Backlinks cost between $50 and $5,000+ per link, but the range depends heavily on domain authority, topical relevance, and how you acquire them. A guest post on a DR 30–50 site in a general niche typically costs $150–$500. Niche-specific or high-authority placements (DR 60+) often run $800–$2,000, and links from tier-one publications like Forbes or major news outlets can hit $3,000–$5,000 if you go through brokers or PR agencies. Monthly retainers are more common than one-off purchases. Most agencies charge $1,500–$4,000/month for ongoing link building that delivers 3–8 quality links per month, depending on your niche and competition. Enterprise-level campaigns in competitive verticals like finance or legal can run $8,000–$15,000/month. At Ottawa SEO, we typically bundle link acquisition into broader SEO retainers because isolated link campaigns rarely deliver ROI without supporting content and technical work. Cheaper options exist but carry risk. Fiverr and low-end marketplaces sell links for $20–$100, but these are usually spammy blog networks or PBNs that Google can devalue or penalize. Outreach-based link building (where you pitch real sites for free placements) costs only your time or a VA's salary, but success rates are low and it's labour-intensive. Pricing also varies by acquisition method: - Guest posts with content included: $200–$800 - Niche edits (inserting links into existing content): $100–$600 - Digital PR and journalist outreach: $2,000–$10,000/month retainer - Sponsored content on established blogs: $300–$1,500 The key isn't cost per link, it's cost per ranking improvement or conversion. A single $1,200 link from a relevant DR 65 site can outperform twenty $50 junk links. We focus on relevance and editorial standards over raw domain metrics, because Google's algorithms now heavily weight topical authority and natural link context. If a vendor won't show you exactly where the link will appear before you pay, walk away.