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How to get backlinks for a new SaaS site without risking a penalty

· 6 min read
Dealpuffin
Dealpuffin
Proof points and live coupons for early adopters

The safest way to get backlinks for a new SaaS site is to publish something other people want to cite, then tell the right people it exists. Google says it finds most new pages through links, and that links from other sites happen naturally over time. What you must avoid is creating links mainly to manipulate rankings, which its spam policy calls link spam.

This guide separates what the policy allows from what it names as spam, then lists practical places to earn links as a small team. Everything about Google's rules is taken from its Search Central documentation, read on 7 November 2026.

Google's SEO starter guide says it primarily finds pages through links from pages it already crawled, and that you can encourage discovery by promoting your site. The same page warns that you can overdo promotion and that some practices may be seen as manipulation of search results.

The spam policies define link spam as creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate rankings. The listed examples include:

  • Buying or selling links for ranking purposes, including exchanging goods or services for links, or sending a product so someone writes about it with a link.
  • Excessive link exchanges and partner pages made only for cross-linking.
  • Using automated programs or services to create links.
  • Low-quality directory or bookmark site links.
  • Guest posts, advertorials and press releases with optimized anchor text.
  • Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature.

The same page says paid and sponsored links are not a violation when they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". So paying for exposure is fine; paying for ranking credit is not.

What to skip​

Skip bulk directory submissions, link packages, comment and forum drops, and swapping links with other founders as a standing arrangement. They match the examples above, and they bring little real traffic. A single link from a page that readers actually use is worth more than a hundred from pages nobody opens.

If a link exists only because you asked for it, it is probably not the kind Google wants to count.

These are ordinary ways links appear when you give people something to reference.

  1. Original, checkable content. A post with a table, a worked example or a decision rule that other posts lack. Fee comparisons are a good case: Stripe vs Paddle vs Polar fees puts the same $20 payment through three providers, which is the kind of thing a reader quotes.
  2. Launches. A listing on a launch platform is a one-time mention and can bring first users. Show HN vs Product Hunt compares the rules of both. Treat the traffic as the goal and any link as a bonus.
  3. Your own documentation and open-source pieces. Developer tools earn links when docs, SDKs or example repos solve a problem people search for.
  4. Integrations. Many platforms list partner apps. If your product integrates with a tool, check whether it has a public integrations or marketplace page and apply through its normal process.
  5. Product marketplaces and catalogs with real listings. A catalog that links back to your product can send readers who are looking for tools like yours. Dealpuffin is one such path for products that use Stripe, Paddle or Polar. It is free to list, but we do not know whether its links pass ranking credit, so count it as a place to be found, not as a ranking tactic.
  6. Answering questions in public. Helpful answers on forums and Q&A sites bring readers. Follow each community's self-promotion rules, and do not add optimized links to signatures.
  7. Talking to people who already write about your topic. Newsletter authors and bloggers link to things they find useful. A short, specific note pointing to one page, with no template and no request for a link, is a reasonable approach.

A weekly routine that fits one person​

  • Publish one piece with something quotable: a table, a calculation, a checklist.
  • Send it to three people who wrote about that exact problem in the last year.
  • Check where your visitors come from in analytics and write more of what travels.
  • Review new links in Search Console and ignore the ones you do not recognize unless they are clearly paid or automated.

Allow weeks, not days. A new site has few signals, and links arrive slowly.

If you pay for placements or accept user-generated content, Google's guidance on qualifying outbound links recommends rel="sponsored" for paid links and rel="ugc" for comments and forum posts. Do the same on your own site. It protects you and makes it easier to be a good link partner.

Frequently asked questions​

Google's starter guide says links are how it finds most new pages, but it also lists PageRank as just one of many ranking signals. For a new site, some links help discovery, and useful content matters as much.

Asking is not the issue. The spam policy targets links created mainly to manipulate rankings, such as paid links without qualification, automated link building, and excessive link exchanges.

Are directory submissions worth it?​

Low-quality directory links are on Google's link spam list. A listing in a catalog that real buyers browse can still bring visitors, so judge it by the traffic it could send and not by the link.

There is no fixed time. A new site usually needs weeks of publishing before links or impressions grow, so measure over months.