19 Link Building Agencies Worth Hiring in 2026

Hiring a link building agency in 2026 means answering a question that did not exist two years ago: are you buying rankings on Google, citations in ChatGPT and AI Overviews, or both? The 19 agencies below are sorted into five tiers by how they earn the link, because that decides what you get, what it costs and whether an AI engine will ever see it.

Every list you will find on page one today was written by an agency that put itself first. We don't run one. We started from those lists, kept the names that recur, then checked each agency's own site, pricing page and news for a live team in 2026, a price we could pin down, named clients and how the links are actually earned. Fifteen were dropped for PBN links, guaranteed placements, paid links presented as editorial, or no client names.

The elephant in the room: do links still matter for AI answers?

Short answer: yes, but not the links most agencies sold you in 2023. Three big-sample studies landed in the last twelve months. They agree on the direction even where they disagree on the size.

• Ahrefs, 75,000 brands, December 2025. YouTube mentions correlate with AI visibility at about 0.74 and branded web mentions at 0.66 to 0.71. Backlinks sit between 0.15 and 0.25 on every engine tested.
• Semrush and Kevin Indig, 1,000 domains, October 2025. Nofollow links correlate with AI mentions exactly as much as followed links (0.340 versus 0.334). Authority is a threshold you clear once, not a dial that keeps paying.
• Foundation and AirOps, 57 million citations, July 2026. Nine in ten citations point at a third-party page. Reddit alone takes a fifth. 68% of answers cite nothing the brand owns.

The honest reading: authority still gets you in the door. Mentions decide whether you get named.

What changed, in five lines

• The source pool moved off your site. Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, review sites and listicles take most citations. Owning the ranking page is not the same as being the cited page.
• Nofollow and unlinked mentions count. A named mention on a page the engine reads is worth more than a followed link on a page it never fetches. The rel attribute stopped being the product.
• Every engine has its own diet. Wikipedia leads ChatGPT, Reddit leads Perplexity and AI Overviews, and ChatGPT cut its Reddit and Wikipedia share sharply after September 2025 (Semrush, 100M citations). One placement does not travel.
• A citation is not a mention. Semrush found 61.7% of AI citations are ghost citations: your page is linked as a source, your brand is never named. Aggregators get linked, brands get named. You want both.
• Bing matters again. Seer Interactive matched 500 ChatGPT search citations and 87% tracked Bing's top results. Several tier 5 shops now work Bing-indexed aggregators on purpose.

Who is leading the shift

The measurement layer moved first. Profound published the 680-million-citation breakdown that every agency now quotes and runs a partner directory of shops that deliver against its data. Ahrefs Brand Radar produced the two correlation studies above. Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit with Kevin Indig ran the nofollow study and the ghost-citation study. Peec AI ranked the most-cited domains across 30 million sources. On the agency side, three names sell against that data rather than around it: Foundation treats Reddit threads and YouTube as the deliverable because its own study says brands own a tenth of citations; Discovered Labs is the only AEO agency we found with a public price page and a written no-guaranteed-citations clause; Siege Media rebranded its whole firm around GEO with share-of-voice reporting on named clients. All three are in the tiers below.

What's new in 2026

• Every serious link agency added a citation product. uSERP sells AI-cited-domain targeting, dofollow.com launched AnswerOS, LinkBuilder.io sells AI Starter and AI Growth packages, Loganix sells AI Brand Links, Rhino Rank sells listicle placements for AI citations. The Upper Ranks is the only pick that did not.
• Per-link pricing became public. uSERP ($600 to $900 for DR 60+), SayNine (from $150), Outreach Monks (from $99), Rhino Rank (from $60) and Collaborator (from about $2) all publish numbers. The retainers are now the ones hiding the price.
• The marketplace parents own the agencies. LinkBuilder.io has been part of Next Net Media, which also owns The HOTH and Authority Builders, since October 2023. Ask who owns the shop before you sign six months.

Five tiers, one decision

A note on the prices. "From" figures are the agency's own published floor. Figures marked "est." come from Clutch, third-party reviews or our reading of the market, and the agency may quote differently. Per-link prices are for the lowest tier the vendor sells; DR 60+ placements cost several times more everywhere.

