Blog I invested $2,000 in backlinks, but my domain's DR (Domain Rating) is still zero.

[Hammerg]

Why is $2,000 considered too much? It's a relatively small amount...

Furthermore, the expenditure was not in vain, as it was allocated for backlinking purposes. The intention is to continue investing the same amount every month if it proves to be effective in improving the overall Domain Rating (DR).

No one is saying it's a waste; it's just too early to invest heavily in backlink building within the first 45 days of creating your blog.

You also didn’t mention how many articles are on your website and their word count.

What’s your current traffic as of today?

If you're seeking help from the BHW community, you need to provide these details so we can understand your situation better.

 

[Abjiggar]

My blog is 45 days old, and I've been focusing on obtaining backlinks from high-DR (45+) blogs within my niche that have good traffic (over 40K visitors per month) and low spam scores. I've acquired more than 20 backlinks in 45 days, some of which were free while others cost me between $100 and $300 each. I avoided buying links due to the low quality of the sites provided by most sellers. Instead, I reached out to competitors ranking on the first and second page of Google and requested guest posts.

However, my domain's DR is still zero according to Ahrefs and SEMrush. Why is this so? And how long does it take to increase the DR value?

If you’re not buying backlinks from this forum, why are you seeking suggestions and solutions here? Not all BHW sellers offer spammy websites. In fact, you can choose the specific websites or blogs where you want your links to appear.

 

[Sporswer]

LOL, this timeframe is too short to see results, mate. Be patient and focus on getting more quality links, especially redirects, to make a difference!

 

[Selfch]

My blog is 45 days old, and I've been focusing on obtaining backlinks from high-DR (45+) blogs within my niche that have good traffic (over 40K visitors per month) and low spam scores. I've acquired more than 20 backlinks in 45 days, some of which were free while others cost me between $100 and $300 each. I avoided buying links due to the low quality of the sites provided by most sellers. Instead, I reached out to competitors ranking on the first and second page of Google and requested guest posts.

However, my domain's DR is still zero according to Ahrefs and SEMrush. Why is this so? And how long does it take to increase the DR value?

As others have mentioned, 45 days is too short to see any significant results. However, last year I had a site that saw a boost just one week after the backlinks were indexed. Notice I said indexed, not built. This leads me to some important points that only a few people have touched on:

Are you sure the links are indexed? If they're not indexed by Google, you won't see any results now or even in 1000 years. Manually check each backlink in Google to see if it's there. If you have hundreds of links to check, use software like Scrapebox to track your SEO efforts. Despite its steep learning curve, it's invaluable for serious SEOs.

Are you sure the links you purchased are D0F0LL0W? Many newbies, myself included in the past, often forget to ask sellers if the links are d0f0ll0w or nofollow. This is crucial because links with the 'nofollow' tag won't pass any link juice, authority, DR, DA, or any other benefits. They’re essentially useless.

Are the links still live? Believe it or not, some unscrupulous sellers remove the links 1-6 months after payment. It's possible that some or all of your links have been deleted, which is detrimental since Google won’t see or index them. If Google doesn't index your links, they won’t help your site rank. This is another area where Scrapebox is invaluable, as it can track the status of your backlinks, including their indexation, d0f0ll0w/nofollow status, and whether they are live, dead, or broken.

If all three previous points are checked off, then seriously, give it some time. Many links, especially weaker ones, can take months to index nowadays. You can expedite the process by asking the seller to index them for you, either for free or for a fee, depending on your package or negotiation skills. Alternatively, if the links are guest posts or niche edits on high-quality websites, ask the site owners or editors if they’re okay with you using an indexing service or blasting your guest posts/niche edits with thousands of low-quality links to help index your main links. Some owners may be fine with this, while others may not be.
And again, wait! I can't give an exact timeframe, but probably 4-6 weeks after building the links and submitting them to indexers. If your links are still not indexed by Google after 6 weeks, then it might be time to take more aggressive measures.

