Link Building for SaaS Companies to Improve SEO
SaaS companies need to be aware of the importance of link building and what it can do for them. This article will help you understand why, and how important links are and how you can improve your site's chances with them.
The importance of backlinks for SEO has been a hot topic among search marketers over the last few years, particularly after Google updated its algorithm to include link penalties as one of many potential signals that may impact rankings. The reason these updates have happened is because strategies such as keyword stuffing and mass blog commenting used to work — much like everything in life they require hard work and dedication to make them worthwhile. You could go out there and do it or hire someone to do it for you but either way good quality content + good link building = good organic traffic.
Types of backlinks
First, it's important to note that there are different kinds of backlinks. We'll go over the most common types here, and I'll make recommendations later in this post about how Saas companies can get these links.
I call each type of link a "candy" because you're basically giving this person or site your 'link candy' (i.e., your URL) for them to consume (and potentially share with their audience). The candies that are most valuable to you would be the ones that pass along some sort of referral traffic (people who click on Facebook shares tend to click through to the referring site pretty often). Here are the 5 main types:
1. Press releases
Press releases are a great way to get attention from mainstream media without hiring a PR firm. This is because press release writing has become extremely easy to do. The entire process can be done in a couple of hours and then the press release is published to hundreds to thousands of media sites. Press releases are great strategy to earn backlinks & mentions. There are media companies like Press Release Outreach which help clients improve their sales, brand value & SEO by distributing client's news worthy article into press. "Press Release Outreach" provides press release distribution service to clients in Canada & the USA. They are a very popular Newswire service.
Press releases are also indexed by Google (so you get some link juice) and they can be used to generate social signals which Google absolutely loves. You should definitely use them to promote new product launches, new features and site redesigns.
2. Directory Links
Getting listed in a directory such as YELP or BrightLocal can be very valuable for SaaS companies.
3. Wikipedia Links
Wikipedia is the most authoritative site on the Internet. It's highly trusted and is a very credible reference in Google's eyes (i.e., when you're doing a search, you'll often see Wikipedia articles showing up as the top result). See an example of wikipedia link here.
4. Social Mentions
Getting stuff on social media that mentions your company is valuable since people browsing on these sites are often looking for what you offer & coming to your website.
5. Guest Posts
Having articles written about your company can be great for getting links to your site. When someone writes a post on their blog about a product or service, it's ultimately a vote of approval. The blogger is essentially saying "this is an awesome company that I think everyone needs to know about. Guest posts are popular way of getting backlinks.
Where do SaaS companies fit in Backlinks building?
A research made by Moz and BuzzSumo revealed some interesting insights into the preferred link building tactics of different industries. As per findings of BIG DOERS - For SaaS products, link building was the third biggest content marketing tactic after blogging and social media.
This study echoes Mashable's research which found that more than half of marketers who were successful at acquiring customers via their blogs acquired them through organic search. However, even though blog posts are essential for gaining backlinks (and consequently increasing SEO), as outlined by SearchEngineLand, "the majority of the highest-ranking pages on websites like Amazon and Netflix don't have blogs.
If you’re going to invest resources in creating content for SEO (& ofcourse your audience), not building links to it would be a huge missed opportunity. Plus, link building can be a great way to make relationships!. Backlinks while have great SEO value they also add to trust amongst your users.