Link building for a startup with no budget starts with the links your network already owes you: investors, accelerators, partners, early customers and founder profiles. Then you earn a few through launch coverage and one genuinely useful asset, and trade with relevant peers. Buying links at around $361 each makes little sense before you have product-market fit.
You have a product, a domain that is a few months old, zero referring domains and no marketing budget. You emailed a list of bloggers asking for a link and nobody answered. Every guide you read assumes an agency retainer or a brand people already search for. This page is written for the stage before that.
Why startup link building is different
Startups lack the two things most link advice assumes: money and a name people recognise. That changes which tactics are worth your time.
No budget
Ahrefs' study of buying backlinks found an average price of $361.44 per link after contacting 450 sites, and $77.80 per guest post after pitching 180 sites. At those prices, ten links a month would cost more than many seed-stage startups spend on all of their software. Google's spam policies also class "buying or selling links for ranking purposes" as link spam, so paid links carry risk as well as cost.
No brand
Cold outreach works poorly when nobody knows you. Backlinko's analysis of 12 million outreach emails found that only 8.5% received any response. A founder with no track record can expect to be at the low end of that.
Limited founder time
The person doing link building is usually also doing sales, support and the product. Tactics that need daily effort for months tend to stop after week two, so favour the ones that pay off once.
The links your network already owes you
Start here, because these are relationships you already have, and asking costs one email each.
Investors, accelerators and incubators
Most funds and accelerator programmes keep a portfolio page that lists companies with a link. If you are listed without a link, or with a link to an old domain, ask them to fix it.
Partners and integrations
If your product works with another tool, ask to be listed on its integrations or partner page. Our page on backlinks for SaaS covers integration pages in more depth.
Early customers and pilots
A pilot customer who is happy may agree to a short case study on their own blog or a "tools we use" mention. Offer to write the draft so it costs them five minutes.
Founder and team profiles
Conference speaker pages, university alumni features, podcast guest pages and your own author bios on other sites can all link back. Each takes one request.
What to do around launch
A launch gives a startup its one moment of news value, so plan the links before the day rather than after it.
Launch platforms and startup directories
List the product on launch and startup directories that are relevant to your market. These mostly help people find you; treat any ranking benefit as a bonus, not the goal. We looked at whether Product Hunt and startup directory links help SEO separately.
Press and newsletters in your niche
Small trade newsletters and niche blogs cover launches that big outlets ignore. A short note with one concrete number about your product or market is more likely to get picked up than a press release.
Journalist request services
Services that collect journalists' requests for expert comments let a founder earn links by answering questions in their field. Our list of HARO alternatives covers the current options.
One asset worth linking to
After launch, build one thing other people would cite: a small dataset from your product, a free calculator, or a template your users ask for. A single good asset keeps earning links while you work on the product, which suits founder time better than weekly outreach. Ask for the link only after the asset exists.
Trading links with peers at your stage
Other early-stage founders have the same problem, which makes them the most willing partners you will find. A swap of one relevant, in-content link each way with a non-competing startup in an adjacent niche costs nothing but an article. Keep it moderate: Google's spam policies name "excessive link exchanges" as link spam, so a handful of relevant swaps is fine and dozens with unrelated sites is not. Backlinkster's free plan covers 5 checked swaps a month, each verified by API. See how swaps work.
What to skip in the first six months
Some tactics look cheap but cost you later, either in money or in cleanup.
Bulk link packages
Cheap packages of hundreds of links usually come from link farms and directories nobody reads. See what a link farm is for how to spot them.
Paid guest posts on sites with no readers
A paid post on a site with no organic traffic adds a line to your backlink report and nothing else.
Chasing a DR number
Domain Rating is a third-party estimate. Five links from sites your customers read are worth more to a startup than fifty from sites they don't.
A realistic first 90 days
As a worked example, a founder spending about two hours a week could aim for this, with no paid links:
| Month | Focus | Example target |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Network links: investors, partners, profiles | 5 to 8 links |
| 2 | Launch: directories, niche newsletters, journalist requests | 3 to 6 links |
| 3 | One asset plus a few peer swaps | 3 to 5 links |
These are planning numbers, not promises. What matters is that each link comes from a real site in or near your market. For the longer view, how to get backlinks for a new website has a 30-day plan you can run after this one.
Frequently asked questions
How do startups get their first backlinks?
From people who already know them: investors, accelerators, integration partners, early customers and founder profiles. These links need one polite request each and don't depend on having a brand.
Should a startup pay for backlinks?
Usually not at the early stage. Ahrefs measured an average of $361.44 per bought link, and Google's spam policies treat buying links for rankings as link spam. That money does more on the product or on one asset people will link to for free.
How many backlinks does a new startup need?
There is no fixed number. A new site in a small niche can rank for long-tail queries with a handful of relevant links, while competitive terms need many more. Look at the referring domains of pages that already rank for your target query.
Is link building worth it before product-market fit?
The cheap parts are. Network links and launch links take hours, not months, and help you get found. Larger campaigns can wait until you know which pages and which customers you are building for.
Do link exchanges work for startups?
Yes, when they are relevant and few. A swap with a non-competing startup your customers would also read is a normal editorial link. Mass swapping with unrelated sites is what Google's spam policies warn against.
Related: Backlinks for SaaS · Link Exchange for SaaS · How to Set a Link Building Budget · Link Building for Indie Hackers