 

[DarthCanyons]

As others have mentioned, 45 days is too short to see any significant results. However, last year I had a site that saw a boost just one week after the backlinks were indexed. Notice I said indexed, not built. This leads me to some important points that only a few people have touched on:

Are you sure the links are indexed? If they're not indexed by Google, you won't see any results now or even in 1000 years. Manually check each backlink in Google to see if it's there. If you have hundreds of links to check, use software like Scrapebox to track your SEO efforts. Despite its steep learning curve, it's invaluable for serious SEOs.

Are you sure the links you purchased are D0F0LL0W? Many newbies, myself included in the past, often forget to ask sellers if the links are d0f0ll0w or nofollow. This is crucial because links with the 'nofollow' tag won't pass any link juice, authority, DR, DA, or any other benefits. They’re essentially useless.

Are the links still live? Believe it or not, some unscrupulous sellers remove the links 1-6 months after payment. It's possible that some or all of your links have been deleted, which is detrimental since Google won’t see or index them. If Google doesn't index your links, they won’t help your site rank. This is another area where Scrapebox is invaluable, as it can track the status of your backlinks, including their indexation, d0f0ll0w/nofollow status, and whether they are live, dead, or broken.

If all three previous points are checked off, then seriously, give it some time. Many links, especially weaker ones, can take months to index nowadays. You can expedite the process by asking the seller to index them for you, either for free or for a fee, depending on your package or negotiation skills. Alternatively, if the links are guest posts or niche edits on high-quality websites, ask the site owners or editors if they’re okay with you using an indexing service or blasting your guest posts/niche edits with thousands of low-quality links to help index your main links. Some owners may be fine with this, while others may not be.
And again, wait! I can't give an exact timeframe, but probably 4-6 weeks after building the links and submitting them to indexers. If your links are still not indexed by Google after 6 weeks, then it might be time to take more aggressive measures.

According to a website that ranked within a week, do you build all the backlinks in one day, or do you drip-feed them? Also, how many backlinks do you build?

 

[Selfch]

According to a website that ranked within a week, do you build all the backlinks in one day, or do you drip-feed them? Also, how many backlinks do you build?

Always drip-feed if the site is new! ALWAYS!

The website I mentioned was initially blasted with thousands of links (about 2 months after I built it, if I recall correctly), but that didn't rank it anywhere. Frustrated, I abandoned the site until last year. Then, around May-June last year, it suddenly started appearing in Google, likely due to a Google update, though I'm not certain. I decided to build more links, creating about 12-13 backlinks (manually from sites found here on BHW for free) over the course of a month. I then stopped building links but continued checking their indexation since only indexed links matter.

I don't remember all the details as the site was more of a fun experiment for me, but of those 12-13 links, only some got indexed. The first two links were from telegra.ph and gumroad, which indexed within a few days without any special effort but didn't boost rankings. I then built several more links from sites found on BHW, but they didn't index for some reason. After 3-4 weeks, I built a few more links, bringing the total to 12 or 13 backlinks. This third batch indexed within a few days, and about a week later, I noticed an increase in impressions in my Google Search Console. A few long-tail keywords moved up the SERPs from pages 5-6 to page 3.

 

[DarthCanyons]

Always drip-feed if the site is new! ALWAYS!

The website I mentioned was initially blasted with thousands of links (about 2 months after I built it, if I recall correctly), but that didn't rank it anywhere. Frustrated, I abandoned the site until last year. Then, around May-June last year, it suddenly started appearing in Google, likely due to a Google update, though I'm not certain. I decided to build more links, creating about 12-13 backlinks (manually from sites found here on BHW for free) over the course of a month. I then stopped building links but continued checking their indexation since only indexed links matter.

I don't remember all the details as the site was more of a fun experiment for me, but of those 12-13 links, only some got indexed. The first two links were from telegra.ph and gumroad, which indexed within a few days without any special effort but didn't boost rankings. I then built several more links from sites found on BHW, but they didn't index for some reason. After 3-4 weeks, I built a few more links, bringing the total to 12 or 13 backlinks. This third batch indexed within a few days, and about a week later, I noticed an increase in impressions in my Google Search Console. A few long-tail keywords moved up the SERPs from pages 5-6 to page 3.

