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How to get backlinks for an AI SaaS (and when they matter)
Backlinks matter at the top, not to get started. All 4 of the ranked AI businesses earning $100k+ a month have a domain rating (DR) of 48 or higher: Postiz (DR 73, $352,000 a month), Rezi (DR 72, $241,000 a month), Cometly (DR 71, $197,000 a month), AEO Engine (DR 48, $180,000 a month) (TrustMRR domain data, read Oct 31, 2026; revenue verified). But the top 10 by revenue have a median DR of 43, about the same as the other 24 (36), and White Glove Content (DR 8, $63,100 a month) and VirtualJK (DR 2, $48,500 a month) earn with almost no links. The founders who built authority did it with open source, data and being named on other sites, then directories for a baseline.
34 ranked businesses with a domain rating · median DR 38 · DR read Oct 31, 2026 · revenue checked Nov 5, 2026 · how we verify
What domain rating do top AI startups have?
| # | Business | What it sells | Verified MRR | Domain rating | Main channel (as listed) | Evidence | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Postiz | An open-source, agentic social media scheduler that plans, writes and posts for you. | $352,000 | 73 | Reddit + open source | Verified | 2026-11-02 |
| 2 |  Rezi | An AI resume builder for job seekers: it writes, edits, formats and keyword-checks a resume so it gets past applicant tracking systems (ATS). | $241,000 | 72 | Organic search (SEO) | Verified | 2026-10-30 |
| 3 |  Cometly | Ad attribution for B2B SaaS, with AI you can chat with about your ads data. | $197,000 | 71 | — | Verified | 2026-11-02 |
| 4 |  AEO Engine | An AI-search SEO agency that gets clients cited by ChatGPT and AI Overviews. | $180,000 | 48 | — | Verified | 2026-11-02 |
| 5 |  Promptwise | Generative AI video, image and audio tools sold to a paid creator community. | $66,800 | 23 | Slack communities | Verified | 2026-11-05 |
| 6 |  White Glove Content | Subscription faceless-video studio: scripts, AI voiceover, editing, thumbnails. | $63,100 | 8 | — | Verified | 2026-11-01 |
| 7 |  DataExpert.io | A $119/mo data-engineering and AI course business: $4.7M lifetime. | $53,200 | 46 | Founder audience (X/LinkedIn) | Verified | 2026-11-05 |
| 8 |  Laper | AI screenwriting software for professional writers, "without the AI aftertaste". | $51,400 | 28 | SEO + content + X | Verified | 2026-11-05 |
| 9 |  traxy.ai | Finds buyers already engaging in your market through social listening, on autopilot. | $51,300 | 26 | — | Verified | 2026-11-05 |
| 10 |  Vid.AI | Turns an idea or script into ready-to-post AI videos for creators. | $50,400 | 39 | Meta Ads | Verified | 2026-11-05 |
Top 10 ranked businesses by verified MRR that have a domain rating. Verified MRR from Stripe or RevenueCat via TrustMRR. Domain rating = the third-party SEO domain score TrustMRR shows on each listing (synced Oct 23–31, 2026; read Oct 31, 2026); it measures backlink authority, not traffic. Channels as listed on TrustMRR or by the founder. 24 ranked businesses have no domain rating listed (mostly mobile apps) and are left out.
Do backlinks matter for an AI SaaS?
| Domain rating | Ranked businesses | Median verified MRR | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| DR 60+ | 4 | $219,000 | Postiz (DR 73), Rezi (DR 72), Cometly (DR 71) |
| DR 40–59 | 12 | $22,000 | AEO Engine (DR 48), DataExpert.io (DR 46), Rank Prompt (DR 46) |
| DR 20–39 | 13 | $25,100 | Promptwise (DR 23), Laper (DR 28), traxy.ai (DR 26) |
| Under DR 20 | 5 | $18,400 | White Glove Content (DR 8), VirtualJK (DR 2), Funneled (DR 4) |
At the very top, yes. The four businesses at DR 60+ have a median of $219,000 a month, and every ranked business at $100k+ sits at DR 48 or higher. Below that line, links stop predicting revenue: DR and verified MRR correlate at about 0.54 across all 34, but at -0.08 (no relationship) across the 30 under $100k a month (our math), and the DR 20–39 group out-earns the DR 40–59 group at the median. White Glove makes $63,100 a month at DR 8, a done-for-you content service. Our read: authority looks more like a result of scale than the cause of it.
How did the high-authority AI startups get their links?
- Open source. Postiz (DR 73) open-sourced its code and launched on Reddit (self-reported); its GitHub repo has 40,200 stars (Oct 30, 2026), and a popular repo is itself a high-authority page that links to the product. See open-source AI SaaS that makes money.
