How Buffer Acquired Over 10M Backlinks From High Authority Sites

Last week, I stumbled upon something intriguing about the Buffer blog. 

I found out that Buffer has an impressive number of backlinks—over 10,000,000. 

These backlinks come from highly authoritative websites like Shopify, Calendly, Weebly, and even the New York Times. Initially, I assumed these backlinks were a result of product mentions, but after some more research, I discovered there is more to the strategy. 

If you’re searching for ways to build backlinks from high-authority sites and want to see an example of how to do it right, you should definitely check out this case study. In it, I’ll show you the types of content that have earned Buffer the most backlinks. 

Ready to dive in? Let’s go. 

Buffer’s Backlink Strategy

Buffer’s search scorecard is quite impressive. The website drives close to a million organic searches from the SERPs with a traffic value of $1,600,000:

As I said earlier, product mentions make up part of Buffer’s backlink profile. That’s what happens when you have a great product people enjoy using to solve a problem. 

Buffer also creates an annual “State of Remote Work” report that attracts backlinks. For example, this one from 2019 has almost 5000 backlinks to date, and it is still acquiring more:

I found it acquired 141 additional backlinks this year even though it’s a four-year-old report. But I love how Buffer adds a short hyperlinked text above the fold (just before the main post) to inform readers about the most recent report. 

Publishing an annual industry report showcases your company’s expertise and thought leadership. By offering comprehensive analysis and expert commentary on industry trends, you are improving your brand’s credibility and positioning your company as a go-to resource. It potentially attracts other industry publications to link to your report as a reference or share it with their audience, further boosting your backlink opportunities.

Resources from Buffer’s blog also generate lots of backlinks. 

But here’s where it gets interesting. Buffer has two blogs: the /Library and /Resources subdirectories. Both drive more than 500,000 monthly organic traffic, with over 1M backlinks. 

(If you’re wondering why Buffer has two blogs instead of one, we did a full case study on this. Explaining here would make this section too long;  please read all about it here.)

Buffer adopts a similar approach for both blogs: publishing actionable social media and online marketing advice for creators, small business owners, and marketers. It’s somewhat like Zoho’s flanking strategy—using two blogs to offer more value to its target audience and cover areas competitors may not have considered or explored yet. 

Let’s see how Buffer uses both blogs to dominate the SERPs, build its domain authority, and gain trust with its readers.

Buffer.com/resources: How It Acquired 767K Backlinks 

Buffer’s resources subdirectory is a hub of different content categories.

For example, Buffer uses Flow to tell marketing stories from successful creators and brands using social media to drive meaningful results. Open focuses on brand building for Buffer, featuring stories and insights from team members to showcase their stories and the company culture. The News section features quick updates and walkthroughs on the latest with the Buffer platform. 

Together, these sections position Buffer as a:

• Reliable guide that provides actionable advice.
• Great workplace that amplifies team members’ voices and personal brands.
• Great product with relevant features for building an engaged and profitable social media audience.

When I analyzed the blog to see which content generated the most backlinks and referring domains, I found these four pieces:

If you look at these results, you’ll find three main content types that drive many authoritative brands to link to Buffer: original reports, statistics roundups, and a category page. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Original Trends Reports

The Buffer blog often conducts original research and shares data-backed insights. 

For example, Buffer used its analytics tool to measure how X’s (formerly known as Twitter’s) inline image feature affected engagement rates. Then, they created a report that analyzed their findings:

The ten-year-old blog post has 2500+ backlinks from over 1000 referring domains, including Hubspot, Zapier, Search Engine Land, and its competitor, Sprout Social. 

This report isn’t the typical 3000+ words downloadable piece; rather, it’s a simple blog post. Instead of just sharing quantitative data with a boring narrative, Buffer took this report up a notch using a three-step approach: 1) share the news; 2) analyze insights from Buffer, positioning it as a valuable tool; 3) share actionable tips that show your tool in action

The topic of this piece isn’t evergreen, so updating the content won’t be helpful for Buffer. The team only leveraged a trending topic to create something its users will find helpful. 

