Link building for US businesses
Link building services that earn trust.
UppearNow's link building services win editorial links and brand mentions on sites your buyers already read. We pitch bloggers, editors and journalists with content worth citing, vet every site against Google's spam policies, and report each link we win. You get fewer, better links, chosen to hold up for years.
pages with no backlinks gets more than 1,000 Google visits a month.
Source: Ahrefs Search Traffic Study
correlation between links and rankings for local queries, across the top 1 million US keywords.
Source: Ahrefs
What our link building services include
Campaigns draw on six kinds of work, weighted by the gaps in your backlink profile.
- 01
Backlink gap analysis
Sites linking to your rivals and skipping you, ranked by relevance.
- 02
Linkable assets
Data, tools and guides on your site that editors want to cite.
- 03
Blogger outreach
Personal pitches to bloggers who cover your field.
- 04
Guest articles
Expert pieces under your name on trade publications.
- 05
Digital PR
Story angles and fresh data pitched to journalists.
- 06
Link reporting
Every link logged with its anchor, rel attribute and referral visits.
Why links still matter, and what Google bans
Links still help Google decide which pages to trust, and a link earned from a relevant site can keep sending visitors long after it goes live. In Ahrefs' study of roughly 14 billion pages, about 20 million had no referring domains, and only 2,997 of those drew over 1,000 monthly search visits.
The signal has softened a little. Ahrefs' 2025 look at a million US keywords found that links "correlate to rankings slightly less than they used to," and its author still advises that links "should be a part of your SEO strategy, but they shouldn't be your whole strategy."
What Google punishes is manipulation. Its link spam policy defines link spam as "the practice of creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings." Examples include:
- "Buying or selling links for ranking purposes"
- "Excessive link exchanges"
- "Using automated programs or services to create links to your site"
- "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links"
Paid links are allowed when labeled. Google's guide to qualifying outbound links wants "advertisements or paid placements" tagged rel="sponsored", and its spam policy accepts paid links as "a normal part of the economy of the web" once they carry that tag.
Our link quality checklist
The Editor's Eye Checklist asks seven questions about every link opportunity, and a site must pass all seven before we pitch it. Each question is one a careful editor or a Google reviewer would ask, which keeps the shortlist to sites where a link earns its place.
- Would your buyer read this site on purpose?
- Does it cover your topic regularly?
- Does a named person edit what goes live?
- Does its traffic come from your markets?
- Are its outbound links clean of casino, pill and loan spam?
- Would the link make sense to a reader with no SEO in mind?
- Is the anchor text branded or plainly descriptive?
| Signal | Good link | Risky link |
|---|---|---|
| Source | A trade blog your buyers follow | A site that covers every topic |
| How it was earned | A pitch, a quote or a cited asset | A fee for a followed link |
| Anchor text | Your brand or a plain description | An exact-match keyword |
| Placement | Inside an article where it helps | Footer, sidebar or widget |
| Neighbors | Other useful, on-topic links | Links to gambling or pills |
| Labeling | Paid links tagged rel="sponsored" | Paid links passed as editorial |
Get a free backlink gap report.
Get my gap reportLink building services we offer
We offer three ways to earn links, and one campaign can blend them. Blogger outreach suits niches with active writers, guest posting suits brands with a quotable expert, and digital PR suits companies with data or a story journalists can use. Your backlink gap report shows which one to lead with.
| Service | Best for | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Blogger Outreach | Niches with active, independent bloggers | Vetted blogs, personal pitches, a live link log |
| Guest Posting | Brands with an expert who can teach | Bylined articles on trade publications |
| Digital PR campaigns | Companies with data, tools or a timely story | Pitches to journalists and coverage tracking |
Digital PR pitches go to reporters, so we keep them short and on their beat, with your data or expert ready to quote. Every campaign follows Google's rules: no paid followed links, and a sponsored tag on any fee-based placement.
