u/Foreign_Main_3249

A client came to us frustrated. They’d been buying links through marketplaces for months spending $800–$1,200/month and rankings barely moved.

We switched their entire strategy to direct publisher outreach. No marketplaces. No PBNs.

30 days later:

∙	40+ live editorial placements

∙	DR 30–70 mix, all niche-relevant

∙	Zero link farms

∙	Rankings started moving in week 5

What actually worked:

1.	Direct outreach only same sites as marketplaces, 2–3x cheaper

2.	Niche relevance over DR a DR 45 relevant site beat every DR 80 generic placement

3.	Editorial angle every link had real context, not a footer or sidebar drop

4.	Consistent volume 10+ placements/month minimum to see momentum

The biggest waste in link building isn’t buying bad links it’s overpaying for good ones through middlemen.

If you’re in SaaS or AI and want to see how we approach this, happy to answer questions in the comments.