Rakiplerimden (34-40), 5000’den fazla Google incelemesinden daha yüksek bir hukuk firmam var ve aramanın 8. sayfasında sıralama yapıyorum.
On yıl boyunca sayfa 1’de sıralandım, sonra 2019’da geri dönmeye başladım. 2020’de bir newco1 kiralıyor, sayfa 8’e düştük, sonra 2024’te bir Newco2 kiraladık. Newco2, web sitemi sıfırdan tamamen yeniden inşa etti ve sitemin SEO ve alıntılarla ilgili sağlam olduğuna inanıyorum.
Yeni SEO şirketimiz, geri bağlantılarımızı artırmamız gerektiğini söylüyor – rakiplerden daha az geri bağlantımız var ve bir süredir geri bağlantı için ödeme yapmadığımız için bu yüzden düşüyoruz. Bu yüzden backlinks çiftliğinden geri bağlantılar satın alıyoruz ve bize rakiplerimizin sahip olmadığımız geri bağlantıların bir listesini gösterdiler ve aralarında Superlawyers Dot Com ve Bestlawyers Dot Com.
Superlawyers dot com bana tek bir backlink için yılda 8.800 dolar alıntı yaptı. Bestlawyers dot com bana 3750 $ alıntı yaptı.
Her ikisi de sadece yılda.
Görünüşe göre LLM’ler, siteleri oynamak için ödeme yapsalar bile bunları referans olarak kullanıyor ve görünüşe göre Google gerçekten umursamıyor. Superlaeywrs her zaman kategorimiz / konumumuzun arama sayfasında.
Buna değer olup olmadığını nasıl bilebilirim? Bu gasp gibi geliyor, ama çok yavaştık ve Google bize dikkat ederse daha iyi yapacağımızı biliyorum.
Scam
How much and how frequently is this firm publishing original thought leadership? Articles, listicles, event recaps, reports, etc.
Backlinks have always been and will continue to be important, but that seems way to steep and smells of “pay to play” and I question the return on investment.
I don’t think shortcuts and tricks are going to work all that well in this evolving, AI search driven world. There will be a much stronger focus on credibility, trust and usefulness.
I do think they’re right that LLMs rely on those listicle style articles and sites pretty heavily.
It’s also true that it probably hurts that some of your competitors are being linked from those sites when you’re not.
That said, that feels like a heavy investment if you’re just doing it for a couple of backlinks.
Personally, I’d rather put that towards paid search. I don’t know your target terms, estimated CPCs, etc. but $12K is more than enough to try out some Google ads if you’re not running them already. And paying for ads is a way to get you to the top of the SERPs for your target terms in short order.
All that to say – I don’t think they’re wrong in recommending that you get listed on those sites, but you may be able to get more return more quickly by investing it differently.
Before you make that payment.
Please let me build you an SEO Report for free, in Looker Studio.
I want to see where your traffic is coming from.
Website Squadron can build you a Looker Studio Looker Studio report in less than an hour. Backlinks report included, and then you will have data to decide whether this link is worth it or not.
Those $12k can get you at least 30 backlinks from other websites, assuming an average cost of $350 per link.
While it’s true that getting topically relevant links is better than generic links, you need to consider whether those 2 backlinks are going to move the needle.
LLM traffic does not drive as many leads as you would think. So if you are doing it just for that, then you should probably rethink it.
You haven’t specified what type of law firm you run. If you are a personal injury lawyer, $12k is practically nothing. You’d spend that much by getting 24 clicks on Google Ads in some cities in the US.
And you’d also make your money back and then some, by just getting a single lead from any of those sites. (Although it could take years before you see that money).
Also, you said it feels like extortion. Did the website quote you that directly or did the SEO agency? If it was the agency, then contact those sites directly and see what their offer is.
All in all, I dont think you should pay this money just to get cited by ChatGPT.
You should make a holistic decision based on different factors. Because you will be greatly disappointed when you get those links, and realize that ChatGPT is not going to cite you anyways because your SEO and brand authority might be lacking a lot of other things.
And you’ll be even more disappointed if you do actually get cited, but get absolutely no traffic or leads to your site from it.
You are trying to simplify a decision that is not actually simple.
However, if the backlinks from those sites drive qualified leads to your site, then maybe you might even make a really good ROI on that $12k.