How to Get Dofollow Backlinks for a New SaaS (2026)

The short version: a new SaaS builds dofollow backlinks by starting with free, high-authority placements like software directories and review sites, then layering in free tools, journalist quotes, and guest posts over time. The order matters more than the list — tactics that need existing authority simply don't work in week one.

Here's the gap most guides ignore. They tell you to reclaim unlinked brand mentions when nobody has mentioned you yet, or to do broken-link building when you have no content to offer in return. That advice is written for companies that already have authority. A bootstrapped SaaS launching its first product needs a different sequence.

So this is written in that sequence. Let's follow one example the whole way through: you just launched Inboxly, a small tool that cleans up your email inbox. No traffic, no links, no reputation. Here's exactly what you do, and roughly when.

First, what actually makes a backlink worth anything

Before any tactic, understand what you're chasing — because it changes how you spend your time.

A link's value comes from relevance and trust, not from a big Domain Rating number. A dofollow link from a DR-40 blog that covers email and productivity does more for Inboxly than a DR-80 link from a gardening site. Google reads the gardening link as random and the productivity link as a vote from the right neighborhood.

When you size up any potential link, check five things:

• It's dofollow, so it passes ranking signal.
• It's topically relevant to what you do.
• It sits in the body of a page, not in a footer or sidebar.
• The linking page gets real organic traffic.
• It's a site your audience would actually read.

One link that ticks all five beats fifty footer links. That single rule prevents most link-building mistakes.

Gut check: would this site exist and link to people even if SEO didn't? If yes, the link is real. If it only exists to sell links, walk away.

How many links do you even need?

This is the question every founder asks, so let's answer it with numbers instead of vibes.

There's no magic count, but there are useful ranges. Low-competition long-tail keywords can rank with 5–10 quality links. Moderately competitive terms usually need 10–50. Competitive SaaS, finance, and legal keywords can need 50–200. And across the board, a few relevant, authoritative links beat hundreds of weak ones.

Velocity matters too. For a new domain, 10–30 links a month looks natural. Gaining hundreds in your first 30 days looks manipulative and can backfire. Inboxly isn't racing to a number — it's building a steady, believable trickle.

Here's the whole plan at a glance, then we'll walk through each phase.

Phase 1: Get listed in directories and review sites (week 1–4)

This is where Inboxly starts, because it's the one tactic that works with zero reputation.

Software directories and review sites already rank, already get traffic, and exist specifically to list new tools. You submit, you get a link from an established page, and you often pick up early users on the way. These are also the pages buyers read when they research your category — so the listing does double duty.

Hit the big ones first: G2, Capterra, GetApp, TrustRadius, and Product Hunt. Product Hunt alone sits at a domain authority around 91 with millions of monthly visitors; a well-prepared launch can earn dozens of backlinks from blogs covering new releases. Then add the SaaS-native directories — AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, BetaList — which rank for the long-tail comparison searches your buyers make.

The trick is to be picky and relevant. For Inboxly, that means email and productivity directories, not a directory that lists everything from plumbers to crypto. Prepare your tagline, a short description, a logo, and a screenshot once, then reuse them everywhere — each submission then takes two minutes.

Done well, this phase alone can build 15–30 quality links in your first month, at zero cost.

That's exactly what MarketingDB is for: a free, curated, indexed listing in your category. You can submit your SaaS here. For a wider list to work through, see our guide to the best SaaS directories and free directories to submit your startup.

Phase 2: Build one free tool people link to (month 1–3)

Once Inboxly has its listings, build something people want to link to.

Free tools are the quiet workhorses of SaaS link building. A calculator, a checker, a generator, a template — something useful enough that people bookmark it and mention it in their own posts. You don't ask for the link; the tool earns it. To put a number on it: Ahrefs' free backlink checker has pulled links from over 9,000 referring domains. You won't hit that, but the mechanism is the same at any scale.

Pick a high-intent search in your space. For Inboxly, maybe an "email signature generator" or an "inbox-zero checklist." Build a small version, make it free, skip the signup, add a share button.

It takes a weekend and then earns links for years. For most SaaS sites, the free tool becomes the single most-linked page they own. (It's also why we built our own free Domain Rating checker — useful tools attract the exact audience you want.)

Phase 3: Trade expertise for press links via HARO (month 2–4)

Now Inboxly earns links from sites you could never pitch cold.

Services like HARO (now running as Source of Sources), Qwoted, and Featured connect journalists with expert sources. A reporter writing about email overload needs a quote; you give a sharp, specific one; when the piece runs, you usually get a dofollow link from a high-authority outlet like Forbes, TechCrunch, or Business Insider.

This works for unknown founders because you're trading knowledge, not fame. The catch is consistency and specificity. "Email is important for business" gets ignored. "We found 41% of our users had over 10,000 unread emails, and here's the pattern behind it" gets quoted. Answer two or three relevant queries a week for a few weeks before expecting a hit.

Phase 4: Write the occasional guest post (month 3–6)

Guest posting still works — as long as you treat it as writing, not link-dropping.

Find a blog your audience actually reads. Search "write for us" + your niche to find sites that accept contributions. Pitch a specific article idea that references something they've published and fills a gap — generic pitches get deleted. Then write something genuinely useful and let one or two contextual links to Inboxly sit naturally in the body. A link to a specific feature or blog page carries more weight than a link to your homepage.

One warning from experience: avoid sites that publish a dozen paid guest posts a day. Those are guest-post farms, and a link from them can signal a manipulative profile rather than help you. One good post a month beats ten cheap ones.

Phase 5: Communities, integrations, and partners (month 4+)

The slowest tactics, and often the most durable.

Niche communities (Reddit, Quora, indie-hacker forums) won't move rankings overnight, and many of their links are nofollow — but they drive targeted referral traffic and occasionally earn natural links when others discover your answers. Be useful first; the links follow people worth linking to.

Once Inboxly has real users, integration directories open up too — think app marketplaces for the tools you connect with. These carry strong authority and are read by your exact audience. And if your product has any embeddable output (a widget, a badge, a shareable report), a small "powered by Inboxly" link can compound over time — Typeform famously turned its embed into over 100 million backlinks.

What to avoid

A few things that look like shortcuts and aren't.

Don't buy "500 backlinks for $19" — those are footer links on spammy, irrelevant domains, and a sudden unnatural spike can trigger a penalty. Avoid private blog networks (PBNs) and manufactured link exchanges; Google detects and devalues both. And don't disavow legitimate directory links out of fear — clean, relevant links are an asset, not a risk.

If you're unsure what a healthy link profile even looks like, read what a backlink profile is first. It makes every decision above easier.

The bottom line

For a new SaaS, backlinks come from doing useful, real things in the right order: get listed where it's relevant, build something worth linking to, lend your expertise, write the occasional good post, then unlock partnerships as you grow.

Inboxly never needed a TechCrunch feature on day one. It needed ten relevant links and a few months of steady effort. Yours is the same.

Start with a free, curated, indexed listing on MarketingDB, then work down the phases above.