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Link building cost calculator
What a link building retainer should cost you, built from published market rates rather than a sales call. Three inputs, a defensible range, and the working shown underneath.
Your programme
Most SaaS retainers land between 5 and 15.
Band from Siege Media: $500–$1,250 per link.
Market band $600–$800 per link
How this is calculated
- Take the low and high per-link band for the selected link type, from published third-party data.
- Apply the lifetime-value multiplier, because agencies price against what a customer is worth to you.
- Multiply by the number of links per month to get the monthly range.
- Multiply the monthly range by 12 for the annual commitment.
- Compare against the $508.95 market average per link and the $7,300/month loaded cost of one in-house SEO hire.
Your budget range
$4,000–$10,000
per month, for 8 links
- Per link
- $500–$1,250
- Annual commitment
- $48,000–$120,000
This is a budget range built from published market data, not a quote. Actual pricing depends on your category, the sites an agency can reach, and what it includes beyond the link itself. Use it to know whether a proposal is inside or outside the market — not as a number to negotiate against.
Get an exact quote
Send this budget range to your shortlist and ask them to price against it. We will send the range plus the vetting questions that go with it.
The data behind it
Where these numbers come from
Every band in the calculator traces to published third-party research. None of it is estimated by us.
| Link type | Cost per link | What to know | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Link insertion (niche edit) | $141 – $600 $141 typical; around $600 on DR 50+ sites | Rarely offered by high-quality, high-traffic publishers. | Ahrefs |
| Guest post | $220 – $609 $220 average; up to $609 for high quality | Direct from the site averages $295; through a vendor, $461. | BuzzStream |
| Manual outreach / editorial placement | $500 – $1,250 $500–$1,250 depending on site authority and relevance | The band most SaaS retainers actually operate in. | Siege Media |
| Digital PR placement | $800 – $1,200 $800–$1,200 per placement | Highest authority per link; campaign-based, so volume is less predictable. | Siege Media |
| Market average, any type | $508.95 +45% vs 2022 (up from $350 in 2022) | The average price SEOs say is acceptable for one high-quality backlink. | Editorial.Link |
Two adjustments sit on top of the table. Customer lifetime value moves the band — above $12,000 the market rate is $800–$1,000+ per link, and between $7,000 and $12,000 it is $600–$800. And category difficulty shifts the whole scale: the average minimum monthly budget in high-difficulty niches is $8,406.
For context on where your result sits: 46.5% of buyers spend $5,000–$10,000 a month, 18% spend more than $10,000, and the market average for one high-quality backlink is $508.95 — up 45% from $350 in 2022.
A number worth carrying alongside the price: Ahrefs found 66.5% of links built between 2013 and 2024 are now dead. Whatever you pay per link, what you own in two years is the share still live, which is why a replacement policy is usually worth more than a discount.
Questions
About this calculator
How accurate is this link building cost calculator?
Do I have to give my email to see the result?
Why does customer lifetime value change the price?
What if my quote is far outside this range?
Now check whether you should be buying at all
Eight questions about your situation. It is willing to tell you that this quarter is not the quarter — which is more than a sales call will do.