In a competitive SaaS environment, ranking high on Google is a critical factor for your business growth.
Backlinks remain one of the strongest signals for authority. But not all strategies yield the same results. The question is: Should you build links in-house or outsource to a credible link-building agency?
Let’s find out the answer.
Why Link Building Matters to SaaS Growth?
Growth for SaaS companies is all about visibility and trust. Content marketing and paid advertising help, but link building is behind successful SEO in the long run.
Here’s Why it Matters:
- Enhances SEO rankings: Backlinks are a historic Google ranking factor that places SaaS sites in leading intent keywords.
- Generates quality leads: Industry-specific site links generate intended traffic that is more likely to convert.
- Enhances brand trust: Authority citations by trusted sources build trust and credibility.
- Drives the highest content ROI: Backlinks drive visibility for blog posts, case studies, and guides.
The #1 Google result has 3.8x more backlinks than the results that position between #2 and #10.
For SaaS companies whose customer acquisition prices are already elevated, link building gives an instant effect on MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue). And just as eCommerce statistics and trends reveal how consumer behavior is changing online, SaaS link-building metrics support that backlinks are among the most reliable growth drivers.
In-House Link Building: Strengths and Weaknesses
Managing link building internally comes with both advantages and challenges. Here’s a quick look at the strengths your team can leverage and the weaknesses you may face.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Total control: You have control over strategies, targets, and messaging through your team. Better integration: PR, SEO, and content teams can work together. Expertise in the product: No one knows your SaaS better than your own team. | High learning curve: Best practices change often, so continual training is important. Time-consuming: Dozens of hours per week are needed for prospecting, outreach, and follow-ups. Limited network: Without publisher relationships, high-quality links are difficult to obtain. Scalability challenges: Hiring and training new members is costly, and they may not always meet monthly targets. |
Outsourced Link Building: Advantages and Disadvantages
When you outsource to an agency, it opens doors to expertise and faster execution. But it also introduces trade-offs that businesses should carefully analyze.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Access to expertise: Agencies have proven processes and veteran outreach specialists. Scalability: Scale link building without hiring more heads. Publisher relationships in place: Saves time spent on acquiring links. Data-driven approaches: Experienced link builders use advanced SEO software (Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz) to identify ideal targets. Quicker results: With good networks and perfected procedures, agencies are able to deliver ROI faster than in-house staff from scratch. | Less control: You need to trust that the process at the agency is quality. Risks to quality: Not all agencies are white-hat SEO players. Vetting is an essential pre-step. |
Beyond these immediate pros and cons, SaaS teams should also consider hidden costs, hybrid models, and long-term SEO resilience.
- Hidden Costs
When weighing in-house vs. outsourced link building, it’s important to look beyond the obvious expenses.
In-house teams usually carry hidden costs like training, tool subscriptions, and productivity lost when staff juggle multiple roles.
On the flip side, outsourcing requires careful vetting and avoiding low-quality providers that can waste time and money.
By recognizing these unseen factors, you’ll get a more realistic picture of ROI.
- Hybrid Models
Many SaaS companies succeed with a blended approach to link building. For example, strategy and content creation may stay in-house, while agencies handle outreach and publisher relationships.
This model allows internal teams to maintain brand alignment while leveraging the scale and efficiency of specialists.
Hybrid setups provide flexibility, especially for companies in transition or rapid growth stages.
- Long-Term SEO Resilience
SEO is not static. Search algorithms evolve, competitors adapt, and spammy link schemes get penalized.
In-house teams may struggle to keep pace with these shifts if link building isn’t their full-time focus.
Unlike this, agencies working across dozens of SaaS clients are quicker to adapt and future-proof strategies. Outsourcing can therefore provide not just short-term gains, but lasting resilience in search visibility.
BuzzStream reports that 66% of businesses rate link building as the most challenging SEO function. This problem complicates the responsibility of SaaS teams to effectively manage the process internally.
For this reason, the majority of SaaS brands now opt for outsourced link-building companies for faster and scalable results.