How to find your fit

Three questions, in order. Answer them before you read the tiers and the list collapses to two or three names.

1. 1.Rankings, citations, or both? If your buyers still arrive from Google, tiers 1 to 3. If they ask ChatGPT which tool to use and you are not in the answer, tier 5 first, or a tier 1 or 2 shop with a real citation product. If both, tier 1 or 2.
2. 2.Do you want to see the site before it goes live? Tiers 1, 2 and 3 show you targets. Tier 4 sells you a DR band. If brand safety matters, that is the line.
3. 3.Retainer or per link? A retainer buys strategy and relationships and takes six months to judge. Per-link buys output this week and tells you nothing about strategy. Decide which one you are short of.

Tier 1: Digital PR and editorial ($5K–$15K+/mo)

Links come from journalists and editors citing something the agency built for you: a data study, a calculator, an index, a reactive story. Results are reported as traffic, rankings and revenue, not link counts. Starter programs begin around $5K a month (uSERP publishes $5,500, Siege's Clutch minimum is $5K), full research-led campaigns run $10K to $15K on six to twelve month terms. Every agency in this tier now sells a GEO line, which makes sense: a story that lands in the press is also a story that lands in the sources the answer engines read.

• Ask where the links landed. Coverage on a homepage is nice. Links into your commercial pages are what move revenue. JBH reports 72% into money pages; ask everyone else for their number.
• Judge relevance, not DR. A DR 90 national paper that has nothing to do with your category impresses a slide and nobody else.
• Budget for the asset. The story costs money before the outreach starts. If the quote is all outreach and no research, it is tier 3 in a nicer suit.
• Expect six months. Campaigns are pitched in cycles and journalists do not work to your quarter.

1.

uSERP

From $5.5K/mo · SaaS links + digital PR · since 2019

Clutch's top link agency five years running, with monday.com, Robinhood and CrowdStrike on the list. Published tiers from $5,500 a month, DR 60+ links at $600 to $900 each, sold by DR band. Now targets the domains AI Overviews already cite. Best for SaaS that wants a predictable monthly volume of high-DR links. Skip it if you want purely journalist-earned coverage.

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2.

Siege Media

est. $12K/mo · Digital PR + GEO · ~115 staff

The biggest firm here to rebrand fully around GEO, with founder Ross Hudgens' Wiley book behind it. Links come from research and data assets pitched through an in-house media network; the Zendesk case reports 98% LLM visibility (agency-reported). Sells retainers, not links. Best for funded SaaS that wants content, PR and AI visibility as one program. Skip it under $5K a month.

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3.

Digitaloft

Price on request · UK digital PR · since 2014

The UK's loudest voice on relevance over DR, and the only pick with no price anywhere. Indexes, calculators and studies built for buying searches: one calculator brought 75,000 visitors (agency-reported). Won Standout B2C SEO Campaign of the Year in 2026 and sells GEO. Best for UK and EU brands that want PR judged on rankings and revenue. Skip it if you need US media at the core.

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4.

JBH

est. £7.5K/mo · Performance digital PR · Manchester

Reports revenue and ROI rather than DR and points links at money pages on purpose: 72% of Cosmetify's 125 links landed on commercial pages, 421% ROI (agency-reported). Data-led stories for Preply, Uswitch and money.co.uk; Gold at the 2026 Performance Marketing Awards. Best for e-commerce and consumer finance. Skip it if you are US-only B2B SaaS.

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Tier 2: SaaS link specialists ($150 a link to $5K/mo)

Placements are the product, sold only or mostly to software companies: link insertions into existing articles, guest posts, listicle and comparison-page placements, and unlinked mentions turned into links on DR 40 to 90 software sites. Prices run from $150 a link at the volume end to $4K or $5K a month minimums where every host must be DR 60+ with real traffic. All four now sell an AI-citation layer on top, and this is the tier where that claim is most testable, because listicle placements are exactly what the engines read for "best X tool" prompts.

