheap inbound links? The cheapest backlinks are:

• Links from comments. Including comments on authoritative sites. By and large, we are talking about link spam;
• Links from sites of low quality, which massively post links in order to earn money from such activities.

The vast majority of SEOs do not consider such links to be a valuable resource. Many people think that such links are of no use at all.

But practice shows the opposite. There is an effect when used in a number of scenarios.

Moreover, there are real examples of website promotion using such links. Such sites are capable of generating earnings in the range of $ 100 – $ 5000 per site per month. The cost of building a link profile in this case is minimal.

What are the scenarios? In what cases do such links help to promote a site in search results?

How to make money on sites with such a link profile?

Let’s deal with the issue further.

2 – What are cheap links good for?

Yes. Cheap links work. Let’s immediately deal with the main scenario, which is suitable in most cases.

Scenario 1. Strengthening links that are posted on quality resources

The point is to leverage links from reputable sources. The scheme is as follows:

• The site being promoted contains links from authoritative sites. For example, through outreach. Forbes, for example;
• The link is being indexed. Recommended material in the GCC MARKETING blog on the topic of indexing by the link below – How to quickly index pages of other people’s sites. And for what? ;
• Place external links on posted links :).

So, first, the inbound link is posted on an authoritative site and indexed.

Typically, these links are posted through outreach.

Recommended material in the GCC MARKETING blog on the topic of outreach by the link below – What is outreach and how does it work? How to find new sites for posting links?

Then cheap links are posted to a page on an authoritative site .

In this scenario, bad links will not create any problems for an authoritative site, since authoritative resources have a large high-quality link profile. And there will be a positive effect for the promoted site.

Scenario 2. Earning money on sites in niches with low competition

In this scenario, the goal is to promote sites in search results to make money on traffic.

What income? Depends on the topic. Conversion rates are in the order of 5% or higher. If we are talking about 3,000 visitors per month, then there will be 150 sales. In top niches from sites, earnings reach about $ 3000-5000 per month.

This type of earnings on sites is practically not covered. But it is here that everything is simpler and cheaper than in competitive niches. The main thing is to understand the principles.

Competition is low. Income in dollars. Let’s figure out the details.

There are various affiliate networks with low competition for their products in search results . In such networks, there are products from the following topics:

• Soft and services;
• Health and fitness;
• Self-help;
• E-business;
• Green Products;
• Cooking, Food and Wine;
• Languages;
• Home and garden.

Competition on such topics is low. Projects in search results are bad. Sometimes there aren’t even domain names. Products are promoted through sites on free builders.

The entry threshold is low. Investments for website optimization are minimal. The frequency of key phrases varies within hundreds of queries per month.

Do you have an example? An example of such an affiliate network is Clickbank .

What is the basis of interest in such partner networks, in addition to low competition? Popular networks like Amazon have lowered their web fees. On networks like Clickbank, commissions are set by product sellers. Commissions reach 50-70%, sometimes even higher. For every $ 100, the web can make $ 70. Earnings are higher than from monetization through Google Adsense. Commissions in such networks are high due to the fact that the advertiser does not spend money on marketing. Often these are types of products such as books and training.

In general, creating Made for Adsense sites has become unprofitable, so it is better to look for other options for earning money. For example, create a website for making money for 2 or more affiliate networks at once .

How to choose and analyze an affiliate network?You should focus on how long the network has been operating, that is, check the project for stability.

How to do it? For example, use a service that tracks the number of sites with embedded code on the pages of an affiliate network project.

The next step is to analyze the selected networks using additional criteria.

• The size of the commission from the total cost of the product;
• Are there any surcharges. Many products are sold on a subscription basis. Repeated payments account for a large proportion. It is important to consider the aspect;
• Number of countries;
• Competition level. Will buying cheap external links be enough for website promotion;
• Reliability.

A number of partner networks may have problems with registration for non-residents. For changing the country after registration comes blocking

The problem is solved through the use of VPN during registration and further logins. Payoneer card solves the issue of withdrawing funds.

What are the cons? The main disadvantages are:

• Many products are not of the best quality;
• Weak landing pages;
• Problem with generating sales forecasts;
• There are refunds;
• Competition in certain niches is low, but there are cases of pessimization.

What sites to create? To promote these types of products, it is often enough to create small sites with several pages. Often sites with 5-10 pages.

