The concept of a “permanent link” in link building is much more complex than it might seem at first, so buying a link forever is not exactly the right goal. Because you are buying a promise, but not a truly “permanent” guarantee. A site can be sold, shut down, change its topic, or simply not renew its domain after a year. A new owner may delete all old links, and Google can impose penalties, making your “permanent” link toxic.
Instead, the real value of a “permanent” link lies in the speed of return, and everything after that is no longer your risk but a free bonus. So how can you find cheap permanent links with such non-obvious value?
Affordable ways to get inexpensive links
So, we are looking for assets that will pay off quickly. The simplest way to start is with a few methods that require minimal financial investment or are completely free. Their main currency is your time and strategic approach.
However, there is an important nuance here. Most of these links will have the nofollow or UGC (User-Generated Content) attribute. This means they do not directly pass “weight” for SEO, but they will:
- create a natural link profile. After all, a site that is only linked by authoritative media looks suspicious to Google
- bring live, targeted traffic
- speed up the indexing of new pages.
So where to get links to a website so that they work effectively?
1. Comments, profiles, and social media
This is the basic level where the “life” of any website begins. The main goal here is to make yourself visible in the information space.
- Blog and online media comments (not spam). If the comment is accurate and placed on a popular resource, that’s instant referral traffic.
- Profiles on websites. Registering your site in directories and submitting listings is an opportunity to leave a link to your site in the profile. This way you create basic entry points for search engines and balance your link mass.
- Social networks. Links from your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, X (Twitter) confirm that a real company or person stands behind the site.
However, don’t turn this into spam — use your brand name or URL as anchor text. The value of these links is not in SEO weight but in their naturalness and traffic.
2. Forums and crowd marketing
This is a much more powerful tool than the previous one. Since crowd marketing means placing your website, service, or product on forums and Q&A services, you get not just a link but a recommendation at the moment when someone is actively looking for a solution.
How does it work? You find a fresh discussion where your product may be useful and leave a native tip with a link. For example, in a discussion about “the best way to insulate a house,” you, as a representative of a building materials store, give advice and unobtrusively refer to the right category of your website.
The value here is that you get highly warmed-up targeted traffic. People who click such a link are already interested in your topic. These links can be either nofollow or dofollow — it depends on the platform’s rules.
3. Permanent links: exchanges and crowd services
If you don’t have time to manually search forums and publish comments, it makes sense to use specialized services where you can delegate these tasks and buy crowd links.
- Link exchanges. Here you can buy permanent links cheaply, placed in already published articles or order a new article. It’s a fast method but requires careful donor verification.
- Crowd services. These are companies that place links on forums and in comments on your behalf. This is also a convenient way to scale crowd marketing.
Choose services that can guarantee link placement on “live,” active platforms.
Overview of Permanent Link Exchanges
Link exchanges continue to be one of the fastest ways to buy inexpensive links. And although this is not always the cheapest method, it is the one that scales your link strategy without manual donor search, which can take weeks. At the same time, don’t forget the main rule: you are not buying “eternity,” but quick returns from the link.
What to know about exchanges:
- Operating model. You get access to a catalog of sites where you can buy placements in existing articles or order a new turnkey publication.
- Price. The range is wide — from a few dollars to hundreds. In 2025, the price of links depends on site authority, niche, and traffic.
- Quality. Exchanges offer both strong donors and lower-quality sites. Without checking metrics (traffic, indexation, link profile), your money will not pay off.
What to pay attention to when choosing a platform:
- real site traffic,
- topic and relevance of the page,
- whether there are organic keywords in the top,
- placement conditions (can you leave an anchor, will it be a new article or an insertion into an existing one).
Examples of exchanges:
Miralinks, Collaborator, Gogetlinks — large platforms with site catalogs. Suitable for different projects, but the cost may be above average.
Links-Stream — a more service-based, niche option. It combines an exchange with project tracking and quick donor selection. Used by those who want to save time on manual checks.
So, the advantages of exchanges are speed, scalability, and a clear link-buying process. However, higher quality guarantees are given by exchanges that use not automated, but manual donor verification, such as the Links-Stream marketplace.
