If you’re a SaaS founder or digital marketer working at a software company, then you know growth needs to happen, and it needs to happen fast! One of the most effective ways to do this is by building backlinks. Backlinks are one of the many types of currency that Google’s algorithms accept in exchange for rankings. In this article, we’ll highlight everything you need to know about link building, what tactics you could leverage for your SaaS-based company, and more. Let’s get started!
The basics of link building
As mentioned, backlinks are the currency Google accepts in exchange for rankings. These links embedded within content are seen as votes of popularity. So, if one site links to your content, it’s generally deemed positive in the eyes of search engines. Therefore, the more backlinks you can collect, the more likely you will gain favorable search rankings.
We’ve written a lot about link building and highlighted it in past articles, but we’ll include everything here to make it easy for you. We’ll first begin with the components of a link:
- URL: First and foremost, you need the URL. Without a URL, the link has no place to go. This component of the link signals to Google which page should receive the credit.
- Anchor text: The anchor text is the clickable text you see on the front end of the website. This link component is essential as it contextualizes the link for search engines. For example, if the anchor text on your link contains an important keyword or phrase, Google can take cues from that to determine which keywords to rank you for.
- ‘Nofollow’ HTML attribute: The nofollow attribute is an HTML element that signals to Google the page linking to you does not endorse the content. Nofollow links are frequently used for links within user-generated content or comments. Nofollow links tell Google not to give credit to the site that’s being linked to. However, Google has announced that they treat nofollow links as hints. Therefore, in some way, Google still takes cues from nofollow links, so don’t completely discount their value.
The three of these make up the primary components of a link. Another essential aspect to know about links is the difference between backlinks and referring domains. While “backlink” is the term that gets used most frequently, it’s really “referring domains” that matter most. Referring domains are the unique domains that link back to your site. For example, wsj.com and decrypt.co are two unique domains or referring domains. Backlinks, on the other hand, are the actual links that exist within a referring domain. To make it clear, Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) can create hundreds of backlinks to your site, but wsj.com only counts as a single referring domain.
This is important because Google favors sites with more referring domains, which is a true measure of popularity. Wall Street Journal can link to you hundreds of times, but the 99 most recent links aren’t more valuable than the first one you received from their site.
There is tons of research and data out there to support this. Take a look at this chart developed by Backlinko in their Google’s 200 Ranking Factors article:
This data is based on the top 10 rankings for nearly 12 million Google search results and shows that the top 3 rankings generally have a higher degree of backlinks.
Link building tactics for SaaS companies
It’s clear that link building plays a significant role in search engine rankings. This is especially true if you want to rank in the top 3 positions. So, how do you go about building links for your SaaS-based business? Let’s dive into the top tactics for building links from our experience.
Product list outreach
The easiest way to get links to your SaaS website is by doing product list outreach. Product lists, or product listicles, are articles that rank or list the top software, tools, or products within an industry. In most industry niches, if you google the top tools in ABC industries you’ll be able to find an abundance of articles on this. Here are a couple of sample searches you can use in Google to find articles in your industry:
- “best {your industry keyword} tools”
- “top {your industry keyword} tools”
Product listicle links aren’t just good for link building. This tactic is great for driving brand awareness and including your product within the consideration set for your industry.
Press releases
If you have a major news announcement or new software update, then you should leverage press releases to drive more backlinks to your website. Links from press releases themselves don’t carry much weight when it comes to building authority. However, where they come into play is helping amplify news from your organization. If this news is amplified to the right channels or catches the right amount of attention, you’ll likely find a handful of organic articles linking to your website.
Connectively (formerly known as HARO)
Ever wondered if you could just get direct access to journalists? Wouldn’t that make our lives just a whole lot easier? Well we have good news for you, you can with Connectively. If you’ve been in digital marketing or SEO for a while then this idea seems pretty familiar. Connectively used to be called Help-a-Reporter-Out or HARO for short. In a nutshell, Connectively allows journalists to broadcast a query related to an article they are writing about. Queries can be answered by nearly anyone who has expertise on a corresponding subject. Journalists can accept answers in exchange for providing your business with a link back to your website.