Websites should be created in a narrow topic. For example:

• Hatha yoga;
• Yoga for women.

At the top of the page, you should display a resume with a buy button. Then the text of the article.

Where to get content? Create or order on exchanges.

Where can I get key phrases for content creation? For example like this:

• Make a list of sites search leaders in the subject;
• Unload semantics from search visibility.

How do I find search leader sites? For example, through searching for competitive sites in a free competitor search service or through search results.

Semantics should be unloaded through special services. For example,SEMRush .

The  crawler regularly scans search results, collects and updates the lists of key phrases for which sites are ranked. The obtained data is available in the “Site Visibility” service.

Service Link – Site Visibility .

Have a sample site? Yes. For example flatbellytearecipe.com.

There is a way to attract targeted traffic from search results without a website. The scheme is simple:

• A question is created on Quora;
• Then you should add at least 5 responses from other accounts .

The method is effective in cases where the key phrase is interrogative. Sometimes such pages are displayed at the top of the search results.

There is also an option to promote without the cost of registering domain names. For example, through a grid of free blogs such as Blogspot. The low level of competition in the search results allows you to use free platforms instead of sites.

How to choose a topic? At first, it will be correct to assess traffic, or at least estimate the frequency of key phrases.

Then, when choosing, the following criteria should be considered:

The interest of the web in the topic. Just to work with interest;

The topic should be limited. For example, take not all yoga, but weight loss yoga.

How to choose a product? You should choose many products at once, and create a site with many pages. At the first stage , the following criteria should be used:

• Analyze the gravity metric value ;
• Assess the quality of the landing page ;
• Find out if there is a demo of the product.

As a result, most of the low quality products will be filtered out.

In the next step, a number of additional checks should be carried out. Criteria:

• Does the product have a selling video;
• Are there any positive reviews;
• Low price. It’s easier to make money on affordable products;
• The presence of a subscription fee;
• Availability of materials for partners: banners, letter templates for mailing.

There are free services that help with product selection.

So it will be possible to choose the best options, 3-5 pieces.

Then you should determine which products are worth focusing on, which ones are best to start with. Here you should focus on a number of metrics. The metrics are as follows:

• Initial $ / sale – how much you get from the first sale;
• Avg% / sale – average percentage of sales;
• Avg Sale Total – average sales revenue;
• Avg Rebill Total – Average re-sales revenue if a subscription is sold;
• Gravity is the number of web sites that have earned in the previous 12 weeks.

Weak optimizers are involved in the struggle for such niches. There are few external links required for promotion. Pages to the top are promoted simply by cheap links. On average, 5-10 links per page is sufficient.

But where do you get cheap inbound links?

3 – Where can I get cheap external links?

There are free and paid methods.

The free method is as follows. First, you need to collect a database of sites on which external links are allowed.

Examples of sites:

• Free blogs;
• Comments;
• Free catalogs.

For instance:

• In your profile at about.me;
• On podbean.com;
• In the comments at blogs.apache.org.

Next, you should analyze the link profiles of competing sites. Group the entire link profile into dofollow and nofollow . You should start by posting direct links.

Service Link – External Links .

The paid method consists in the automatic purchase of external links.

Service types:

• Crowd links. Links are posted by employees in communities and comments on sites;
• Link exchanges. Links are placed by the system on sites that sell outbound links.

Crowd links are included in the list of natural link types, which minimizes the risk of the site being sanctioned.

Link exchanges. The main advantages are speed, ease of use and low cost. To start buying links, it is enough:

• Enter the addresses of the promoted pages;
• Enter key phrases;
• Set purchase parameters.

An example of an exchange is SEO autopilot .

Cheap links will be if you specify low parameters in the purchase setup.

Conclusions.

With expensive links from quality sites, everything is clear. Such external links are effective. But is there an effect of cheap links?

Cheap links are effective as well. But for topics with low competition. The most cost-effective such links are for strengthening external links from authoritative sites and for promoting sites for partner networks. Low competition allows you to minimize the cost of promotion.

The whole process for this method of making money on sites consists of the following stages:

• Choosing an affiliate network;
• Choice of topics;
• Product selection;
• Creating pages;
• Receiving traffic.

The whole process in stages and practical advice are described above.

Do you use cheap links when promoting your site? Have you tried to make money in affiliate networks? Do you still have a question? Write in the comments.