Industries we serve
We pitch the sites each field's buyers already trust:
- Ecommerce: gift guides, product roundups and niche hobby blogs
- Software: comparison reviews, integration partners and developer blogs
- Healthcare: expert-reviewed health sites and clinician publications
- Legal: bar journals, legal news and local business press
- Finance: personal finance writers and accounting trade press
- Property: local news, city guides and home improvement blogs
- Education: parent blogs, teacher resources and education news
How we measure link building
We measure link building by what each link brings in: referral visits, rankings for the pages it supports, and brand mentions across the web and in AI answers. Link counts and authority scores come last, because one link from a site your buyers read can send customers for years.
| Metric | Where it comes from | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Referral visits | GA4 | Proves real readers clicked |
| Target page rankings | Google Search Console | Shows the link helped the page it points to |
| New referring domains | Ahrefs | Tracks growth in unique linking sites |
| Anchor mix | Ahrefs | Keeps your profile natural |
| Brand mentions | Mention tracking and AI answer checks | Counts unlinked brand coverage |
Each monthly report opens with a one-line summary, then the link log.
| Linking site | Type | Anchor | rel | Referral visits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR trade blog | Blogger outreach | Acme Payroll | Followed | 38 |
| Small business magazine | Guest post | overtime calculator guide | Nofollow | 61 |
| Regional news site | Digital PR | acmepayroll.com | Followed | 104 |
Sample data for illustration.
How much link building costs
Link building is usually sold as a monthly retainer or per link. We charge a retainer for the research, content and outreach, because no honest provider controls how many editors say yes. In Ahrefs' own outreach test, sites willing to sell a link asked $361.44 on average, and buying one for ranking breaks Google's rules.
Outreach
Custom quote- Backlink gap report
- Blogger outreach
- Monthly link log
Authority
Custom quote- Everything in Outreach
- Guest articles
- One linkable asset a quarter
Newsroom
Custom quote- Everything in Authority
- Digital PR campaigns
- Original data study
- Strategist calls
What affects cost
- How competitive your niche is
- Assets you have now, or ones we build
- How many target pages need support
- Whether campaigns include digital PR
Every plan starts with a free review, so your quote matches what your site actually needs.
Is this right for you?
Right for you if
- Google indexes your site and your key pages are strong.
- You have expertise, data or tools worth citing.
- You can give a campaign at least six months.
- You judge links by relevance and referral visits.
Not the right fit if
- You're shopping for PBN links or bulk link bundles. We offer neither.
- You need a fixed number of dofollow links each month.
- Your site has technical problems. Fix those first.
- Your pages are thin. Better content will help more than links.
Your first 90 days.
- Days 1 to 7
Backlink gap report against three rivals, target pages and assets agreed.
- Days 8 to 30
Prospect lists vetted with the Editor's Eye Checklist, first pitches sent.
- Days 31 to 60
First links and articles live, asset or data story pitched.
- Days 61 to 90
Referral visits, rankings and anchor mix reviewed, next quarter planned.
Questions, answered.
Ask us directlyWhat is a link building service?
A link building service earns links to your website from other relevant sites. Good providers find sites your buyers read, pitch them content or data worth citing, and report every link won. The goal is trust from Google and real referral visits, which spam links can't deliver.
How much does link building cost?
Most providers charge a monthly retainer or a price per link. In an Ahrefs test, sites willing to sell a followed link asked about $361 on average, though buying links for ranking breaks Google's rules. A retainer covers research, content and outreach, and costs more in competitive niches like finance or software.
Are backlinks still relevant in 2026?
Yes. Ahrefs found that pages with more referring domains tend to get more search traffic, and that links correlate even more strongly with local rankings. Their weight has eased slightly over the years, so links work best alongside strong content and a technically sound site.
Is buying backlinks against the rules?
Buying links that pass ranking credit breaks Google's link spam policy. Google allows paid links, such as ads and sponsorships, when they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Cheap followed links often come from private blog networks, which can expose your site to a manual action.
How long does link building take to work?
We aim for first links within the first two months. Google must then recrawl the linking pages, so ranking movement can take three to six months to show. Referral visits can start the day a strong link goes live, and the effect builds as links add up.
Do you guarantee a number of links?
No. Editors and bloggers decide what they publish, so any fixed count invites shortcuts like paid or low-quality links. We commit to the research, pitches and content each month, and report every result, including pitches that didn't land and what we changed because of them.
What is the difference between link building and digital PR?
Link building covers every method of earning links, including blogger outreach and guest posts. Digital PR is one method: pitching journalists with data, expert comment or a story worth covering. It can earn links from news sites and brand mentions even when the coverage includes no link.
Appear now.
See the links your rivals have.
Your free backlink gap report
- Sites linking to competitors and skipping you
- Three outreach angles that fit your niche
- A retainer quote based on your gaps