How to get your first backlinks for a new SaaS, without buying links

Start with the free product directories that give every listing a dofollow link: 44 of the 137 directories and launch sites we track do, and 16 of those score 50 or more under DR4, Ahrefs' new Domain Rating model. At about 30 minutes each, those 16 take around 8 hours. Then spend the rest of your first 90 days on profiles, integration pages, communities, partners and writing worth citing, none of which means buying a link.

#At a glance

#Why the first links matter

A new site starts with no links pointing at it, so its Domain Rating, Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score for how strong a site's backlinks are, starts at 0. The first links do two jobs:

• They get you found. Each listing is a page about your product on an established site, and one more place where search engines and AI assistants can find it.
• They count toward your rating. A dofollow link from a site with a high Domain Rating counts toward your own. A nofollow link doesn't count toward your rankings, but it still brings visitors and helps search engines find your pages.

Keep your expectations honest: most listings send a handful of visitors, not a flood. The link is the lasting part.

#Step 1: directories and launch sites (weeks 1 and 2)

This comes first because it's fully in your hands: you fill in a form, confirm an email and wait for a review.

#Write your listing once

Before the first form, write a listing you can paste everywhere, so every site says the same thing:

• your product's name, spelled the same way on every site
• a tagline under 60 characters that says what it does
• a short description of about 160 characters, and a longer one of two or three paragraphs
• a square logo of at least 256 by 256 pixels, and two or three screenshots
• its categories, its pricing and the platforms it runs on
• an email address at your own domain, since some directories use it to confirm the site is yours
• a sheet with one row per directory: date submitted, status, listing link and whether it's dofollow

Our directory submission guide covers the submit steps in more detail.

#Start with free, dofollow and high DR4

Of the 137 directories on our full list of product directories, 91% are free to list on and 37% give every listing a dofollow link. 44 are both. Sort those 44 by DR4 instead of today's DR, and these 16 come out on top with a DR4 of 50 or more:

All 16 let you list for free. StackShare, SaaSHub and TechDirectory are free outright; the others also sell paid upgrades, such as a featured spot or a faster review, which you don't need for the link. Two things to know: Fazier's free tier asks for a link back to Fazier, and Pitchwall's free launches wait at least 30 days. Skip the AI directories if your product isn't an AI tool.

The other 28 are on the dofollow directory list, and the free directory list has all 125 that cost nothing to list on, whatever their link type. Each directory has a page on how to submit to it, such as how to list on SourceForge.

Another 17% of the directories we track follow the link only on conditions: their badge on your site, a top 3 finish or enough votes. A badge takes a minute to add to your footer, so decide site by site whether the link is worth it.

#Add two or three launch platforms

On a launch platform, your launch gets upvotes and a page of its own. Pick them by audience as much as by link:

• Product Hunt has a DR of 91 under both models, but its links are nofollow. Go there for visitors and feedback, not for your rating.
• Show HN on Hacker News suits developer tools and projects people can try right away.
• Our own weekly launch board is free to launch on, and voting stays open all week. A free listing gets a dofollow link during its launch week once you've upvoted 3 other products. Premium keeps the link for good, for a one-time $5 (a limited-time price, usually $10). Paying never changes rank; the ranking rules explain how votes and links work.

The launch platform list has 52 of them, and 52% give every listing a dofollow link.

#What step 1 gives you

Listings go live over days to weeks as each directory reviews them, and some won't list you at all. What lasts is a set of pages on established sites that link to yours.

The cost is time: about 30 minutes a directory, counting the sign-up, the confirmation email and the form. That's 15 hours for 30 directories and 50 hours for 100. If those hours are the problem, this is the step we do for you: we submit your product by hand, highest Domain Rating first, from $49 for 30 directories.

#Step 2: profiles and integration pages (weeks 2 to 4)

Next come the places where your product or your company should have a page anyway.

• Startup and company profiles. Indie Hackers (DR 82 today, 81 under DR4) has a page per product, and Crunchbase (91 under both) and Wellfound (87 today, 89 under DR4) have pages per company. Crunchbase's link is nofollow, and we haven't confirmed the other two, so check each once it's live.
• Alternatives sites. SaaSHub (DR 80 today, 76 under DR4) and AlternativeTo (81 under both) list your product next to the tools you compete with. SaaSHub's link is dofollow; AlternativeTo's isn't confirmed on our list.
• Integration and partner pages. If your SaaS connects to other tools, many of them keep an integrations page, a partner directory or an app marketplace. Ask to be listed. Whoever reads that page already uses the tool you work with.

Expect a handful of links from strong, relevant sites, with mixed link types.

#Step 3: communities (from week 2, ongoing)

Communities are where people who might buy from you, or write about you, already talk. Indie Hackers, Show HN and Peerlist (DR 78 today, 72 under DR4) are a start, plus the forums your customers use.

Don't plan on them for your rating: check any link you get there with the dofollow checker before you count it. What communities do give is visitors, feedback and the attention of people who run blogs, newsletters and lists. That's where later links come from.

Answer questions in your field without linking to yourself every time, and post your launch once, in the place made for it.

#Step 4: partners and comparison pages (month 2)

By month two you have a live product and a set of listings to point at. Now ask for links that need a person to say yes.

