How many backlinks do I need?

April 18, 2023

Updated October 2, 2026 · Originally published 2023

By Justin Davis, Chief Link Builder at Link Builders

Because I am a backlink expert and I run a link building company, businesses often ask me questions such as: “How much do I really need to invest in my backlink profile?” “How many links do we need?”

How many links are needed depends primarily on two factors: SEO strength of your website, and the SEO strength of your competitors (the sites outranking you in organic search for your target keywords). There isn’t a universal number — and anyone selling you one is guessing with confidence.

“How much should I invest in my backlink profile?”

Here are five questions to consider when determining how much money should be invested into a backlink profile:

• What are the opportunity costs?

How much organic search traffic and possible sales is the company missing out on by not ranking in the desired positions for their target keywords? If a website is ranking in position 11 for its target keyword phrase, they will get barely any traffic from that organic search query. Move into the top positions and traffic usually follows — but the exact lift depends on the SERP, intent, and your conversion path. So how much is it worth for your business to get more of those targeted eyeballs on the site?

• What is the monthly search volume?

How many times per month are people searching for your target keywords? The total number of these search queries are the total number of potential customers using Google to find products and services. Once a set of target keyword phrases is defined, it will be easy to see the total overall monthly search volume potential. Knowing how many monthly searches there are will be crucial in determining the risk of investment in the backlink profile.

• What is your average sale worth?

An average sale can be worth a few dollars or a few hundred thousand dollars. The value of the average sale will help determine how to value potential traffic to the website.

• What are we starting with?

What does the SEO and current rankings look like for the site? The stronger they are the easier it is to move the needle. Already ranking on page 1 or 2? So are many of the clients I help. Not yet ranking for any keywords? You have a ton of work to do and I am guessing it starts on-page. Ranking on pages 3–8 for your target keywords? Getting to pages 1 and 2 is possible, but it’s going to take more work than if you were already on the top 2 pages.

• What is your average conversion rate?

How many website visitors does it take in order to generate a lead, contact the business, or interact with the website before a sale is made?

These questions will help determine the opportunity costs of not ranking in the desired positions for certain target keywords.

It’s smart to invest in your backlink profile (when the gap is real)

Unless a site is getting enough links naturally, if they want longevity in competitive SERPs, they usually need quality backlinks — not a raw count.

Links play a major role in organic search rankings.

Investing in backlinks/SEO is an investment in the business. Not only is short-term movement possible, there’s long-term compounding when the links are earned and relevant. Search volume shifts over time, and hopefully demand for your product or service does too.

The competitor websites that are currently outranking you are often still building backlinks and/or earning them naturally. As each month goes by, that can extend the gap in the backlink profiles. Eventually, catching up gets harder and less cost-effective.

Besides helping specific keywords and pages, building the right backlinks increases the overall authority of your domain. That can give Google more confidence that your site belongs in consideration for competitive queries — still without anyone honest guaranteeing a position.

Does the company spend money on Google Ads?

If you are using Google Ads to promote your business, you are probably spending a nice chunk of change each month. If you ranked naturally for those keywords, you wouldn’t need to bid on them as hard (or at all for some terms). So an investment in link building can be a long-term way to reduce reliance on pay-per-click — again, not a promise of a specific CPA.

The better question: how many hours of outreach does the gap need?

“How many backlinks do I need?” is the question everyone asks. The operational question is: how much qualified outreach time does it take to close the gap against the sites already winning?

At Link Builders we don’t sell a promised link count. We sell hours and a white-hat process:

• $160/hour
• Justin’s Machine: 30 hours prepaid for $4,800
• Buy the Machine: $9,600 one-time (includes onboarding plus a full 8-hour prospecting cycle)

Publisher fees pass through at cost. You approve sites and content. We don’t guarantee rankings, traffic, or a fixed number of links.

See the link building process for how work actually runs, or backlink pricing for current offers. Prefer a tactic list first? Start with 14 proven tactics to get more backlinks.

Ready to talk through a campaign? Contact Link Builders.