Tip: Build links by using Google Ads to target queries with link intent

Manually getting backlinks takes some elbow grease, but there's a way to do it passively if you've got a few bucks. Get exposure and links by using Google Ads to target queries with link intent.

Ahrefs experimented with using Google Ads as a link-building strategy. They spent $1,245 over the course of a month and got linked by 13 unique domains. Every link was on-topic and most were high-enough quality to be beneficial. In the end, they paid $41.60 per link ($77.26 per high-quality link). That's not bad, especially considering that it was passive. It's hard to quantify the actual impact of the campaign, but it certainly got them exposure and probably brought in some conversions too. And it's likely to have contributed to them getting to #2 in the SERP for one of the keywords. Just take a new (or existing) piece of content that people are likely to link to — stats are great for this. Then set up a search campaign in Google Ads and target a list of queries with link intent. Make sure to test it out before going all-in. And don't expect immediate results. Ahrefs didn't start getting links for a couple of weeks, and some took months.

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