Link Building for Startups: 4 Best Ways to Get Started.

Every startup hits the same SEO wall. You’ve built a good product, launched a website and published a few blog posts. Then nothing happens. Your pages sit on page five, and the big players own every search you care about.

Usually the problem isn’t your content. No one is pointing to it yet.

Search engines treat links from other websites as signs of trust. A brand-new domain has almost none, so even excellent pages struggle to compete with sites that have been collecting links for years. And it doesn't stop at Google. In an Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands, the ones mentioned most often across the web were far more likely to appear in Google’s AI Overviews. A startup that nobody links to or talks about is easy for both search engines and AI tools to overlook.

The good news is that startups have advantages bigger companies don’t. You have a founder story worth telling, a product people can try for free, and the flexibility to move fast. Used well, those can earn you links that a large marketing budget can’t easily buy.

This guide covers practical Link-building tactics for startups, ordered from cheapest to most effort. It also covers what to avoid, a realistic budget and timeline, and how to tell whether it’s working.

Link building is a way of getting links from other websites to your own. Links can appear in various places across different pages, but they all have one thing in common: they direct people to your website. Because links are a primary factor in how search engines decide which pages are relevant and which aren’t.

Key Takeaways

• Links help search engines find you and trust you. A new domain with no links struggles to rank, even with great content.

• Startups have link-earning advantages big companies don’t: founder stories, free trials, original data and the freedom to move fast.

• Start with the free and easy links, like profiles, partner pages and launch platforms, before paying for anything.

• Mentions matter as much as links now. Being mentioned across the web makes you more visible in Google and AI answers.

• Avoid shortcuts. Paid links, link schemes and mass directory submissions can do lasting damage to a young site.

Why Link Building Matters for Startups (and When to Start)

Links from other websites do two jobs for a new site.

They help search engines find your pages. Google’s own SEO starter guide says it primarily finds pages through links from pages it has already crawled. A new site with no links pointing to it is easy to miss.

They signal that your pages are worth trusting. When other sites link to you, it tells search engines that people find your content useful. Ahrefs’ 2023 study of around 14 billion pages found that pages with more linking websites tended to get more search traffic. Ahrefs noted that this shows correlation, not proof of cause. The other side of it was striking, though. Of the roughly 20 million pages in its index with no backlinks at all, only 2,997 got more than 1,000 search visits a month. That’s about 1 in every 6,671.

For a startup, that’s the real problem. Your competitors have often been collecting links for years. Without a deliberate plan, your best pages can stay buried no matter how good they are.

When should a startup start link building?

Sooner than most founders think, but in stages.

From launch: Claim the easy, foundational links straight away. These are business profiles, review sites, launch platforms and your partners’ pages. They cost little or nothing and give search engines a starting point.

Once you have pages worth linking to: Begin active link building when you have a few strong pages, such as a clear product page, a useful guide, a free tool, or some original data. Links to a thin homepage alone rarely go far.

As you grow: Scale up when you know which pages drive sign-ups or demos. Then focus your efforts on the pages that turn visitors into customers.

Set realistic expectations

Link building is a long game. Google itself says some changes take a few hours to show up in search, while others can take several months, and it suggests waiting at least a few weeks before judging whether your work had an effect. Startups that keep going for six months or more usually see far more than those that try it for a few weeks and give up.

Before You Build Links: Get the Foundations Right

Links work best when they point to something worth finding. Before you start outreach, spend a week on these five basics. It makes every link you earn afterward count for more.

1. Create a few pages worth linking to

Most sites won’t link to a homepage or a sales page. They link to things that help their readers. Before you start asking, make sure you have at least two or three of these:

• A clear product or use-case page that explains what you do and who it’s for

• One genuinely useful guide on a problem your customers have

• A free tool, template, or checklist people can use straight away

• Original data, even a small survey or anonymized numbers from your product

These pages are what you’ll point outreach, partners and journalists toward.

2. Make sure search engines can find and read your site

There’s no point earning links to pages Google can’t see.

• Set up Google Search Console and submit your sitemap, so you can see which pages are indexed and fix problems early.

• Check that key pages aren’t blocked by robots.txt or a noindex tag left over from development.

