50+ Link Building Statistics for 2025 (Backed by Data)

Whether you’re building white hat links, cloaking PBNs from bots for your affiliate sites, or trying to sell link placements to your corporate board, knowing the current stats behind link building gives you a massive edge.

The SEO industry changes fast, but when it comes to backlinks, there’s still one rule: Links are still the #1 ranking factor.

But what kind of links? How many? How much do they cost now? Do nofollows matter? And what do other SEOs think of links?

I went through (with a little help from AI) hundreds of the most up-to-date studies, surveys, and reports from real SEO campaigns to bring you the most important link building statistics for 2025, so you can build, buy, and pitch smarter this year!

So without any further ado, let’s jump into 65 different stats, broken down into the different parts and sectors of link building:

General Link Building Statistics (2025)

  1. 94% of link builders say quality matters more than quantity.
    High authority, relevant links drive more results than mass low quality ones.

  2. Pages ranking in Google’s top 10 have 3.8x more backlinks than lower ranking competitors.
    Backlinks remain one of the strongest ranking signals.

  3. 55% of all indexed pages have zero RD (referring domains).
    If you’re actively building links, you’re already ahead of most of the web.

  4. Long form content (3,000+ words) gets 3.5x more backlinks than short form content.
    In-depth = more referential value = more links.

  5. 47.8% of SEOs consider link building the most difficult part of SEO.
    It’s resource heavy, relationship-based, and competitive.

  6. 58% of SEO professionals believe link building will always be essential.
    Despite AI and algorithm shifts, links still build trust.

  7. 65% of marketers rely on content syndication to generate backlinks.
    Repurposing wins in a multi-channel world.

  8. The number of unique referring domains has a stronger correlation to rankings than total backlinks.
    DR diversification matters more than pure volume.

  9. Backlinks remain a top 3 ranking factor in Google’s algorithm (per Google reps).
    Yes, even in the era of AI summaries and SGE.

  10. Pages with diverse anchor text profiles perform better long-term.
    Exact match spam = penalties. Variety = stability.

Link Building Tools & Metric Usage

We let you filter by most metrics inside the platform –

  1. 69% of SEOs use Ahrefs DR to evaluate site authority first.

  2. 43% of link builders check DR or DA before even clicking through to a domain.

  3. 75% use Google Search Console to track backlink impact.

  4. Over 70% use Ahrefs or Moz on a weekly basis.

  5. 40% are now using tools, software or scripts for internal linking automation.

  6. Only 30% use advanced ROI tracking for links.
    Which means most SEOs don’t actually measure if links work.

  7. DR and DA are the most-cited filters for link buying and prospecting.

  8. SEOs who combine metrics with indexation and traffic report 38% higher link ROI.

  9. Tools like PressWhizz help SEOs spot fake DR/DA sites by adding keyword, anchor, and traffic context.

  10. 38% of SEOs use keyword overlap as a secondary metric for link qualification.
    Relevance > Raw metric.

Link Building Budget & ROI Stats

These prices are mostly according to Ahrefs, and a lot of niches will be significantly cheaper, especially if you use PressWhizz –

  1. 46% of SEO teams spend $10,000+ per year on link building.

  2. 22% spend between $1,000 and $2,500 annually.

  3. 74% of digital marketers pay for links.
    Google says don’t. Everyone does anyway.

  4. Niche edits cost an average of $361.44 per placement.

  5. Premium editorial links cost between $2,000–$2,500 per link.

  6. Websites with 30–35 backlinks average 10,500+ visits/month.

  7. 89.2% of SEOs see a ranking lift within 1–6 months of link acquisition.

  8. 78% of marketers say link building delivers positive ROI.

  9. Link building cost has increased 20–35% since 2022 due to AI content saturation and editorial filtering.

  10. Brands investing in link building grow 2x faster in organic than those that don’t.

If you’re spending under $1k/month in a competitive niche, you’re likely just throwing money on to a fire unless you’re going for ultra longtails. Either scale up your building/spending, find a weaker niche that doesn’t need as many links or hunt out keyword opportunities that you can use to get capital first – You might need parasite SEO pages to pull that off too.

Follow vs Nofollow Link Statistics

  1. 89% of SEOs believe nofollow links have ranking influence.

  2. Google treats nofollow links as “hints” post-2019.

  3. Pages ranking #1 earn 5–14% more follow links monthly, naturally.

  4. 30% of editorial links from major news sites are nofollow.

  5. 48% of agencies include nofollow links in client deliverables.

  6. An optimal backlink ratio is 70:30 or 60:40 dofollow:nofollow.

  7. Nofollow links still drive referral traffic and build trust signals.

  8. Over-indexing follow links on branded anchors leads to higher trust.

Linkable Assets That Attract Links

  1. Infographics boost page traffic by 12%.
    And they’re among the most shared visual formats.

  2. Interactive tools convert 94% better than static content.
    Tools = backlinks + leads.

  3. 50% of B2B brands use whitepapers to earn backlinks.

  4. 55% of decision-makers use case studies during buying cycles.

