Picture this:
You have an amazing SaaS business idea. A product that is going to change your target audience’s life.
You start and set your business up and eagerly wait for your target audience to find it and change their lives.
But guess what? Almost no one ever finds you and your SaaS business gets lost in the deep ocean of the web.
Sounds hurtful, right? For us too.
If you are running a SaaS business and don’t want the same thing to happen with your business, you need to up your SEO game.
And one of the most important parts of SEO is your website’s link building strategy. Let’s go with that.
So in this blog, you are going to get a full guide on the 15 link building tips for SaaS business.
What are backlinks
So now that you are trying to learn about SaaS link building, you need to first understand what backlinks are.
Here’s a simple explanation:
So backlinks ( also known as inbound links ) are when one website links to another website.
It is when another website Provides a link to your website on their platform.
For example, if SERP Forge, in this very post shares a link to your website, you are getting a backlink ( or inbound link ) from SERP Forge.
This improves your SEO game as Google considers the inbound link you got as a vote from SERP Forge on the quality, relevance, and authority of your website.
How do backlinks work
You see, the backlinks you get are really helpful in improving your search engine optimization.
Here’s how:
So the backlinks you get are important indicators for the search engine when it tries to figure out which website should rank higher for a search.
When you get a backlink from another website it acts like a vote from that website to you. It almost feels like that website is telling the search engine “Hey, I’m linking this website because I feel it is a good one”, which then improves your SEO rankings.
What is SEO link building for SaaS
Now that you know what backlinks are, let’s understand what the process of SaaS link building actually is.
As we know that backlinks improve the SEO game of your website, link building is a strategy that you use to gain backlinks from other websites.
In such link building, you perform strategies to encourage other websites to share links to your SaaS and upgrade your SEO position.
For example, in a link building strategy, you would create content or a SaaS tool that is useful to SERP Forge in some way or another which would encourage us to provide a link to your content ( website ). This way you’ll gain a backlink ( inbound link ) from SERP Forge.
Got it? Nice.
How will link building help your SaaS
Now, we know the basics, that’s good. But do you have a good understanding of why you even need a link building strategy?
We mean, there are high chances that you might be still trying to figure out how link building actually helps your SaaS.
Well, let us make things clear for you.
Here are some reasons why your SaaS needs a link building strategy:
1. Higher search rankings
So when you start performing link building strategies for your SaaS, it starts getting backlinks from other websites.
Each backlink you get from a website acts as a vote of confidence by them towards your SaaS. This vote of confidence ( backlink ) is considered as one of the strongest search engine rankings deciders.
So, in short, your link building strategy helps you achieve higher search rankings.
2. Increased traffic
When your search engine rankings get improved, you get ranked higher for even more searches. This brings increased traffic to your website.
Furthermore, winning an inbound link ( backlink ) from a website means that the website will add your link somewhere on its web page.
Visitors to that website might click that link and land on your website. This kind of referral traffic gives you access to a new set of audiences.
3. Brand authority and trust
When big websites link to your SaaS, it creates a sense of trust and authority in your audience’s minds.
They might think “Hmm if X website has linked to this SaaS, I’m sure this SaaS is going to be trustworthy”, which increases your authority.
4. Partnerships and collaborations
Your link building strategy is not just limited to getting backlinks from other websites and improving your SEO game.
When you gain links from other websites, it opens a door to new opportunities for partnerships and collaborations with each website.
This benefits both your SaaS and the other website.
5. Competitive advantage
It’s not just you. Your competitors can also perform link building strategies and try to gain links from other websites.
That’s why performing link building strategies and gaining more backlinks from other websites before your competitors always gives you a competitive advantage. You also win your audience’s trust.
This, in short, helps you position your SaaS as a top choice among customers.
SaaS link building tips
Now let’s talk about the 15 SaaS link building tips that you can use to gain backlinks from external websites and increase your growth.
1. Guest posting
The first and extremely useful SaaS link building tip you can get is to make use of guest posting opportunities.
Guest posting is when you reach out to a website and ask them if they would like free high-quality content. On acceptance of the offer, you create content and post it on their website.
But wait, how does it benefit you? Well, in reality, there’s nothing called “free“.
In exchange for the high-quality content that you post on their website, you ask them to add a link to your website or go with sponsorship.
This way, the external website gets high-quality content and you get a backlink from them. It’s a win-win.
2. Competitor backlinks
This kind of link building strategy is all about taking away your competitors’ backlinks. This is how it works:
Firstly, you find articles that compete with your own.
Next, you find out all the websites that are giving backlinks to those competitors.
Finally, you reach out to those websites and tell them how much better your content is compared to your competitors’ content that they’ve linked on their websites.
You can do this with the help of backlink monitoring tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs.
3. Broken link building
Oftentimes web pages get deleted. In such cases, websites that have previously added a link to that web page end up sending their audience to nowhere but a broken link.
This is where you can make use of this opportunity. Here’s how it works:
First, you find websites in your target niche that have added a link to content that no longer exists.
Next, you create similar content.
Finally, you reach out to that website and inform them that the content they’ve linked is a broken link and that they can link to your content instead.
