Guest Post By Israel Parada

Link building is a proven way to boost your website’s ranking, traffic, and authority online. But what exactly is link building, and how does it work for SaaS companies? 

In this guide, we’ll answer these questions and more. We’ll also share five of the best link-building strategies and tips for SaaS companies in 2023 that you can start implementing today.

What is SaaS Link Building?

Link building is the process of purposely acquiring links (called backlinks) from other websites that point back to your own website. 

These links are like votes of confidence from other publishers that signal to search engines and users that your website is trustworthy, credible, relevant, and valuable.

Software as a Service (SaaS) link building is, therefore, the process of building backlinks to a SaaS company’s website. It comes down to implementing strategies that’ll make people want to link naturally to your content or taking more proactive approaches like asking for backlinks directly or exchanging them in different ways.

When a link builder says they built 500 backlinks to XYZ website, they mean the website got 500 new links as a result of a particular link-building strategy.

As you’ll learn later in this post, building a solid backlink profile is particularly important to SaaS companies because of the complexity of the products they typically offer.

Link Building and Off-Page SEO

Depending on where the optimization takes place, there are two main types of Search Engine Optimization (SEO): on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Link building is the central pillar of off-page SEO and one of the main pillars of SEO in general, being just as important as the content itself.

The Importance of Link Building in the SaaS Space

Link building is vital for any website that wants to rank well on SERPs and attract more organic website traffic. However, link building is especially important for SaaS companies because:

• SaaS products are often complex and technical, meaning they need to be explained more in the different stages of the sales funnel. Links from authoritative and relevant websites can establish your credibility and expertise in your niche, making convincing your audience and potential leads easier.
• SaaS products are often highly competitive, meaning they must stand out from the crowd and differentiate themselves from their rivals. Links from reputable and influential websites within your niche can help boost your brand awareness and visibility in your market and increase the number of demo requests and sales in general.
• SaaS products are often subscription-based or recurring revenue-based, meaning they must retain customers and reduce churn rates. Links from topically relevant and authoritative websites can attract ideal customers to your site who are more likely to stick with you for the long term.

Link Building Rule #1

Link building is a common practice for most websites and is an excellent way to build trust and authority in your niche. Regardless of your industry, the strategies behind building links are much the same. 

The thing to keep in mind, however, is to always seek out links from relevant sites in your industry. Even if they’re not in your specific niche, you want the audience who stumbles across your link to have some overlap with your target audience. 

For example, if you specialize in SEO, a perfect link building opportunity would be to write a guest post for a digital marketing agency. Your target markets are very similar, but you don’t offer the same services. 

If your link building strategy targets websites too far outside your niche, their target audience won’t overlap with yours. Even though you might be able to find a way to include your backlink with a good angle, and get readers to click through, chances are good your bounce rates will increase substantially. That’s no good for any business.

Link Building Agency vs. In-House Campaigns

One of the dilemmas that SaaS companies face when it comes to link building is whether to hire a link-building service or a team in-house. Link building is critical to any SEO strategy but can be time-consuming, challenging, and expensive.

Let’s break down the costs to compare which option is better.

How Much Does a Link Building Service for a SaaS Website Cost?

The cost of hiring a link-building service for a SaaS business can vary depending on the quality, quantity, and type of links required.

That said, the average cost per link in the technology sector is around $475. So, to acquire 30 links per month, you’d have to spend an average of around $14,250/month. (You can try out this nifty link bulding calculator here).

Of course, this is just an average, and the actual cost may be higher or lower depending on the service provider, niche, competition, campaign goals, and whether the service is bundled as a part of a full-blown managed SEO service.

How Much Does In-House Link Building Cost?

The cost of in-house link building for a SaaS business can also vary depending on the team’s size, skills, and salaries. For example, according to a report by Glassdoor, the average salary for an SEO link builder in the US is roughly $4,500 monthly. 

You’ll also need to hire content writers to create the content for your website. Good writers charge around $200 per 1,000 words, adding a minimum expense of $6,000 monthly for 30 posts with one link insertion per post. 

After accounting for specialized SEO software, at least two link-building assistants (and the occasional link placement fee), you’re well above $15,000 per month for 30 links.

Again, this is just an average, and 30 links per month is a benchmark to make comparison with a link-building service easier.

So, not only is in-house more expensive overall, but it’s also much more hassle and usually less effective than paying for a link-building service. That may be why almost two-thirds (60%) of SEOs outsource link building to agencies or freelancers.

5 Winning Link Building Strategies for SaaS Companies

If you’re part of that 29% that prefers building their own links, here are five effective link-building strategies for SaaS websites to implement in 2023.

Strategy #1: Building Relevant Statistic Pages for your Niche

One of the most effective ways to get links from authoritative and relevant websites is to create statistics pages for your niche. Statistics pages contain data-driven facts and figures about a specific topic or industry that writers love referencing in their content.

Statistics pages are great for link building because:

• They demonstrate your expertise and authority in your niche.
• They provide valuable information that other websites can use as references or sources.
• They generate links from relevant sites that cover topics around your niche.
• Consequently, they attract organic traffic from people already interested in your niche.

The best thing about this strategy is that it allows you to create a broad range of topically relevant content about your industry, no matter how niche it is, like this market.us post that covers statistics about the AI-powered video editing software industry.