• Ask whether the host was paid. Most of this tier pays publishers. That is fine if you know it and the placement is relevant; it is a problem if you were told it was earned.
• Buy listicles on purpose. A place on the "best CRM for startups" page that ChatGPT already cites is worth more than three guest posts nobody reads.
• Check the host's traffic yourself. DR is easy to inflate. Organic traffic to the exact page is not.
• Run a test batch. Three links, one month, then decide. The per-link shops make this easy; the retainers should let you.

5.

dofollow.com

est. $4K/mo · B2B SaaS links only · since 2017

A links-only shop for B2B SaaS that reports in demos: HeyMarket from 7.5K to 40K visitors and zero to 50+ demos a month (agency-reported). Manual outreach for guest posts, listicle placements and mentions on DR 70+ SaaS sites, no contract. Its AnswerOS picks targets from the sources the engines cite. Best for mid-market SaaS with $4K+ a month. Skip it if you need per-link pricing.

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6.

Scalerrs

est. $5K/mo · SaaS links + AEO · cancel anytime

A link agency that became a category-ownership agency. Every host is DR 60+ with 10K+ traffic, and links run alongside listicle, Reddit, YouTube and Wikipedia work with weekly citation reports. Default attributes 30% of pipeline to it (agency-reported); about $2M ARR in two years. Best for a SaaS that wants Google and AI answers in one program. Skip it if you only want links.

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7.

SayNine

From $150/link · Insertions + listicles · Yerevan

The lowest published per-link prices among SaaS shops: $150 per insertion, $250 per guest post or listicle, packages from $2,350 a month, every host DR 30+ with real traffic and a one-year guarantee. Telnyx: +36% traffic and +18% AI citations from 80 links in a month (agency-reported). Best for seed to Series A SaaS that wants volume at a known price. Skip it if you distrust partner networks.

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8.

LinkBuilder.io

From $3K/mo · Managed outreach · since 2016

One of the longest-running white-hat outreach shops, with published tiers from $2,999 a month for eight links and AI packages that add branded mentions and news links. Udemy, SoFi and Tripadvisor are named clients. Two flags: six-month contracts, and the parent company also owns The HOTH and Authority Builders. Best for a SaaS that wants a mature process with public pricing. Skip it if you want month-to-month.

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Tier 3: Managed outreach at scale ($99 a link to $5K/mo)

In-house outreach teams pitching guest posts, resource-page placements and link insertions on third-party sites in any niche, sold as a monthly retainer with a link quota or per link by DR tier. Per link from $99 to roughly $300 to $600 for guest posts; retainers from $2,500 to about $5K a month, with six-month first commitments the norm. This is the tier that built the industry, and the one AI search touched least: three of the four now sell a brand-mention product, one does not, and none of them will put you on Reddit.

• Ask for the target list before the first link. A good shop shows you the sites and lets you veto. A bad one shows you a report afterwards.
• Count the quota in relevant links. Eight links a month means nothing if six are on general blogs. Write relevance into the contract.
• Ask about the writers. Guest posts written by the agency carry your name. Read two before you buy twenty.
• Pick US-based or offshore on purpose. Both models exist here at very different prices. Decide what you are paying for.

9.

Page One Power

From $3.7K/mo · US manual outreach · since 2010

One of the oldest US link agencies, all staff US-based, with client-named cases: Atera +306% organic sessions, Domotz +78% keyword rankings after 48 links (agency-reported). Resource-page outreach and linkable assets, 100% manual, a contracted quota, six-month first term. Sells AI Search Optimization. Best for mid-market brands that want a US team on a custom campaign. Skip it if you need per-link buying.

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10.

Stellar SEO

From $2.5K/mo · Law, finance, real estate · Nashville

A US specialist for YMYL verticals with a published floor of $2,500 a month for eight links and a 27-point publisher checklist. Case studies show traffic (a personal-injury firm +381% in five months, agency-reported) but are anonymised, and the site names one client, which is the flag. Best for law firms and lenders that want a managed program with a public price. Skip it if you need client logos first.

