81 Link Building Statistics: Key Trends and Insights 2025

Gone are the days when traditional advertising was the only way to reach consumers. With the rise of online platforms, businesses now have multiple channels—websites, email, and social media—to engage with their audience. A well-executed digital marketing campaign can significantly impact your visibility and bottom line.

While on-page SEO ensures a seamless user experience, link-building statistics show that off-page SEO plays an equally vital role in search rankings. Google continuously evaluates a website’s authority based on high-quality backlinks, making link-building a key factor in boosting organic visibility.

As search engines evolve, backlink statistics highlight how a strong link-building strategy can improve your rankings, drive traffic, and enhance credibility. To illustrate its ongoing importance, here are the latest trends and insights shaping link-building in 2025.

Link Building Statistics 2025

General link building statistics

1. Studies show that 94% of the world’s content gets zero external links. (Backlinko)

2. Only 2.2% of published online content acquires multiple backlinks. (Backlinko)

3. 41% of large companies claim that link building is the most difficult SEO practice. (Conductor)

4. Out of all link-building tactics, 41% of SEO experts state that link building provides the most value. (Conductor)

5. In a study that examined 100,000 random blogs, around 75% had no external links. (Moz)

6. Given the complexities of SEO, 36% of businesses outsource to experts for their link-building efforts. (Aira)

7. 42% of SEO specialists spend equal time building external and internal links. (Databox)

8. 90% of marketers use content pieces as their main strategy to acquire backlinks. (userp)

9. 65% of marketers claim that domain authority is the most important metric in determining a backlink’s quality. (userp)

10. Only 8.5% of link building cold emails generate results. (userp)

11. Only 6% of “Guest Posting Sites” Are Quality (buzzstream)

12. Companies who engage in blogging receive 97% more backlinks to their site (hubspot)

13. Don’t forget about AI tools—44.2% of SEO professionals swear by them to find the best link exchange partners quickly and efficiently. (editorial.link)

14. The number of backlinks a web page has is directly correlated with the amount of organic traffic it receives. (ahrefs)

15. The average website owner builds around 7 links per month. (authorityhacker)

16. 73.5% of link builders generate fewer than 10 links per month. (seo.ai)

17. 95% of pages have zero backlinks. (aioseo)

How does link building benefit SEO? 

18. 94% of marketers believe that link building will continue to be a vital ranking factor in the next five years. (Aira)

19. 80% of digital marketers say that link building and brand mentions directly impact organic search rankings (Aira)

20. The first ranking site on Google’s SERPs usually has 3.8x more backlinks compared to positions 2-10. (userp)

21. 43.7% of top-ranking pages have reciprocal links. This means that the sites they mention in their content also link back to them. (Ahrefs)

What types of content are effective for link building services? 

22. Long-form content (3,000 – 10,000 words) acquires 77.2% more links compared to shorter articles (0 – 1,000 words). (Backlinko)

23. Infographics are known for their ability to attract links. Since they can condense complex information, 53% of SEO specialists produce them to earn backlinks. (Content Marketing Institute)

24. Out of all content forms, list type articles boast the highest average of referring domains at 6.19. (Moz)

25. “Why” posts, “what” posts, and infographics receive 25% more links compared to videos and “how-to” posts. (Backlinko)

26. A single piece of AI content generated $174,525 worth of backlinks. (medium)

How much does link building cost? 

27. 46% of marketers spend around $10,000 annually for link building. (Aira)

28. Research shows that a low-quality SEO backlink building costs $500, while a high-quality one is priced around $1,250. (Siege Media)

29. Clients who work with digital marketing agencies claim that they spend more than 25% of their SEO budget on link building. (seotribunal)

30. 31% of marketers say that they use 0-10% of their total marketing budget on link building. (aira)

31. As more businesses enter the picture, 41% of marketers believe that the cost of link building will rise through the years. (userp)

32. 74.3% of link builders pay for links and, on average, are paying $83 for a link. (editorial.link)

33. 19.9% of link builders actively buy and redirect domains to acquire links. (authorityhacker)

What are the common link building strategies and practices? 

34. 69% of marketers believe that buying links can improve a site’s search rankings. (Aira)

35. Brands that blog generate 97% more inbound links and 53% more visitors compared to those that don’t. (neilpatel)

36. 50% of Google search queries are four words or longer. Not making use of long-tail keywords can cause you to miss out on a handful of conversion opportunities. (seotribunal)

37. Optimize your website for all devices, as 69% of digital media time is spent on a mobile device. (seotribunal)

38. Refurbishing old blog posts can increase organic search traffic by as much as 113%. (seotribunal)

39. 51% of SEO professionals state that bloggers should include 2-3 internal links in a blog post. (SocialMediaToday)

40. Guest blogging has gained traction as one of the most effective link-building practices. Statistics show that 60% of blog owners write around 1-5 guest posts a month. (Spiralytics)

41. When sending outreach emails, personalizing your subject line and body will increase your response rate by 33%. (userp)

