How to Build Useful Links in SaaS (a step-by-step guide)

Intro

Brand awareness. SERP ranking. More customers.

There are many reasons why getting backlinks to your SaaS site is a must for growth. Backlinks build trust with Google, and if you play your cards right, help drive customers to your site.

I’ve been in the SaaS industry for over a decade and **spent a **ton of time testing different strategies to get our SaaS company Close on the map. I’ve seen firsthand how the right link-building techniques can get a website noticed, build trust with customers, and open up new relationships in the industry.

In this blog post, I'll share some tips and strategies for building useful links in SaaS that actually help your business grow.

Is Link Building Still Important for SaaS Businesses and SEO in 2023?

I absolutely love this question. Of course, it’s important! 🤦🏻

It’s like a founder asking if they need a website or a content marketing team. The answer is always yes. A successful link-building campaign is the way to Google’s (algorithmic) heart. It helps make your site trustworthy, increases traffic, and drives revenue.

SaaS marketers agree.

Databox surveyed 2000+ SEO experts, and over 50% of them said backlinks, domain ratings, and keywords factored into their SEO successes.

Link building efforts can help with nearly every goal on the list.

But how? Why?

Just think about how potential customers find you. A lot of the time, it’s using search engines. Backlinks can feed your reputation on Google algorithm and impact how they rank your site. This plays a huge part in getting your brand noticed and more chances of getting a backlink from other blogs in the future—Google’s first result averages 3.8x more backlinks than positions two to three.

5 SaaS Link Building Strategies to Test in 2023

I look at link building as the gift that keeps on giving.

It builds domain authority, boosts site traffic, and—depending on your tactics—opens doors to partner with other SaaS companies.

Here’s how we build links at Close 👇

1. Respond to Quote Requests From Writers and Journalists

A blog post will always stand out if it's got input from an expert or a trusted industry voice.

For SaaS companies, it’s also one of the quickest (and easiest) ways to grab a backlink and get brand exposure. Just answer a question or provide a quote to the writer; in return, they'll link to your site. This link can help with:

• Referral traffic: When a writer requests a quote, it adds authority to the piece. And when the reader sees you know what you’re talking about, it increases the chances of them checking out your product and visiting your site.
• Brand exposure: Every SaaS starts without an audience or exposure. Responding to quote requests can increase brand awareness and educate your target audience on what your SaaS does—and why they should check it out.

One of the best ways to get quotes is to let the writers come to you using quote outreach platforms.

Take Superpath’s Help a B2B writer platform. Writers and journalists use it to submit questions that are then sent out to relevant sources.

(A sample request from a writer using Help a B2B Writer. Image source)

Once you register as a source, quote requests are sent to your inbox if you fit the demographic and industry the writer is looking for. Easy.

To improve the chances of getting quoted, avoid generic information and really give the writer specific tips and data. For example, a quote like "this particular churn strategy worked for us, and we saw a decrease of 80% churn within six months" is much more likely to be included than simply saying, "avoiding churn is crucial."

Help A B2B Writer even suggests sharing your link preference with the writer. Do you want a link to your LinkedIn profile? Your company website? Your personal brand site? Your Twitter account?

Tell the writer what you prefer, but remember that most of the time, these decisions are left up to the editor.

2. Work With Integration Partners

The main selling point of SaaS products is that they easily integrate to give customers a tech stack that runs smoothly.

Even if your SaaS is still in its early stages, you’re probably already thinking about other platforms it can integrate with. These integration partners are **perfect **untapped resources to get some backlinks to your site.

Close’s integration page links to a bunch of apps that work with our SaaS:

If any of the apps in our directory have Close integrations, we ask for a link from their own app directory. One of the partners, Gong, has a domain rating of 78 and a Close integration, so it's a no-brainer to use this as a link opportunity. Here's how Gong features Close on its app directory:

(Close on Gong’s directory has not one but three backlinks.)

A simple you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours like this is a great way to build useful backlinks with minimal effort.

3. Write High-Quality Blogs and Guest Posts

With all the buzz of AI content around right now, I’m here to tell you that nothing—nothing—is more powerful for getting backlinks than writing high-quality guest posts.

A high-quality piece of content on a high domain rating site is a long-lasting way to boost a site's trustworthiness with Google and share useful content with your audience.

Landing a guest blog post on a big website isn't as difficult as it sounds. Start with this foundation, and your pitch will do well. Research sites and businesses that target a similar audience.

Once you’ve found a site that fits the brief, search for information like:

• A page about guest posting and guidelines
• A mention of guest posting on the site’s Contact or About page

This is a sign that they accept guest posts (score!) Now, it’s time to write a pitch. It’s **always **best to frame these outreach emails as a win-win for you _and _the site you're pitching: they get a high-quality blog post for free, and you get a backlink or two. Something like this is a good place to start with your pitch email:

Subject Line: Guest post for your blog

Hi there First Name,

I see you’re accepting guest posts for the blog. Would you be interested in a guest post titled "title of suggested post"?