  5. Original research and stats pages attract 200% more links on average.

  6. Top converting linkable assets in 2025:

  • Calculators

  • Charts

  • Free tools

  • Survey data

  • Ultimate resource guides

  • PDF templates

  1. Educational link assets outperform product pages by 5x in link acquisition.

If your link building relies on guest posts alone, you’re missing huge passive link potential. If you want some quick wins? Repurpose blog content into infographics, run a mini survey, or build a niche calculator – You can do all three in 15 minutes with AI now.

Outreach & Digital PR Statistics

  1. Only 8.5% of cold emails result in a backlink.

  2. Using first names boosts outreach success rates by 50%.

  3. 31% of SEOs follow up for 30+ days after content goes live.

  4. 46% of link builders used to use HARO (recently relaunched).

  5. Personalized outreach beats templated emails 3-to-1 in conversion.

  6. “Mutual benefit” subject lines get 25% more opens than generic ones.

Link Exchanges, Social Signals, and Trends

  1. 51.6% of SEOs admit to using link exchanges (A > B > C models especially).

  2. 43.7% of top pages contain some form of reciprocal linking.

  3. 61% of marketers build links using social media.

  4. Facebook is used by 23.5% of SEOs for link outreach.

  5. LinkedIn is used by 17.3% — especially in B2B and SaaS.

  6. Quora and Reddit mentions lead to secondary link pick-ups in 11% of cases.

Link Building Trends for 2025

  1. Voice search accounts for over 50% of all search queries now.

  2. Video accounts for 80% of all internet traffic.

  3. 164M+ U.S. users consume podcasts monthly — huge opportunity for link mentions.

  4. 65% of marketers use content syndication to scale link reach.

  5. AI-generated content saturation has raised editorial filters on guest post approvals by 33%.

  6. Parasite SEO (posting on 3rd-party authority sites) is up 220% since 2023.

  7. Google’s 2024 “Scam Update” is targeting low-trust link networks aggressively.

  8. Link buyers are now demanding verified indexation + traffic proof over just DR/DA.

Where Link Building Is Headed

Every couple of years, some SEO blogger with a politically fueled opinion piece declares that “link building is dead.”

Meanwhile, in the real world, brands are dropping five to seven figures per year (or even per month in some niches) on links, where entire agencies are built around nothing but link acquisition, and marketplaces like ours are doing tens of thousands of monthly transactions… All built on one thing:

Backlinks still being the #1 thing that moves rankings.

And as long as Google uses link based trust signals (which it does, no matter how many of its engineers say otherwise), link building isn’t going anywhere…

In fact:

  • The link building industry is estimated to be worth several billion dollars per year globally

  • New AI-powered outreach tools are making scaled prospecting easier than ever.

  • Google’s crackdown on site quality (and making more link signals neutral than toxic backlinks anymore) has only made high quality links more valuable.

  • Top brands are investing in proactive link building, not just passive PR.

We’re moving away from:

  • Spammy mass outreach

  • Blog comments and Web 2.0 blasts

  • Low quality PBNs with 13 RD expired domains

And toward:

  • Verified link quality + traffic

  • Niche relevant placements with real users

  • Daily competitor link replication via platforms like PressWhizz

  • Smart, intent based link strategies instead of outdated checklists

In short: Link building is getting cleaner, smarter, and more commercially aggressive. And that means it’s a better time than ever to be doing it properly, especially when your competitors aren’t!

How To Do Link Building in 2025

If you want to win at link building now, here’s the truth: You need to stop thinking like a spammer or a scraper, and start thinking like a strategic operator.

That means:

  • Reverse engineering your competitors’ link profiles, not guessing.

  • Using DR/DA as filters, not final decisions – Metrics only matter so much, but when it comes to DR vs DA, I’d choose Ahrefs every time.

  • Looking at indexation, traffic, anchor diversity, and topical alignment before pitching or buying.

  • Focusing on relevance and ROI, not vanity metrics.

  • Using link building to boost what’s already ranking, not to save what’s dead.

Here’s your 2025 link building playbook in one sentence:

Find what’s already ranking, figure out why they are ranking, and then go steal every link that helped them all get there.

Just make sure you’ve got your foundations in order first.

Final Thoughts: Links Are Worth Billions

If you made it this far, you already understand what 95% of SEOs still don’t: Link building isn’t dead, it’s just finally maturing.

The days of buying link blasts for $5 and watching your rankings skyrocket overnight are long gone… But that doesn’t mean backlinks don’t work! It means you need to build or buy better ones.

And the stats don’t lie:

  • High DR sites still dominate the top of the SERPs.

  • Relevance + traffic = the new gold standard.

  • Real players are spending real money on link campaigns, and making it back hand over fist.

  • Outreach is harder, slower, and noisier than ever.

  • Buying the right link is now faster and often cheaper than earning the wrong one.

Whether you’re doing PR, parasite SEO, niche edits, roundup pitches, or just straight up reverse engineering your competitors…

Backlinks still move the needle.

The difference between SEOs who win and the ones who whine on Linkedin?

They’re not just reading stats. They’re using them to out build, out rank, and out earn everyone else.

So here’s your challenge: Take the numbers above.

Use them to spot what’s working in your industry.
Filter the noise. Cut the guesswork.
Then log into Ahrefs, PitchBox or PressWhizz and actually start building!

Because if your site isn’t earning links?
It’s probably earning nothing.

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