How to Get Backlinks for Your SaaS for Free
A no-budget guide to building backlinks for your SaaS — directories, winner badges, resource pages, blog swaps, tool integrations, and HARO explained.
Buying backlinks is against Google's guidelines and the risk-reward isn't worth it when free alternatives work. The founders who've built strong organic rankings for their SaaS products have done so through methods that cost time, not money.
Here's the complete list of free backlink acquisition methods that consistently work.
1. Directory Submissions
The most accessible and systematic source of free backlinks. Product Hunt, SaaSHub, AlternativeTo, G2, Capterra, Uneed, MicroLaunch, DevHunt, and dozens of smaller directories each provide a dofollow link back to your site.
A thorough directory campaign — 20–30 quality submissions — can build your initial backlink profile from zero to a meaningful foundation in 2–3 weeks. This is the most time-efficient start.
LaunchBuff provides a permanent listing with a dofollow backlink on submission. If you win a tournament bracket, you also get homepage placement. Free at launchbuff.com/submit.
2. Winner Badges
Every platform you win or rank highly on typically offers a badge. LaunchBuff winner badges, Product Hunt top product badges, and similar awards are designed for display on your homepage — which means they link back to your listing, and your listing links to your site.
More importantly: when other websites feature your product in roundups or reviews and include your badge image, each display is another link opportunity. A badge on your homepage is passive link bait.
Display every badge you legitimately earn. The SEO value compounds as you appear in more places.
3. Resource Pages and "Best Of" Lists
Search for curated resource pages in your niche: "best tools for [category]" site:blog.example.com, or "resources" + "[your user's role]". These pages link to tools their audience finds valuable.
Reach out to the author with a brief note explaining what your product does and why it belongs on their list. Be specific about the type of user it's best for — this makes it easy for the author to decide where it fits.
Expect 10–20% conversion on genuine outreach to actively maintained pages. Higher if your product genuinely fills a gap in their existing list.
4. Blog Swaps (Guest Posts and Mentions)
Writing for blogs in your audience's niche generates backlinks and brand awareness simultaneously. A guest post that actually helps readers — not thinly veiled promotional content — will be published by most blogs that accept contributions.
Partner with complementary (not competing) SaaS founders for mention swaps: you include them in a relevant roundup, they do the same. This is faster to arrange than full guest posts and can generate links quickly.
5. Tool Integrations and Partner Badges
If your product integrates with other tools (Notion, Slack, Zapier, etc.), get listed in their integration directories. Zapier's app directory, for instance, receives significant organic traffic and provides a high-DA backlink.
If you add a "powered by" or "built with" attribution in a free tier of your product, every user who displays it on their site is a potential backlink.
6. HARO and Qwoted
Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Qwoted aggregate journalist requests for expert sources. When your response is used, you typically receive a mention in a publication with real domain authority.
The quality of a single link from Forbes or TechCrunch exceeds 50 directory links. The hit rate is low (5–10% of responses used), but the consistent daily effort is worth it.
Budget 15 minutes each morning. Prioritise requests that match your actual expertise — your quote quality matters for placement.
7. Competitor Gap Analysis
Find sites that link to your competitors but not to you. Use Ahrefs (free tier gives you limited data), Moz, or Semrush. Export your competitor's backlink list, filter for sites with real traffic, and check if they mention your product.
Where they don't, reach out: "I noticed you featured [competitor] in your article about X. I thought [your product] might be worth including as an alternative since it [specific differentiator]."
These are warm outreach targets — they've already decided to link to similar products.
Building a Sustainable Backlink Strategy
New links: directory submissions + HARO (ongoing, 30 minutes/day) Growing links: resource page outreach + guest posts (2 per month) Passive links: badges + integrations (one-time setup) High-value targets: competitor gap analysis (quarterly review)
The result after 6 months of consistent execution: a link profile that reflects your real presence in the ecosystem rather than artificial link building.
Submit your product to LaunchBuff → — free listing + fortnightly tournament.
Seb Mallory
Founder of LaunchBuff. Writing about product launches, distribution, and what actually works for indie founders getting their first traction.
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