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Link building is one of the most crucial components of a well-rounded SEO strategy for SaaS companies. Quality backlinks, acting as “votes of confidence” from other websites, can increase your domain authority, drive more organic traffic, and ultimately boost leads and revenue.
However, link building for SaaS brands is not a simple “one size fits all” endeavor. The competitive SaaS landscape requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach to acquiring high-quality backlinks from relevant sources.
In this guide, we’ll explore 25 proven link building tactics that SaaS marketers and SEOs can implement to strengthen their backlink profile and climb the search rankings in 2024 and beyond.
What is SaaS Link Building?
Link building for SaaS businesses refers to acquiring hyperlinks from other websites that go back to your SaaS website or product pages. This helps drive more referral traffic and improves search engine rankings. Since links are a key ranking factor for Google, having a strong backlink profile with many high-quality links can give your SaaS an edge over competitors.
Why Is Link Building So Important for SaaS Companies?
Before we dive into the tactics, let’s quickly go over why link building should be a top priority for SaaS marketing teams:
1. Improves organic search visibility and rankings
Quality backlinks are one of the top three ranking factors for Google. The more high-authority domains that link to your website, the more weight and credibility your pages will carry in Google’s algorithm.
2. Drives referral traffic
Beyond just boosting rankings, backlinks from trusted sources can also drive direct traffic to your website from a relevant audience. This referral traffic is often more engaged and more likely to convert into qualified leads.
3. Boosts brand credibility and reputation
Getting backlinks from industry authorities, publications, and other credible websites enhances your brand reputation and demonstrates your position as a trusted industry leader. This can improve conversion rates and customer acquisition.
What Makes a Good Backlink?
Google does not consider all backlinks equal. Some actually harm your ranking. Your business needs “good” and “high-authority” backlinks.
Let’s examine the five main factors to help you determine which backlinks will move the needle in the right direction.
Topical Relevance
The link should make sense for the user to click on. For example, if your SaaS tool is about project management, and you gain a backlink from a pet food article, the link is irrelevant.
Google’s algorithm is highly intelligent when detecting links from irrelevant websites, and it won’t impact your rankings well.
Domain Authority
The higher the domain authority of the backlink, the more valuable the link.
For example, suppose you get a backlink from websites with a high Domain Authority (DA), like Forbes or Business Insider. In that case, this establishes trust in your SaaS brand instead of a low DA website linking back to your brand.
Page Traffic
Even if websites have high DA, not all their pages receive great traffic. That’s why it’s important to look at the traffic of each page.
The ideal backlinks drive more traffic your way, so this is a factor you shouldn’t overlook.
External/Internal Links
If the article your brand is mentioned in has many outgoing links, the less PageRank (Google’s algorithm) each one passes on.
So, your ideal link-building prospect should have a limited number of outgoing links on their page.
Anchor Text
An anchor text is the clickable text of your link.
Google uses it to understand how other websites refer to you and what your content will likely be about. Therefore, your anchor texts must be related to your main keyword or variations of it.
For example, “project management” or “project management techniques” for your project management tool.
Common Mistakes in SaaS Link Building
As mentioned above, not all backlinks lead to a positive impact. The same applies to the strategies used to build them, and many can lead to your site being penalized by search engine algorithms.
Here are some common mistakes you should avoid while building backlinks:
Black Hat Link Tactics
Black Hat tactics can work in the short run, but they cause significant damage in the long run.
Google will penalize questionable link-building tactics, including paying for low-quality links, sharing misleading links, getting links from shady websites, and participating in over-promotion.
These practices can cause irreparable damage to your domain and business.
Sending Traffic to the Home Page Only
Instead of making your home page the target page for your link-building campaigns, drive traffic to those landing pages that help you achieve goals and conversions. For example, if you’re driving a link from an article comparing the best project management tools, you can drive visitors to your pricing page or features section.
Anchor Text Over-Optimization
Your anchor text should be relevant but don’t try to over-optimize it by adding multiple keywords or using repetitive phrases.
Authority Over Relevancy
Driving links from high-authority websites is good, but it doesn’t serve any purpose if those sites aren’t relevant to your SaaS business.
For example, getting links for your project management tool from a high-end fashion store’s website won’t do you any good because search engines like Google use this information to understand your website.
Low-Quality Content
Many businesses started guest posting to get links back to their website, which encouraged a torrent of low-quality posts. However, search engines have become smart enough to understand this practice, and thus it’s crucial that you create high-quality content when getting links back to your site.
Not Leveraging Internal Links
Using internal links, you can pass authority to your pages if you have some with high authority and others with low authority. This internal linking structure also teaches search engines about your website.
Taking care of these mistakes can help you create a solid link-building strategy that doesn’t get penalized by search engine algorithms.