• Make sure important text doesn’t rely on JavaScript to appear. Many AI crawlers don’t run JavaScript, so content that only loads through scripts may be invisible to them.

3. Know your starting point

Open a backlink tool such as Ahrefs or Semrush and note:

• How many websites currently link to you

• Which of your pages they link to

• Which sites link to your two or three closest competitors but not to you

That last list is your first set of targets. If a site already links to similar companies, it’s far more likely to link to you too.

4. Choose the pages you want to grow

Pick two or three pages that matter most for the business, usually your main product page and one or two pages that drive sign-ups or demos. Most of your link building should eventually point to these, directly or through your guides and tools.

5. Keep your brand details consistent

Write one short company description and use it everywhere: your website, LinkedIn, review sites and directory profiles. Consistent details make it easier for search engines and AI tools to understand who you are and connect mentions of your brand back to you.

10 Link Building Tactics for Startups

These tactics run roughly from cheapest and quickest to most effort. Most startups get the best results by starting at the top and adding the later tactics as they grow.

1. Claim your foundational links

Start with the profiles and listings every legitimate business should have:

• Company profiles: LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and relevant startup directories in your country or industry

• Review and software sites: G2, Capterra, Trustpilot or Clutch, depending on what you sell

• Launch platforms: Product Hunt and similar communities, if your product suits them

• Developer platforms: GitHub, if you publish code, docs or an open-source tool

Not all of these links will pass much ranking value. But they help search engines discover you, give AI tools consistent information about your company, and often send early visitors.

Be selective. Google’s spam policies list links from low-quality directories and bookmark sites as link spam. A handful of respected, relevant profiles is worth far more than hundreds of random directory listings.

2. Get listed on partner and integration pages

If your product integrates with other tools, those companies often have integration directories, marketplaces or partner pages. These links are highly relevant, come from established sites and often send visitors who already use a tool you work with.

How to get them:

• List every tool you integrate with and check whether each has an app marketplace or partner directory.

• Apply to be listed, and ask whether they’d feature a short case study or joint announcement.

• Do the same with agencies, resellers or consultants who recommend your product.

Keep it genuine. Google’s spam policies call out excessive reciprocal linking and partner pages created only to swap links. Real integrations and real partnerships are fine. Link swaps dressed up as partnerships are not.

3. Get onto “best of” and alternatives lists

Search for “best [your category] tools,” “[competitor] alternatives,” and “[category] for [your audience].” The articles that rank are where many buyers, and many AI tools, look first.

To get included:

• Make a list of the top 10–20 articles for those searches.

• Contact each author with a short, specific pitch: what you do, who it’s for and why readers would care.

• Offer something that makes their job easier, such as a free account to test, updated screenshots or a quote.

These pages matter beyond SEO. When people ask ChatGPT or Google’s AI tools for the best options in a category, listicles and comparison articles are among the sources those answers draw on. A spot on the right lists can put a young startup into AI-generated shortlists.

4. Tell your founder story on podcasts and in interviews

Podcasts and interview series are always looking for guests, and founders make good ones. Most shows link to their guests’ websites in the episode notes.

How to start:

• Search for podcasts in your industry and in your customers’ industry, not just startup podcasts.

• Pitch a specific angle, such as a lesson you learned, a contrarian view or a story from building your product, not just “I’d love to come on.”

• Repurpose each appearance into a LinkedIn post and a short clip to get more value.

Even small shows help. They bring a relevant link, a brand mention and a recording that keeps working long after it airs.

5. Answer journalist requests

Journalists regularly look for expert sources, and answering their requests can earn coverage and links from news and industry publications.

HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is the best-known service for this. It had a turbulent couple of years: its previous owner rebranded it as Connectively, then shut that service down in December 2024. In April 2025, Featured.com bought HARO and relaunched it. It’s free to join at helpareporter.com, and it sends daily emails with journalist requests.

To get results:

• Respond quickly. Journalists often use the first strong answers they receive.

• Answer the question directly in a few clear sentences, with a specific example or number when you can.

• Only pitch requests you’re genuinely qualified for. A relevant answer from a real expert stands out.

• Expect a low hit rate. Most responses won’t be used. The ones that are can bring links from sites you’d struggle to reach otherwise.

