SaaS Link-Building Case Study: From 4M to 16M Organic Traffic

About the Client

CapCut is a video-editing app owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. First released in 2019 as JianYing, the app rebranded as CapCut in April 2020 when it launched outside China. It quickly grew into one of the most popular apps in the US, peaking at number one in the Apple app store in mid-2021.

CapCut is an AI-powered creative platform that helps users edit videos and image designs. The software is known for its viral video templates on TikTok.

Overview

First of all, to be fair, our agency was not the only one building links for Capcut. They had an unlimited link-building budget and required 500+ links per month with strict criteria to rank number one for keywords like ‘online video editor,’ which has a keyword difficulty (KD) of 90+. To maintain quality and meet the requirements, our team built only 50-80 links per month.

Strategy

Given the ambitious goals set by CapCut, we crafted a highly strategic link-building campaign that prioritized quality over quantity. Our approach was two-fold:

𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: We focused on securing placements on high-authority domains within the tech, SaaS, and similar industries to ensure the relevancy of the links.

𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: We’re allowed to secure links on any publication or blog where there is a relevant connection between the potential topic and video editing.

Challenges Overcome

Throughout the campaign, we faced several significant challenges:

✔️ High Keyword Difficulty (KD): It was really difficult to acquire links, considering requirements such as a Semrush authority score (AS) of at least 40 or at least 20K organic traffic. It’s worth mentioning that those requirements were softened each month.

✔️ Scaling Quality with Volume: Balancing the need for a high volume of links while maintaining stringent quality standards meant turning down opportunities that did not meet our criteria, even when under pressure to meet monthly targets.

🥇 Results Achieved

Over 12 months, our focused strategy and relentless execution led to remarkable results:

🚀 Traffic Growth: Organic traffic to the CapCut website grew from 4 million to 16 million monthly visits, an unprecedented 300% increase.

🚀 Keyword Rankings: CapCut started to rank in the top 5 organic positions for ‘online video editor’ and several other high-competition keywords, significantly boosting its visibility and user acquisition.

🚀 Brand Authority: The quality of the backlinks and the authoritative content helped solidify CapCut’s reputation as a leader in the video editing space.

Inspired by our results? Imagine what we could achieve for your business. Contact us today to discuss a personalized SaaS link-building strategy that up levels your software to new heights.