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11.

The Upper Ranks

est. $5K/mo · White-hat outreach · since 2011

Fifteen years of manual outreach with Microsoft, eBay, Adidas and Home Depot as clients and a testimonial from Neil Patel. Analysis, prospecting, personalised pitches for guest posts and resource pages, no packages. Prices and case-study numbers sit behind a form, and it is the only pick with no AI-citation product. Best for brands that want a founder-led US team. Skip it if you need public numbers.

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12.

Outreach Monks

From $99/link · Guest posts at volume · 70+ staff

A published DR ladder: $99 at DR 20+, $319 at DR 60+, article included, no retainer, six-month replacement guarantee. Clients approve targets first. Represent CLO grew from 70K to 419K monthly visits over 35 months (agency-reported). One flag: the site does not say whether publishers are paid, so ask. Best for agencies and SMBs that need many links a month cheaply. Skip it if you need US-based outreach.

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Tier 4: Marketplaces and per-link vendors ($2 to $530 a link)

Self-serve link buying with no retainer. You pick a DR or traffic tier, or the exact publisher and country, and pay per placement. Publishers are paid in every case; only Collaborator says so plainly on its public pages and lets you choose dofollow, nofollow or sponsored. This tier is where agencies buy the links they resell in tier 3, which is worth knowing before you pay an agency to do it for you. It is also the tier with the least editorial control, so it is the wrong place for a brand that cannot afford a placement next to something embarrassing.

• Know that you are buying a paid link. That is the product. Decide your policy on it before you open the dashboard.
• Filter on traffic, not DR. Every marketplace lets you. Most buyers do not.
• Use it for listicles. Two vendors here now sell listicle placements specifically for AI citations, and that is the one product in this tier the engines will actually read.
• Keep referral traffic out of the business case. Nobody clicks these. Buy them for the signal or not at all.

13.

fatjoe

From ~$81/link · White-label marketplace · UK

The best-known white-label link marketplace for agencies, about 5,000 of them. Niche edits from $81 and blogger outreach from $83, rising to $528 at DR 60+; fatjoe writes the post and pays bloggers in its pool to host it. You choose a DR tier, not a publication. Prices come from third-party tables, the site blocks fetches. Best for cheap, fast, tiered links. Skip it if you need to approve the exact site.

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14.

Loganix

From $99/link · Vetted agency link supply · 40+ staff

Agency-facing outsourcing with a quality floor: minimum DR 30, traffic thresholds, human review, pay only for approved placements. Guest posts from $200, niche edits $200 to $400, marketplace from $99. HubSpot and Powered By Search are named clients; Brian Dean endorses it. Launched AI Brand Links in 2026. Best for agencies that want vetted white-label supply. Skip it if you want the cheapest tier.

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15.

Rhino Rank

From $60/link · Curated insertions · 7,000+ clients

Coined "curated links", insertions into articles that already rank, and built a volume service on it: from $60, guest posts $75 to $400, listicles from $135, money-back on the first order. States no PBNs, no link farms, and pays site owners for placement. Passed 7,000 clients in September 2026 and sells listicles for AI citations. Best for SEOs who want cheap insertions with a guarantee. Skip it if you need revenue-backed cases.

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16.

Collaborator

From ~$2 + 10% · 44K-site catalog · Kyiv

The most transparent and the cheapest: publishers list 44,000+ sites with GA-verified traffic, you pick one, pay the fee plus 10%, and choose dofollow, nofollow or sponsored yourself. Most placements run $40 and up and clear in 48 hours; strongest in Eastern Europe. Added an AI Overviews citation metric in 2026. Best for marketers who want to pick exact sites and countries. Skip it if you want tier-one English media.

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AI-citation shops (the 2026 fresh category)

The deliverable is presence on the third-party sources ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and AI Overviews cite: Reddit threads, YouTube, review sites, listicles, news. Two camps. Link-first shops (Foundation, Soar) never touch your site; they put you where the engines already look. Content-first shops (Discovered Labs, and Siege's GEO retainer from tier 1) rebuild your own pages for AI extraction and add a Reddit or PR phase. Prices run from about $1K a month at the Reddit end to $25K+ minimum projects. Every pick here states in writing that it does not guarantee citations, which is the first thing that separates them from the fifteen we dropped.

