Link building budget: what we would do with $100 or $1,000
Sceptics deserve a budget they can inspect. These plans are examples, not forecasts, and every number is there to show a method.
Another SEO Guru research team ·
The rule above both plans
Spend a quarter first, then watch
Never spend the whole budget in one order. Single links run from $1 to about $500 on our list, so a split basket is easy and a mistake stays small.
Money you cannot lose is the only safe stake
Rankings are not promised on either plan, and neither budget is a forecast of anything
Both plans assume a page worth linking to, since links to a weak page only send readers to disappointment
With $100 (an example)
1
Test: about $25
Two or three cheap rows in your niche. The aim is to learn how an order feels and check live links.
2
Core: about $50
Two mid-priced rows with real traffic, aimed at your best-written page.
3
Reserve: about $25
Keep it back. If the first four links went live as expected, add one more; if not, stop.
With $1,000 (also an example)
Hypothetical split to show the method. Adjust the shares to your niche.
Slice
Share
Purpose
Test orders
10%
Learn the process and verify delivery
Core pages
50%
A few strong placements to your best pages
Supporting pages
20%
Relevant links to a secondary page
Audit and tools
10%
Pay for a month of Ahrefs or Semrush if you need one
Reserve
10%
Keep for the second month
Reading the two plans side by side
The plans share a shape. Test first, commit second, hold something back.
The $100 version is a method for learning, not a campaign. Small stakes. With four or five rows you cannot move a competitive keyword, but you can learn whether the process and the delivery behave as described. The $1,000 version adds enough volume to make a pattern, which also means a mistake would be repeated more often, so its test slice matters more.
Neither plan leans on a single donor. That is deliberate. Spreading orders over several domains, several weeks and more than one target page looks more like how links accumulate on a real site. It also means one disappointing placement never decides the whole experiment, and you can compare rows by Domain Rating and niche afterwards to see what actually moved in Search Console.
What we would refuse to buy at either size
Anything labelled a pyramid, blast or tier.
Packages with a round number of links and no domain list.
A ranking guarantee in any wording.
A "lifetime" claim with no way to check it.
Links from sites with no real readers or all-foreign languages irrelevant to you.
How to know when to stop
Set the stopping rule before the first order, not after the third. Write it on paper.
A sensible rule uses time. Wait for the live links to be indexed, check Search Console for new referring domains, and look at the pages you linked to. If nothing has changed after a couple of months, do not top up the basket out of hope. Rankings may simply depend on other things, such as content or technical issues.
Link tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush are optional. Search Console is free and shows a decent amount, including new linking sites and the pages they point to, which is enough to judge a small test without paying for a second subscription.
If you want a seller check before ordering, use the scorecard, and see the price explainer for how rows are priced.