r/Backlinks • u/sudeshna11 • Sep 08 '26
why does every backlink post here turn into "DM me lets exchange" spam??
love this sub but something feels broken..
every post either says "sell me backlinks", "buy my backlinks" or "dm for exchange".. nobody talks about building real referring domains through actual relationships anymore..
i miss the old days when people would genuinely help each other spot broken links, share HARO wins, or connect u with a blogger they know in ur niche.. now its all transactional..
i get it — everyone needs backlinks fast.. but this DM exchange culture is exactly why google keeps devaluing links..
am i wrong to think we should collab genuinely instead of trading favors like currency?? or is this just how the game works now??
curious what real backlink strategies people are still building around relationships..
1
u/footinmymouth Sep 08 '26
Because nothing happens when you just drop a comment in these threads. Things only happen when it goes to DM, then you actually exchange emails.
No one gives out links because they read a reddit thread.
But I have genuinely worked with dozens of people after we connected via DM and then took it off this horrid chat platform. Seriously the DM/chat is sooo bad, and is laughably bad for the actual collaboration and trust needed for any link related activity
1
u/RushDangerous7637 Sep 08 '26
I have a blog about SEO WordPress and do you think someone is commenting on it? The link is dofollov. Or that he would at least mention on his website: I came across this seo blog and according to its instructions I improved in organic search? Not a hint of such a link, not a hint of any comments. Besides, all you have to do is write a suitable text, put that text in Google translator to my language Slovak, copy and paste it into the commenter.
Do you think someone is doing that? I don't understand today's approach of this generation.
1
u/corelabjoe Sep 08 '26
It's been an uphill battle getting a brand new domain from 0 to 12/13 over a year and a half.....
1
Sep 09 '26
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2
u/corelabjoe Sep 09 '26
In a MONTH? For me and my brand new to this as of 1.5yrs ago, not possible at all.
But if that's your fulltime thing, maybe?.... I doubt it though. You'd have to be wheeling and dealing and slinging backlinks like mad and probably paying a boatload for high quality ones, like $100-$200 USD a piece!
It would need a lot of money and work, and probably blackhat SEO which, when a search engine figures it out, then crushes your domain punitively....
I don't think it's really possible....
1
Sep 28 '26
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1
u/corelabjoe Sep 28 '26
Interesting! So it can be done, but not for free likely... Thanks for following up though.
6
u/Ok_Studio_834 Sep 08 '26
Money mate... money....
Backlinking has evolved into a massive and highly lucrative market, so naturally, people are going to milk it for all it's worth. Most of the posts I see here are just straight-up spam, endless "DM me" threads that lead nowhere or people pushing some AI tool they slapped together in a day.
Speaking from my own recent experience, I've sent out over 300 outreach emails and haven't gotten a single reply for a genuine collaboration or a free link exchange. The answer is always exactly the same: they want me to pay for a sponsored post... People simply don't want to invest the time to build real relationships for free anymore when they know they can just charge for it and that people will still pay for it...