How We Increased Domain Authority Without Spammy Backlinks (And What Worked Instead)

There’s an unspoken truth in agency life: your own content takes the back seat while you make your clients shine.

We’ve spent years helping B2B SaaS companies grow by bringing them demo requests, signups, and paying customers, not just website traffic.

Eventually, our team grew, giving us the bandwidth to finally treat Concurate like a real client. A quick look at our Domain Rating made the need obvious; it was far too low for a team trusted to elevate brands.

So we set a focused, no-excuses, six-month challenge.

We actually almost tripled our website domain rating from 12 to ~32, and in this case study, we are disclosing our playbook – No spammy links, no blackhat techniques, only the kind of strategic efforts we recommend to our own clients.

Here’s where we started.

The Challenge

A DA of 12 meant Google did not consider Concurate an authoritative website in the field of B2B SaaS content marketing.

To change that, we needed high-quality backlinks from relevant, trustworthy websites. 

HubSpot (which popularised SaaS inbound marketing) and GetLatka (which built one of the strongest public databases of SaaS metrics) are examples of the kind of authority we aimed for.

And we’d heard enough stories from clients about penalties caused by spammy backlinks and black-hat practices.

Buying links from random sites, joining link farms, or stuffing guest posts with unnatural anchor text had tanked their rankings overnight.

So, we wanted to avoid them at all costs.

Solution: What We Did Over The Next Six Months

Our focus was simple: we needed Concurate to start appearing in articles published by high-authority, reputable companies. Either through expert mentions or by having our content linked as a useful source.

1. Earning Backlinks Through PR and Expert Contributions

Strong domain authority comes from credibility, not random backlinks. And for us, that meant getting Concurate’s voice featured on respected websites. 

We treated expert contributions as a team sport. One person can only go so far, but a team that solves client problems daily has dozens of real insights worth sharing.

Every Concurate team member created a Featured profile and started contributing. Because everyone pitched topics tied to their actual work, the submissions felt authentic and were far more publishable.

In six months, we shared 150+ pitches and earned 45+ placements on relevant, high-authority websites. We never chased volume—we chose opportunities that aligned with our domain, our expertise, and the site’s authority. These were earned mentions backed by real experience, and they strengthened our overall authority meaningfully.

Here are some of the pieces we were featured in:

Whenever someone got featured, we celebrated it internally.

It kept the momentum high and turned PR into something the whole team felt invested in.

2. Building Topical Authority Through SEO Strategy Breakdowns

One of the strongest steps we took was to start sharing how top SaaS companies grow.

Instead of generic blogs, we went deep into analysing the SEO and content strategies of brands like ElevenLabs, Gong, CrowdStrike, Chili Piper, Clio, and many others.

Over six months, we published more than 80 breakdowns. 

Each piece examined real patterns in how successful SaaS teams structure their content, select keywords, build topical depth, and create demand. 

Our goal was simple. If someone wants to understand how a company approaches content or SEO, our breakdown should be the most practical and easy-to-follow resource available.

These were not opinion pieces. They were detailed, example-led analyses designed to help SaaS teams learn from real companies instead of theory. 

We also used these breakdowns to strengthen our internal linking and build clear content clusters around the themes we specialise in as an agency.

This consistency helped us build a large library of strategic content and positioned Concurate as a team that deeply understands how SaaS brands grow, long before we looked at any results.

3. Earning Organic Backlinks Through High Quality Content

Alongside our strategy breakdowns, we focused on publishing content that people could reference on their own. 

Every article had a simple goal. Share real insights, simplify complex ideas, and offer frameworks that someone else could genuinely benefit from.

We avoided generic SEO filler and prioritised original thinking backed by deep research.

Many of our pieces included templates, how-to explanations, step-by-step breakdowns, and practical examples. As a result, several websites across different niches discovered our content during their research and referenced it in their articles. 

These weren’t accidental mentions. We created content with the intention of being helpful, credible, and worth citing.

Websites like GetLatka, The Marketing Heaven, Attorneys.Media, and many others linked to our breakdowns because they found the explanations clear and the examples useful. 

In the Ahrefs snapshot below, you can see multiple domains pointing to our articles, along with the exact pages they referenced.

This approach helped us build a library of content that stood on its own and consistently attracted organic mentions based on quality.

4. Inclusion Requests and Backlinks

As our content began ranking, companies we hadn’t originally included reached out asking to be added to the pages where they genuinely belonged. 

These were brands operating in the same categories. Many of them actually improved the depth and accuracy of the content. So we carefully reviewed each request and included only those that met the criteria.

