Why you should avoid buying backlinks

Don’t worry — this isn’t another recycled story telling you that buying links is explicitly against Google’s guidelines.

Some time ago I saw a post—someone was happy sharing they had achieved/secured links from high Domain Rating sites…

For me personally, link building is 99% a fishy business, and unless it is really related to your niche or brings real traffic, my advice is: NO, do not waste your money.

But if your goal is to show “big SEO work” and achieve “incredible results”, then go for links from the following “high-quality” sites.

Here’s the mentioned list of sites to illustrate what I mean:

• sureprofitscoach.com
• linkzonedirectory.com
• directorycloudhub.com
• globalmaxdirectory.com
• mostrankddirectory.com
• mediapostdirectory.com
• themasterdirectory.com
• socialzonedirectory.com
• topmarketingdirectory.com
• primedirectoryzone.com

They are identical in structure, content, and purpose. I tested them and here’s what I found for the very first of them:

Ahrefs DR: 75

Ubersuggest: 41

Semrush AS: 5

Moz: no data

Domain age: 5 months

The discrepancy in the metrics is a major red flag and a classic sign of a spammy or manipulated site.

A 5-month-old domain with a Semrush Authority Score of 5 would not naturally have an Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) of 75. A high DR in such a short time is almost always achieved through aggressive, artificial link-building tactics, such as being part of a private blog network (PBN).

This confirms that the high DR is not a reliable indicator of the site’s quality or authority. Any links from this domain would likely be considered toxic by search engines and could harm your site’s SEO in the long run. It’s a prime example of why you should never rely on a single metric when evaluating a backlink opportunity.

Here are the signs that a site is part of a link farm:

1. Unfocused categories – covers every niche (health, fashion, finance, tech, etc.) with no clear theme.
2. Thin or duplicate content – articles are short, generic, or templated, often with little real value.
3. Excessive outbound links – many links pointing to unrelated external sites in almost every article.
4. Low authority signals – no real brand, no known authors, weak or absent “About” or contact info.
5. Open guest posting / link sales – “submit article” or “write for us” pages that exist only to sell placement.
6. Poor engagement metrics – little to no organic traffic, no real user comments or community.
7. Artificial metrics – domain authority (DA/DR) looks inflated compared to real traffic or reputation.
8. Lack of social presence – no active social media, no external recognition or citations.

These are the red flags search engines and SEO professionals use to identify link farms.

Based on the structure and signals, sureprofitscoach.com shows characteristics of being part of a link farm:

• Wide, unfocused categories (business, health, tech, fashion, etc.) — typical of link farms trying to cover every keyword niche.
• Thin or placeholder content with product/review templates but little substance.
• Invitation for guest posts / submissions — often used to sell links.
• No real authority or brand presence outside its own site.

Another good check is the DNS information

https://viewdns.info

The Observations of the DNS check are:

1. Multiple “directory” domains on the same IP 16 out of 17 domains have names like seowebsitesdirectory.com, worldrankdirectory.com, linkboostdirectory.com. This is a classic footprint of a link farm or PBN network: many low-quality, keyword-stuffed sites hosted together.
2. Sureprofitscoach.com fits the pattern The naming is slightly different, but the site is on the same IP and has the same structure, suggesting it belongs to the same network.
3. Domain expiration clustering Most domains show a similar last-resolved date (2025‑08‑21), which often indicates controlled or bulk management, another PBN signal.

Conclusion

• Hard evidence of network participation: The Reverse IP shows sureprofitscoach.com is on a server with 16 other “directory” sites, almost certainly part of a link farm or private blog network.
• This strongly supports the claim that it’s not a high-quality, independent site, and backlinks from it could be toxic for SEO.

Verdict: Should You Buy a Link There?

Not advisable.

• The site lacks clear focus or authority in any domain.
• There’s no transparent business model or visible coaching credentials.
• Sparse information and absence of trustworthy reviews don’t support the idea of value.

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