A data-driven off-page SEO campaign helped a mid-size mobile productivity SaaS platform significantly improve its authority, local visibility, and inbound lead acquisition without altering any on-site or technical SEO elements.
Snapshot of Performance Gains
| Metric | Baseline | After 9 Months | Growth |
| Domain Rating (DR) | 18 | 43 | +142% |
| Referring Domains | 76 | 412 | +442% |
| Top 10 Keyword Visibility | 34 | 121 | +256% |
| Inbound Demo Requests | 112/mo | 279/mo | +149% |
Industry & Client Profile
Business Overview
A venture-backed mid-size mobile SaaS provider operating across the United States and Canada, offering a time management and collaboration application tailored for distributed teams. The platform targets small and mid-sized businesses seeking workflow optimization tools in hybrid work environments.
With approximately 65 employees and operations spanning three regional markets, the organization relied heavily on paid acquisition prior to engagement. Their inbound pipeline lacked sufficient organic discoverability due to weak off-page trust indicators.
Market Landscape
The productivity SaaS industry is highly competitive, with substantial investment in brand awareness and earned media. Search demand is dominated by aggregator platforms and legacy productivity tools with long-standing backlink equity.
Trust signals — including third-party mentions, citations, and verified reviews — strongly influence purchase decisions during vendor evaluation. As a result, off-page SEO plays a critical role in influencing visibility across comparison engines, SaaS directories, and regional app discovery queries.
The Challenge
At project initiation, the SaaS company’s backlink ecosystem lacked authority and diversity. A legacy outreach campaign conducted prior to our involvement had yielded low-relevance placements and several paid directory submissions of questionable quality.
Initial External SEO Metrics:
- Domain Rating: 18
- Referring Domains: 76 (57% with DR < 20)
- Google Business Profile Reviews: 14 (Avg. 3.8★)
- Industry Citations: 22
- NAP Consistency Score: 61%
- Brand Mentions (Unlinked): 47 instances
The backlink profile exhibited:
- High anchor text repetition
- Referral domains from irrelevant geographies
- 19 flagged toxic links impacting trust flow
Off-Page KPIs (9-Month Targets)
- Increase Domain Rating to 40+
- Acquire 300+ new referring domains (DR 40–70)
- Achieve consistent Top 3 local pack visibility for branded app discovery queries
- Secure 100+ verified citations
- Generate 200 new user reviews across discovery platforms
Business Outcomes Expected:
- Increase organic lead volume by 120%
- Reduce cost-per-demo by 25%
- Improve third-party SaaS comparison visibility within 6 months
Strategic Framework
Audit & Competitive Intelligence
Using Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush, we conducted a full backlink profile audit and evaluated competitor link acquisition patterns across three regional SaaS markets.
Key Findings:
- Competitors earned 37% of backlinks via editorial features
- 24% of existing backlinks came from outdated product directories
- Significant opportunity in SaaS review platforms and productivity software communities
- Brand name was cited in over 40 unlinked media placements
Local SEO diagnostics revealed inconsistencies in company address formatting across 16 business listings, reducing confidence signals in location-specific queries.
Campaign Architecture
Our approach followed a three-phase trust-building roadmap:
- Authority Stabilization through backlink cleanup and NAP correction
- Trust Amplification via citation development and verified review generation
- Digital PR Expansion using thought leadership outreach
All placements were manually vetted to align with niche relevance and editorial integrity benchmarks. Outreach prioritized contextual placements within productivity, SaaS, and remote work publications.
Execution Process
1. Link Acquisition Initiative
We launched a structured guest posting and digital PR campaign targeting mid- to high-authority publications in the business productivity and HR tech sectors.
- 68 guest articles placed on sites with DR 40–75
- 21 editorial mentions via media outreach campaigns
- 34 broken link replacements on resource pages
- 19 reclaimed brand mentions converted to live backlinks
| Link Type | Quantity | Avg. DR | Dofollow Rate |
| Guest Posts | 68 | 52 | 91% |
| Editorial Mentions | 21 | 61 | 88% |
| Resource Links | 34 | 46 | 100% |
| Reclaimed Mentions | 19 | 58 | 100% |
Anchor distribution remained within natural thresholds:
- Branded: 54%
- Partial Match: 27%
- Generic: 13%
- Exact Match: 6%
2. Local SEO & Citation Development
To improve discoverability across regional SaaS directories and map-based results, we executed:
- 112 new structured citations across software directories
- GBP optimization with category alignment and business description updates
- Submission to 17 verified SaaS comparison engines
- Address normalization across all listing platforms
Post-implementation metrics:
- NAP consistency improved from 61% → 96%
- Google Business Profile actions increased by 84%
- App discovery visibility improved from position 11 to Top 3
3. Review Acquisition System
We implemented a multi-touchpoint review generation workflow across:
- App onboarding emails
- Post-demo follow-up messages
- In-dashboard satisfaction prompts
This resulted in:
- Review count: 14 → 238
- Average rating: 3.8★ → 4.6★
- Response rate to feedback: 100% within 24h
Monitoring alerts were established to flag sentiment anomalies or reputation risks in real-time.
4. Digital PR & Brand Authority
A proprietary benchmark report on remote work productivity trends was developed as a linkable asset. Outreach campaigns distributed findings to:
- SaaS journalists
- Startup publications
- Remote work communities
Outcomes:
- 17 earned media links
- 11 podcast mentions
- Estimated earned media value: $38,000
5. Backlink Remediation
We disavowed 19 toxic domains and contacted 12 webmasters for removal of spam placements. Additionally:
- 8 broken inbound links were recovered
- Spam score reduced from 5% → 1.2%
- Trust Flow improved by +18 points
6. Monitoring & Optimization
Monthly reporting dashboards were established to track:
- Referring domain growth
- Anchor diversity
- Review velocity
- Citation accuracy
Strategic refinements were implemented quarterly based on competitive link velocity benchmarks.
Results & Commercial Outcomes
Organic Lead Growth
- Monthly demo requests: 112 → 279
- Year-over-Year traffic increase: +87%
- Traffic value: +$6,200/month
Search Visibility
- Keywords in Top 10: 34 → 121
- Visibility score: +63%
- Branded local queries: Position 9 → Position 2
Authority Metrics
- Domain Rating: 18 → 43
- Referring Domains: 76 → 412
- Average backlink DR: 52
Stakeholder Testimonial
“Our partnership resulted in measurable authority growth and dramatically improved how our application is discovered in comparison platforms. The structured review system and digital PR support were especially impactful in influencing user trust during evaluation stages.”
Outcome Analysis
Key Growth Drivers
- Niche-relevant editorial placements
- Verified citation expansion
- Reputation automation workflows
Each initiative directly influenced discoverability across regional SaaS listings and vendor directories, accelerating inbound interest from organic discovery channels.
Future Initiatives
- Expansion into international SaaS directories
- Ongoing journalist outreach
- Quarterly backlink audits for sustainability
Want Similar Results for Your SaaS Platform?
If your application is struggling with discoverability, trust signals, or third-party authority, our off-page SEO specialists can help.
Book a free backlink and citation audit to identify immediate opportunities for authority growth.
Start Your Off-Page SEO Strategy Session Today