6. Publish original data

Data is one of the most reliable ways to earn links, because other writers need numbers to back up their points, and they link to wherever those numbers came from.

You don’t need a huge research budget:

• Use your product data. Anonymized trends from your own users, such as average time saved or most-used features, can make a strong report.

• Run a small survey of your customers or community. Even 100 good responses can produce a few headline findings.

• Analyze public data in your niche and present it more clearly than anyone else has.

Gong, the sales software company, is a good example. Its Gong Labs research turns patterns from its platform’s anonymized sales calls into findings sales leaders share and cite, aimed squarely at the people who buy Gong. A startup can follow the same model on a smaller scale.

Present the key findings near the top, in short, quotable sentences, so writers and AI tools can pick them up easily.

7. Build a free tool or template

A simple free tool can earn links for years with little ongoing effort. Think calculators, graders, generators, checklists, or templates that solve one small problem well.

Good tools tend to:

• Solve a problem your customers already search for, ideally one close to what your product does

• Work instantly, without forcing a sign-up first

• Be easy to share and link to

Marketing Lad does this on its own site. A simple free label maker tool, for example, ranks in the top three on Google for “free label maker.” Tools like this attract visitors and links that a blog post on the same topic would struggle to earn.

8. Write genuinely useful guest posts

Guest posting means writing an article for another website in your industry. Done well, it puts your expertise in front of a new audience and earns a relevant link back to your site.

The difference between good and risky guest posting comes down to intent:

• Choose sites your customers actually read, not just sites with high authority scores.

• Write something genuinely useful for their readers, not a thinly disguised ad.

• Use natural links, such as your brand name or a relevant page title, not the same keyword-rich anchor text every time.

Google’s spam policies specifically call out paid guest posts with links that pass ranking credit, and guest posts with optimized anchor text. If you pay for a placement, the link should carry a rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" tag. The safest guest posts are the ones the site would happily publish even without your link.

9. Turn unlinked mentions into links

As your startup grows, people will mention your brand without linking to you, in articles, roundups and reviews. Each one is an easy win, because the writer already knows and likes you.

How to find them:

• Set up Google Alerts for your brand name, product name and founders’ names.

• Use a backlink or brand monitoring tool to search for mentions without links.

• Check new reviews and roundups that mention your product.

Then send a short, friendly note thanking the writer for the mention and asking whether they’d add a link so readers can find you. Keep it to two or three sentences, and don’t push if they say no. Use the same approach for broken links: if a site links to a page of yours that no longer exists, ask them to update it to the right URL.

10. Take part in communities, the right way

Communities like Reddit, niche forums, Slack groups and LinkedIn are where your future customers and partners spend time. Being genuinely helpful there builds relationships that lead to links, podcast invitations, partnerships and mentions over time.

A few rules:

• Help first. Answer questions properly and share what you’ve learned. Drop links only when they truly help.

• Be open about who you are when you mention your own product.

• Don’t spam links. Google’s spam policies list forum posts and signatures with optimized links as link spam, and moderators quickly remove promotional posts.

SEO and marketing communities are also useful for meeting writers, editors and other founders who can open doors to collaborations and expert quotes.

We created the Marketing Lad Slack community as a platform for SEOs to connect and support one another. We want this community to be welcoming to SEOs at all levels and in all specialties (local, eCommerce, agency, etc.).

This community does not tolerate trolling, spamming, or link buying of any kind. Over 900+ brands have already joined, and they discuss everyday link building, guest posting, and more.

What to Avoid

Shortcuts are tempting when you’re starting from zero. But a young site has no track record to fall back on, so a bad link-building decision can hurt it more than it would hurt an established brand.

Google’s spam policies define link spam as creating links primarily to manipulate search rankings. Sites that break these policies may rank lower or disappear from results entirely. Google finds violations through automated systems and, when needed, human reviewers who can take manual action against the site.

These are the main practices Google’s policies call out, and the ones startups are most often tempted by:

Buying links that pass ranking credit. Paying for links, or trading products or services for them, counts as link spam unless the link is marked with a rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" attribute. That includes paid guest posts and paid articles with keyword-rich links.