Whenever the addition made sense, the conversation often led to a simple, practical exchange. 

We updated the content with credible companies relevant to readers, and in return, some of those companies linked back to our page from their websites. It wasn’t transactional or forced.

It was a natural outcome of creating content that people want to be part of.

This process helped us keep our pages updated, strengthened relationships within the ecosystem, and added contextual mentions from companies operating in the same domain.

5. Strengthening Foundational Signals Through Directory Listings

Beyond content and PR, we ensured Concurate showed up correctly across trusted business directories. 

We updated our profiles on Google Business Profile, Glassdoor, Clutch, and GoodFirms with accurate details, clear service descriptions, and consistent information across all platforms.

The intention was simple. Anyone searching for Concurate should find reliable, up-to-date information about who we are and how we work.

These directories hold strong authority in their own categories, and maintaining accurate profiles helps create a clean, credible footprint across the internet. 

For agency-specific platforms like Clutch and GoodFirms, it also ensured that prospects researching marketing partners would find a complete and consistent presence.

These updates acted as a foundational layer supporting our broader visibility efforts and ensured our brand information was aligned everywhere that mattered.

Results

When we started this challenge, our goal wasn’t just to increase a number. We wanted to see whether six months of disciplined, high-quality execution would shift how the internet perceives Concurate.

The first clear outcome was the lift in Domain Authority.

Going from 12 to 32 wasn’t a spike; it was a reflection of real authority forming around the brand. 

Each effort we made in PR placements, expert features, deep analysis pieces, and organic citations contributed to that rise.

And once the DR moved, something more interesting happened.

Our backlink profile didn’t just grow in quantity; it started to look different.

It was more intentional, more credible, and more aligned with the kind of brand a SaaS founder or marketer would trust.

The Ahrefs snapshot above shows what changed under the hood.

High-authority domains like YouTube, HubSpot, GoDaddy, and many others began pointing to us. 

These weren’t sponsored, link swaps, or manufactured.

They came from:

• Earned features
• Strategy content people cited on their own
• Relevant companies referencing us in their ecosystem

Instead of scattered links with no pattern, we built a healthier mix of:

• PR-driven mentions
• Organic citations
• Contextual backlinks tied to our niche

Search engines finally had enough signals to understand what Concurate stands for. 

And once that clicked, visibility improved across the board.

The Bottom Line

The jump in DR was simply the visible outcome. The real win was the shift in trust.

When you publish work people actually use, share, and reference, authority follows. And in our case, it showed up exactly where it mattered.

Want 30 tried-and-tested SaaS growth hacks? Fill the form below.

Concurate – Your Reliable B2B SaaS Growth Partner

At Concurate, we don’t just write content, we bring revenue.

This case study is one of many examples of how we approach growth through strategic content, credible visibility, and assets that compound over time.

Beyond domain authority, we help SaaS founders and marketing teams with:

• SaaS SEO that attracts high-intent buyers
• SaaS Content Marketing built for consistent, compounding visibility
• Programmatic SEO for large-scale, structured keyword coverage
• Generative Engine Optimization for AI search discoverability
• LinkedIn Ghostwriting that builds trust and strengthens founder-led distribution

If you want content that builds trust, ranks naturally, and supports revenue, let’s talk.

FAQs

1. What is Considered a High DA Score?

Domain Authority (DA) is a comparative metric. A high DA score is simply a sign that your website has earned strong, trustworthy backlinks compared to others in your space. 

Well-known sites usually have higher scores, and newer sites start low. DA isn’t a fixed scale, it’s just a way to estimate how much authority your domain has based on its link profile.

2. How to Increase Your SEO Traffic in 30 days?

If you want quick progress, stop chasing broad traffic and focus on pages that can bring qualified leads. Update or create decision-stage content like “best tools,” “alternatives,” and comparison pages. Use keyword tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to find topics people are actively evaluating.

For inspiration, you can watch our Bevel strategy breakdown. It shows exactly how to spot these quick-win opportunities.

3. Why is My Domain Authority So Low?

Low DA usually means your site doesn’t have enough high-quality referring domains. It can also happen if your content is scattered across topics, lacks consistency, or isn’t earning citations from credible websites. DA improves when other sites start referencing you, not just when you publish more.

4. What is the 80/20 Rule in SEO?

The 80/20 rule is based on the Pareto Principle, which states that 80 percent of outcomes come from 20 percent of actions. In SEO, it simply means a few high-impact pages or optimizations drive most of your organic results.