The only 2 link building strategies that work for SaaS businesses

To grow organic traffic for your SaaS business, you need plenty of high-quality links.

But building them isn’t easy.

I’ve built over 180,000 backlinks to my SaaS site (standout-cv.com) by trialling every link building method out there.

In 2025, we’ve narrowed it down to two core strategies that consistently deliver quality links at scale (plus one extra we use sparingly when it’s worth the effort).

Ignore the endless “87 link building tactics” lists – here’s what really works in 2025.

Why is link building important for SaaS?

Search engines rank websites with strong domain authority, and links are a key factor in building that strength.

Studies from SEO tools Semrush and Moz show a clear link between high-quality backlinks and better search rankings. For SaaS companies, more authority means more organic traffic, leads, and sign-ups – a key goal in SEO for SaaS.

Link building is important for any business, but particularly for SaaS businesses where you’re often competing with very authoritative websites..

What type of links should you be building?

You should only build authoritative, relevant links from trusted sources in your industry. SaaS businesses shouldn’t waste time chasing low-quality links from unknown sites – they add little value and can even harm credibility and SEO performance. 

Aim for links that signal expertise and relevance to search engines, if you want impactful traffic gains.

As somebody who runs a SaaS business that relies on SEO to attract thousands of leads, I strongly believe that Digital PR and Linkable Assets are the only 2 strategies that will bring you quality links at scale.

Here’s why…

Digital PR is an incredibly effective link building tactic, and one that we’ve used at StandOut CV for several years – helping us to outrank global brands and bring in over 100K organic visitors per month.

Essentially it’s the art of creating newsworthy stories from data and insights in your industry, and getting them featured in news publications.

You’ve probably seen headlines like these before.

• Remote work saves UK employees £6,500 a year — new data from Indeed reveals
• AI job postings surge 400% in 2025: Analysis reveals fastest-growing tech skills
• London tops list of Europe’s most expensive cities for remote workers

These kinds of insights aren’t usually discovered by the journalists covering them – they are normally the result of well-planned digital PR campaigns.

The aim of any digital PR campaign is to secure as many placements of your story across the web as possible – earning a link back from each site who features it.

Digital PR is a great way to build super-high-quality links at scale, for the following reasons

• High success rate: News websites and blogs are always looking for interesting data-backed stories to publish, so creating unique research can easily earn widespread media coverage, high-authority backlinks, and increased brand visibility
• High authority links: With a good story, even small websites can earn backlinks in top-tier publications. Our campaigns have been featured in the BBC, Daily Mail, Forbes CNN and more
• High volume of links: PR campaigns often have strong viral potential –  once a few outlets pick it up, others follow, and you can earn dozens (even hundreds) of links from one piece of content.
• High relevancy: By focusing your research on your niche, you’ll attract links from sites your ideal customers actually read – building topical authority that really helps your SEO.

Examples of Digital PR

Here are some examples of Digital PR campaigns we have run at StandOut CV.

How it works

Here’s how a successful digital PR campaign is carried out.

• Ideation: Find a newsworthy angle in your industry (e.g. SaaS trends, AI adoption) and uncover topics lacking fresh data.
• Data collection: Gather credible figures via surveys, internal data analysis, or public/government sources.
• Content creation: Turn insights into an engaging asset with clear charts, key stats, and quotable takeaways.
  Outreach:  Build a targeted media list and pitch journalists with strong headlines and exclusive data angles.

Link quality

The quality of links that you can build with Digital PR is unbeatable.

Links from globally recognised outlets like the BBC and Forbes are achievable for any business, as long as you have a strong story backed by compelling data. Smaller, well-respected sites in your niche are also keen to cover quality stories, adding highly relevant links to the mix too.

You simply won’t get this calibre of coverage from old-school tactics like guest posting, cold outreach, or broken link building.

Scalability 

Digital PR is a highly scalable way to build links. Strong campaigns can snowball once a few major news sites pick them up, often going viral and attracting widespread coverage. On average, our campaigns earn at least 20 links, while standout ones can land 50+  (some have topped 100)  Because these links are so authoritative, even a single successful campaign can significantly boost your site’s authority.

That said, not every campaign will hit. Sometimes an idea just doesn’t resonate, and you might only get a handful of links from smaller sites. Even experienced PR professionals face this issue. The key is to run campaigns consistently throughout the year, so one underperformer doesn’t derail your overall link-building momentum.

I would recommend running at least 4 campaigns per year, if you’re seriously looking to grow domain authority.

How much does it cost?

Digital PR costs can vary a lot depending on how you approach it. Hiring a specialist agency is typically the most expensive route – expect to pay anywhere from £2,500 to £10,000+ per campaign. That usually covers everything: ideation, data gathering, content creation, design, and outreach.