Strategy #2: Digital PR

Digital PR is an effective way to get links from reputable media sites. Digital PR is earning media coverage to increase your brand awareness, reputation, and authority and get relevant backlinks.

Digital PR is one of the best link-building strategies for SaaS companies because:

• It exposes your brand to a large and relevant audience that might be interested in your product or service.
• It boosts your credibility and trustworthiness by associating your brand with established and respected media outlets.

It helps develop your brand.

Tips to Gain Media Coverage for your SaaS Website

• The key is creating newsworthy and interesting stories or angles that can attract the attention of journalists, editors, or influencers. You can use tools like AnswerThePublic, Quora, or Reddit to find out what people are asking or talking about in your niche and answer those questions. Statistics, resources, and survey results pages are also helpful.
• Pitch your stories or angles to ‌media outlets or platforms identified as relevant to your niche.
• Attend or host conferences and make public appearances. These naturally attract the media, but it’s even better if you invite them directly.

Strategy #3: Create Relevant and Valuable Resource Pages Around Your Software

A resource page is a page with links to other websites or pages that provide helpful information or solutions for a specific topic or problem. 

For example, if you are a SaaS company that sells project management software, you can create a page that links to other websites that offer project management tips, templates, best practices, or case studies. Like this one below:

These types of pages are effective for link building because they:

• Provide value and convenience for users who want to find all the information or solutions they need in one place.
• Build trust and authority. They can show that you’ve done your research and know your niche or industry well.
• Create natural link magnets for other websites or pages that want to link to helpful information or solutions for their audience.

Tips to Create Resource Pages for your SaaS Company

• Choose a specific topic or problem to make your content more focused and relevant. Ensure the problem relates to your software and addresses your target audience’s pain points.
• Curate high-quality and relevant links. Take your time choosing nothing but the most relevant links you can find that provide helpful information or solutions for your topic or problem. Also, use ‌relevant and descriptive anchor text whenever you add a link.
• Update your resource content regularly to make sure your content stays fresh and current.

Strategy #4: Guest Posting

Guest posting is writing and publishing articles on other websites or blogs that accept guest contributions from external writers.

For example, suppose you are a SaaS company that sells accounting software. In that case, you can write and publish articles on a website or blog that covers topics related to accounting, finance, business, or entrepreneurship.

Some websites allow one or two backlinks to your website within each post you contribute, while others only allow a backlink in your author byline.

Some of the benefits that guest posting brings to the table include:

• Increasing your exposure and reach by writing and publishing articles on other websites or blogs with a large and engaged audience that may not be aware of your SaaS company or software.
• Improving your credibility and expertise when writing for blogs that have a high reputation and domain authority in your niche or industry.
• Driving targeted website traffic and conversions. Articles published on other websites or blogs that are relevant and aligned with your SaaS company’s goals can drive targeted traffic and conversions to your SaaS website and increase your sales and revenue.

Tips for Effective Guest Posting

• Don’t focus on websites that openly accept guest posts. These websites often have too much competition, making it hard to notice your blog post and sometimes delaying the publication process for weeks. Instead, pitching relevant topics to the editors and content managers of high-authority websites is better. Publishing on those exclusive sites will give you an edge over the competition.
• Write high-quality and relevant guest posts every time. Make sure you deliver the best possible content for your target website so they keep returning for more.
• Focus on their audience, not yours. Remember, you’re writing a guest post, not a piece of content for your own site. So, you should also write original, informative, engaging, and valuable content that provides useful information or solutions for your target website’s audience.

Strategy #5: Answering Help A Reporter Out (HARO) Queries

Help A Reporter Out (HARO) is a service that connects journalists, bloggers, podcasters, or other media professionals with sources who can provide them with expert quotes, insights, opinions, or stories for their publications.

Journalists submit queries or requests on the HARO platform and receive pitches from anyone willing to answer them. If a journalist likes your pitch and uses a quote in their article, podcast, video, or other, they’ll usually leave a link to your website in return.

Answering HARO requests is an effective link-building strategy because:

• It gives you access to high-quality media opportunities since many reputable and authoritative websites from multiple industries, including SaaS, rely on HARO to find sources.
• It boosts your reputation and credibility as an expert source who can provide valuable information or insights for journalists, bloggers, podcasters, or other media professionals.
• It generates natural and relevant backlinks from the websites or platforms that publish the content that features your quotes, insights, opinions, or stories.

SaaS Companies Can’t Afford Not to Build Links

Your backlink profile is integral to a coherent and effective SEO strategy. Building high-authority links to your website should be one of your top priorities if you want to become an industry leader in the SaaS space.

You can choose to assemble your own link-building team to work in-house or hire a link-building agency to take care of everything for you. The latter is usually the best and most efficient solution.

On the other hand, building backlinks achieves more than improving ranking on search engine results pages. It’s also a way to establish yourself as an authority in your niche and signal potential users that you’re a trustworthy website, improving the chances that they’ll make a purchase.

About the Author: Israel is a university chemistry professor passionate about data-driven SEO, content writing, and copyediting. He’s written about marketing, business, and personal finance for five years and is a scriptwriter for the Two Bit da Vinci YouTube channel. Israel is a dog lover at heart who enjoys sharing his insights and expertise with his readers and learning new things from other writers. When he’s not teaching or writing, he likes to spend time with his family, watch movies, and follow the modern-day private space race.