Have you ever tried to explain link building to someone who isn't in marketing? It's like explaining why quinoa is better than rice to someone who's never tried it—confusing, esoteric, and usually met with a blank stare. But for us marketers, we know that link building isn't just marketing jargon. It's one of the most powerful tools for driving visibility and growth, especially for SaaS businesses.
Imagine this: You’ve built this stellar SaaS product. Maybe it’s a tool that helps e-commerce sites optimize their product pages or one that assists remote teams in project management. The product is great, users love it, but the traffic to your website is, well... not so great. The signups aren't coming in as expected. Your competitors, who frankly don’t have as good a product, are topping the search results. It’s frustrating, right?
This is where link building comes in. But—and this is a big “but”—not just any link building. Link building through content. This isn’t about spamming people with email requests or buying shady backlinks from sites you wouldn't show to your grandma. It's about earning real links by creating truly valuable content that people want to share. Especially for SaaS companies, where users are discerning, the competition is fierce, and trust is everything—content-led link building can be your magic key.
Let’s talk about how to do that. I promise, no fluff—just actionable, experience-driven advice that we’ve seen work firsthand at DataDab.
Why Content-Led Link Building Works So Well for SaaS
When it comes to SaaS sites, you're not just selling a product; you're selling a solution to a complex problem. SaaS often involves sophisticated tools that need explanation, customer nurturing, and educational resources. This is why content-led link building is such a natural fit. You're not just building links—you're building trust, authority, and educating potential users.
SaaS Users Research Heavily Before Committing: SaaS products often have long sales cycles. Users will read blog posts, look for case studies, compare alternatives, and even browse third-party review sites before deciding. Unlike someone buying a new blender, SaaS users want to know the company behind the tool—and whether it’s trustworthy. This is why well-placed, organic backlinks matter. They act like recommendations. They tell potential users that not only do you exist, but that you’re credible.
Link Building Shows Google You're an Authority: Remember, Google’s core algorithm is still heavily based on links—and who links to you matters as much as how often. Earning links from established publications and thought leaders in your niche signals to Google that you’re an authority worth showing in those coveted top positions.
Plus, creating amazing content for link building is about creating a network of value. You’re not in a vacuum; you’re becoming part of a larger ecosystem, showing that your product doesn’t just exist in isolation but is important to the wider industry.
The Right Types of Content for Link Building
Not all content is created equal. A “5 Tips to Save Time With XYZ Software” blog post isn’t going to cut it when it comes to link building. It might be useful for user education, but it’s not inherently “linkable.” Here are some types of content that SaaS companies should focus on for effective link building.
1. Data-Driven Content
If there's one thing that brings in backlinks, it’s unique data. People crave data, especially other content creators and journalists who need reliable statistics to support their own narratives. If you can provide that data—even better if it’s data that no one else has—you’ve struck gold.
- Original Research: Think about surveys, analysis, or anonymized internal metrics that tell an interesting story. Imagine you’re a SaaS tool for email marketing automation. Why not compile an annual report on open rates and best practices across industries? No one else has your data; that makes your report unique.
- Interactive Tools and Calculators: This one’s a little sneaky (in a good way). Create a calculator or an interactive tool that answers a question relevant to your audience. It could be an ROI calculator, a savings estimator, or anything specific to your field. Interactive content not only attracts links but also keeps people on your site longer—which is an SEO win-win.
| Content Type | Link-Building Effectiveness | Example Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Data-Driven Content | High | Surveys, Industry Reports, Interactive Tools |
| Thought Leadership Content | Medium-High | Opinion Pieces, Personal Experience Articles |
| Industry Guides | High | Pillar Guides, Ultimate How-To Articles |
| Case Studies | Medium | Customer Success Stories, Problem-Solution Narratives |
2. Thought Leadership Content
SaaS founders are often domain experts. Tap into that. If your founder or someone on your leadership team has insights on your industry, publish those. These aren’t just opinion pieces; they’re experience-backed articles that show the world you know your stuff. Thought leadership articles often gain backlinks because they get picked up by niche bloggers, industry publications, or even newsletters.
A Personal Story: I once worked with a SaaS founder who built a product management tool. He wrote an article titled, “What I Wish I Knew Before Building a Product Management Platform,” which detailed his struggles and the mistakes he made. Not only did this attract thousands of views, but it got linked in multiple places as other founders shared it with their networks. Honest vulnerability can resonate deeply and create link-worthy content.