The 25 Best SaaS Link-Building Strategies for 2024
With the benefits out of the way, let’s get into the actionable SaaS link building techniques you can start using today:
1. Unlinked Brand Mentions
One of the easiest ways to acquire backlinks is to look for websites that have already mentioned your SaaS brand name but still need to include a link. Setting up monitoring tools like Google Alerts can surface these unlinked mentions.
From there, you can politely contact the website owner and request that they add a backlink when mentioning your brand in the future. Most will be happy to oblige if you make a reasonable request.
Here’s an example from Canva: They are mentioned in an article, but the author did not include a link.
2. Linked Brand Mentions
Similarly, you can find websites that are already linking to your homepage and request that they update the link to point to a more relevant page instead. For example, ask them to link to a specific product, feature, or category page rather than just your homepage.
This tactic helps drive more targeted referral traffic while still reaping the SEO benefits.
3. Guest Posting
Guest posting on respected blogs and publications in your niche allows you to build an author bio link back to your site. While labor-intensive, guest posting on high-authority websites can be immensely valuable for SaaS link building.
4. Trend Reports & Industry Studies
Creating data-driven trend reports and researching in-depth industry studies that are 10X more valuable than competing content is a great way to earn backlinks organically.
For example, Venngage’s highly linkable trend report on graphic design trends accumulated over 400 referring domains! The key is packing extreme value into long-form, skyscraper-style content that other sites will want to reference.
5. Podcasting
Make sure to pay attention to podcasts when pursuing backlink opportunities! Most podcast websites will include contextual links to any websites, products, or services that the guests mention during the show.
For instance, Hubspot acquired a valuable link from the “Everyone Hates Marketers” podcast website after their VP of Growth was featured as a guest.
6. Product Embeds
SaaS products that have an embeddable component (forms, reports, surveys, etc.) create a prime link building opportunity. Encourage users to embed these resources on their own websites and include a “Powered By” link back to your site.
Typeform historically acquired many backlinks through embeddable forms that users placed on their sites.
7. Shareable Links
Look for ways to incentivize users to share links to their projects, dashboards, content, or other output from your SaaS tool across the web. For instance, 30% of InVision’s total backlinks come from users sharing their prototyped projects on other sites!
8. Roundup Posts
Roundup posts that curate the “best tools” or “must-have apps” for certain tasks within your niche create great link opportunities. Identify these types of posts in your niche and proactively approach the authors to get your SaaS tool included with a do-follow link.
9. Broken Link Building
Routinely audit your niche for sites with broken links related to the topics and verticals your SaaS product serves. You can then reach out and offer your own resource to replace that broken link, instantly generating a new backlink for your website.
10. CEO Interviews
Similar to podcast guesting, create a list of relevant blogs and publications that conduct expert interviews with SaaS founders, executives, and thought leaders. Ask if they’d be interested in interviewing someone from your leadership team.
These types of expert interviews nearly always include an author bio link to your website and help position your team as authorities in the space.
11. Infographic Link Building
Take advantage of useful content you’ve already created by getting designers to transform it into visually compelling infographics. You can then identify other blog posts in your niche that would benefit from that infographic and pitch the creators to embed the graphic and link back to you in exchange.
12. Image Credit Links
Using a reverse image search tool, look for websites that have used images from your site without providing proper source attribution (a link back). This offers an easy opportunity to request that they add a link crediting you as the image owner.
13. Product Reviews
Offer free product trials or temporary pro account access to bloggers and influencers in your field and ask for an honest review in return. If it’s a positive review, they’ll likely link back to your product multiple times throughout the post.
This tactic yields backlinks and can also generate quality case studies and social proof to support your marketing and sales efforts.
14. Integration Partner Links
Leverage your existing SaaS integration partners to build links and collaborate on content. At a minimum, you should ensure your integration partner’s website links back to your app listing or directory page.
You can also work together on guest posts referencing your integration that include contextual backlinks to your tool.
15. Rankings & Awards
Create your own proprietary rankings of products or companies in your industry and then promote these to the winners, asking them to write about it and link back.
For instance, Nathan Latka’s “Fastest Growing SaaS Companies” report generated dozens of links from brands looking to boast about being included.
16. Badges & Certification Programs
Much like third-party review sites, consider launching a certification or badging program for your top users and customers to promote.
The more prestigious the certification, the more likely users and partners will be to embed the badge (and its backlink to your site) to showcase their endorsement.
17. Free Tools & Resources
Tap into the “product-led growth” concept by creating free tools, templates, plugins, or other resources that provide value to your target audience. Promote these offerings across relevant communities and encourage users to link back as a citation.
For example, InVision built nearly 1,000 backlinks by offering a free design plugin for Sketch and Photoshop that their users shared and referenced widely.
18. HARO (Help A Reporter Out)
Sign up for HARO, a service that connects journalists with expert sources for their upcoming stories. By volunteering quotes, data, or insights through HARO inquiries related to your industry, you can earn backlinks from major publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc, and more.