Pros and Risks of Budget Links
Budget links are the first thing that attracts most in link building. The cost can start from a few dollars, and it seems like the direct path to fast growth. But cheap links always have two sides.
Why budget links are necessary in your toolkit:
- The main advantage is affordability and a low entry threshold. You can start building a link profile for a new site with zero or minimal budget. For startups and early-stage projects, this is often the only possible path.
- Budget links bring naturalness and diversification. Only having links from authoritative platforms looks artificial. At the same time, cheap permanent links (from forums, directories, profiles) create “informational noise” that makes the profile more diverse and natural. They also allow you to balance anchor lists with branded and non-anchor links.
- Fast start and indexing is another advantage. Unlike complex outreach, the first links from profiles or forums can be obtained today, speeding up indexation.
- The most valuable advantage is not only SEO but targeted traffic. A successful link in a hot forum discussion can bring more converting traffic than an expensive article on a general site.
Risks of budget links:
- Low donor quality and spam risk are the main threats. The cheap link market is full of “link farms” — sites created solely for selling links. Posting on such resources won’t bring results at best and will damage your reputation at worst. Never rely only on metrics (DR, traffic). Visit the site, analyze content, activity, outgoing links.
- Another risk is falling under search engine filters. Mass link growth from poor sources is the fastest way to Google sanctions. It’s better to have 10 links from live, thematic forums than 100 from spammy directories. You can calculate how many backlinks you need to reach the TOP and avoid mass buying.
- Time and resource loss. Hours spent on comments nobody reads or registering in dead directories — this is also something to consider. Focus on measurable ROI methods. If crowd marketing brings traffic — scale it. If profiles bring nothing but basic indexing — do the minimum and move on.
- Short-lived nature. As already mentioned, “eternity” is more of a concept. Forum links can be deleted by moderators, and profiles deactivated. Don’t view them as long-term assets, but as tools for immediate benefits — traffic and indexation push.
Budget link building is not “SEO for the poor,” but a separate stage in creating a healthy, diverse link profile. The risks are high, but fully manageable. If you need a full strategy, it’s better to order professional link building.
How to Choose Quality Donors Even on a Small Budget
It is a common mistake to think that “buying cheap links = poor quality.” Instead, try a different perspective: “cheap = most likely undervalued.” This does not require expensive technology, just the right analysis methodology. Let's go through it step by step.
Step 1. Quick technical filtering (weeding out 90% of the junk)
- Organic traffic (according to Ahrefs/SEMrush) is the main indicator. If a site has stable or growing organic traffic (at least 500-1000 visitors per month), it means that Google trusts it. If the traffic is zero or has dropped sharply, it is likely that a filter or donor has been triggered — an abandoned PBN.
- Link dynamics. Look at the growth chart for links to the donor site. Do you see sharp, unnatural jumps? This is a marker of mass link purchasing, and such a donor is toxic. A healthy site's profile grows smoothly.
- Outbound links. How many sites does the donor link to? If it has thousands of outgoing links to hundreds of domains, then it is a “link farm.” Pay attention to the anchors of outgoing links — if there is continuous spam (such as “online casino” and so on), close the tab.
If the site has passed these three filters, you can move on to the most interesting part.
Step 2. Manual analysis (finding hidden value) At this stage, your goal is to evaluate the site from the perspective of a regular user, not just an SEO specialist.
- Signs of life. When was the content last updated? If it was a year ago, the site is probably abandoned. This can be both a risk and an opportunity to get a very cheap link, and you should be aware of this.
- Activity. Are there any live comments (not spam) on the site? Are the articles reposted on social media? These are markers of an engaged real audience.
- Design and usability. If the site looks like a relic from 2007, this is not always a bad thing, as it may be a sign of a “lamp” author's project, whose owner is unaware of the value of their resource.
- Content quality. Read a few articles. Would you want to share such an article yourself?
- Topic relevance. Does the site write about everything under the sun, or does it publish highly specialized, niche content that is much more valuable to Google? Your link will look as natural as possible there.
- Commercialization test. If the site is covered with banners, that's a bad sign.
In other words, you stop looking for “sites for links” and start looking for “sites with a live audience and underestimated potential.”
