What SEO and link building services to focus on and avoid in 2021-22?

High-quality backlinks are very important for creating good content. And if you are not free to build high-quality backlinks, then this article is for you. In this article, you will know which SEO and link building services work and which services you should avoid. With the help of this, you will know which option is best for creating your content and for your business. There are a lot of SEO service providers that you can test to build your content, but most of them will let you down. And along with this, some link building services will not work. So, before focusing on what you should do, let us first see what to avoid.

SEO and Link Building Services to avoid in 2021 – 22

Below are 5 SEO and link building services that you should avoid in 2021 – 22.

1.    Anything that is on Fiverr

Fiver is the total waste of money when you talk about SEO. Like if you buy 900 fiver gigs, there is no surety that all of them are for SEO stuff; only some gigs are for SEO. In the past few years, some of these gigs were workable, but now, in 2021, they are almost useless.

2.    PBNs (Private Blog Networks)

Before 2017, private blog networks (PBNs) works the best. Many people built their own PBN and bought various links from other people’s PBNs. But after 2017, google cracked down on private blog networks (PBNs) and links because of the new Google algorithm update. PBN backlinks easily get filtered out due to this new algorithm. Not only the links, but google also terminates all the networks that are shown on their radar. So, it means that the links that you bought are now completely useless. So avoid using private blog networks (PBNs).

3.    Paid guest posts

In the white hat SEO campaign, guest posting has a place, but it does not have paid guest post links. It has two reasons, which are listed below:

1. First of all, stay away from all the sites that ask you to pay to post your article as a guest as all these sites cannot be trusted because all the big legit sites like Mashable and TechCrunch won’t do such a thing.
2. And secondly, buying links and paying for editorial reviews or guest post placement can penalize your site as this is against the Webmaster Guidelines given by Google.

4.    “Push Button” Backlinks

If you can buy 100 backlinks or more than that by just pushing a button, you are buying spam links. Such links are not beneficial; they only harm your content and business. That is the reason it is suggested to stay away from most “link building packages”.

5.    Press Releases

In the past times, press releases were a great way to build links. But this will not work today. But the harsh reality is that people still offer “press release distributions” as SEO services. Nowadays, the majority of the press releases are no-followed. Moreover, Google has made a statement that

“links in press releases are ignored by them.”

After the things you should avoid, now it’s time to discuss SEO and link building services that you should focus on to create better content.

SEO and Link Building services to focus on in 2021 – 22

The seven best link building and SEO services in 2021 are listed below:

1.    Help A Reporter Out (HARO)

What is HARO?

HARO is a service for journalists that provides new stories to cover and valuable sources for their media coverage.

How does HARO work?

You have to register yourself as a source on the website. After that, you will start getting emails on a daily basis with queries, and emails that will be sent to you will be three only. Queries are the case studies, strategies, statistics, or quotes the journalists need to finish their stories. Your work is to give useful replies to these stories. And there are high chances that you get featured.

How much does HARO cost?

There is a total of 4 plans which start from basic and end at a premium. Basic is free, standard costs 19$ per month, advanced costs 49$ per month while the premium plan costs 149$ per month. You can take the free plan if you are into replying to occasional queries. But to if you want to get placements, it is suggested that you go for their paid plans. Because in their paid plans, they offer some cool features such as keywords alert and early access.

Pros of HARO

• You will get links from popular blogs and news sites.
• HARO is very cheap comparing to other websites, and its basic plan is free.
• The majority of the links were from legit sites, so there is no need to worry about the Google penalties or the black hat links.

Cons of HARO

• It requires hard work to reply to HARO queries. Always give fast replies and stay on top of the list if you want to be featured by a big site.
• You cannot just do this on and off. You have to be regular to get results.

2.    Content Marketing Agency

What is a content marketing agency?

A content marketing agency is one that produces content according to your need for your business blog.

How do content marketing agencies work?

Content marketing agencies work in two ways which are below:

1. You can set a monthly fee with the agency in return, of which they will provide many small articles of 500 words or a few big blogs of 4000 words.
2. Pay a predefined fee for a set number of articles. For instance, you are paying a set fee of $2000 for a single long blog post.

How much do content marketing agencies cost?

These agencies have three different plans, first is a startup coverage program that costs 5000$ per month, second is a growth coverage program that costs 10000$ per month, and the last one is an enterprise coverage program, and it costs 20000$ per month. You will only get what you will pay for; you have to go for expensive plans for exceptional results. So, always go for those agencies who focus on quality over quantity.