• Partners. Tools you integrate with, agencies who set your product up for clients, and customers who'd share how they use it. A short case study or a line on their resources page is a link from a relevant site with real readers.
• Newsletters and podcasts. Pitch one specific story, such as a number from your own data or a problem you solved, not "please cover our launch".
• Comparison pages on your site. Write honest "your product vs X" and "X alternatives" pages that say when X is the better pick. A fair comparison is easier for others to link to.
• Roundups on other sites. Find "best tools for X" articles in your field and email the author one sentence on what your product does differently. Many won't reply, and that's fine.

Expect fewer links than step 1, but each from an established site with real readers, which is what DR4 rewards.

#Step 5: write things people want to cite (month 3, then ongoing)

The links nobody had to ask for come from pages worth linking to. For a SaaS, that usually means one of three things:

• Original numbers from your own product or market. We publish our product directory statistics under CC BY 4.0, so anyone can quote them with a link back.
• A small free tool that does one job from your field. Ours include the DR4 and dofollow checkers below.
• Guides that answer the questions your customers ask before they buy, specific enough to quote.

This is the slowest step, and the one most likely to keep bringing links after you stop working on it.

#How DR4 changes which links count

On December 1, 2026, Ahrefs replaces today's Domain Rating (called DR3 here) with DR4. Until then, the DR4 numbers are Ahrefs' preview and can still change. Ahrefs names two main changes: subdomains get their own rating, and the pool of domains whose links count is about half the size, around 132 million. It says DR4 tracks Google rankings more than 2.5 times better than the current model.

What we see in the preview: sites whose links come mostly from small or new sites drop the most, and links from groups of small sites that mostly link to each other count for little. Across the 137 directories on our list, the median DR goes from 66 today to 42 in the preview, and the number at 70 or more falls from 57 to 26. Some hold steady and some fall a long way: SourceForge goes from 93 to 92 and StackShare rises from 78 to 81, while Turbo0 falls from 81 to 53 and Smol Launch from 76 to 28.

A lower DR4 doesn't make a site a bad place to list. It can still send you visitors; its link just moves your rating less. For your plan, it means three things:

1. Sort by DR4. A list sorted by today's DR overrates the sites about to drop. Our list is sorted by DR4, with today's DR beside it.
2. Favor established sites with real readers. Well-known directories, publications, podcasts and partners count. A pack of small sites that mostly link to each other doesn't.
3. Mind your subdomains. DR4 rates a subdomain on its own, usually lower than its main domain. Send links to the domain whose rating you want to build, usually your main site rather than app.yourproduct.com.

#How to check your links and track your DR

• Is the link dofollow? Paste your listing's page into our dofollow checker to see whether its link to you is dofollow.
• What's your DR today? Check it on day one with the Domain Rating checker, then once a month. The bulk DR checker takes many domains at once, which helps you vet directories first.
• What is it under DR4? The DR4 checker shows today's DR and the DR4 preview side by side, for up to 50 domains at once.

Don't panic about a 0. New sites can show 0 in the DR4 preview, likely because the preview data predates their links. Ours does too: productsfarm.com is DR 28 today and 0 in the preview.

Expect it to move slowly: Ahrefs has to find each link before it counts.

#Mistakes to avoid

• Buying link packages. If a package's links come from small sites that mostly link to each other, DR4 counts them for little. Paying someone to fill in forms for you is different: each directory still decides whether to list you and whether its link is followed.
• Working from old lists. Some sites on old lists no longer take submissions, and a high DR doesn't mean the link helps you. Check a site's link type and DR4 before you spend 30 minutes on it. Of the 137 we track, 7 use nofollow, and the link type of 56 isn't confirmed yet: we confirm one only once a listing of ours is live there.
• A different name or tagline on every site, so your listings don't match.
• Skipping the confirmation email, so the listing never reaches review.
• Submitting to dozens in a day without a sheet. You lose track of what went live and what still needs you.

#Your first 90 days

#This week

1. Check your DR and DR4, and write both down. Five minutes.
2. Write your listing once: name, tagline, two descriptions, logo and screenshots. One to two hours.
3. Submit to the first 8 directories in the table above that fit your product. About 4 hours.
4. Pick one or two launch platforms and book your launch.

#Days 8 to 30

• Finish the 16 in the table, then work down the rest of the dofollow list.
• Add your startup profiles, alternatives listings and integration pages.
• Confirm every email, and check each live listing with the dofollow checker.

#Days 31 to 60

• Join one or two communities and show up every week.
• Ask three partners for a link, and write one honest comparison page.

#Days 61 to 90

• Publish one piece worth citing: your own numbers, a small free tool or a detailed guide.
• Check your DR and DR4 again and compare them with day one.

#How we put this together

The directory numbers come from ProductsFarm's own catalog: the 137 product directories and launch sites on our public list, with price and link type from our own submissions. A link type stays unconfirmed until a listing of ours is live there, so the 37% is a floor, not an estimate. Domain Rating is by Ahrefs: today's DR, called DR3 here, was checked on October 30, 2026, and the DR4 numbers are Ahrefs' preview, which can still change before the switch on December 1.

Step one is the part you can finish this week. Work through the free dofollow list yourself, or have us do it: we submit your product by hand to 30, 60, 100 or 350+ directories that are free to list on, highest Domain Rating first, for $49, $99, $199 or $500, paid once. Starter, Growth and Complete are submitted within 3 to 7 days and Max within 7 to 10, and your dashboard shows each listing and its link as it goes live. We can't promise a DR number: each directory decides whether to list you and whether its link is dofollow. See the directory submission plans.