Where to Find and How to Analyze Inexpensive Links With Potential (+ Checklist)
This whole process has two parts: knowing where to buy cheap links, and recognizing potential. There are millions of websites started with enthusiasm, gaining audience and authority, later abandoned due to lack of time. Yet they remain relevant for years thanks to evergreen content.
A link placed in articles on related topics can drive traffic to multiple pages of your website. For example, a post about “coffee varieties” can bring visitors both to the coffee machines page and to coffee accessories. A mix of targeted links boosts ROI.
How to find:Use advanced Google search: inurl:blog "your niche" "last updated 2023" or look for blogs with an outdated year in the footer (for example, © 2022). Owners of such sites often do not maintain them but are happy to get a small payment for publishing an article since it becomes passive income from a forgotten asset.
Niche forums and specialized, “cozy” communities. Don’t just search “forum + niche,” but look for specific problems of your audience. For example, instead of “repair forum” — “leaking faucet in mixer, tips.” You will find live discussions where you can negotiate cooperation with a moderator or an active user.
Local and industry media. Everyone wants a link from Forbes, so prices there are sky-high. But a link from a local website or an authoritative industry online magazine can bring incredible returns. A cheap link exchange may offer them, or such platforms can be found through search.
How to know that a link will likely “work” and pay off quickly
Indicator #1: Relevant traffic to a specific page
Do not look at the total traffic of the site. Check if it has a page already getting traffic from keywords related to your product. For example, if you sell coffee machines. Find a coffee blog with a popular article “How to choose coffee beans.” A link from this page to your online store will deliver maximum returns because you provide the answer to the user’s query at the perfect moment.
- How to check ROI: Insert the candidate article URL into Ahrefs/SEMrush and see which keywords it ranks for and how much traffic it gets.
- Why it works: You get hot, targeted traffic that converts. A single order from such a link can instantly pay it off.
To evaluate how quickly a link will pay off, you can use a simple formula: ROI = (Targeted traffic * Conversion * Average order value) / Link cost.
Indicator #2: Engaged audience
A site may not stand out in metrics but still have a small, yet very loyal audience.
- Signs: live comments under articles, active social media profiles where the site’s articles are discussed.
- Why it works: your link will be seen by real people, not just Google bots. This builds trust, brand recognition, and provides a stable flow of clicks.
How to calculate the payback of a platform for a “permanent” link
- Think about what growth in rankings and traffic you expect from this link. How much would it cost to attract the same amount of traffic through paid advertising (Google Ads)? If a $100 link brought you traffic that would cost $150 in Ads, it has already paid for itself.
- Market value: how much does a link on a site of similar quality usually cost? If the market price is $300, and you negotiated $70, you instantly “earned” $230 in saved budget.
- Referral traffic: does the link bring real visits and conversions? This is direct financial payback.
Shift the focus: don’t ask “what’s the DR of this site,” but rather “does this site have my target audience, and how can I help them.”
FAQ
How to determine the reliability of a donor with a limited budget?
Check three key things: does the site have real organic traffic (even minimal), are its pages indexed in Google, and is the content relevant to your niche. If all three criteria are met, the donor is reliable even with a limited budget.
Should you use crowd links from comments or social networks?
Yes, you should. They rarely pass SEO weight directly, but they help create a natural link profile, bring live traffic, and speed up page indexing. This is the basic level of link building that complements paid links.
Which donor metrics help avoid penalties for cheap links?
Focus on the site’s organic traffic, the number and quality of indexed pages, thematic relevance, and the naturalness of its backlink profile. If the donor has real visitors and doesn’t look like a “link farm,” the risk of penalties is minimal.
How to balance quality and cost when buying links?
Allocate most of your budget to a few high-quality links from relevant sites with traffic, and the rest to cheaper ones to balance the profile. Focus not on price but on ROI: will the donor bring traffic and value throughout the year?
Are there proven cheap link exchanges for the Ukrainian market?
Yes, among the most well-known are Collaborator, PRPosting, and Miralinks. For more niche placements, pay attention to the permanent link service Links-Stream, which emphasizes additional manual donor verification. All of them have large site databases.