How to Choose a Trustworthy Link Building Company for SaaS
If you’re considering outsourcing link building, the partner agency you choose will directly impact your SEO success. A reliable link-building agency should:
- Understand your niche
- Focus on white-hat, sustainable tactics over quick wins
- Prioritize relevance and authority rather than sheer volume
- Provide transparent reporting you can actually track
- Demonstrate proven experience in SaaS link building
- Create content-driven assets that naturally attract links
- Maintain long-term relationships with high-quality publishers
Before you decide between in-house and outsourcing, ask yourself these questions:
✅ Do we have the budget for a worthy SaaS link-building company?
✅ Does our internal team have real link-building abilities?
✅ How fast do we need to see SEO results?
✅ Do we prioritize building long-term skills in-house or achieving speed and scale?
For most SaaS businesses, outsourcing turns out to be the better option.
The #1 SaaS Link Building Agency for Rankings and Revenue
2xSaS has built its entire reputation on SaaS link building. We don’t just promise backlinks, we deliver niche-relevant and authoritative placements that drive rankings, traffic, and conversions.
Here’s how we do it differently:
SaaS-Only Focus
For more than three years now, we’ve exclusively worked with SaaS companies. That means we understand your publishers, keywords, and the content formats that truly resonate in your space. The following are the websites for which we have provided link-building services and have generated great results.
| Websites | DR | Traffic |
| envato.com | 91 | 4046582 |
| flipsnack.com | 91 | 189650 |
| cloudtalk.io | 79 | 46565 |
| kommunicate.io | 76 | 34035 |
| clutch.com | 71 | 23772 |
Scaling With Quality
We build more than one thousand quality links every year, but never at the expense of relevance. Each placement is chosen to enhance both authority and SEO performance.
Trusted By 100+ SaaS Partners
With a clean track record across more than one hundred SaaS brands, we’ve been proudly partnering with top SaaS brands, such as HubSpot, Adobe, Traqq, Appointlet, and Xoxoday. We assist them in building their organic presence and scaling growth.
100% White-Hat Outreach
We don’t opt for spammy shortcuts. All links are driven by authentic outreach, partnerships, and editorial collaboration.
Content-Driven Link Building
Our team creates SaaS-specific assets, such as guest posts, and we also obtain contextual links within already-published authority articles. Both methods attract organic backlinks and place your brand as a reliable industry authority. We build links through pitching the content topics to other websites, and once the topic is approved, we write content with the client’s link that gets published on their websites.
For example, visit here to see how we write content and generate backlinks.
Transparent Reporting
From day one, you see precisely what we’re doing. Every placement, every website authority score, and the SEO effect is presented openly to you. Every report reveals:
- Referring Page: where the backlink is inserted
- Anchor Text: the linked keyword
- Client Link: the page that we’re promoting
Approval: nothing goes live without your approval
This way, you will always be informed about where your links are, how they help SEO, and how every placement is safe and relevant.
When you partner with us, you’re not just outsourcing link building; you’re working with a SaaS growth team that knows how to scale your organic presence sustainably.
Want more insights? Read this post on digital marketing statistics & trends.
When to Outsource Link Building for SaaS
Outsourcing is often the smarter choice if:
- You’re scaling quickly and need SEO results faster
- Your internal team is focused on product, customer acquisition, and content
- You lack publisher relationships but need authoritative placements
- You require ongoing, scalable SaaS SEO expansion without hiring extra personnel
Outsourced Link Building Wins for SaaS
In the in-house link building vs outsourced link building debate, obviously, outsourced link building offers greater efficiency, scalability, and ROI for SaaS companies. With in-house staff comes product knowledge and control, but with agencies comes speed, publisher relationships, and expertise to thrive in an increasingly competitive SaaS market.
For most SaaS companies, the path to stronger rankings, more inbound leads, and organic long-term results is through outsourced link building with the right agency like 2xSaS.
Feel free to get in touch with experts and see how outsourced link building can take your SaaS to the next level.
