<b>Median placed-link cost is $361 — but the loaded cost is $612</b>

<b>Median placed-link cost is $361 — but the loaded cost is $612</b>

Across 940 white-hat link campaigns (12-month window, US/EU agencies), the headline price per link sits at a $361 median. That number lies. It only counts what's paid to the publisher.

Load in the labor — prospecting, email sequences, negotiation, content — and the true cost moves to $612 at the median, p75 $1,040.

— Publisher fee: 59% of total
— Outreach labor: 28%
— Content asset: 13%

What it means: teams that benchmark only on placement fee underprice their work by ~40%. The link looks cheap; the pipeline isn't.

<b>Track fully-loaded cost per acquired link, not the invoice from the site.</b>