• Write the prompts first. "Be cited for these twenty questions on these two engines by day 90" is a brief. "Do AEO" is not.
• Ask which engine. Reddit moves Perplexity and AI Overviews. Wikipedia and review sites move ChatGPT. One placement does not travel.
• Ask whose accounts post. Reddit presence from agency-owned aged accounts works and carries risk. Know which you are buying.
• Measure citations and mentions separately. Most citations never name the brand. You want the name in the answer, not just the link under it.

17.

Foundation

est. $25K+ · Reddit, YouTube, earned media · since 2014

The link-first model with the research to justify it: co-authored the 57-million-citation study that found brands own a tenth of LLM citations, then sells presence where the rest live: Reddit threads and AMAs, YouTube built for citation, earned media at DA 60+. Webex, Mailchimp and Snowflake are named clients. Best for B2B SaaS with a $25K+ budget that wants off-site presence built for it. Skip it if you want a link count.

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18.

Soar

est. from $1K/mo · Reddit + Quora mentions · 280+ campaigns

The best-known Reddit agency, now sold as LLM visibility because the threads it works are the ones Perplexity and ChatGPT pull in. Staff post from aged, high-karma accounts, 30 to 50+ mentions a month; Anker, Airwallex and Bybit are named clients; third-party listings cite $5K to $15K a month. Best for consumer, crypto and app brands that want fast thread presence. Skip it if agency-owned accounts posting about you is a problem.

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19.

Discovered Labs

From €5,995/mo · AEO for B2B SaaS · since 2024

The only AEO agency we found with a public price page and a written no-guaranteed-citations clause. Content-first: rebuilds your pages under its CITABLE framework, then earns mentions and links across the subreddits, publications and review sites cited in your category. Gladia: 7x sales-accepted leads (agency-reported). Best for growth-stage SaaS that wants transparent AEO pricing with pipeline attribution. Skip it if you want a pure link vendor.

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Sources and how we checked

Every entry was checked against the agency's own site in September 2026. Where a price is published we link the page. Where a result is quoted, it is the agency's own case study unless we say otherwise. The AI-search studies are linked with their dates and sample sizes so you can weigh them yourself.

• AI-search studies: Ahrefs, 75,000 brands, December 2025 (mentions vs links, three engines) and Ahrefs, March 2026 (top-ten share of AI Overview citations); Semrush and Kevin Indig, 1,000 domains, October 2025 (nofollow equals follow); Semrush ghost-citations study, June 2026; Semrush, 100M citations, November 2025 (ChatGPT's Reddit and Wikipedia drop); Foundation and AirOps, 57.2M citations, July 2026; SE Ranking, 2.3M pages, December 2025 (referring domains as a predictor); BrightEdge 16-month overlap tracker, September 2025; Profound, 680M citations, 2025; Seer Interactive, ChatGPT and Bing, February 2025.
• Pricing pages: uSERP, Siege Media cost guide, dofollow.com, SayNine, LinkBuilder.io, Page One Power, Stellar SEO, Outreach Monks, Loganix, Rhino Rank, Collaborator, Discovered Labs. Estimates marked est. come from Clutch profiles or third-party reviews named in the entry.
• Ownership and news: LinkBuilder.io on Clutch (Next Net Media, October 2023), fatjoe press release, January 2026, Rhino Rank, September 2026, Digitaloft awards, August 2026, JBH awards, June 2026, Stellar SEO on Inc..
• Case studies quoted (all agency-reported): Nav and Remote (uSERP), Zendesk (Siege Media), Cosmetify (JBH), NectarHR and HeyMarket (dofollow.com), Default and Qwilr (Scalerrs), Telnyx (SayNine), Atera, Domotz and Tipalti (Page One Power), Represent CLO and Raven360 (Outreach Monks), Gladia (Discovered Labs).

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