Link Building Statistics 2026: Prices From 10,030 Sites

Most link building statistics are recycled from old surveys. These are not.

We run outreach to publishers every day, and we keep a catalog of every price they quote us and every price list resellers send us. As of 30 September 2026, that catalog covers 10,030 websites. This post is what the data says about what links cost, what drives the price, and what publishers expect from you.

Key link building statistics

1. The median price of a guest post on a DR 30+ site is $100. The average is $470, pulled up by a small number of very expensive news sites.
2. 43% of DR 30+ sites get fewer than 1,000 organic visits a month. 24% get fewer than 100.
3. 31% of DR 50+ sites get fewer than 1,000 organic visits a month.
4. The median guest post price is about $90 at every tier from DR 30 to DR 59. It rises to $140 at DR 60–69, $395 at DR 70–79, and $899 at DR 80+.
5. Traffic moves price as much as DR does. The median rises from $70 for sites under 100 visits a month to $743 for sites over 250,000.
6. 49% of DR 30+ sites with at least 1,000 monthly visits ask $150 or less for a guest post.
7. News sites charge a median of $1,100, about 11 times the $100 median of other DR 30+ sites.
8. 49% of publishers charge the same for a link insertion as for a guest post. 38% charge less.
9. On sites sold by two or more resellers, the most expensive reseller asks a median of 1.44 times the cheapest. On 30% of these sites, the gap is 2 times or more.
10. Casino, CBD, and other restricted topics cost a median of 1.33 times the normal price on the same site.
11. 84% of publishers who state payment terms want to be paid before publication.
12. 68% of publishers who name a payment method ask for PayPal.
13. 24% of publishers who state link permanence offer time-limited links only.
14. 73% of publishers who state who writes the article expect the buyer to supply it.
15. 89% of publishers who state a turnaround publish within two days of receiving the article.

How much does a guest post cost by Domain Rating?

Asking price for one guest post with a link, by the site's Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR). The middle 50% runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. Traffic is the median monthly organic traffic.

What stands out: the median price is flat from DR 30 to DR 59. A DR 55 site costs the same as a DR 35 site at the median. What changes between those tiers is traffic, and the spread: the top quarter of DR 50–59 sites ask $160 or more.

Does traffic matter more than DR?

Grouping the same DR 30+ sites by monthly organic traffic instead:

Price climbs steadily with traffic. Across DR 30+ sites, log price correlates with log traffic at 0.49 and with DR at 0.45. Publishers price on both, and traffic edges out DR.

How many high-DR sites have no traffic?

Almost half of the DR 30+ sites that sell links get fewer than 1,000 visits a month. DR measures a site's own backlinks, and those can be bought too. Check organic traffic before you buy, not only DR. Our guide to what makes a backlink good covers the other signals.

Are link insertions cheaper than guest posts?

Not usually. On 5,735 sites that quote both prices:

• 49% charge the same for an insertion into an existing article as for a new guest post.
• 38% charge less for the insertion.
• The median insertion price is exactly the guest post price.

The insertion saves the publisher work, but many charge for the link, not the article. See niche edits for when an insertion is the better choice.

How much do resellers mark up the same site?

1,135 sites in our catalog appear on two or more reseller price lists. For the same guest post on the same site:

• The most expensive reseller asks a median of 1.44 times the cheapest.
• On 49% of these sites, the highest price is at least 50% above the lowest.
• On 30%, it is 2 times or more.
• The median gap is $40 per link.

If you buy from link lists, compare more than one seller.

What do restricted niches cost?

Many publishers charge more for casino, CBD, crypto, or adult topics, if they accept them at all. On 1,389 site and reseller pairs that list both prices, the restricted price is a median of 1.33 times the normal price.

News sites are the other premium: a median of $1,100 for a guest post, against $100 for other DR 30+ sites.

What terms do publishers set?

4,057 publishers stated at least one term in their reply. Percentages below count only the publishers who stated that term.

About 7% of these publishers signal that they reject AI-written articles. Only 128 of the 10,030 sites in the catalog (1.3%) offer nofollow links only.

What this means if you buy links

1. Filter on traffic first. Almost half of DR 30+ sites have little or no organic traffic. A DR 55 site with 200 visits a month is not a DR 55 link in practice.
2. Do not pay DR 60 prices for DR 50 sites. The median price is flat from DR 30 to DR 59. Pay more for traffic and relevance, not for a few DR points.
3. Skip news sites unless you need them. They cost about 11 times more than other DR 30+ sites.
4. Ask for permanent links in writing. One in four publishers who state terms offer time-limited links.
5. Plan for the article. Most publishers expect you to send the article. Budget the writing time, or use a service that includes it.
6. Expect to pay up front. Most publishers want payment before they publish, so pay only publishers you have checked.
7. Compare sellers. The same site can cost twice as much from a different reseller.

Publisher prices vs managed link building

The prices above are what a publisher or reseller asks for the placement alone. They do not include finding the site, checking its traffic, pitching, negotiating, writing the article, paying up front, or chasing a link that disappears.

A managed service prices those in. LinkDR charges $160 for DR 30+, $240 for DR 40+, $400 for DR 50+, and $500 for DR 60+ per link. That covers the publisher fee, outreach, a new article, payment, live and dofollow checks, a full refund if the link is not live in 60 days, and a free replacement if it is removed within 12 months. See how much backlinks cost for a full comparison.

Methodology

• Source: LinkDR's publisher catalog, rebuilt on 30 September 2026. It combines prices quoted to us by site owners in email replies to our outreach (4,734 sites) and reseller price lists (6,885 sites). Some sites appear in both.
• Price: the lowest guest post price we hold for each site, converted to US dollars at fixed approximate rates. 154 prices marked as likely errors, such as DR 85+ sites under $150, are excluded.
• Domain Rating: Ahrefs DR. Traffic: estimated monthly organic search traffic.
• Terms: read from publisher email replies and classified into fixed categories. Publishers who did not state a term are left out of that term's percentages.
• Medians, not averages, because a few very expensive sites skew the mean.

You are welcome to cite these numbers. Please link to this page as the source: LinkDR, Link Building Statistics 2026.