4. Create infographics
“A picture is worth a thousand words”. That is why websites try to add an infographic to explain complex topics more simply.
You can create an infographic that you feel people would love to add to their content. Then, you can reach out to your targets telling them that you would let them use your infographics in their content for free in return for a credit link.
5. Statistics and trend reports
This SaaS link building tip is an excellent strategy that has the potential to bring hundreds of backlinks to your website. Here’s how it works:
First, you’ll choose a specific topic of your industry that you would like to research. For example, “best blogger outreach services“.
Next, research and gather data about your topic.
Once you do that, publish the content and try to promote it as much as you can.
This way, people would link to your web page whenever they mention the data from your study.
6. Resource pages
One of the most linked pieces of content on the internet is resource pages.
What are resource pages? Well, resource pages are pages that contain valuable and extremely useful content. It contains pieces of information that your reader would definitely love to know.
Some examples of resource pages are guides, listicles, case studies, ebooks, and so on.
The reason resource pages are linked more often is that these pages contain useful information that other websites would love to share with their audience.
This way you can get backlinks from other websites by creating resource pages.
7. Brand mentions
Three ways to make use of this strategy:
Unlinked brand mentions – You can research and find websites that have mentioned your brand in their content but haven’t added a link, and ask them to add a link to your SaaS.
Co-mentions – You can ask people who actively write guest posts to mention and link your brand in their guest posts and tell them that, in return, you would add their link to your guest post.
Mention-me-back – You can reach out to people and tell them that you’ve linked their website in your content and would like them to add your link to theirs.
8. Review site
There are many websites that review and rate all the wonderful things on the web.
You can search and find the websites that review SaaS products, then ask them to review your SaaS and list them on their site.
This way you can get a backlink from that review site.
9. Podcasts
“Hey, most podcasts are uploaded to applications like Spotify and YouTube, so how can it help my link building strategy?”. We will explain.
Most of the major podcasts also have their own websites where they post their latest podcast updates.
You can take advantage of this opportunity by offering to speak on podcasts related to your industry. And when they publish their podcast updates on their website, they will include a link to your SaaS in your description.
10. Free tools
This is another link building strategy that can attract hundreds of backlinks.
All you have to do is create and provide the small tools associated with your SaaS for free. If your free tool is useful, you’ll start getting links from other websites to your free tool.
11. Roundups
Many SaaS use this link building method to get backlinks and visitors from other websites. We will explain all this.
There are websites that focus on curating and listing the best products, tools, and experts in a particular field.
You can go to those websites and ask them to add your SaaS to their SaaS-related roundups.
12. Give interviews
There is one more way to get backlinks from big websites, and that is – by giving interviews.
See, there are websites that always require expert interviews for their website content.
You or an expert from your SaaS can participate in their interview and provide valuable insight. In return, you get a backlink from that site.
13. Bloggers product reviews
Well, with this strategy, you’ll get three things – backlinks, improved brand image, and new customers.
Here’s how it works:
This strategy is all about reaching out to popular bloggers in your niche and offering them to use your SaaS for free, for a few months. In return, you ask them to provide a product review about your SaaS.
If your SaaS receives a good review, you’ll get all the three mentioned above.
14. Q&A sites
Another amazing link building strategy for SaaS products is to use Q&A sites. Here’s how it works:
First, go on a Q&A site like Quora and find questions related to your SaaS or its industry, in general.
Next, answer each question carefully in such a way that you can naturally add a link to your website as well.
Once you’ve uploaded the answer, you’ll get a backlink from that Q&A site if it is permitted.
However, backlinks from a Q&A site won’t pass any link juice. Why? It’s because it includes a “no-follow” tag which means Google won’t consider that backlink as a vote from that Q&A site and treat it as a normal link.
But still, it’s a great way to drive referral traffic.
15. Help A Reporter Out (HARO)
Last but not least, you can use HARO as your go-to link building strategy if you are looking for long-term help.
What’s HARO? Well, HARO is a website that connects reporters or journalists with industry experts.
You can register on their website as a “source” and sign up for their daily email. The daily email will give you daily updates on all the new requests posted by the journalists.
Once you find a question that falls under your area of expertise, you can then reach out to that reporter or journalist and offer them your expertise.
If your offer gets accepted and the reporter publishes your quote in their article, you’ll get a mention along with a backlink.
Conclusion
So this was the complete list of SaaS link building tips that you can use to gain backlinks and improve your SEO game.
You can test and come up with a list of the strategies that work best for your SaaS. Just make sure that you are prioritizing quality backlinks over the number of backlinks you got.
FAQs
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What mistakes should I avoid when building a link building strategy?
Here are some mistakes you must avoid when building a link building strategy:
Trying to get backlinks from any niche
Going for quantity instead of quality backlinks
Using spammy techniques
Not personalizing outreaches -
Are no-follow links useless?
There are two types of backlinks usually SEOs consider – Do-follow and no-follow.
A Do-follow link passes the authority of the origin site to the web page linked. Whereas, a No-follow link does not pass any authority and is just a normal backlink.
Though No-follow links are not as effective as Do-follow links, they can still be extremely useful for driving traffic and improving SEO.