If you have a tool that analyzes trends or generates data around a trending topic your audience will find helpful, creating a report around these insights is a great way to attract backlinks from authority sites. 

These reports serve as valuable resources for other marketers, journalists, bloggers, or researchers who are looking for information to support their own work. When reputable websites link to your report, that adds credibility and authority to your content. It shows that your work is valued and trusted within your industry.

Also, adding practical tips to your report is the perfect icing on the cake. They make your report more hands on and applicable. Readers often appreciate specific guidance and actionable suggestions that they can implement immediately. This increases the value they perceive in your report and makes it more likely for them to refer to it or share it with others.

Now let’s take a look at the second content type. 

Stats Roundups

Statistics are invaluable, highly-sought-after information in the B2B and B2C industries. 

When you compile and present a roundup of relevant and reliable statistics in a well-structured and insightful manner, it can attract links from other websites and individuals. 

Take Buffer’s 50 video marketing stats post:

Marketers often require statistics like these to back up their claims and add credibility to their content. So, this type of roundup is a go-to resource for them. 

One thing I love about the post is how it doesn’t just list stats, but groups them into themes. These categories make it easy to group the data and present them so readers can find what they need quickly, without scrolling back and forth throughout the page. 

Of course, it would help if Buffer updated this piece because they could lose these backlinks to other sites with more recent statistics. The page used to have as many as 12,000 backlinks, but they lost almost 8000 of these links, according to Ahrefs. Currently, the page has only 3500 live backlinks. 

To make your statistics roundup post more linkworthy, ensure that you: 

• Gather data from credible sources.
• Provide insightful analysis or context around the statistics.
• Use proper citations—link to the source, not to another roundup.
• Present the information in a visually appealing and easily understandable format.

When updating your statistics roundup post, clearly indicate the date of the latest update and highlight any new or revised statistics. This helps readers and potential linkers understand that you regularly maintain and improve the post.

Alright, let’s take a look at the last type of post that’s driving backlinks for Buffer.

Category Page

It is more common for individual resources to drive more backlinks. However, category pages sometimes generate backlinks, if they offer valuable information within a specific niche. 

Buffer’s Open culture blog is a great example of such a resource:

Open focuses on brand building for Buffer, featuring stories and insights from team members to showcase their stories and the company culture. Even though most of the pieces on the page aren’t SEO-driven, the blog still generates 6000+ backlinks. 

Brand building pieces like these aren’t really focused on acquiring backlinks but on awareness. They indirectly support backlink generation, as they tend to attract attention from relevant sources when executed well. Unbounce, Coschedule, and CXL reference this category page on topics such as remote work culture, content marketing, and brand strategy. Sometimes all you need to drive backlinks to your site is a little bit of content excellence.

Buffer.com/library: How It Acquired 263K Backlinks 

Buffer’s library subdirectory is focused on social media marketing tips for creators, marketers, and small businesses.

These pieces drive almost 500,000 organic monthly traffic, with a traffic value of $1,000,000.  When I analyzed the blog to see which content generated the most backlinks, I found these:

If you look at these results, you’ll find two main content types that drive many authoritative brands to link to Buffer: Roundup Posts and Evergreen Guides. Let’s explore each in detail.

Roundup Posts

Roundup posts are a convenient, comprehensive resource for other sites to reference as a credible source of information. 

Buffer knows this, so they use different types of roundups to attract backlinks. 

For example, the piece “21 Top Social Media Sites to Consider for Your Brand in 2023” has more than 5000 links pointing to the page:

I love the fact that the piece is up-to-date and relevant for its audience—small businesses looking to grow their online presence. They need to know that there are other sites beyond Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the popular ones we’re all used to. So Buffer positions itself as a reliable guide there. As a result, the page drives 44,332 monthly organic traffic.

Another striking thing about the blog post is how the table of content is structured:

Instead of taking the traditional approach of mentioning the social media sites alone, Buffer includes numbers. Adding a stat as relevant as the number of monthly active users is super helpful for the reader. It  gives them an idea of the number of people who use the platform. This, in turn, helps them imagine those they can potentially reach and decide if they want to use the platform. 

