It’s February 2024. People who thought SEO would die are wrong once again. The same can be said about link building – it’s still relevant in 2024 and probably will be. Link-building marketing activities are at the heart of great SEO strategies, where it is the factor that determines a site’s authority and relevance to Google. But for SEO experts in the UK market, there are stumbling blocks as they wade through the link building journey. That’s not only about the UK market but also about the world. Our latest poll was made among the United Kingdom audience, so let’s get into it!
In this article, we will explore the common problems SEOs from the UK face when building links to find effective solutions to overcome them. It may be helpful for SEO specialists to understand these challenges and face them head-on to improve their off-page strategies and achieve high visibility and success in rankings.
📈 We decided to take a Poll
We did our research using LinkedIn and Facebook. Our Chief Product Officer, Nik Zakharchenko, and other NeedMyLink team members collected some insights from the best SEOs in the UK. We interviewed over 100 people who take different roles – from SEO Executive to SEO Director of the best SEO companies in the country.
The Poll was initiated in November 2023 to improve our complete link-building services for the local market. We always try to keep our services results-oriented so the SEOs can trust the process.
So, if you build backlinks and face problems, or your link builders need to give the results you expect – we can consult you free of charge. Leave your request using the form below.
So, the Poll has taken up to 2 months (and we’re still into it but in native form). The following are the key elements identified in the Poll as the biggest obstacles they face in link building: Some of these are issues that undermine the quality standards and efficiency of the link-building process, which can negatively impact the effectiveness of SEO for a website. So, here we go:
🚀 Results we got
As we expected, we got amazing results. Different people have different reasons and problems in building backlinks. We collected all their issues and analyzed them to find improvement areas. Let’s get into it.
❗ Lack of quality backlink opportunities
This is because relevant, authoritative, and reputable websites where backlinks to published content can be placed are always hard to find, so SEOs put a lot of effort into getting links. Campaigning for relevant links has become increasingly difficult as competition increases and many websites are lining up for link opportunities. People who were asked said that finding quality link opportunities is getting harder every year, and 2024 is no exception.
Using Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz and other tools and methods still works to find good options, but more is needed to guarantee the final results people expect. According to our poll, 70% of responders call it one of the biggest problems. This heading includes several subheadings so we can specify the reasons more clearly.
🔹 Niche relevant websites
Almost 85% of the responders want to get backlinks from niche-relevant websites. 15% can choose links from general sites, either. Only some people want to get links from totally irrelevant domains. It’s obvious. People who work in e-commerce prefer general sites more often than others. Anyway, people appreciate it when their link-building partner finds them niche-relevant websites to choose from. Find out more about ecommerce link building in our article.
As was said: “They want to get backlinks from niche sites.” But do they get them? No. Almost 60% of the responders purchase backlinks among the options they have. That’s the crucial problem they face.
How hard is it to find relevant websites? It is quite hard, honestly. But still depends. If you work in the Tech niche – it will be easy enough. But if your website is about Hunting – you may need domains about Hunting, Guns, and the Military. Anything else? Probably, yes. But the key aspect is that you can only send as many sites as possible with the Tech niche. You see 20 websites in the UK and 50 websites. And that’s it.
Is it the end of link building for your project? Some SEOs stop searching at this point.
Moreover, according to the stats, 80% of the responders start getting links from general sites once they find “all the sites in their niche” (in their opinion). Would they purchase more links from the relevant sites if they had them? Surely, they would do that.
🔹 High authority sites
That’s the reason for 40% of responders. Some people (less than 10%) even prefer general high DR websites to niche-relevant webpages with a lower Domain Rating. Domain authority or domain rating are the metrics of MoZ & Ahrefs. But they still can be manipulated.
Those who understand that niche relevance is more valuable than DR/DA – still take care of authority. They decline the websites if it has DA/DR lower than 20. I would gladly build links with DA/DR > 40 on the websites. But let’s get back to relevance. If you find 20 UK hunting-related websites, how many will have DR 40+? 5-10. That’s surely not that much.
⏳ Limited time
This is quite a challenge for SEOs who must perform many other tasks. Semantic, technical, and on-page tasks are the main daily tasks for experienced specialists. It probably needs to be link-building. 85% of responders DO NOT build links on their own – they would rather outsource it or have an in-house link builder in their companies, so they save time doing this kind of routine.
Some people still build links on their own, but according to stats – they’re Juniors or Middle SEOs. Most 95% of Seniors need help to build links. They delegate the whole process all the time.