Doing it in-house can be cheaper but more time-consuming. You’ll need to hire somebody with digital PR experience to research ideas, run surveys or analyse data, create strong copy and visuals, and pitch journalists. There may also be costs for tools (survey platforms, journalist databases, email outreach software) and design support if you don’t have it internally.

For leaner campaigns, you can cut costs by using free datasets, running your own polls, and handling outreach yourself – but it will take more effort and skill to pull off successfully.

I’d recommend outsourcing to an agency, because you get the expertise of a specialist team and a fully managed, end-to-end process. While it costs more than running campaigns in-house, you’ll save significant time and avoid the hassle of training staff and setting up the necessary tools.

Best for: Proactively building large bust of high-quality links 🏆

If you need to boost your domain authority quickly, and you have a decent budget, Digital PR is the perfect way to do it.

There’s no better tactic for earning a large volume of high-quality links in a short time.

Drawbacks and limitations

The only real downside to digital PR is cost – it’s arguably the most expensive link building tactic.

However I would caveat that by saying it’s also one of the best value for money tactics out there too.

If a campaign takes off, generates 50 links, and earns you global coverage – it’s much more valuable than paying for a shady guest-posting service that delivers 10 rubbish links for half the price.

Non-SEO benefits

Beyond quality links, Digital Pr is also an excellent way to gain exposure for your business and grow your brand.

Having your company name regularly appear in the press, builds familiarity and trust amongst potential customers – positioning you as an expert in your niche.

This is ultimately how Google wants websites to build links – with real brand building – instead of spammy schemes that try to game the system.

Linkable assets are pieces of content on your website that are so useful that they attract hundreds of backlinks naturally over time.

But it’s not the typical “publish good content and pray the links come in” approach.

Linkable assets are strategically created to be discovered by journalists and attract links from top-tier publications.

This linkable asset I created on remote work data in the UK, has attracted over 707 backlinks, including some from Indeed and Deloitte – with zero cold outreach required.

The best thing about Linkable assets is that once they are created, they can bring in quality links for years, and they require no email outreach and minimal maintenance.

Examples of linkable assets

There are 3 key types of Linkable asset, I’ve provided 1 example for each here:

How it works

Here’s how to create a successful linkable asset.

• Keyword research – Brainstorm and use SEO tools to find popular topics for data or tools that you could rank for.
• Creation (data pages) – Collate data from credible sources across the web and compile into an attractive blog post.
• Creation (tools) – Create your tool and add to an optimised post to rank in search.

Link Quality 

Because linkable assets are mainly resources for journalists, they naturally attract links from lots of news publications. 

You can expect plenty of links from mid-tier publications like local and industry news sites, along with links from top-tier global news sites. You’ll also attract links from smaller but highly relevant blogs in your niche.

Scalability 

Linkable assets provide impressive long-term compounding link building results.

Whilst they don’t provide big flurries of links in one hit, like Digital PR does, they have unbeatable longevity with the ability to attract links for years after publishing.

We have linkable assets on StandOut CV that are over 5 years old, and still pulling in links every month.

They are slow starters, as they take a few weeks to rank and earn their first link – but then each one can easily attract 5-10 links per month.

With just 10 strong linkable assets, you could realistically generate 50+ high-quality links every month on autopilot.

How much does it cost?

Linkable assets can be created by an agency for £3,000 – £5,000 – which may sound like a lot for one piece of content, but if you view it on a cost-per-link basis, it’s actually very cheap if it pulls in 100+ links.

You could create linkable assets in house, but you need a very good writer and an SEO specialist to carry out the keyword needed to pick an effective topic.

Once created you’ll need to update them annually, which will normally require a few hours research and writing work.

Best for: Creating a passive link building machine 🏆

Once you’ve built a strong collection of linkable assets on your site, you’ll naturally attract a steady flow of quality links every month.

It’s an enviable position that takes the pressure off active link-building efforts. And because no outreach is needed, it’s one of the most resource-efficient link-building strategies available.

Drawbacks and limitations

The biggest limitation to linkable assets is that you need some initial domain authority for your content pieces to rank somewhere near the top for their intended keywords.

If your site is brand new, or has very few sites linking to it – it’s unlikely linkable assets will work right away.

However, by starting with 6 months of proactive Digital PR to build initial authority, you can soon reach a point where your linkable assets rank highly soon after publishing.

Non-SEO benefits

In addition to building hundreds of quality links – Linkable Assets also position your brand as an expert source.

When news sites regularly quote your data, your brand becomes recognised as a trusted authority. Over time, journalists may start searching for your site directly with terms like “[your site] data study”  a strong trust signal to Google.