3. Industry Guides and Pillar Content
The idea here is to create definitive resources on important topics in your niche. If someone searches for “The Complete Guide to Remote Team Management,” your goal is to have your guide at the top of those results—and you want it to be so in-depth and well-researched that no one else can easily replicate it.
These guides are great for acquiring backlinks because they provide value over the long term. People naturally link to them as references. They also help you own the conversation on certain key topics in your niche. One trick is to break up your pillar guide into smaller, more digestible pieces. Those smaller parts can then link back to the main guide, creating a cluster that reinforces your topical authority.
4. Case Studies and Success Stories
Many SaaS companies shy away from case studies because they seem “boring” or too sales-oriented. But when done right, case studies are like testimonials on steroids. They don’t just say, “Hey, this product works!” They show how it works, and for whom, with real numbers and scenarios.
Create case studies that highlight both the problem and the specific, measurable way your tool solved it. The secret? Make the story about the customer, not you. When you showcase a customer’s journey effectively, other companies—especially those in a similar boat—will link to it as a resource.
Proven Strategies for Link Building through Content
Alright, so now you know the content types that SaaS companies should focus on. But how do you actually get those links? I’ll give you a few strategies here that have worked for us at DataDab and for the SaaS companies we’ve worked with.
| Outreach Strategy | Action Step | Best Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Digital PR | Reach out to journalists with data | Personalize each pitch for relevance |
| Link Round-Ups | Pitch your content to round-ups | Offer unique and valuable content only |
| Guest Posting | Partner with relevant industry blogs | Focus on educational content |
| Content Partnerships | Collaborate on a joint piece | Share the final content with both audiences |
1. Digital PR for SaaS Stories
This is where content meets outreach. You can’t just publish an excellent piece and expect people to find it magically. You have to promote it—strategically.
How to do it? When you publish content that has data, a unique angle, or an industry opinion, reach out to journalists, bloggers, and other content creators in your niche. Focus on personalization here. The “spray and pray” method is dead; everyone hates irrelevant pitches.
Identify journalists who write about your industry and tailor the message specifically to them. Are you publishing an email marketing trends report? Reach out to journalists who have previously written about email marketing. Find publications that cater to your target audience and offer them a unique statistic or a quote from your report.
2. Link Round-Ups and Resource Pages
Remember when I said that link building isn’t about spammy emails? Well, there’s an exception to every rule. When it comes to link round-ups or resource pages, it’s all about relevancy.
Link Round-Ups: These are blog posts that collect useful articles on a given topic. Plenty of sites do weekly or monthly round-ups on specific industries. Find those that cover your niche and pitch your content for inclusion. Just make sure that what you’re offering is genuinely valuable.
Resource Pages: Tons of sites also maintain resource lists—places where they link to the best guides, tools, or content pieces about certain topics. Let’s say you’ve written a killer guide on team collaboration strategies for remote work. Find relevant resource pages, like those on remote work advocacy sites or SaaS review blogs, and pitch them on why your guide should be included.
3. Partnering for Guest Posts
Guest blogging is still effective, but only if done right. The focus here should be on adding value to the publication you're writing for, not stuffing links to your SaaS product.
Partner with blogs that have your target audience and provide them with genuinely insightful posts. One of our SaaS clients did this well by focusing on “lessons learned” posts on startup blogs. Instead of directly promoting their CRM tool, they shared broader lessons around lead management and included a subtle link when it was relevant. Guest posts that don’t feel promotional are more likely to get published and get the valuable backlinks you want.
4. Content Partnerships
This is a slightly underrated but incredibly powerful link building tactic: team up with complementary tools or services for joint content. Think of it as a “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” situation—except it’s mutually beneficial for both of your audiences.
Say you’re a SaaS company that makes accounting software. Partner with a payroll software provider and create a guide on “Best Tools for Finance Teams in Small Businesses.” You write a section, they write another, and then both of you share it with your audiences, earning backlinks in the process. It’s like networking, but for SEO.
Advanced Tactics to Try When You’ve Got the Basics Down
Once you’ve tried some of these proven methods and they’re working, you can explore more advanced tactics. SaaS link building can get creative. Let’s explore a few ideas:
1. Reverse Engineer Competitor Links
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to see where your competitors are getting their backlinks from. Look at their top-performing content and figure out who’s linking to them. Can you create something even better and approach the same sites for links?