Excessive link swaps. “You link to me, I’ll link to you” deals at scale, and partner pages created only to cross-link, are on Google’s list. A genuine partnership that happens to involve a link is fine. A network of swaps is not.

Automated link building. Tools or services that create links for you automatically, such as mass comments, profile spam or auto-generated content, fall squarely under Google’s policies.

Low-quality directories and bookmark sites. A handful of respected, relevant listings is useful. Submitting your site to hundreds of generic directories is not.

Links in footers, widgets and templates across many sites. Keyword-rich links embedded in widgets or placed in footers across many unrelated sites are specifically listed as link spam.

Optimized links in forum posts and signatures. Dropping keyword-rich links into forum posts and comment signatures can get your posts removed and count against you in Google’s eyes.

Private blog networks (PBNs). These are networks of sites built mainly to link to each other or to a “money site.” They exist only to manipulate rankings, which is exactly what Google’s definition of link spam describes.

How to tell if a tactic is risky

Ask yourself one question: would this link exist if search engines didn’t? If a link would still make sense for a reader, such as a partner listing, a cited statistic or a podcast guest page, you’re on safe ground. If its only purpose is to influence rankings, it’s probably a risk.

If something goes wrong

If Google takes manual action against your site, you’ll see a notice in Search Console’s Manual Actions report. Remove or disavow the problem links, fix the cause, and submit a reconsideration request explaining what you changed.

Budget and Timeline: What Startups Should Expect

How much does link building cost?

It depends on how much you do yourself. Most startups fall into one of three levels.

Level 1: Do it yourself (mostly time). Tactics 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10 in this guide cost little or no money, but they take time. Founders who block out a few hours a week for profiles, partner pages, podcast pitches, journalist requests and reclaiming mentions can build a solid base without any budget.

Level 2: Small paid budget. Once you’re ready to invest, editorial placements are where most of the money goes. For context, a 2026 SaaSlinks analysis of more than 100,000 guest post listings on link marketplaces found median asking prices of:

• $179 for DR 30–49 sites

• $200 for DR 50–69 sites

• $350 for DR 70–79 sites

The best sites in each band cost considerably more. Managed placements through an agency usually cost more again, because they include vetting, outreach and content writing. As a rough guide, a budget of $1,000–$2,000 a month buys a handful of quality placements.

Level 3: Growth budget. Startups in competitive markets, or those running digital PR campaigns, spend more. When Editorial.Link surveyed 12 digital PR agencies in early 2024; typical campaigns cost $6,000 to $20,000 and produced 10 to 40 editorial mentions.

Whatever your budget, remember that a cheap link on a “high-authority” site that has no real traffic is usually a warning sign, not a bargain.

How many links does a startup need?

There’s no magic number. What matters is how you compare with the sites already ranking for the searches you want. Use a backlink tool to look up the top five results for your main keywords and note how many websites link to each. That gives you a realistic target.

For most early-stage startups, a steady pace works better than a big burst. Four to eight quality links a month, built consistently, usually beats dozens in one month followed by nothing.

How long does it take to see results?

Expect months, not weeks. Google says some changes take effect in hours, while others take several months, and it suggests waiting at least a few weeks before judging results.

A typical pattern for a new site looks like this:

• Months 1–2: Foundational links, profiles and partner listings go live. Search engines discover and index more of your pages.

• Months 3–6: Editorial links start to add up. Pages close to page one and long-tail keywords often move first.

• Months 6–12: The effect compounds. Stronger pages can start competing for more valuable searches, as long as the work keeps going.

Startups that stop after a month or two rarely see much. Those that keep at it for six months or more build lasting search visibility.

How to Measure Results

Link building is easy to measure, but hard to measure well. A rising link count looks good in a report but means little if the links are weak or the pages they point to never bring in customers. Track a few things that connect links to growth.

1. Linking websites, not just links

The most important number is how many different websites link to you, often called referring domains, and how good those sites are. Ten links from one site count for far less than one link each from ten relevant sites.

Check this monthly in a backlink tool such as Ahrefs or Semrush. Google Search Console’s Links report also shows your top linking sites, your most-linked pages and the anchor text people use. Google provides a sample rather than a complete list, so treat it as a useful check, not the full picture.

