Link building
What is actually earnable in the trades, and why a referring-domain count tells you less than its composition.
Rankings reviewed
Hook Agency is our current #1 for link building (ranked on referring domains, an Ahrefs estimate), as of Q3 2026.
This is the discipline where the gap between what agencies claim and what they can evidence is widest, and the one where a contractor is least able to tell the difference. It is also the slowest and least controllable, which is why it carries the smallest weight in the overall roll-up.
The number everyone quotes is the count of referring domains. It is the wrong number on its own. Two thousand domains that are all directory listings and self-published profiles is a different asset from two hundred that include the local paper, a manufacturer, a trade association and a supplier. This pillar is built to score the composition rather than the total.
Ranked on this discipline
Ranked on referring domains (Ahrefs estimate) for now — the volume half of the domain-profile criterion. Composition has not been classified yet. Measured 12 Sep 2026.
| # | Agency | Score | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hook Agency hookagency.com | 5,326 ref. domains | DR 74 · 5,326 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 2 | TradeOps Consulting tradeopsconsulting.com | 2,400 ref. domains | DR 71 · 2,400 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 3 | RYNO Strategic Solutions rynoss.com | 1,629 ref. domains | DR 71 · 1,629 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 4 | Valve+Meter valveandmeter.com | 1,410 ref. domains | DR 59 · 1,410 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 5 | Built-Right Digital builtrightdigital.com | 1,058 ref. domains | DR 63 · 1,058 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 6 | Rival Digital rivaldigital.com | 861 ref. domains | DR 51 · 861 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 7 | KickCharge Creative kickcharge.com | 730 ref. domains | DR 67 · 730 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 8 | Contractor Growth Network contractorgrowthnetwork.com | 707 ref. domains | DR 38 · 707 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 9 | Plumbing & HVAC SEO plumberseo.net | 633 ref. domains | DR 50 · 633 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 10 | iMarket Solutions imarketsolutions.com | 563 ref. domains | DR 61 · 563 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 11 | Leadhub leadhub.net | 531 ref. domains | DR 63 · 531 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 12 | Footbridge Media footbridgemedia.com | 528 ref. domains | DR 64 · 528 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 13 | HVAC Webmasters hvacwebmasters.com | 490 ref. domains | DR 51 · 490 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 14 | Mediagistic mediagistic.com | 466 ref. domains | DR 42 · 466 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
| 15 | Relentless Digital relentless-digital.com | 403 ref. domains | DR 43 · 403 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates) |
How this discipline is scored
Link building is scored out of 100 across the five criteria below, and across nothing else. Each names its basis and its source so anyone can re-run it. Two must return evidence before an agency is ranked on link building at all.
| Criterion | Points | Measurable basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated surface | 15 | Count of URLs whose primary subject is link acquisition or digital PR. | Sitemap crawl plus page read |
| Method specificity | 25 | Named, checkable link deliverables. A stated outreach method, a named linkable asset and a stated qualification rule count; "we build high-quality backlinks" does not. | Page read |
| Published depth | 20 | Count and recency of substantive pieces on links in the trades. | Sitemap crawl plus on-page date |
| Named practitioner | 15 | A named individual attached to link work. | URL evidence |
| The profile of their own domain | 25 | Referring domains and Domain Rating for their own site, plus a classified sample of the referring domains split into earned editorial, directory or listing, and self-published or network. Domain Rating and referring-domain counts are Ahrefs ESTIMATES of a third-party index. They are not Google signals, they are never a target, and index coverage differs between vendors. | Ahrefs, with history set to live so lost links are excluded |
Specialists listed on this discipline only
Cross-vertical, so ineligible for the overall leaderboard. Why they are listed here and not there
- Page One Power Link acquisition, cross-vertical. Listed here because link building is the discipline where an HVAC generalist is least likely to have depth. pageonepower.com · DR 66, 838 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates, 12 Sep 2026)
Symptoms that lead here
The vocabulary this discipline runs on
- Referring domain A distinct site linking to you, and why the count matters less than the mix.
- Link intersect Sites that link to several of your competitors and not to you.
- Anchor text distribution The spread of words people use when linking to you.
- Toxic link A vendor score, not a Google signal.
- Disavow Telling Google to ignore links to you, and why most sites never need to.