For each social media site, Buffer explains how easy the platform is to use, the number of small businesses already using the platform and the content formats that work best there. They also include links to useful related content already existing on the Buffer blog. 

You can leverage different types of roundup posts, depending on your niche and what your audience will find relevant. Here are a few ideas:

“Top Tools/Resources in [Your SaaS Niche]”

Create a roundup post featuring the top tools, resources, or software solutions within your specific SaaS niche. You can include a brief description of each tool, its key features, and how it benefits users. Reach out to the tool creators for their input or feature their testimonials. This type of roundup post is highly valuable to your audience and can attract backlinks from the featured tools’ websites or other industry websites.

“Expert Insights on [Industry Trend/Topic]”

Compile insights and opinions from industry experts on a particular trend or topic related to your SaaS niche. Interview influential figures, thought leaders, or professionals who can provide valuable insights. Ask them specific questions or request their predictions for the industry. When the post is published, experts are likely to share it with their followers or link to it from their websites, generating backlinks.

“Success Stories of [Your SaaS Niche]”

Feature success stories of businesses or individuals who have achieved significant results using your SaaS product or within your industry. Highlight their challenges, strategies, and the positive outcomes they experienced. This type of roundup post can attract attention from other businesses or professionals in your niche who may be interested in learning from real-world success stories. Those featured in the post may link back to it from their websites or share it with their networks.

“Roundup of Industry Events/Conferences”

Create a roundup post listing and providing information about upcoming industry events, conferences, or webinars. Include details such as dates, locations (physical or virtual), notable speakers, and topics covered. This type of roundup post can be a helpful resource for industry professionals looking for networking or learning opportunities. Event organizers or speakers may link to or share your roundup post to promote their events, generating backlinks.

“Expert Tips and Advice for [Specific Challenge in Your SaaS Niche]”

Compile tips and advice from experts in your niche to address a common challenge your target audience faces. For example, if your SaaS product is a project management tool, you could create a roundup post featuring expert tips for effective project management. Experts are likely to share the post with their audience, increasing the potential for backlinks.

Remember to conduct thorough research, reach out to contributors or relevant parties, and provide valuable and unique insights or information in your roundup posts. This will help increase their appeal, shareability, and potential for generating backlinks.

Evergreen Guides

Buffer also invests in creating in-depth guides on evergreen topics its audience will find useful. For example, the piece “The Complete, Actionable Guide to Marketing Personas + Free Templates” has 4000 backlinks:

Evergreen guides can be optimized for search engines to attract organic traffic. Buffer targets long- and short-tail keywords and provides valuable information in each section:

Targeting relevant keywords and providing valuable information increases your guide’s potential to rank high in search engine results pages. This increases visibility, drives targeted traffic to your site, and generates backlinks from other websites that find your guide helpful. That’s what happened with Buffer with this piece:

When creating evergreen guides, focus on topics that are highly relevant to your target audience. Conduct thorough audience, keyword, and content research and provide comprehensive information your readers will find helpful. 

Create Once, Distribute Forever

Promoting the piece is a key part of a successful backlink strategy. If you create a great piece no one sees, you won’t be able to attract links from high-quality sites or drive traffic to it. 

Like Hootsuite, Buffer leverages a content repurposing strategy to get more eyes on its content. (We wrote an in-depth piece on Hootsuite’s content repurposing menu; you will find it useful.) Buffer also shares the piece with its audience of over 90,000 newsletter subscribers. 

Perhaps you already have great content sitting in your blog, but it isn’t  generating the traffic and backlinks you want. We have a hands-on solution for you: a free LinkedIn marketing distribution course where you’ll learn various strategies for repurposing and distributing your content. Here’s what you will learn:

• How to create a system that gets your content noticed
• How to review, create, share, and measure your content across different platforms
• How to identify the content that people want and find existing content opportunities
• How to choose a key piece of content to repurpose and ensure that your content aligns with your audience

If you’re ready to build or improve your content distribution engine and drive more traffic + backlinks, head over to LinkedIn and start the course.