As a marketer, you already know that SEO is important. Without effective SEO, you're invisible on the Internet. 

But as a SaaS company owner, SEO is not just important. It's vital. That’s because SaaS companies are, in theory, infinitely scalable - and mastering your SEO strategy can help you scale much faster. 

However, in practice, very few SaaS company reach their full ranking potential.

The SaaS industry is extremely competitive, and to survive and thrive in this niche, traditional SEO and SaaS content marketing tricks might not be enough.

Ten years ago, ranking in the SERPs was easy, regardless of your content quality or the number of backlinks you had pointing back to your site.

However, because of Google’s constant algorithm changes, ranking has become more and more difficult.  

Recent Google updates focus more on intent than fluff content. That’s why high-quality content and contextual, high-quality backlinks are a must to rank. 

So, where should you focus your SEO efforts to rank in Google as a SaaS company?

Among other things, such as creating high-quality content and optimizing your technical SEO aspects, link building for SaaS is one of the key elements to SaaS SEO success. 

In this article, we’ll explain why link building is essential to SaaS growth and what link building strategies you should focus on.  

Link Building Is Essential to SaaS Growth

Too many companies get caught up in creating educational content to bring value to their customers.

While content creation is crucial to search performance, it may not bring you the results you’re looking for without a proper link building strategy. 

You see, when trying to rank for low-competition keywords, you can usually get by without a linkbuilding strategy.

But that's not true for more competitive keywords.

When your content, UX, design, illustrations and brand experience are just as good as other websites ranking for sought-after keywords, backlinks can become the only differentiating factor.

Do all SaaS brands need linkbuilding from the get-go?

No, probably not.

But if you want to get serious about your content marketing & search performance, links are an essential part of the journey.

Linkbuilding Strategies for SaaS

Let's make a very quick, but veyr important point.

90% of people, even in the SEO industry, are confusing Search Engine Optimization with Search Engine Manipulation.

Our job isn't to manipulate the search results - this is against Google's guidelines, and ultimately against users as well.

Our job is to make our stuff so good that Google can't help but rank us.

When it comes to linkbuilding, you shouldn't be buying links.

Most links available for purchase are from crappy websites (mostly PBNs) and will not help your search performance.

Does that mean linkbuilding is "dead"?

Nah.

Here are some strategies you can use to build links to your SaaS website.

Build linkable content assets

One of the most effective ways to generate backlinks is to create linkable content assets. 

Linkable content can be as simple as writing a valuable, in-depth long-form blog post that addresses your audience’s pain points and helps them solve a problem. 

The key is to ensure your content asset provides value for potential linkers. If someone sees value in what you’re offering, they will likely want to share it with their audience. 

The more helpful you are and the more targeted your content is towards solving their problems, the more likely they will share it with others.

So, focus on doing thorough keyword research and creating mind-blowingly great content that provides value to your audience - and wait for those backlinks to start flowing! 

Create corporate profiles

Corporate profiles are a great way to establish your company as an authority in your industry. They also make it easy for potential customers to find out more about what you have to offer before they sign up for anything.

A corporate profile is a great way to show your company's values, tell your brand story, and introduce your team members and services. 

It should appear on your website, staff recruitment portal, and other documents related to your business, as well as on popular social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. 

For this reason, company profiles are also great places for links to other parts of your website: blog posts, services pages, and product pages benefit from having links back to them on a corporate profile page.

Note that the importance of these links is quite low: they're not going to help you double your organic traffic.

But still - would you trust a company without a profile on most major websites?

Neither does Google.

Guest post on other websites

Guest posting is easily one of the most effective strategies for link building for SaaS companies. 

If you're unfamiliar with guest posting, it's essentially writing an article for another website and getting them to publish it.

The goal is to get that other website to link back to your site, which helps increase your search engine rankings.

The site owner gets free content, you get a free backlink.

Everyone's happy.

You can break down your guest posting strategy into four simple steps: 

Step 1 - Prospecting: This step involves doing in-depth research and finding the websites you could potentially write a guest post for. This can be as simple as a Google search for a list of website that accepts guest posts in your niche. 

Step 2 - Pitching: Once you’ve got a list of potential guest posting sites, it’s time to reach out to them with a pitch. Keep in mind that the editors of these sites get tens of proposals like yours per week. So, make sure your pitch stands out from the crowd!

Step 3 - Writing: Once your pitch has been accepted, it’s time for the fun part: writing! Most sites have specific requirements and writing guidelines you need to adhere to. 

Step 4 - Scaling: If you want to scale your guest posting strategy to get as many backlinks as possible, you’ll need to outsource. In that case, hiring freelance writers to produce guest post articles for you may be a good idea. 

Reclaim unlinked brand mentions

Many times, other websites will mention your brand without adding a link to your site. Reclaiming these unlinked brand mentions is a great way to increase your reach and engagement. 

The problem with this method is that it can be time-consuming and laborious. You have to find every link on social media and blogs where someone mentioned your brand without linking to your site.

Fortunately, there are tools available now that make this process much simpler and more effective than ever before. These tools include Awario, Social Searchers, and Hootsuite. 

Create infographics

Another effective way to get links back to your site is by creating infographics. 

Infographics are an easy way to create engaging and informative content. They can be used in several ways, including as visuals in your blog posts, stand-alone social media posts, and even as part of an email campaign. 

Apart from being a valuable content form that condenses lots of information in one graphic, infographics can help you generate links from authoritative websites because they are easily shareable on social media channels like Pinterest and Twitter.

Create industry roundups 

Industry roundups are posts that feature the top companies or tools within a certain industry or niche. These posts can drive traffic back to your site, build links, and increase brand awareness in your chosen field. 

For example, if you’re a social selling SaaS, you could create an industry roundup post featuring the top social selling tactics from experts. The brands you mention in this roundup will likely share your post with their audience. 

On the other hand, you can find industry roundups to be featured on.

This is another great way to get backlinks. 

Create tools and calculators

It's not uncommon for SaaS companies to create free tools or calculators that solve common problems. 

Creating free tools or calculators your visitors can use to help them with their day-to-day tasks is a great way to get more traffic and provide additional value. It’s also an excellent long-term strategy to drive more links to your site. 

When someone uses your calculator or tool and finds it useful, they may share it with their friends and colleagues, who might also find it helpful. In addition, other brands may also link to your tool as an additional resource for their audience. 

Create "glossaries" to attract links

Creating glossaries is an excellent way of link building for SaaS companies.

A glossary is a list of terms used in a particular industry or field, typically organized by category.

These are highly effective because they help visitors better understand complex concepts and provide valuable information that other sites might want to share with their readership. 

Glossaries can also help you establish yourself as an authority on these subjects — which makes it more likely other sites will want to link back to yours. 

Link Building for SaaS FAQs

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