- Search-first content. Rezi (DR 72) credits organic search for most of its growth (self-reported), and its TrustMRR listing cites a Forbes ranking (founder-provided). Press and rankings in your category are links and brand mentions at once.
- A founder audience. SEObot (DR 65) grew through its founder’s building in public on X (116k+ followers per its listing). Popular posts get quoted and linked.
- Being named in data and comparisons. The AI SEO and AEO businesses we track, AEO Engine (DR 48) and Rank Prompt (DR 46), sell exactly this. See how much AI SEO businesses make.
What are the fastest ways to get backlinks for a new AI tool?
From practitioners on Reddit in 2026 (their claims, not our data):
- Real directories first. One founder submitted a SaaS to about 15 (AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, BetaList, There’s An AI For That), at 5–10 minutes each, and said they give “a baseline of referring domains” but “won’t move the needle on rankings by themselves” (r/Agentic_SEO, Mar 2026). Pick ones that fit: where to list an AI SaaS.
- Expert quotes and value-first outreach. The same founder answers journalist quote requests and sends people a free analysis of their content with no ask; he says about 1 in 5 respond positively.
- Copy your competitors’ links. An agency owner on r/Backlinks (Aug 2026) runs a link-intersect report on competitors and pitches the sites that link to them, plus “alternatives” and “vs” articles aimed at AI answers.
- Publish something only you have. Original numbers, a free tool or open code earn links without asking. Postiz’s open repo is the clearest case in our data.
Do backlinks help you get recommended by ChatGPT?
Less than being named. In Ahrefs’ study of 75,000 brands, Domain Rating correlated about 0.266 with ChatGPT visibility, versus 0.66–0.71 for branded web mentions. So a mention on a page that AI answers already cite can be worth more than a generic link. Full playbook: how to get your AI SaaS cited by ChatGPT.
For AI founders
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FAQ
Do backlinks matter for an AI SaaS?
For the biggest ones, yes: all 4 ranked AI businesses at $100k+ a month have DR 48+ (TrustMRR, Oct 31, 2026). Below that, links barely separate winners: across the 30 ranked businesses under $100k a month, DR and verified MRR correlate at about -0.08, essentially none (our math), and White Glove Content and VirtualJK make over $40k a month at DR under 20.
What domain rating do successful AI startups have?
The median is DR 38 across 34 ranked AI businesses with verified revenue and a domain rating on TrustMRR. The four at DR 60+ have a median of $219,000 a month in verified MRR; the 5 under DR 20 have a median of $18,400.
How do I get backlinks for a new AI tool?
Start with a baseline of real directory listings (one founder on r/Agentic_SEO, Mar 2026, submitted to about 15, at 5–10 minutes each), then earn links with something people cite: open-source code, original data, a free tool. Practitioners also recommend expert-quote requests, value-first outreach and checking which sites link to your competitors. Those are their claims, not our data.
Do backlinks help you get recommended by ChatGPT?
Less than brand mentions. In Ahrefs’ study of 75,000 brands, Domain Rating correlated about 0.266 with ChatGPT visibility, versus 0.66–0.71 for branded web mentions. Getting named on pages ChatGPT already cites can matter more than a link count.
Does SEO work for AI SaaS without many backlinks?
Sometimes. The ranked businesses that list SEO or organic search as a channel have a median DR of 43. Rezi (DR 72) credits organic search for most growth (self-reported), but QR Code AI makes $14,900 a month with SEO as its only listed channel at DR 42.
Are directory backlinks worth it?
As a foundation, not a growth plan. Practitioners say directory links make a new site look real to Google but will not move rankings alone, and none of the businesses we track names directories as its main channel. See where to list an AI SaaS for which ones fit which goal.
Sources
- Revenue, channels and domain rating: TrustMRR listings (Stripe or RevenueCat; domain data synced Oct 23–31, 2026), as cited on each case page, read Oct 31, 2026; revenue checked Nov 5, 2026.
- Postiz, Rezi and SEObot channels: founder statements (self-reported) or listing text, cited on their case pages. Postiz GitHub stars: GitHub API, Oct 30, 2026.
- r/Agentic_SEO: “Free backlinks for AI-generated content: how are you actually doing it?” (Mar 2026), read Oct 31, 2026.
- r/Backlinks: “What type of backlinks are working best for SaaS businesses in 2026?” (Aug 2026), read Oct 31, 2026.
- Ahrefs: “Top Brand Visibility Factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews (75k Brands Studied)”, Dec 12, 2025 (updated Aug 12, 2026).
- The AI Receipts audience: first-party analytics, owner and internal traffic removed, as of Nov 5, 2026; newsletter subscribers from Beehiiv; ChatGPT citations from our own tracked-prompt checks.