42. 82% of SEOs rely on backlink builder analysis tools like Ahrefs and Semrush, showcasing the importance of understanding competitors’ link profiles. (DemandSage)

43. 51.6% employ link exchanges as part of their strategy. (Authority Hacker)

44. Content marketing and guest posting are the most effective link building methods, according to marketers. (Spiralytics)

45. Exact match anchor text backlinks are no more effective at increasing content rankings than non-exact match anchor text. (Ahrefs)

46. 54% of businesses generate links through competitor analysis and link targeting. (Aira)

47. 35% of businesses outsource when it comes to link building and SEO. (Adam Connell)

48. The font size of terms and links matters. (iPullRank)

49. 30% of businesses implement link-building strategies in their website on their own. (My Codeless Website)

50. Google Search Console is the most used tool for link building (42.3%), followed by Buzzstream (14.8%) and Ahrefs (8.5%). (My Codeless Website)

51. Link building will improve ranking on competitive keywords and domain rating by as much as 22% with the right campaign. (My Codeless Website)

52. Only 17.7% of link builders use Digital PR to acquire links, making it the least used link building tactic. (Authority Hacker)

53. It takes an average of 8 days for an outreach email to convert into a backlink. (Authority Hacker)

What are experts saying about back linking?

54. 93.8% of link builders prioritize link quality over quantity. (seo.ai)

55. 52.3% find link building to be the most challenging aspect of SEO. (seo.ai)

56. 46.3% of link builders reported using HARO (Help a Reporter Out) regularly. (Authority Hacker)

57. 67% of marketers would focus on domain rating, and 42% would prioritize domain authority if they could only choose one metric. (seo.ai)

58. Around 54% of marketers believe no-follow links are valuable to their backlink profile. (userp)

59. Relevance is the most critical factor in determining the quality of a backlink, cited by 84.6% of respondents. (editorial.link)

60. 56.3% of marketers believe link quality and quantity affect rankings. (My Codeless Website)

61. 85% of marketers acknowledge that link-building significantly influences brand authority and brand establishment. (My Codeless Website)

62. 13% of search experts say link building is the “most” helpful SEO tactic.” (Conductor)

63. 53% of online marketers who created a campaign alongside content creation for link generation say it generated 1-9 links in a year. (My Codeless Website)

64. 59% of online marketers who launch link building campaigns admit to not setting targets for it. (My Codeless Website)

65. 37% of experts find that links to the homepage of a website are not as valuable as links to a campaign page. (My Codeless Website)

66. Only 5.2% of link builders consider the presence of the “Write for us” page a major red flag. (Authority Hacker)

67. There is virtually no correlation between backlinks and social shares. (Backlinko)

How is Google using back links are a ranking factor?

68. Google’s page ranking algorithm regards links as one of the top two criteria considered. (Search Engine Land)

69. A link’s quality is categorized as low, medium, and high. (hexdocs.pm)

70. Google Panda is largely about building a scoring modifier based on distributed signals related to user behavior and external links. (iPullRank)

71. Google uses click data to determine how to weight links in rankings. (SparkToro)

72. You need to drive more successful clicks using a broader set of queries and earn more link diversity if you want to continue to rank. (iPullRank)

73. High-quality content, page experience, and links are ranked as the top 3 ranking factors of Google’s search results. (Search Engine Journal)

74. The number of domains linking to a page was the factor that had the highest correlation to rankings in Google. (Backlinko)

75. When it comes to ranking on Google for target keywords, content quality and the number of referring domains are the two most significant factors. (userp)

76. RankBrain, Google’s AI-powered ranking system, is the next most influential factor. (userp)

77. The number of referring domains to a URL is the strongest factor correlated with link building SEO success. (Authority Hacker)

78. Semantic search, where user intent and contextual relevance surpass simple keyword matching, is now more important than ever. (Flow Agency)

79. Backlinks from authoritative sites that align with your niche have become invaluable, not just for SEO but for visibility in AI-generated content. (Flow Agency)

80. 50% of websites with higher clearscope content grades showed higher Google rankings. (Backlinko)

81. Low relevance, bad neighborhoods, and poor SEO metrics are the top three red flags for link builders when deciding on link quality. (Authority Hacker)

Dominate Search Rankings with the Right Links

As a business owner, you know that complacency is your biggest obstacle. With the internet offering endless opportunities to market your brand, competition is only getting tougher. To stay ahead, strengthening your online presence should be a top priority.

The numbers speak for themselves—link building services play a crucial role in digital marketing. With its potential to boost your site’s visibility, a well-executed strategy can help you rank for your target keywords and attract consistent, high-quality traffic.Navigating the SEO landscape can be challenging, especially for beginners. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone. If digital marketing isn’t one of your company’s core strengths, partnering with an SEO agency in the Philippines can make all the difference. By leveraging expert backlink builder strategies, you’ll gain tailor-fit solutions that enhance performance while optimizing costs.

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