19. Testimonials & Reviews
Offering testimonials for software tools, services, and products that your company uses is an easy way to acquire backlinks. Most brand websites are happy to include a link to your site along with the customer review or testimonial quote.
20. Speaking & Sponsorships
Speaking at conferences or sponsoring events within your niche is a great way to get backlinks through speaker bios, sponsor listings, and often guest posts that event organizers will want you to contribute.
For instance, InVision earned a link from O’Reilly’s Design Conference website simply by speaking at the event.
21. Q&A Sites
Sites like Quora and Reddit provide opportunities to build backlinks by answering questions about your SaaS product and linking back to your site as a resource. This tactic allows you to earn links and drive referral traffic from people actively searching for solutions.
22. Thought Leadership Features
Finally, pitch yourself or your team as industry experts to get featured in thought leadership roundup articles, expert quotes, and influencer interviews across respected SaaS publications and blogs.
For example, at Outreach Desk, we regularly feature marketers from brands like G2, Slack, and HubSpot in our expert collective articles, allowing them to build links to their websites.
23. Niche Edits
Some sites, like niche blogs and magazines, are open to paid link insertions through existing content. Source these opportunities and sponsor relevant edits/additions for links.
24. Internal Data & Original Research
Mine your internal SaaS product/customer usage data to uncover unique insights and statistics that make for link-worthy data-driven content.
25. Coupon Link Building
Partner with deal/coupon sites to run promotions, offering codes/freebies in exchange for a link back. Make these ongoing through an affiliate program.
Building a Diverse SaaS Backlink Profile for 2024
In today’s landscape, no “one size fits all” exists for effective SaaS link building. A diverse blend of tactics like those outlined above is key to building a strong, futureproof link profile.
Specific approaches like guest posting, infographic promotion, free tools, and thought leadership backlinks may work best for building topically relevant links to your most important pages.
Meanwhile, other techniques like testimonials, partner links, unlinked mentions, and image credits offer relatively easy, scalable opportunities to acquire quality backlinks pointing to your root domain.
The ideal link-building strategy leverages a mix of outreach-driven tactics and passive techniques, balancing authority with relevance for maximum impact on organic search performance.
With patience, creativity, and the tactics above, SaaS marketers can steadily build an impressive backlink portfolio that elevates search rankings, brand reputation, and revenue for years.
Measuring the Success of Your Link-Building Efforts
As with any SEO initiative, it’s important to track the right metrics to evaluate the performance and ROI of your SaaS link-building campaigns. Here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor:
Total Backlinks: While referring domain count is more important than sheer volume, you’ll still want to track the total number of new backlinks you’re acquiring over time. Use tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz to audit your link profile.
Referring Domains: This metric looks at the number of unique domains/websites that are linking to you. Having more diverse referring domains helps improve domain authority.
Domain Rating/Authority: Pay attention to the authority of the domains from which you’re getting links. While quantity has a role, quality drastically outweighs низкопробные links from low-authority domains.
Anchor Tex: The actual anchor text used in your backlinks indicates relevance. You’ll ideally want a mix of branded, keyword-rich, and natural anchor texts avoiding over-optimization.
Organic Traffic: At the end of the day, backlinks are meant to drive more organic search traffic. Use Google Analytics to track increases in organic sessions and revenue after launching link-building campaigns.
Keyword Rankings: Similarly, your backlink efforts should be improving your search engine rankings for important target keywords over time. Use rank tracking tools to analyze keyword movement.
Outsourcing SaaS Link Building to Accelerate Growth
A diverse link acquisition strategy requires considerable time, effort, and expertise. For SaaS companies looking to accelerate their organic growth, partnering with an experienced link-building agency may make sense.
Link-building services can handle the heavy lifting of prospecting, outreach, content creation, and relationship building required to secure large-scale high-quality backlinks. This frees up your internal marketing resources to focus on other growth priorities.
When vetting potential link-building partners, look for agencies that:
- Specialize in SaaS and B2B link building (not general e-commerce, etc.)
- Have a demonstrated track record with relevant SaaS client case studies
- Take a white-hat, sustainable approach (no PBNs or link schemes)
- Offer customized, multi-tactic link building packages
- Provide comprehensive reporting with total transparency
While outsourcing link building does require an upfront investment, it can quickly pay dividends in the form of exponentially more backlinks, higher domain authority, and a significant ROI boost for your SaaS business.
Over to You: Future-Proof Your SaaS Brand With Link Building
This guide provides a comprehensive playbook of tactics, tips, and strategies for leveling up your SaaS link-building game.
In today’s crowded, competitive SaaS landscape, a robust backlink profile acts as a defensible moat—driving more organic traffic, bolstering your authority and credibility, and ultimately translating into a steady stream of high-quality leads and customers.
By diversifying your link acquisition strategy and consistently executing on the techniques above, you can build a powerful link portfolio that cements your brand as an industry leader for years to come.
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start building some links!
