Links from other sites remain one of the ways search engines judge which pages deserve trust. But not all links count, many count for very little, and some can hurt. For a SaaS company the useful question is not “how many links” but “which links would a buyer, a journalist or an assistant actually notice”.
Short on time? Comppound does this work for SaaS companies. AI-native, and a person reviews every page.
Have us do itWhat makes a link worth having
The links that help most share a few traits:
- From a site real people in your category read
- In the body of a relevant page, not a footer or sidebar list
- Given because the linked page is useful, not because it was bought
- With anchor text or context that says what your page is about
- To the page you want to rank, or a page that links on to it
What does not count, or hurts
Google's spam policies cover link schemes: buying links that pass ranking credit, large-scale link exchanges, private blog networks, and keyword-stuffed links in guest posts written mainly for links. Google says its systems mostly ignore such links, and manual actions remain possible. Paid placements are fine when they are marked as sponsored.
Comppound can do this for you
Want the links and mentions earned for you?
Comppound finds where your competitors are mentioned and you are not, then earns your place with research, partner listings and honest outreach. No bought links.
- Competitor link and mention gaps
- Original research and PR angles
- Partner, directory and review listings
Links and AI answers
Assistants do not count links the way rankings do, but the sources that link to you are often the same sources assistants read: review sites, comparisons, communities and articles. Earning a mention on those pages helps both.
Set a goal that fits
Compare your linking sites with those of the competitors who outrank you for your most valuable searches. The gap, measured in relevant sites rather than raw numbers, is your realistic goal. Most early SaaS sites need a steady trickle of relevant links more than a large batch of weak ones.
Worked example · an illustration, not a client result
Three links Tallyroom was offered
In one month Tallyroom was offered three links. It took one.
| Offer | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Mention in an agency-ops newsletter's tool roundup | Yes | Relevant readers, editorial choice |
| Paid “guest post” on a general business blog | No | Bought, irrelevant, unmarked |
| Link exchange with another SaaS company | No | A scheme, and an unrelated audience |
Do it yourself
Size your link gap
- 1Pick your three most valuable searches and note who outranks you.
- 2Use a backlink tool to list the sites linking to those competitors.
- 3Mark the sites that are relevant to your category and buyers.
- 4Note which of those already link to you.
- 5The relevant sites that link to competitors but not you are your shortlist.
Free tool for this: Free AI visibility report
Common mistakes
Buying links
Paid links that pass ranking credit break Google's policies and are usually discounted anyway.
Chasing domain scores
Third-party authority scores are estimates. Relevance to your buyers matters more than a number.
Linking everything to the homepage
Links help most when they point at the pages you want to rank.
Rather not do it yourself?
Want the links and mentions earned for you?
Comppound finds where your competitors are mentioned and you are not, then earns your place with research, partner listings and honest outreach. No bought links.
- Competitor link and mention gaps
- Original research and PR angles
- Partner, directory and review listings
Questions
Enough relevant ones to compete with the pages that outrank you. Compare with them rather than with a general target.
Rarely. Google ignores most spammy links. Disavowing is for cases where you built bad links or received a manual action.
Key terms
- BacklinkA backlink is a link from another website to a page on yours. Search engines use backlinks to find pages and as one signal of which pages are worth ranking.
- Link BuildingLink building is the work of getting other relevant sites to link to yours, by creating things worth citing and asking the right people to cite them.
- Link SchemeA link scheme is any attempt to manipulate rankings with links, such as buying, trading or automating them. Google's spam policies prohibit it.
- Paid LinksPaid links are links given in exchange for money, products or services. Allowed when qualified with sponsored or nofollow; otherwise link spam.
- Sponsored Link Attributerel="sponsored" marks a link as paid, sponsored or otherwise compensated, so search engines know not to count it as an editorial endorsement.
- Link RelevanceLink relevance is how closely the linking site and page relate to the topic of the page they link to. Relevant links tend to be the most useful.
- Anchor TextAnchor text is the clickable text of a link. It tells readers and search engines what to expect on the page the link points to.
- DisavowDisavowing tells Google to ignore specific backlinks to your site. Google says most sites never need it, and using it carelessly can remove useful links.
- Referring DomainsReferring domains are the number of unique websites that link to your site, counting each linking domain once no matter how many links it sends.
