Search Engine Optimization (SEO) changes quickly, but one thing remains the same: link building is still essential. Building backlinks continues to be one of the most effective ways to rank well on Google, whether you handle it yourself or work with an agency. But there’s a hidden money leak many in the SEO world overlook and it’s quietly cutting into profits. The culprit? Link building subscriptions.
The Hidden Costs of Modern SEO
There are probably many tools that you use if you run an SEO business or offer guest posting services. These could include link prospecting platforms, outreach software, domain authority checkers, keyword trackers, content optimization tools, and more. All of these are necessary for a business to run, but the issue isn’t with the tools themselves, but with how we handle them.
People who work in SEO and link building often sign up for new tools and platforms without thinking about it. You might have wanted to try out a backlink analysis tool for a new project or a guest post marketplace deal that was only good for a short time. But after months, those subscriptions are still going, even though you don’t use them anymore.
Spending $200 to $500 a month on tools you forgot you had happens a lot.
Subscription Fatigue in Link Building
Guest posting, in particular, needs a lot of different tools:
- Outreach tools like Mailshake and Pitchbox
- SEO data from Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz
- Email search tools like Hunter and Snov.io
- Platforms for optimizing content like Surfer SEO or Clearscope
- Project management tools for keeping track of deliverables
- Platforms for guest posting that charge by the credit or tier
Of course, all of these come with a monthly fee, which can add up to a big overhead cost very quickly.
The irony? A lot of guest posting services say they offer “cost-effective” link-building while secretly losing money on tools that aren’t used or aren’t used enough.
Why This is a Bigger Deal Than It Looks?
An initial look might suggest that $50 or $100 a month is not a big deal—a small expense. But consider this:
- That $100 a month adds up to $1,200 a year.
- Take that number and multiply it by four or five forgotten tools. That’s $5,000 to $6,000 a year in wasted money.
- For small businesses or freelancers, that’s a profit margin you could get back.
- For big firms, this adds up to dozens of seats and subscriptions.
Now think about how many guest posts or client campaigns you’d have to do just to get these forgotten subscriptions back to where they belong.
With Trackmysubs, You Can Easily Fix the Problem
This is where TrackMySubs comes in. It’s a simple tool that helps entrepreneurs, freelancers, and digital agencies keep track of all their subscriptions in one place. TrackMySubs lets you know when payments are due and helps you decide what to cancel or renew, so you don’t have to look through your bank statements by hand.
You may:
- Get alerts before your bills are due.
- Sort tools by client, project, or team.
- Find out how much you spend each month and each year.
- Set spending limits and report going over.
This kind of platform usually pays for itself in the first month.
A lot of SEOs use tools like Ahrefs every day, but they don’t look at their own work with the same level of scrutiny. TrackMySubs changes that way of thinking. Cut out the useless tools and let only the most useful ones earn their keep. It’s like SEO for your money.
Guest Posting Services in the Subscription Era
We need to talk about guest posting services one more time. These services depend a lot on how efficiently they are run, whether they are run by one person or a large company. For guest posts, you need to:
- Finding domains that are good
- Pitching site owners
- Writing content
- Monitoring backlink quality
- Reporting to clients
Almost every step is connected to a SaaS platform, and many providers are managing dozens of client campaigns at the same time.
Smarter agencies are beginning to understand that lowering operational costs is just as important as lowering content costs. When you finally cancel those five tools you stopped using last quarter and your monthly costs drop by $1,000, your guest posting margins go up right away, even if you don’t sell any new placements.
Common Subscription Mistakes SEOs Make
Here are a few situations that you may have seen before:
- Tool Overlap: You first signed up for SEMrush and then added Ahrefs “just to try it.” Now you pay for both but only use one of them regularly.
- Forgotten Trials: You started a 14-day trial for a new backlink indexer, got busy, and forgot to cancel—now you’re paying $89/month.
- Plans that renew every year: You bought a plan that renews every year on Black Friday, but you haven’t thought about whether you still need it this year.
- Tools Customized for Each Client: You subscribed because a client needed a certain outreach tool. The client left, but the subscription kept going.
Any of these could be a hole in your business pipeline.
Steps to Take Right Now
You can take care of your money without slowing down your SEO work if you offer guest posting services or run a link-building business:
- Check All Tools: Make a list of all the things you pay for every month, three times a year, and yearly.
- Use TrackMySubs: Instead of doing this manually every few months, use TrackMySubs to centralize all your subscription tracking.
- Evaluate ROI: For each tool, ask yourself. Does this directly lead to more sales or a lot more efficiency? Don’t cancel or downgrade if not.
- Combine as much as you can: Are you using several tools to do the same thing, like email outreach? Pick the best one and throw away the rest.
- Review every three months: Treat your review of your subscription like a campaign for a client. Regularly evaluate and cut away any extra.
Final Thoughts
SEO professionals pride themselves on being data-driven and ROI-focused. In a strange way, though, many businesses are running inefficiently because they aren’t keeping track of their own back-end costs.
Guest posting services already work in a market that is competitive and price conscious. You can put the money you save on tools that aren’t needed back into better content, better placements, or just making more money.
It’s not fun to talk about subscription bloat, but it’s one of the easiest issues to fix. Tools like TrackMySubs help you regain control, improve margins, and operate like the lean, results-driven SEO agency you set out to be.