Buying links - where is the line drawn?

[nick-name123]

I apologise in advance if this has been discussed before, but I'm a bit confused by this whole buying links/outreach scenario.

Example..

High ranking PR site (PR 85) has people advertising they can get you links from that site in exchange for money.
You would give them an article and it would look natural and a link - branded or keyword - links back to you.

This is not new to people here who know of this. Obviously there is a difference between a link farm (crap site just selling links) and one of these highly recognised sites where you can obtain a link from.

I'm sure a goody 2 shoes will now tell me 'i should do everything natural not be tempted', but I actually dont know where the line is drawn between the same site giving a natural link to me and someone selling a link from the same site.

Google isnt going to downgrade the site I'm sure but how do they combat this or even do they combat it?

Do we have to accept that buying links is still a normal process and if done in moderation and discretely, you can get away with it?

[LoganRay]

I cannot believe I'm answering this question in 2016. Do. Not. Buy. Links. Ever.

The idea of buying links goes against everything Google wants their search results to be. If good ranking is simply a matter of spending money, than any hack out there with deep enough pockets can get their garbage site to rank for anything.

Read this, commit this to memory, remember this when developing new link building strategies: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en

[Chris_Hickman]

Gotta agree with Logan, just don't do it! Even if it's tempting. There's tons of great ways to build back links, you shouldn't need to resort to buying them. Sure there's tons of sites that still offer paid links and never get dinged by Google, but as we have seen over the years Google is always watching and penalties can be incredibly harmful. Currently, I've been working on a travel site and have ran into the issue of 75% of blogs expecting payment for links. We have changed our approach to the link building process and have managed to see some success. Be creative, you'll still be able to build links organically.

Chris

Adficient.com

[EGOL]

High ranking PR site (PR 85) has people advertising they can get you links from that site in exchange for money.

Google reads these ads.

I'm sure a goody 2 shoes will now tell me 'i should do everything natural not be tempted', but I actually dont know where the line is drawn between the same site giving a natural link to me and someone selling a link from the same site.

If you want to try this stuff, try it with your own website.  This isn't anything to try with a client's or an employer's site, especially one that has a warehouse with $10,000,000 in Christmas inventory, eight employees and a $15,000/month lease.

[nick-name123]

ok, I accept the points raised above and understand where you are coming from.

The difficulty I am having is that I want to outsrouce link building/content reach (and yes, in white hat manner), but everyone I speak to seems to have a 'network' of sites they can build links from which really worries me as I'm sure google will spot a pattern.

How do I outsource without having this issue?