Guide to Tiered Link Building: Where to Buy Tier 2 Links

Backlinks are very important for anyone who wants to be noticed in the online marketing space. Still, the process of getting links feels almost like a full-time job with a couple of side hustles – at least when it comes to the kind of backlinks that help you rank.

Besides, the competition at this level is unbelievable, no matter what industry you’re in. And let’s not forget that not every one of us was born a genius link builder.

So, for most of us, it takes time to get the skills and figure out what the latest algorithm mood demands are. Oh, and of course, remember the budgets! Because no matter how much you try to minimize your expenses, SEO will still make you pay.

Ahhh… Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some workaround that could help you cut through the hassle and get to the results much quicker? Is it too much to ask for?

Actually, consider it done. There is a way, and its name is second tier link building.

These types of links are cheaper and easier to get, and they can become a great boost for your rankings. What’s the catch? Let’s dive into that together.

What Are Tier 2 Backlinks?

Tier 2 backlinks are basically links to links. Now, that might sound confusing, so here’s how it works:

1. Say you have a website, and you start doing your link building. Let’s call this site www.ourexamplepage.com
2. Tier 1: Now, you buy or gain backlinks from a couple of super high-quality sites (e.g., Forbes, Business Insider, The Verge, etc.). These are known as tier 1 backlinks. For example, you get a guest post with a dofollow link on this page www.forbes.com/your-guest-post-topic/
3. Tier 2: Next, you get more links, only they don’t point to your website (www.ourexamplepage.com) directly but to your guest post on Forbes and other high-quality sites (e.g., www.forbes.com/your-guest-post-topic/). This second batch of links are known as tier 2 links.

Note: Typically, tier 2 backlinks come from websites with DA/DR between 20 and 50, meaning that they are good enough to pass some link juice without being too phenomenal.

Types of These Links

When it comes to tiered link building, all links aren’t the same. If you hear people talking about the second tier, they can be referring to links from:

• Guest posting
• Social bookmarking
• Participating in forum discussions
• Web 2.0 platforms
• Press releases
• And pretty much any other link-building tactic you can think of.

We hear you asking – why would anyone do something like this? Isn’t it better for your SEO to link to your main page right away? Not exactly. This brings us to the next section.

Why Get Second Tier Backlinks?

Tier 2 link building isn’t as valuable as tier 1, BUT it is a good way to quickly improve the SEO ranking of your site and get your guest posts on the top of search engine result pages.

Think of it as building a network of links to prop the 1 tier links. The more links pointing to your site, the higher your DR (domain ranking).

Alrighty, now let’s get to the point – why would anyone need this tiered link building in the first place?

✅ Boost for Your Website

Your page gets a website authority increase not only from the links that point directly to your site but also from links (tier 2) that point to your links (tier 1); and even from the links (tier 3) that point to your links (tier 2) that point to your links (tier 1). This is officially the most confusing thing I’ve ever written in my life 😅

Of course, the effect will get smaller and smaller with each step, but it is still a good boost when you look at the bigger picture.

✅ Indexing & Higher Rankings for Tier 1

Your tier 1 publications get to improve their search rankings by getting more links pointing to them. As a result, the better their positions in SERPs are, the better it is for your own website as well.

Besides, if you choose lower quality links in the first place (e.g., web 2.0), you can get them indexed by building those tier 2 links on top of your tier 1.

✅ Less Expenses & Time Spent

As tier 2 generally suggests websites of a lower quality, you don’t have to pay as much for them. Besides, it won’t take you a lot of time to find them.

And, of course, usually, tier 1 links have high trust. You know, like in our example, Forbes is a big name, so people don’t mind linking to them at all, which makes everything so much easier and cheaper.

✅ Better Backlink Profile

If you are on a budget, tiered link building can become your go-to strategy. Why? Imagine that instead of getting 100 mediocre links, you can get 10 top-notch tier 1 backlinks. Then, you can gain or buy 10 lower-quality tier 2 backlinks for each of those high-quality links.

As a result, you will (almost) have 110 links pointing to your website without many risks for your domain. Don’t expect all the link equity from these links to pass. Yet, at least half will, for sure.

✅ Less Risks for Your Domain

You know that you have to be careful when choosing backlinks for your site. But with tier 2 links, you don’t have to worry too much.

These backlinks don’t point directly to your website. Therefore, you shouldn’t get penalties from search engines, even if some of the websites turn out to be spammy.

✅ Easy to Get

As you don’t care that much about these links, many people simply buy tier 2 backlinks. You can check any website inventory and find tons of options for any niche. Besides, sometimes, you can even rent your backlinks by paying a monthly fee for your placement.

What to Avoid When Doing Tiered Link Building?

When it comes to tier link building, you need to ensure that you are not wasting your time, money, and energy on the links that won’t pass any value. Truth be told, it’s easy to get it wrong unless you know what you are doing.

This is why you need to know about the spammy tactics out there:

❌ PBNs/Link Schemes

This is probably the most common one. This scheme involves websites made specifically for selling links – nothing else.

Usually, they try to make as much money as possible by linking to anyone willing to pay them, even if the context is not relevant.

If you buy a couple of tier 2 links from PBNs, it won’t be the end of the world. Yet, do it too often, and you risk getting some negative effects on your DA/DR. Still, as you already know, it won’t be as dramatic as low-quality tier 1 backlinks.

How do you spot PBNs? The most obvious sign is a ridiculously low price and no content standards. So, when you see an offer of 100 links for less than a cup of coffee, that’s a red flag.