Pros of working with a Content marketing agency

• Building links using content marketing agencies works well.
• Do not worry about getting your site penalized, as it is the white hat as it gets.
• You will get brand awareness and a lot of traffic from publishing good content.

Cons of working with a Content marketing agency

• Content marketing services are not equal to SEO services. No one will do on-page SEO or keyword research for you.
• Few agencies deliver useless content; for getting links and standing out, your content should be amazing. But some content marketing agencies offer packages of 10 blogs per month which is a very worthless package.
• The fee you are paying might include content promotion too, but if it does not, you will have to buy a content promotion package separately, or you will have to do the promotion yourself.

3.    Blogger Outreach Services

What are blogger outreach services?

The agency or an individual who uses blogger outreach or manual link building to promote your content.

How do blogger outreach services work?

The agency does all the hustle of finding bloggers according to your interest, finding their contacts, and reaching out to them.

How much do blogger outreach services cost?

Some link building agencies charge a flat fee for building each link, and for a single quality link, the expected amount is 200$. Some also charge per hour fee while some charge per month fee.

Pros of blogger outreach services

• If you are looking for backlinks only, then this service is for you.
• One of the super white-hat approaches to link building is email outreach.
• You have to pay for the results only. They gave you guaranteed results.

Cons of blogger outreach services

• You will not get complete SEO services.
• Before starting with outreach have to publish your content, and the content should be good enough as the bloggers will not link to crappy content.
• You try to get your hands on some high-quality white-hat links. Google prefers the contextual links which are provided on websites related to them. And to get these kinds of links, blogger outreach is the best option.

4.    SEO Agency

What is an SEO agency?

It is an agency that takes care of all SEO services you need in which link building is included.

How do SEO agencies work?

You have to hire the agency first; they will start SEO on your site after hiring them. Some link building component is needed for it.

How much do SEO agencies cost?

Some agencies offer discounts of 200$ per month, or you can choose those SEO agencies that work with good companies and pay 20$ to 50$ per month.

Pros of working with an SEO agency

• You do not have to create content, and there is no need to find keywords. You have to give them your URL, and your work is done.
• The agencies work according to your needs and targets. For instance, they will create content according to your keywords and get you links too.

Cons of working with an SEO agency

• Some SEO agencies only do some basic optimization and charge you every month for useless links and content.

5.    Guest Posting Services

What do guest posting services mean?

Hiring an agency to write and then publish the guest post on your behalf with a link to your site.

How do guest posting services work?

The services providing facilities related to guest posts take care of all the steps required in guest posting. such as finding sites, contacting editors, creating posts, and finally publishing them and this process takes some time

How much do guest posting services cost?

They charge 100$ to 500$ per guest post depending on the domain authority of the site.

Pros of guest posting service

• It is safe to publish a few guest posts on relevant sites. In the guest posting, as long as the link is legit you are safe. Google prefers that you don’t get large scale links from guest posts.
• You can get a large amount of traffic from a guest post on a big site related to your niche.

Cons of guest posting service

• The real problem is fake guest posts. Some services write a very useless post and then publish it in their PBN.
• If more than 5% to 10% of your link profile is of guest post links, you are at a big risk of getting a penalty.

6.    A PR Agency

What is a PR agency?

A PR agency is one which helps you mention your company in the press.

How does PR agency work?

PR agencies are responding by creating stories that are newsworthy and can be presented to media outlets. These stories can contain the content you publish on your site or your products.

How much PR agency cost you?

PR agencies working with small businesses and cost them from $2k to $15k per month. PR agencies charge monthly basis.

Pros of PR agency

• You will get high-quality backlinks.
• By hiring a PR agency, you get a lot of contacts that can give you a lot of coverage.

Cons of PR agency

• Some PR agencies do not focus on links which is not a thing for you.
• No guarantee comes with the PR.
• PR agencies charge more than SEO agencies, almost two to three times more than SEO. Hence it results in an expensive process.

7.    Infographic Design Company

What is an infographic design company?

They create infographics or any other form of visual content to get backlinks.

How do infographic design companies work?

The majority of the infographic agencies perform the whole process for you, such as thinking of an innovative idea, finding information, and design the graphics. However, you can also approach a graphic designer to design infographics according to your product or content.

How much do infographic design companies charge?

An infographic design cost is about $1k to $2k. On the other hand, if you are looking to take all the services, like promotion including, then it will cost you $2k to $4k.

Pros

• They are a great way to built backlinks.
• You have to pay per infographic.

Cons

• Some of them do not include promotions in their package.
• It is not sure that you will get your marketing goals. Infographics can either go viral or disappear. So you may have to publish 2 or 3 or even more infographics before you achieve your goals