Based on your case study and my own test using parasite Amazon sites, it seems that consistent link building over time is more effective than a one-time blast. Just like with Amazon, consistent sales help improve rankings better than a sudden spike in sales followed by a lull.

 

[Selfch]

Based on your case study and my own test using parasite Amazon sites, it seems that consistent link building over time is more effective than a one-time blast. Just like with Amazon, consistent sales help improve rankings better than a sudden spike in sales followed by a lull.

Exactly

 

[Fuglobal]

OP, why are you focusing on DR? It doesn't directly reflect your website's authority on Google. When buying backlinks, I rarely consider DR or DA; I prioritize the site's monthly traffic and its performance in Google search results.

With your budget, you should invest in high-quality backlinks from reputable sites like The Verge, Entrepreneur, Forbes, etc. Additionally, I would strongly focus on content creation and keyword research. If I were you, I’d also consider purchasing a well-metricked expired domain. The finance niche is challenging, but with the right content strategy, keyword research, and high-quality backlinks, you can start ranking a finance blog effectively.


I purchased an expired domain for over $3K and achieved the mentioned stats within the first month, even though it's in the finance niche. Posts get indexed by Google in under 30 minutes. This demonstrates the power of an expired domain with strong metrics, and I don't even worry about the DR score. Lol.

 

[Agmediho]

Is your site receiving any traffic?

 

[Ironsys]

Give it some time.

 

[Cookenso]

I'm not criticizing you, but I believe in focusing on content rather than backlinking, especially when you're starting out. You might have been better off investing that $2K in content.

Since your site is new, whether or not you’re building backlinks, you'll need time to see results. Keep working on your content and consider building links gradually; you should start seeing improvements within a few months.

This was my experience with a new website. I didn’t begin building links until I had 100 articles, and by then, it had been 3.5 months, so the site was just about emerging from the sandbox. Once I started building links, the site grew quickly and continues to grow. My DR is only 4.5, but the site performs well mainly due to the quality content.

In the finance niche, content is especially crucial. So my advice is to focus on creating high-quality content and promoting it on platforms like Reddit and Quora. After a year, you can start considering purchasing backlinks.

 

[Inferner]

You mentioned that BHW sellers offer spammy or low-quality links, so why are you asking about your website?

 

[Screevava]

Have you checked your keyword rankings? Have you seen any improvements since then? DR isn’t the only factor; ranking and traffic depend on many variables. Also, 45 days is not a lot of time. Be patient for a few more months and focus on consistently building quality backlinks.

There are many high-quality services available; not all are spammy. Just ask for samples or check the sites before purchasing backlinks.

 

[Landia]

You mentioned that BHW sellers offer spammy or low-quality links, so why are you asking about your website?

They do, indeed. Have you reviewed their lists? They’re mostly low-quality.

You can get similar guest posts by contacting the websites directly for half the price.

I reach out to blog owners directly after thorough research, focusing on sites that typically don’t accept guest posts. By offering payment, they often agree without much trouble.

 

[Inferner]

They do, indeed. Have you reviewed their lists? They’re mostly low-quality.

I’ve worked with many members, and the quality depends on how you choose. Avoid buying links from those who offer low-quality or spammy options. Quality links can be found everywhere, but so can spammy ones.

Regarding pricing, it’s hard to judge. Sellers invest time, effort, and responsibility into their work, and their prices reflect the cost of living and the value they provide

 

[PlentySilver]

Aggressive link building won’t speed up your site’s ranking. Instead of buying more links, focus on creating high-quality content for the next few months.

 

[BuggyTeenz]

Did you perhaps purchase links from Fiverr or Seoclerk?

 

[PunkMega]

Is it a new domain or an expired one?

 

[Facerens]

Try using redirect links to increase your DR.