It’s not the problem. It’s the reality. The more knowledge a specialist has – the harder tasks he does. Link building is about routine (sometimes very hard routine), so they control the process and wait for the results. Mostly, they set the requirements for the domains, set the anchor plan, plan the budget for the campaign, and
❌ Limited budget
How much are you ready to pay for backlinks? Is it necessary? Only 3% of the responders build only free kind of links (they negotiate, they do ABC exchanges, and other link building tactics). The rest – pay. 90% are ready to pay up to £300 per link. 70% of responders pay up to £400. Almost 50% ready for bills of £500.
And only 15% ready to pay more than £1000. So, as we see that’s not the biggest problem, because SEOs are paying and their companies don’t worry much about money. But, they are ready to pay big sums only for the top quality websites.
⛓️ Backlinks removal and indexing
That’s a fact that not only a few specialists are obsessed with. But why? Because it’s out of their control in time. When you build 20 links monthly, you get 120 links after six months. But how often do you check the links you built after a year or two? According to the poll, SEOs must track the links they built on another job. If they change their job or position, they stop monitoring the links they bought. That is the reason – the company has a new employee for this project now so it’s his responsibility from now.
But, if people keep working in the same position, almost 75% track the links they built during the previous period. Once a year. Sometimes, every 3-6 months, SEOs track their links. And it’s essential. Sometimes, even “permanent backlinks” or articles with your backlinks get deleted. Occasionally, even the website where the backlink was placed must be fixed (redirect, domain dropped, or hosting issue). That’s something experienced managers can predict.
If you have 120 links, check them after half a year. You will find that 1-3 of your links are being deleted (according to stats). Once again – don’t worry. Just be ready to solve this. If you built links alone, contact the webmaster to fix them. If you outsource building links, your partners should handle this without problem.
🔍 Checking the indexing of backlinks
The backlink, which needs to be indexed – doesn’t make sense. Remember that. 63% of responders claim that they don’t check backlinks’ indexing because they’re sure the links are indexed without any checks. But they still may be wrong. Same as 1-3 “permanent links” out of 120 (about 1-3%) – the “bad things” may happen with “surely indexed links”. If you check all the backlinks list you have after a year (for example, by using Linkbox, other tools, or even written in Google site: URL) – you find out that several of them are still not indexed (and probably will not get indexed ever). 1 or 2 links. 3-5 links. But you will see that there is such a problem.
How to fix it? Use add-url tools manually or ask the webmaster if the site link is posted to add your article to the GSC Indexing tool. That will help (at least if the article is placed on the website with the correct robots.txt file).
But, if you don’t care about it, are you ready to lose some deleted and non-indexed links? That means you spent 5 x £400 = £ 2 000 for nothing. But you can fix it within a day. Don’t waste the money you already paid.
💯 More local backlinks to diverse
If we talk about backlinks – it’s guest posting most of all. Sometimes, it can be niche edits. But let’s remember people who have a limited budget. What should you do if you get expensive top-quality backlinks for the main goals and need more local links to diverse backlink profiles? For example, if you need to get 50 more backlinks from UK domains – what kind of links can those be? So you can spend a little money. Local forum backlinks, profile links, catalogs, and thoseinks are cheap enough (the average cost is £5-7 per link).
If we talk about cheaper link-building opportunities, 97% of responders need help building this link. They outsource it to link-building agencies or in-house link builders (if the company has such employees). That’s reasonable because if we return to the “Limited time” section, we will see how SEOs appreciate their time.
✒️ Final words and solutions
This poll among UK specialists in the SEO field helped us to understand several things:
🔹 SEOs want to get links from niche-relevant domains. Backlink providers can only sometimes guarantee the domain’s relevance, and SEO specialists (especially team leads or SEO head positions) want to see their requirements included.
🔹 No one wants to overpay. Some people are ready to pay more for better backlinks, but the budget remains crucial when building links.
🔹 Only some of the SEO managers track their links after a while. Even a monthly look at an old report can give some answers and save the previous investments.
🔹 High authority links – the desired gem. But to get it, time is needed, and money is essential. And the market may not have such an option at all.
🔹 Time is the most important thing. We understand why SEOs outsource link building to keep their main goals active. Link-building outsourcing may be the solution for better rankings and a better time economy.
🔹 If you are not ready to pay much for many backlinks – choose cheaper options.
