SaaS Backlink Building Strategies
When doing SEO for SaaS, it’s important to have consistent means of building backlinks. Without that, you’ll find it difficult to outrank competitors, especially in competitive software categories.
For example, if you want to rank for “SEO tools”, you’ll be up against some tough competition. In this post, we’ll give an overview of how to build backlinks for SaaS companies.
Software Review Websites
When you’re just starting out, software review sites are a great way to build foundational backlinks. You can submit your product to sites like Capterra, G2, and TrustPilot, which will help give your rankings a boost. Make sure you take the time to fill out each site’s listing completely and accurately, as this will improve your chances of being accepted.
To get the most out of these listings, be sure to include links back to your site in the “Website” field. You can also include additional information in the “About” section, such as a brief description of your product and how it helps users. Some platforms will allow you to include separate links to product demos as well as pricing pages.
If you have any industry awards or accolades, make sure to list them here as well. These will help build your product’s credibility and increase the likelihood that users will take your listing seriously.
Creating Linkable Content
Before you start putting serious efforts into backlink building, it’s a great idea to build a base library of linkable content first. Normally people will think of linkable assets as the typical link magnets like infographics and whitepapers, but what I mean is that you should have content that can be easily linked to in anchor text.
The most consistent way to build backlinks for SaaS companies is through guest blogging, so you’ll want to have blog content on your own website that can be linked to in a natural, conversational way through your guest blog content. Without a strong base library of content, you’ll find yourself struggling to find natural-looking anchor text in the content you produce. It’s important to create a versatile and varied library so that your anchors are easy to insert into content for different types of websites.
If you’re just beginning your blog, a good starting point would be to publish at least 1 blog for each category your site is going to cover. This way, you’ll be able to pitch guest posts to blogs that cover each of these topics right off the bat.
For example, if your SaaS was a WhatsApp CRM for Shopify merchants like Zoko, your blog categories could look something like this:
- eCommerce
- Customer Service
- Sales
- Shopify
By producing a blog for each of these categories, you’ll have a strong, foundational base ‘library’ of anchor text to choose from when producing your guest blog content.
Guest Post Backlink Funnel
Link Prospecting
Link prospecting is the process of finding target websites that are likely to give a backlink to your website. In this case, we’re focusing solely on websites that are most likely to accept guest blog content.
Websites that are most likely to accept your guest post are ones that have already published guest submissions in the past.
After you’ve built up a list of target websites, the next step in link prospecting is to find contact email addresses for your outreach.
How to Manually Find Contact Email Addresses
- Skim the company website’s header, footer, about and contact pages.
- Check the company’s Facebook Page in the About tab.
- Check the company’s LinkedIn Company profile.
- Check the company’s YouTube channel.
You can also find contact information using search tools like Instantly, Hunter or Apollo.io. While these platforms don’t always have contact emails on file, their databases are quite robust and you’ll usually be able to find what you’re looking for. Email finder tools work best for larger, more established companies, as it’s more likely they have public-facing contact information available.
Writing the Pitch
Finding contact information is one thing, but crafting a guest blog pitch that actually converts is another story. But there’s one thing every effective pitch has in common: leverage.
When you’re writing a guest blog pitch, your ultimate goal is to get the publication to say yes. In order to do that, you need to show them how publishing your article will benefit them.
Think about it from their perspective: why would they want to publish your article? Is it because it will help them grow their traffic? Is it because it will position them as an authority in their industry? Is it because it will introduce their audience to a new product or service?
Whatever the reason may be, make sure you spell it out in your pitch. The more specific you can be, the better.
Including links to your previous work is also a good idea. As you might already know, social proof works wonders in driving conversions. This will give the publication an idea of your writing style and help them determine whether or not you’re a good fit for their site.
Tailoring Your Pitch
Now that you know what needs to be included in a guest blog pitch, it’s time to start tailoring your pitch to specific publications.
The first step is to visit the website of the publication you’d like to contribute to and take a look at their existing content. This will give you an idea of their writing style, tone, and overall theme.
From there, you can start to tailor your pitch. The goal is to make it as specific as possible while still demonstrating how your article will benefit their audience.
Here’s a guest post pitch example:
Hello {{firstName}},
I was recently reading the {{companyName}} blog and noticed that you regularly publish articles on the topic of SEO. I’ve been working in the SEO industry for the past few years and have a lot of valuable insights to share.
In particular, I’d like to write an article on the topic of backlinks. I think this would be valuable to your audience because X,Y, and Z.
If you’re interested, I’d be happy to send over a few examples of my previous work.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
This pitch is specific, demonstrates how the article will benefit the publication’s audience, and includes links to the writer’s previous work.
Key Takeaways
When it comes to guest blogging, quality trumps quantity every time. It’s better to have a handful of high-quality backlinks than a bunch of low-quality ones.
To recap, here’s how backlink building for SaaS companies is done effectively:
- Guest blogging on relevant websites is the one of the most consistent backlink building methods for SaaS companies.
- The first step in guest blogging is finding contact information for the website’s editor or author.
- Email finder tools like Hunter or Apollo.io can be helpful in finding contact information.
- The second step is to write a pitch tailored to the publication you’re targeting.
- Your pitch should demonstrate how publishing your article will benefit the website.
- Including links to your previous work can also help convince the publication to say yes.