Source: @semrush on X

❌ Sketchy Directories

The operative word is sketchy, as not all directories fall under this category. Still, it’s easy to fall in with the wrong one. Since directories are so easy to build links with, lots of people have resorted to abusing them, making them less valuable.

That’s why before you sign up on any directories, make sure it is not the one where absolutely anyone can register and post. Go for directories relevant to your niche so your tier 2 SEO links make sense for both users and search engines.

Is the directory indexed by Google? If the answer is no, it’s probably not a good idea to use it either. Most high-quality directories have strict restrictions on what they allow, so check this and make sure your link conforms to their guidelines.

❌ Irrelevant Link Exchanges

Link exchanges aren’t as common as they used to be. Yet, they are still a thing that you might come across in the wild. What is it? Essentially, it is when someone offers you tier 2 links in exchange for a link back to their site or the site of their client.

Now, it’s not entirely bad, but it only works if both sites are niche-relevant and both have good quality. Otherwise, doing it with a page that exchanges links with every other blog all willy-nilly is going to get you spammy, useless links.

❌ Automated Links

You may be tempted to get one of the link-building bots that people claim can build a ton of links with the snap of a finger. Don’t.

Chances are that you will end up with lots of links – true, but they will be almost useless, if not downright harmful to your search rankings.

❌ Spamming Blog Comment Sections

There are many ways to do tier link building, but this specific method is so last century. If anything, it can backfire as many people will actively avoid having anything to do with your brand. People hate spammers, so let’s just get over this.

4 Ways to Get Tiered Backlinks

Now that you know just how much value the right tiered backlinks can bring and where to find risk-free ones, the next thing is how to go about getting them. So, here are the 3 tactics you should try:

#1 Find Promising Sites and Offer to Write for Them

Here, we’re talking mostly about guest posts and link insertions. This method is one of the most time-consuming but gives you the most SEO-friendly tier 2 backlinks.

First, you create a guest post on a tier 1 site, as mentioned earlier, but now, you want to get that ranked somewhere on the first page of search results (hopefully).

So, you target relevant sites with a medium DR/DA score (20-50). The good news is – those kinds of sites are relatively easy to find. You can search your target keyword on Google and scroll a bit further down the search results.

Then, use an SEO tool to look at the DR of sites you think will be a good fit (just to confirm). Alternatively, you can use the same tool to look at different backlink profiles in your niches and find sites that have medium to low DR.

Pro tip: If you want to get the best results, choose those pages that are not linking to your main competitors.

You can reach out to the websites that fit the most and offer to write a guest post for them. Your chances of getting a “yes” are quite high since they usually have fewer editorial rules and cost less, too.

Just make sure to send all the links to your tier 1 guest post instead of directly to your own website.

#2 Try Alternative Publications

Here are some other ways to get those links to your tier 1 publications:

• Press releases: Press releases are another way to build quality tier backlinks that help you drive traffic. People hear press releases and start worrying about the cost, which is understandable since we all associate this type of link building with big news sites. But this shouldn’t always be the case.
  You can always try to use Connectively (formerly HARO). There, you can get journalists to link to you for free.
  

  Source: Connectively

  Apart from press releases, try using other alternative publications. Which ones?
• Content syndication: Publish links to your tier 1 posts on high-traffic sites like Medium, Outbrain, etc. This is known as content syndication and describes an activity where you republish your own content on other websites.
• Content aggregating: You can also try using platforms like Flipboard, Feedly, etc., which allow you to post content from multiple sources in one place. This is known as content aggregating.

Sure, most links you get from these platforms are “nofollow,” but in all these cases, you are ensuring that your tier 1 guest blogs get more exposure, which can lead to more organic links.

#3 Use Social Media & Forums to Get Your Guest Posts Indexed Faster

Source: @TheSaherShah on X

Social media is not always people’s first “go-to” tactic for building tier 1, 2, 3 backlinks, but it works great for 2 tier links. But wait, aren’t those links “nofollow”? Well, yes. Yet, you can still use them to make Google notice your tier 1 links.

For instance, when you post your first tier guest posts on SM channels, you increase their visibility. That’s why more people can share them further. Plus, Google will definitely like this. All this exposure increases the chances of your article getting ranked higher.

You can also do the same thing on popular industry forums, Reddit, or Quora. This is a great way to promote your guest post, as you can easily find audiences interested in just about any topic.

It works better if you pick subreddits and online communities where people discuss topics directly related to your theme.

#4 Buy Tiered Links From Credible Sources

If you are going to be buying tier 2 links, then stick to credible sources. It’s better for the backlinks to be manually built by service providers who have had years to perfect their skills within your niche.

You want your links to only appear on sites with the right audience and high traffic. That’s where LinksManagement’s advanced filters will let you find the exact match for you.

We only give you 100% unique human-written content that your audience can easily connect with. Our pricing system is transparent, so there are no hidden or unexpected charges that can surprise you later. Plus, we also support secure crypto payment options.

Unlike traditional link building, where you have to play the waiting for rejection or approval game, our sites are already looking forward to working with you.

Thanks to these, you can be sure that the tier 2 SEO links you get from LinksManagement will be of premium quality and help you push your business to the headlines. Tier 2 backlinks pack a lot of SEO value when built this way.

One last thing? Don’t try to jump in and start buying up all the links at once, hoping to hit the number one spot on search result pages. Start with a few tier backlinks and then gradually up your order to bulk purchases.