2. Rankings for the pages you’re building links to

Go back to the two or three priority pages you chose at the start. Are they moving up for their target keywords? Pages already close to page one often show progress first.

3. Organic traffic and conversions

Rankings only matter if they bring in the right visitors. In Google Search Console, watch clicks and impressions for your priority pages. In Google Analytics, track whether organic visitors sign up, request a demo or start a trial.

Search Console’s figures now include clicks and impressions from Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, under the “Web” search type. You can’t separate them out, but a rise in impressions for question-style queries is often a sign your pages are being used in AI answers.

4. Referral traffic from the links themselves

Good links send visitors, not just ranking value. In Google Analytics, check referral traffic to see which links actually bring people to your site. A link that sends steady traffic from your target audience is worth more than one that only looks good on paper.

5. Brand mentions and AI visibility

As covered earlier, mentions across the web influence how often AI tools bring up your brand. A few simple checks:

• Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google a handful of questions your customers ask, and note whether you’re mentioned.

• Use Bing Webmaster Tools’ A to see report, which shows how often Microsoft Copilot cites your pages.

• Keep your Google Alerts running to spot new mentions, and turn the best ones into links.

6. Links you’ve lost

Links disappear when pages are updated, deleted or moved. Check your backlink tool monthly for lost links, especially from your best sources, and reach out when a valuable one goes missing.

A simple monthly check

Keep it to a short list:

• New linking websites this month, and how relevant they are

• Ranking changes for your priority pages

• Organic sign-ups or demos from those pages

• Top referral sources from your links

• Notable new mentions, and any important links lost

If linking websites are growing and your priority pages are moving up and bringing in sign-ups, it’s working, even if the overall numbers still look small.

DIY or Hire Help?

Many startups do their own link building at first, and that’s often the right call. The question is when your time is better spent elsewhere.

When DIY makes sense

Do it yourself if:

• You’re early and your budget is tight

• A founder or marketer can set aside a few hours every week

• You’re focusing on the free tactics in this guide: profiles, partner pages, podcasts, journalist requests, unlinked mentions and communities

• You want to learn what works before you pay anyone

Even if you hire help later, doing it yourself for a few months teaches you what good links look like and makes you a much sharper buyer.

When to bring in help

Outside help usually pays off when:

• You’ve found what works but can’t keep up. Consistency matters, and link building is often the first thing to slip when a small team gets busy.

• You’re in a competitive market where your competitors have years of links and you need to close the gap faster.

• You need editorial placements on sites where you have no existing relationships.

• You want link building tied to a wider SEO plan, so links point to the pages that bring in customers.

Questions to ask a link building agency

Before you sign with anyone, ask:

1. Can I see examples of sites you’ve placed links on? Then check their traffic and relevance yourself.

2. How do you find and approach sites? Look for genuine outreach and editorial review, not a fixed list of sites that publish anything for a fee.

3. How do you choose anchor text? The answer should favor natural, varied anchors.

4. What happens if a link is removed? Ask about their replacement policy.

5. How will I see what you’ve done? You should get every link documented, not just a monthly summary.

Red flags

Walk away from any provider that:

• Guarantees rankings. Google warns against anyone who guarantees a top ranking, because no one can.

• Won’t tell you which sites your links will be on.

• Offers “high-DA” links at prices that seem too good to be true.

• Talks only about the number of links, with nothing about relevance, traffic or the pages you’re trying to grow.

How Marketing Lad can help

Marketing Lad has helped B2B and SaaS brands build authority since 2020, focusing on white-hat, editorial links. Every placement is documented in a shared live sheet with its domain, DR, anchor text and URL, so you always know exactly what’s been built and where.

If you’d like a second opinion on your current links, or a plan for where to start, book a free strategy call.

Conclusion

A good link-building strategy for startups is based on establishing relationships with bloggers in the startup community who share a similar niche.

Link building is one of the most beneficial activities a startup can undertake to gain legitimacy and authority. It’s also one of the most overlooked but important tasks a startup needs to complete when trying to grow organic traffic, rankings on the SERPs and domain authority.

At Marketing Lad, our experts can help you execute these strategies. Contact us to see how we can support you.

Also check our Case Studies.

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