Link building in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
German-language links are among the most expensive in Europe. A sponsored article on an established German site has a median list price of $1,230, followed links are hard to get, and the German media authorities expect paid posts to be labelled "Werbung" or "Anzeige".
In short
- ESBO's September 2026 analysis put the median sponsored article in German at $1,230 across 1,086 publishers, against a Western European median of $855.
- Adsy's 2024 list price data put Switzerland at $1,218 for an average guest post, the highest of any country in its dataset.
- Ahrefs' 2023 guide to international link building reported that many German and Austrian sites link only with nofollow, a habit it traced to link penalties in 2014.
- The German media authorities' guide to advertising labels says a paid text post must show "Werbung" or "Anzeige" at the start, and that "sponsored by", "ad" and "Advertorial" are not sufficient.
- Ahrefs' 2023 guide ranked Austria second for average price per link in Europe, mainly because there are few suitable Austrian websites.
German-language links are expensive, scarce and usually labelled. ESBO’s September 2026 analysis of direct quotes from 16,625 publishers put the median sponsored article in German at $1,230, based on 1,086 publishers. Among non-English languages, only Swedish and Norwegian publishers quoted more. Switzerland and Austria are smaller pools inside the same language, and the data we have puts both at the top of their tables.
This page covers the German-speaking market in detail. For the comparison across all countries, see international link building.
What links cost in German
| What was measured | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median sponsored article, German-language publishers | $1,230 (1,086 publishers) | ESBO, September 2026 |
| Median sponsored article, Western European languages | $855 | ESBO, September 2026 |
| Median sponsored article, all publishers | $570 | ESBO, September 2026 |
| Average guest post list price, Switzerland | $1,218 | Adsy, 2024 data |
| Average price per link, Austria | Second highest in Europe | Ahrefs, 2023 |
ESBO only counted publishers with a Domain Rating above 30 and at least 2,000 organic visits a month. So $1,230 describes established German sites, not the cheapest inventory on a marketplace.
A rule of thumb from practitioners, not a measured finding: German-language and Nordic links cost two to four times an English link of the same Domain Rating. ESBO’s figures fit the lower end of that range, since the German median is about 2.7 times the US-audience English median of $452.
A market shaped by nofollow
The German market behaves differently from most, and the usual explanation goes back to 2014. Ahrefs’ 2023 guide to international link building, drawing on a link builder who works across European markets, reported that many German websites were hit by a link penalty that year and that it changed local habits. Its summary for Germany and Austria was blunt: too many websites in these two markets only link with nofollow.
The source is one practitioner’s account and it is more than three years old, so treat it as a description of a habit, not a statistic. It does match what the pricing data shows about labelled inventory in general. In ESBO’s 2026 data, publishers that sell nofollow-only placements quote a median of $1,840, against $510 for the rest. The sites with the strictest link policies are the ones that can charge the most.
Two consequences for planning:
- Budget for placements whose value is the audience and the brand mention, with the link as a secondary benefit. Our lesson on link attributes explains what nofollow and sponsored links do and do not pass.
- Do not judge a German campaign by the share of followed links alone. If local sites mostly link with nofollow, a profile made only of followed placements would stand out. That is a working judgement, not a tested finding.
The same Ahrefs guide reported that leaving a phone number, so the site owner can call you, works well in Germany. That favours a native speaker over a translated email sequence.
What the media authorities say about labelling
Germany’s state media authorities publish a joint guide to advertising labels in online media. The edition we read is dated June 2021. It is written mainly for social media creators, and also covers other online media such as blogs and podcasts. It does not address sponsored articles on news sites by name. It rests on the advertising rules of the Interstate Media Treaty, including section 22(1) for text and image content.
Its main points for a paid article:
- A post about a product, service, brand or company that is published for payment or another consideration must carry a clearly legible “Werbung” or “Anzeige” at the start of the post.
- For blog articles, the label belongs at the beginning of the text, above or directly below the headline. A small, unclear or transparent label is not enough.
- “Bezahlte Werbepartnerschaft”, meaning paid advertising partnership, is also accepted.
- Unclear coinages such as “Infomercial” and “Advertorial”, abbreviations such as “ad”, and foreign-language terms such as “sponsored by” or “PR sample” are not sufficient.
- Affiliate links should be marked with a symbol and an explanation next to the link.
- A general notice that a site contains advertising does not replace a label on each paid post.
This is media law and it concerns what readers see. It is separate from Google’s policy on whether a paid link passes ranking credit. A publisher can satisfy one and not the other. For a buyer, the practical step is to ask before ordering how the article will be labelled and which link attribute it will carry, and to write both into the placement brief. This section is general information, not legal advice.
Austria and Switzerland
Both countries share the German language and have far fewer publishers of their own.
Austria. Ahrefs’ 2023 guide included a comparison of average link prices across European countries. Every country it monitored averaged over €100 per link, and Austria came second, which the guide put down mainly to the limited number of suitable Austrian websites. We found no newer Austria-only figure.
Switzerland. Adsy’s analysis of 37,542 sites, using 2024 data, put the average Swiss guest post list price at $1,218, the highest of any country in the dataset. Adsy did not report how many Swiss sites sat behind the average, and Switzerland also publishes in French and Italian, so the figure is not a German-language price.
A German site with German readers gives you language relevance in all three countries. It does not give you a link from the country you are targeting. If you need to rank in Austria or Switzerland, check that a publisher’s traffic comes from there. The checks are in how to vet a publisher.
Where to find publishers
Most international marketplaces carry German inventory. WhitePress lists German among its 36 languages, and roundups of regional platforms name Seeding Up as a German marketplace, which we have not reviewed. The marketplace comparison lists the main options, and the link marketplaces page explains how they work.
Because followed paid links are scarce, earned coverage carries more weight here than in cheaper markets. Digital PR with German data and a German spokesperson is the route most likely to produce links from the larger titles. That is a working judgement, since we found no dataset on German digital PR results.
Where to go next
To build a budget from these medians, read what link building costs. Gambling operators face extra rules in Germany, which the iGaming hub covers. Any term used here is defined in the glossary.
Common questions
How much does a backlink cost in Germany?
ESBO's September 2026 data shows a median of $1,230 for a sponsored article on an established German-language site, based on 1,086 publishers. That is more than double the global median of $570.
Why are German links so expensive?
The data shows the price, not the cause. A rule of thumb among practitioners is that price follows the buying power of the audience and the scarcity of publishers in the language.
Can I get followed links from German sites?
It is harder than in most markets. Ahrefs' 2023 guide reported that many German and Austrian sites link only with nofollow, and the German media authorities expect paid posts to be labelled as advertising.
Do German links work for Austria and Switzerland?
They share a language, so a German link shows language relevance. It does not show that people in Austria or Switzerland refer to you. Both countries have small publisher pools of their own, and prices there are high.
How must sponsored posts be labelled in Germany?
The media authorities' guide says a paid text or image post needs a clearly legible "Werbung" or "Anzeige" at the start. English or vague terms such as "sponsored by", "ad" or "PR sample" do not meet the requirement.