Let’s say your competitor has a guide to email marketing best practices that’s getting loads of backlinks. If you can produce something more comprehensive—perhaps backed with your own proprietary data—you can reach out to those sites and pitch them on why your content is even better.
| Tool | Purpose | How to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Competitor Backlink Analysis | Identify top-linked competitor content |
| Moz | Competitor Domain Authority | Find authoritative backlink sources |
| SEMrush | Competitor Content Research | See what content is earning links |
2. HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
HARO is a free tool where journalists look for sources to include in their stories. This strategy works well if you’re a founder or a subject-matter expert willing to provide quotes. Sign up, watch for requests relevant to your field, and respond quickly with insightful comments. If chosen, you get a backlink from a high-authority site.
It doesn’t work every time, but over months, it can lead to links from some highly trusted sources. And the authority that comes from a link on Forbes, Business Insider, or any relevant industry publication is irreplaceable.
3. The Skyscraper Technique
This is a classic tactic, but it can be effective if you identify the right opportunities. The basic idea here is to identify content that’s getting a lot of links and create something better. That might mean a more detailed guide, more up-to-date information, or adding proprietary data that’s not available elsewhere.
The magic sauce is in the outreach—finding everyone who linked to the original post and letting them know that you have an improved version. Be courteous, not pushy. Show genuine appreciation for the original content and then present yours as the natural next step.
| Technique | Goal | Example Use |
|---|---|---|
| Reverse Engineer Links | Identify backlink opportunities | Analyze competitors' most-linked content |
| HARO | Earn backlinks from high-authority sites | Respond to journalist queries |
| Skyscraper Technique | Create superior content for outreach | Improve upon high-ranking existing content |
Recap
Link building for SaaS isn’t easy—if it were, everyone would be ranking on the first page of Google, right? But, at the same time, it’s not rocket science. It’s about creating genuinely useful content and then making sure the right people see it.
Think about what makes your audience tick. Are they looking for data? Insightful stories from people who have been in their shoes? Comprehensive resources they can share with their team? Focus on building the kind of content that makes people say, “Wow, this is exactly what I was looking for.”
When in doubt, think about what you’d link to. What makes you want to share a piece of content with a friend or a colleague? Link building is fundamentally about relationships—between you, your content, and other creators in the ecosystem. Treat it that way, and you’ll see the payoff in the long run.
And if you need a little help along the way—well, that’s what we at DataDab are here for. Ready to start building those links? Let’s get going!
FAQ
1. Why is content-led link building particularly effective for SaaS businesses?
Content-led link building is effective for SaaS because it addresses the need for trust and education. SaaS users often research heavily before purchasing, and high-quality content helps establish authority, providing valuable backlinks that drive visibility.
2. What kind of content should a SaaS business create for effective link building?
Focus on content types that are inherently linkable, such as data-driven articles, industry guides, thought leadership pieces, and case studies. These types are more likely to attract natural backlinks due to their high informational value.
3. How can I use data-driven content to attract backlinks?
You can conduct original research, create reports, or publish surveys that provide new insights into your industry. Unique data is highly valuable and frequently cited by other content creators and journalists, helping you attract backlinks naturally.
4. What are some effective outreach strategies for promoting content to gain backlinks?
Digital PR, targeting link round-ups, and pitching to resource pages are effective strategies. Ensure you personalize your outreach to journalists, bloggers, and content creators who cover your niche and emphasize why your content is valuable to their audience.
5. How do industry guides help with link building?
Industry guides are definitive resources that provide comprehensive information on a topic. Due to their depth and quality, they tend to be highly shareable and often get referenced as authoritative sources, making them effective for attracting backlinks over time.
6. Why should SaaS companies publish thought leadership content for link building?
Thought leadership content positions your company as an industry authority. When written by domain experts, these articles are frequently picked up by niche publications, blogs, or newsletters, leading to natural backlink opportunities.
7. What is the role of guest posting in link building for SaaS sites?
Guest posting helps SaaS businesses reach a broader audience while earning backlinks. Partner with blogs that have your target audience and provide insightful, non-promotional content, which helps establish credibility and link authority for your brand.
8. How does partnering for content help with link building?
Partnering with complementary SaaS products to create joint content helps cross-promote to each partner's audience. This approach not only shares the workload of content creation but also brings backlinks from both partners’ networks, benefiting both parties.
9. How can SaaS companies reverse-engineer competitor links for their link building?
Use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to identify where competitors are getting their backlinks. Study their top-performing content, create something even better, and then approach the same sites with a pitch explaining why your content is more comprehensive or updated.
10. Is HARO (Help a Reporter Out) effective for SaaS link building?
Yes, HARO is effective if you are willing to be a subject-matter expert providing quotes or insights. If chosen, your comments get featured in articles, often from high-authority sites, earning you quality backlinks that enhance your domain's credibility.
