Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research
      Moz Pro

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research

      Try it free!
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Link Building
    4. Backlink Transparency with SEO Agency

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Backlink Transparency with SEO Agency

    Link Building
    3
    6
    1054
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • wonderd24
      wonderd24 last edited by

      Hello everyone. I recently started working with an SEO agency and today they gave me an updated keyword report which showed some increase in rankings. I was not aware that any backlinks had been created yet so I asked for a report of the links. Their response is below and I am just wondering if this is normal practice being I have not worked with any type of SEO agency yet.

      "
      Hey Daniel,

      We release a small report on them which the guest blog team will do soon. We don't reveal all backlink sources unfortunately because people have tried to bother the webmasters we have and basically steal our techniques.

      But rest assured you will be ranking at the top of the pack with our methods 😃  
      "

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • willcritchlow
        willcritchlow last edited by

        This doesn't ring true to me because:

        1. There are all kinds of ways you can find links to your site (referring traffic in GA, link analysis sources like moz's own tools, ahrefs, majestic etc, and tools like Google Alerts)
        2. You've already got the link in these cases, so you would have no incentive to "bother" the webmasters
        3. In general, my experience has been that most providers want to tell you about as many placements as they can!

        Add to this some of the phrasing (e.g. "webmasters we have" -- emphasis mine) suggests that there may be payments taking place or other schemes afoot that place these well outside the Google guidelines.

        Per the conversation in the other comments - I would recommend that you get at least a statement of work in place to govern what you are expecting for the money you are paying even if you are not committing to a long-term contract. This could include agreements on any of the above (what information they will provide you with, what you will do with that information etc). At the very least, you should want to understand the techniques in use in order to make your own informed decisions about the risks and rewards.

        Hope that helps.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • wonderd24
          wonderd24 last edited by

          Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else want to chime in on this?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • donsilvernail
            donsilvernail last edited by

            There should be some sort of contract.

            You are sharing your private information with the agency and vice versa. Also the contract will govern what services the agency provides and what you can expect from their services. If they write content for your site, the contract will govern who owns that contract.

            It is my opinion that you may want to get out of this deal before you are in to deep. They are already shady with a backlinks report. This is only my opinion.

            Thanks,

            Don

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • wonderd24
              wonderd24 last edited by

              There was no contract between me and the agency. It is month to month.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • donsilvernail
                donsilvernail last edited by

                Hello,

                You can use moz's link explorer to reveal the back links https://analytics.moz.com/pro/link-explorer/home

                If they are good quality they usually show up in the index but not always. Another area you can check is google search console.

                I do not think it is common practice to give a backlinks report upon request. They may not want to reveal their sources. But this information should not be private to a client. The contract should govern any information that is shared.

                Thanks,

                Don

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • 1 / 1
                • First post
                  Last post

                Got a burning SEO question?

                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                Start my free trial


                Browse Questions

                Explore more categories

                • Moz Tools

                  Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                • SEO Tactics

                  Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                • Community

                  Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                • Digital Marketing

                  Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                • Research & Trends

                  Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                • Support

                  Connect on product support and feature requests.

                • See all categories

                Related Questions

                • udaipabla

                  Should backlink URLs include www, https, or both???

                  My business is located at remotebaba.com, and I am wanting several sites to link to it.
                  I am only interested in home page at this point, and we are using HTTPS for our site. Which one of these should I have other sites link to (Please provide complete justification):
                  remotebaba.com (my root domain)
                  www.remotebaba.com
                  https://remotebaba.com
                  https://www.remotebaba.com I really appreciate your help!

                  Link Building | | udaipabla
                  1
                • wcksmith1

                  Nofollow backlinks - are they worth it?

                  As we all attempt to get backlinks for the sites we manage, I have to wonder if it's worth it at all to get a nofollow backlink.  Does Google give and positive credit for a link to a site if it is a nofollow link? Obviously, the follow links are worth pursuing.  I'm just trying to gain some perspective. Thanks,  Wick

                  Link Building | | wcksmith1
                  0
                • jkosarek

                  Media Kit for SEO?

                  I am working with a company that gets a significant amount of press, but often we do not get links from these articles or the articles do not have the best anchor text. Any suggestion, tools, or articles that help optimize this exposure to for seo benefits?

                  Link Building | | jkosarek
                  0
                • The_Kiwi_Man

                  $10,000 backlink?

                  Hello guys, Would you pay $10k for a pr9 backlink? Thanks!

                  Link Building | | The_Kiwi_Man
                  0
                • ruddyhapiq

                  Using Schema markup for backlinks

                  Hi, Is there any benefits for using schema markup for backlinks. Using for Article directory submission,Drupal Submission etc.. mUz1umK.png?1

                  Link Building | | ruddyhapiq
                  0
                • JML1179

                  Seo & Real Estate Site?

                  I am a Realtor. I am also a web developer. I want to make a site about real estate and web development. Primarily how I use my unique skills with web to sell homes. A real estate website caps it's Page Rank very low. There are not a lot of good backlinks to get when compared to the web development industry. There are millions of blogs I participate in about web development/seo. There are a lot of blogs I participate in about real estate too; however, the real estate websites all have low page ranks. This is obviously because the seo/web development industries know how to build page rank, which makes it easier to accumulate it. It's difficult finding good outlets to get link power from in real estate. How confused would google be? Is there an acceptable strategy to making this a reality? Please point out all of the variables I am not seeing. Pros and Cons. I'm not an SEO pro. I would be going for the keyword Pensacola Real Estate. I would accumulate backlinks from the real estate industry and the web design industry. Help 🙂

                  Link Building | | JML1179
                  0
                • locoto0007

                  Why do we need proxy to so Backlinks?

                  Does Google knows the IP addresses that the backlinks are created from? if i create 200 backlinks for my site without proxies will google ban my site because it will look like i a the one who create all the backlinks? May i ask how many proxies do you guys need to create around 200 backlinks per day? If i already use the proxies today Can i use the same set of proxies to create backlinks tomorrow? THanks

                  Link Building | | locoto0007
                  1
                • joemas99

                  What is the best way to manage backlinks?

                  What back link management software do you guys use or recommend? Need to manage types of links on each page. Thanks

                  Link Building | | joemas99
                  0

                Get started with Moz Pro!

                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                Start my free trial
                Products
                • Moz Pro
                • Moz Local
                • Moz API
                • Moz Data
                • STAT
                • Product Updates
                Moz Solutions
                • SMB Solutions
                • Agency Solutions
                • Enterprise Solutions
                • Digital Marketers
                Free SEO Tools
                • Domain Authority Checker
                • Link Explorer
                • Keyword Explorer
                • Competitive Research
                • Brand Authority Checker
                • Local Citation Checker
                • MozBar Extension
                • MozCast
                Resources
                • Blog
                • SEO Learning Center
                • Help Hub
                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                • How-to Guides
                • Moz Academy
                • API Docs
                About Moz
                • About
                • Team
                • Careers
                • Contact
                Why Moz
                • Case Studies
                • Testimonials
                Get Involved
                • Become an Affiliate
                • MozCon
                • Webinars
                • Practical Marketer Series
                • MozPod
                Connect with us

                Contact the Help team

                Join our newsletter
                Moz logo
                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                • Accessibility
                • Terms of Use
                • Privacy

                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.