40 Link Building Statistics Every SEO Pro Should Know

Google’s algorithm keeps shifting. AI is changing how search results show up. But one thing that still matters is link building. 

The question is, how much should it matter? Which tactics are worth your time? And what are others doing with their time and budget? We’ve had to figure this out too. Without clear benchmarks, it’s easy to guess wrong. 

So we compiled the latest link building statistics. These numbers helped us and will certainly help you to see what works, what doesn’t, and how strategies are shifting as AI becomes more embedded in search.

40 Key Link Building Statistics to Boost Your SEO

Here are the most up-to-date statistics to help you see what matters emotionally, strategically, and tactically in modern link building.

1. Strategic Value, Budget, & Long-Term Outlook

Link building is viewed as a long-term asset that still underpins search strategy for most SEO teams. Let’s look at a few numbers to see how other marketing strategists are making their strategy, allocating budget, etc.

1. Nearly 79.7% of SEO professionals say link building plays a key role in their strategy.
2. Most link builders are over 93%.8, prioritize the quality of links over the total number.
3. 94% of marketers expect link building to stay relevant for search rankings over the next five years.
4. Among SEO professionals, 41% believe link building delivers the highest return compared to other tactics.
5. A majority of companies use link building to increase organic traffic (68%) and search rankings (68%).
6. Even though Google claims links are becoming less important, 56% of marketers still plan to increase their link-building efforts over the next year.

7. Roughly 68% of professionals think link building will become even more important over the next two years as AI continues to evolve.
8. Most companies spend more than $1,000 to secure a high-quality backlink. Cheaper links typically cost about $300, while premium, contextual ones can range from $700 up to $2,000 or more.

9. Nearly half of marketers invest up to $10,000 each year in link building.
10. Just 29% of people say it’s easy or fairly easy to get funding for link building.

2. Tactics, Tools, Challenges, & Success Rates

SEOs rely on tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush, plus tactics like guest posting, but link building remains time-consuming and mentally taxing. The following insights reveal what’s working, common struggles, and how the community perceives success.

11. More than half of digital marketers say link building is the most difficult part of SEO.
12. 66% of link builders report having trouble finding strategies that actually work.
13. Only 29% believe their link building efforts are working well.
14. Only 4 in 10 respondents believe their link-building reports clearly demonstrate value.
15. About 68% rely on content marketing as their main strategy for acquiring backlinks.
16. Meanwhile, 54% use competitor research to find and pursue links their competitors have already secured.
17. According to recent data, 75.33% of SEO specialists still use guest posting as a way to build backlinks.
18. However, Aira’s 2024 survey shows that among link-building tactics, content-led strategies ranked highest, while guest posting was the least preferred. 

19. Many marketers now rely on free PR opportunities, like interviews and HARO, to secure natural backlinks from reputable media outlets.
20. About 67% of SEO professionals consider a site’s Domain Rating in Ahrefs when judging link authority.
21. SEMrush is preferred by 56% of users for its all-in-one SEO and backlink tracking tools.
22. 44% of SEO professionals consider Domain Rating (as measured by Ahrefs) their top metric when assessing backlink quality.
23. 69% regularly inform stakeholders about nofollow, sponsored, and UGC link types.
24. The most common time spent building one backlink is between 1 and 2 hours, reported by 32% of SEOs.
25. A recent Authority Hacker survey shows that nearly half (46.6%) of link builders see SEO impact from backlinks within one to three months.
26. When asked to rate how much link building affects organic rankings on a scale of 1 to 10, the average score was 7.8.

3. Link Type & Placement Trends

Backlink placement is changing. It’s no longer just about homepage links. Now, links are being added more strategically across blog posts, category pages, and even on social platforms.

27. Most backlinks, about 98.94%, are DoFollow.
28. Blog links now exceed those from traditional media by more than four times. Still, links from media sources are seen as valuable.
29. Roughly 35.85% of backlinks go to homepages, but there’s a noticeable shift toward linking to blog and category pages instead.
30. Homepage links accounted for 35.85% of total links in 2023, down from 45.41% in 2022. This points to a shift toward broader link distribution.
31. Links to category pages grew by more than 8 percentage points, rising from 19.03% to 27.27%.
32. Service page links saw a small increase, reaching 20.43%. Meanwhile, blog page links declined to 12.12%.
33. The share of social media links rose from 0.62% to 3.03%, showing a stronger focus on SEO across different platforms.

4. Benchmarks & The AI Shift in SEO

AI is changing how people search and interact with content. Because of this, you need to review what counts as a successful SEO campaign. Most SEOs still focus on strong content and track backlinks, but priorities are shifting.

Here’s how —

34. Only 53% of marketers said their content-based campaigns brought in fewer than 10 backlinks.
35. For most professionals, blogs and newsletters remain the top learning tools for link building, cited by 70% of respondents.
36. Meanwhile, 82% are directly engaged in improving or creating SEO content, with 80% involved in the production process.
37. 65% of SEO professionals consider 1 to 19 backlinks a good target range when measuring campaign results.
38. Meanwhile, 62% of participants say appearing in AI-generated citations is either very important or critical to their company’s strategy.
39. A Terakeet study found that transactional pages featured in an AI Overview (AIO) received 220% more clicks than similar pages that weren’t included.
40. Citation Labs reported that a search query produced only 25 clicks from the AI Overview, while traditional search results for the same query generated over 200,000 visits.

Final Words

Current link building statistics confirm it still plays a key role in SEO planning and performance. Independent SEOs should focus on producing strong content and earning high-quality links. 

Meanwhile, internal teams need to justify link-building budgets by showing results within three months. For agencies, spreading links across blog, category, and service pages is now standard. 

Across the board, it’s important to adjust for AI-driven search changes and aim for visibility in AI Overviews. 

FAQs

Why is link building important for SEO?

Link building is essential for SEO because it builds domain authority, helps pages rank higher, and attracts organic traffic. Top-ranking pages typically have 3.8x more backlinks, and results often appear within 3 months if links are relevant and high-quality.

How many backlinks are needed to rank on the first page of Google?

To rank on Google’s first page, top-performing sites average around 1,000 unique referring domains. But it’s not just volume, backlink quality and relevance play a bigger role in increasing rankings and driving results.

How long does it take to see results from link building efforts?

Most sites see link-building results in around 3 months. While timelines vary, 89% of SEOs notice ranking gains within 1 to 6 months. Quality links matter more than volume, so focus on relevance and authority for faster impact.