Linkable assets (+ Free Tools)
Linkable assets are the holy grail of organic links. And, they are one of the easiest and low-effort ways to build links. What’s the challenge? You need to develop a good enough idea that makes people want to link to your content! Here are some ideas you can use for your link building strategy.
Calculators
The first example of a linkable asset is an industry-relevant calculator. Calculators are a great interactive tool that provides value to users and encourages them to share or link to it online. Take Neil Patel’s A/B Testing Statistically Signficance calculator, for example. According to Semrush this calculator has roughly 600 referring domains and almost 2,000 backlinks.
Spend some time thinking about what calculators might be useful within your niche. Are you a cybersecurity company? Well, then maybe a data breach cost calculator would be helpful to contextualize the amount of damages one can expect from insecure cybersecurity practices.
Annual Reports
Be thought-leader and release an extensive industry report annually or quarterly. Annual reports are a surefire way to cut through the noise and get people chatting about your brand. When combined with a PR campaign, email blast, and social media push, you are guaranteed to drive awareness and ultimately links back to your content!
Historically, HubSpot has done this very well. Each year, it releases a State of Marketing or Annual Trends report that dives deep into the topic, highlighting trends, surveys, and other relevant industry data. This tactic has not only helped turn them into the powerhouse and industry leader they are today, but it’s also helped drive a bunch of links for them. 15.2K backlinks and 2.4K referring domains to be exact.
Glossary Pages
Help your audience define niche terms in your industry. Just like the examples we’ve given above, glossary entries are a relatively low-effort tactic that can help generate backlinks in your sleep. The only effort required on your end is figuring what terms to start with, and then defining them in a “blog-like” entry. This cybersecurity glossary from Yubico, the 2FA hardware provider, generates nearly 400 referring domains and 3K backlinks. This resource is comprehensive, including terms from A to Z. If you click on each glossary entry, Yubico includes in-depth information about best practices, use cases, how it works, and more! (We have one, too!)
Company listing pages
As a software company in a competitive niche, you’ll need to ensure your brand or product is visible on all relevant channels. Company listing pages, or directory listings, are good ways to build awareness for your product while building links to your site. These links aren’t likely to increase your website’s authority, as a link from the Wall Street Journal may, but they will help Google’s algorithm create strong associations between your brand and the niche you operate it. Some examples of great software-related listing sites that you could submit your website to are:
Case Study: HYPR, Passwordless Authentication Software
HYPR, a SaaS-based company focused on passwordless authentication, sought to improve its organic search traffic but needed a more consistent content output and had a limited backlink profile. To tackle this, our link building team at Redefine devised a strategic plan that combined high-quality content creation with targeted outreach. We developed SEO-optimized blog content and curated a prospecting list, focusing on publications within cybersecurity and adjacent sectors like information technology and human resources. These publications were in industries that aligned well with their ideal customer profile, so the links we built improved HYPR’s authority and helped drive targeted referral traffic.
Our approach led to substantial results: a 48% increase in referring domains and a 1,144 boost in backlinks, highlighting how intentional link-building efforts can yield impactful growth for SaaS businesses. A few examples of referring domains we built for HYPR include Technology Record, BeInCrypto, and Frontegg. You can view the full case study here.
Final thoughts
A strong link-building strategy is essential for driving growth and visibility in the competitive SaaS environment. By applying the right tactics—from leveraging product list outreach to creating valuable, linkable assets and building relationships with industry-specific publications—SaaS companies can enhance their search rankings and establish authority in their niche. The HYPR case study exemplifies how focused content creation and strategic outreach can yield measurable results, showcasing the potential of well-executed link building. With a clear plan and commitment to quality, your SaaS business can harness link building as a powerful tool to grow its online presence and reach its audience more effectively. Finally, if you run into any roadblocks or have questions about your SEO and link building strategy, don’t hesitate to reach out!