These branded searches can further boost your site’s authority and make Google more likely to rank your content.

Guest posting is not a link building strategy I would generally recommend to most businesses today, but it can be used sparingly to good effect in some cases.

I built a lot of StandOut CV’s early backlinks with guest-posting and we still do a very limited amount of it today – but only for big sites like Forbes.

What is guest posting?

Guest posting is simply writing an article for another website, in exchange for a link back to your own.

You pitch a website with your idea for a guest-post, and if they accept, you write it for them – they publish it, and include a link to your site in the author bio.

Why I don’t recommend guest-posting ❌

Whilst I’ve probably written several hundred guest posts for StandOut CV over the years – lots has changed, and I wouldn’t recommend it to any SaaS business who want to build quality links at scale in 2025.

Here’s why:

Low success rate

Guest posting has become the go-to method of link building for cheap agencies. They blast out thousands of templated guest post requests every day, and as a result of this, website owners are annoyed by them, and now very reluctant to accept guest posts.

Your chances of landing guest posts in 2025 are very low.

Low quality links

Because guest post requests are so heavily spammed, most high-quality websites won’t even consider them. The few sites that still accept guest posts are usually average at best – and more often low-quality with little real authority.

Links from these kinds of sites no longer move the needle for SEO. Building them is largely a waste of time and resources.

Hard to scale

Even if you do manage to land a few guest posts, the process is slow and labour-intensive. Each post requires finding prospects, pitching, writing content, and waiting for publication – often with no guarantee of a link or referral traffic.

Because of this, it’s almost impossible to build guest posting into a reliable, scalable link-building strategy. The time and effort spent could be far better invested in tactics that deliver stronger, longer-term SEO results.

In conclusion, guest posting is a difficult and inefficient way to build low-quality links. Digital PR and linkable assets, on the other hand, allow you to earn a far greater volume of higher-quality links with much more reliable results.

While the upfront cost of these tactics can seem higher, their value for money is far better when you factor in both the quality and quantity of links they deliver.

When could you use guest posting?

Whilst I don’t recommend a mass guest-posing campaign, there are 2 situations where strategic guest-posting can be useful.

• You have a limited budget – If you’re bootstrapping your business, and you don’t have the budget for Digital PR, you’ll have to hustle and get some early links in through guest-posting. It won’t be fun, but it will get your site authority off the ground.
• You have existing relationships – If you already work closely with another business who has an established website, it’s worth asking if you can guest post for them.

6 more limited link building tactics 

In my opinion, Digital PR and Linkable Assets are the only way to build quality links at scale – which is what most SaaS businesses need to grow traffic and signups

There are more strategies out there – which I’ll list below – but most of these are limited in scalability.

You might be able to build a few extra links with these, but don’t commit huge amounts of resources to them

Link from your product

If your product is embedded or displayed on customer websites (e.g., a “powered by” badge or widget), it can generate links on autopilot whenever a customer implements the product. 

Uptime Robot do this to good effect with a link from their hosted customer status pages – each one links back to their product page.

But it’s a limited tactic – you can only get links where your product is used, and most will be low-authority – unless your product is already hugely popular.

Worth implementing for most SaaS businesses with a public-facing product – but don’t expect huge results

Outreach to roundup posts

Pitching your product or resource to “best X tools” or “top platforms” articles can earn some good, relevant links. However, opportunities are finite, competition is high, and most roundups are pay-to-play or slow to respond.

Podcasts and interviews

Appearing as a guest on podcasts or interviews can earn a link in show notes or bios and help build brand awareness. But the process is time-consuming, and each appearance usually yields just one link.

Get mentioned on partner websites

If you have business partners, integrations, or affiliates, you can ask them to list and link to your product. A quick win, but you’ll soon run out of partners to ask.

Broken link building

Finding dead links on other sites and suggesting your content as a replacement can work in small doses. But success rates are low, outreach is repetitive, and many site owners ignore or charge for fixes.

Chasing unlinked brand mentions

Reaching out when someone mentions your brand without linking can recover a few missed opportunities. Still, the volume is limited, and success depends on already having a well-known brand.

Digital PR and Linkable Assets for the win

A combination of Digital PR and Linkable Assets is a guaranteed way to build high-quality links at scale for any business – especially for SaaS businesses where competition is tough.

6 -12 months of applying these 2 strategies will provide a significant boost to your domain authority – which when combined with solid on-site content, will increase rankings, traffic and revenue.

If you’re serious about growing your SaaS business with SEO – download our Free SaaS SEO checklist – your complete roadmap to traffic and revenue growth.