The post will cover a number of issues important issues that your audience would find helpful, including:

• Audience interest point #1
• Audience interest point #2
• Audience interest point #3

_If not, I’ve been sitting on some other blog ideas, like "idea for second post" or "idea for third post". _

If any of these ideas sound like they could be a good fit, I'd be happy to send you an outline or a full draft to take a look at for the blog.

I blog at "name of your site" about "topic", so I'm aware of the issues important to your audience. If this sounds like a good fit, we can also promote the guest post to our subscriber list "include subscriber #s if possible" and post on our social channels to maximize reach.

Let me know what you think,

Your Name

Hit send and cross your fingers. And if they don’t respond in a couple of days, make sure to follow up and nudge your first email to the top of their inbox.

So, just how much impact can writing high-quality posts for your blog and guest domains have on your own site?

Just ask Ryan Robinson, who heads up content over at Close. In 2022, he led our team in a huge effort to increase the quality of new and existing content. Together, they dissected our blog and updated posts to help boost backlinks and referral domains.

Here are the results:

Ryan recently discussed our results on the Clearscope podcast, revealing the team had achieved 50% growth on our blog. A little dig into our numbers shows improving and updating our content has yielded huge results.

We’re now seeing about 7700 keywords being ranked which has resulted in massive traffic gains. And if you take a quick look at our Ahrefs data:

In addition to backlinks, referring domains, traffic, and traffic value, we've seen an increase in email sign-ups and product trials—the ultimate SaaS win. Ryan says quality content can help you win these backlinks and get noticed by Google.

“There's something to be said too for not needing to have more backlinks, more referring domains than the top couple of results, I think there's something, some magic that goes on just with link velocity,” he says.

“If you're acquiring more links, if you're going hard on building quality links safely to your content, then I think Google does a pretty good job of identifying that and seeing, hey, this other article towards the bottom of page one is getting linked to a lot more right now…Maybe we should kind of bump it up, see how it performs for searchers as well!”

4. Create DIY Backlinks Through Multiple Channels

I’ve made it my mission to be everywhere on the internet.

YouTube? Yup, I’ve uploaded hundreds of videos about sales and techniques. And every single one of them has linkable content to Close’s website along with our Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram channels. Youtube makes up a huge percentage of our social traffic, but it also directs viewers to our website and drives signups.

(Backlinks in the SEO-optimized description of my Youtube video, including links to our blog and newsletter sign-up)

This is what I call a “DIY backlink.” I don’t have to ask a blogger or a partner to add our website to their content. I just make the video and create the backlink myself. There are tons of sites you can use this content marketing strategy for, including Quora, podcasts, and even Reddit.

The secret to being successful on these platforms is to be genuinely helpful. If someone has a sales-related question that I can give some helpful advice, I'll answer it in detail like this:

I always link to a more in-depth source, like an eBook or blog post, at the bottom of the answer. If the reader finds my advice helpful, they'll usually visit our website and take a look.

5. Find Unlinked Brand Mentions + Ask For a Link

There are tons of tools you can use to find places on the internet where your SaaS brand is mentioned but isn’t rewarded with a backlink.

Some ways to uncover these backlinks include:

• Brand monitoring tools and alerts. Set up a Google Alert and get an email whenever your brand is mentioned on the web. Other tools, like Mention and Brand24, can alert you to specific mentions of your products or features.
• Manual searches. Scour search engines and social media platforms to see where your SaaS is mentioned. You can also manually search for mentions of your brand using a search engine. Use a query (like format: your brand name -site:yourbrandwebsite.com) to exclude your site from searches on places like Google and save time.

If you find a site or channel that mentions your brand, reach out and ask for a mention.

Finally, don't forget about podcasts, interviews, or webinars you've given your time up for. In the rush of interviews and scheduling, sometimes working out the nitty-gritty of what's in it for you can get lost. But usually, your time and effort will be rewarded in a backlink or two.

For example, look at this recent episode of Churn FM I spoke on:

(No backlink 😢)

To fix it, I'll reach out to the team who organized the interview with me and get them to add a link to our homepage. According to Ahrefs, Churn FM's domain rating is 46, so getting that backlink is worth the effort of an email.

More Links + Better Exposure = More Customers

I'm not going to sugarcoat this—if you want your brand to succeed, you need a plan to get high-quality links for your SaaS website.

Links play a crucial role in building trust with search engines and users. The more you have from sites Google already trusts, the better chance your site has of getting noticed in the SERPs and driving customers to your page. Without them, your website will get lost in the noise of competing brands.

Put in the work to write great content and spend time building high-quality backlinks through other blogs and channels like YouTube and Quora. Once you start getting noticed, take advantage of interviews for podcasts or quote requests from writers to add even more backlinks to your SaaS website.

Building backlinks is a long-term game plan. But the right strategy will create trust in your brand, drive organic traffic to your site and increase conversions.