Survival Guide for SaaS Founders’ Directory Submissions: I Interviewed 12 Founders and Summarized Their Common Practices

I talked to 12 SaaS founders about the same question: “How do you handle directory submissions?” The answers were strikingly consistent—none of them did it manually one by one.

📅 September 23 2026 · ⏱️ ~7 minutes read · 📂 SaaS · Founders · Link Building

Last month I did something a bit odd.

I posted the same message on Twitter, Indie Hackers, and a few SaaS Slack groups:

“Have you ever submitted your product to directories? How long did it take? What were the results?”

I received 47 replies, and 12 people were willing to dive deep. Their product stages varied—some had just launched three months ago, others already had ARR over a million. After talking, I found their approaches to directory submissions were surprisingly similar.

I compiled their answers into this article. It’s not a tutorial or a guide—it’s the real practices of 12 real founders.

Q1: Have you ever submitted to directories?

All ¹²⁄₁₂ have.

No exceptions. Every founder submitted to at least 10 directories. The differences lie only in how many they submitted, how long it took, and—most importantly—how they view the process.

Simon (AI writing tool, ARR ≈ $80K):

“Directory submission was something I did in the first week after launch. Not because it brings traffic, but because Google needs to see your name from multiple places. It’s like moving to a new city and having to register with the neighborhood committee.”

Priya (HR SaaS, ARR ≈ $300K):

“I didn’t take it seriously at first. Two months after launch I saw a competitor’s DR was 15 points higher than ours. A quick backlink check showed they were listed in over 30 directories, while we had only 3. That’s when I started taking it seriously.”

Marcus (Developer tools, pre‑revenue):

“I treat directory submission as ‘basic hygiene’—just like registering a domain or setting up SSL. You don’t think SSL is cool, but without it your site looks unprofessional. Directories are the same.”

Q2: How long did it take?

This is where the biggest divergence appears.

Answers range from “2 hours” to “3 weeks.” The variance mainly comes from two groups:

Founders who did it manually: average 12–18 hours, spread over 1–3 weeks. This includes gathering directory lists, preparing descriptions, submitting one by one, and tracking status.

Founders who used tools/outsource: average 1–2 hours (screening + confirming), with the rest handed off to a tool or VA (virtual assistant).

Tomás (e‑commerce SaaS, ARR ≈ $150K):

“I did the first 20 myself, which took about 10 hours. Then I couldn’t handle the rest and hired BackLinkSubmit to do the remaining 50. Honestly, I should have hired them from the start. Those 10 hours could have been spent coding.”

Aisha (EdTech SaaS, ARR ≈ $50K):

“I spent an afternoon preparing all the assets—product description, screenshots, logo, social links. Then I gave them to a VA on Upwork for $50, who submitted 40 directories. Two weeks later I checked and 28 were indexed. Great ROI.”

Kenji (AI Agent tool, pre‑revenue):

“I spent a week, 2 hours each day, about 10 hours total. I think it was worth it—because the submission process forced me to think deeper about my product positioning. Each directory asks you to describe your product in a different way, which is a positioning exercise in itself.”

Q3: Was it worth it?

⁹⁄₁₂ said “yes,” but with many caveats.

No one claimed “directory submissions caused explosive growth.” But they generally view it as a “necessary but not sufficient” foundational action.

Rachel (design tool, ARR ≈ $200K):

“Looking at directory submissions alone, they won’t double your traffic. But if you don’t do it and your competitors do, the DR gap will become obvious after six months. SEO is a ‘you must move forward or fall behind’ game.”

David (API tool, ARR ≈ $500K):

“I value brand consistency more. When your product appears on Crunchbase, G2, Product Hunt, GitHub, and other authoritative platforms, users see a brand that’s everywhere when they Google you. That’s more valuable than a single backlink.”

Nina (project‑management SaaS, ARR ≈ $120K):

“Honestly, I think 80 % of directory submissions are a waste of time. But that 20 % that’s valuable—really valuable. The Crunchbase listing gave us more referral traffic than LinkedIn.”

The three who said “not worth it” share a common trait: they submitted low‑quality directories with DR typically under 20.

Omar (growth tool, pre‑revenue):

“I spent three days submitting 100 directories and only 8 got indexed, all on junk sites. I later learned I should have filtered by DR first. If I could do it over, I’d only do 15 high‑quality ones.”

Q4: Which directories do you use? Any recommendations?

I asked each person to list their “top 3 most valuable directories.” The top 10 overall are:

Simon:

“If I could only pick three, I’d choose Crunchbase, G2, and Product Hunt. Those three cover brand credibility, user reviews, and product exposure.”

Priya:

“Don’t overlook AlternativeTo. Our long‑tail keyword ‘[competitor name] alternative’ ranks mainly thanks to our AlternativeTo listing.”

Q5: What pitfalls did you encounter?

This is the most interesting part. Every founder hit at least one pitfall.

Pitfall 1: Using an outdated directory list

Rachel:

“I used a 2023 ‘200+ directories’ list. After submitting 50, I discovered at least 20 sites were dead.”

Pitfall 2: Using the same description for every directory

Tomás:

“I got lazy and used the same 200‑word description for every directory. Three directories rejected me outright—they explicitly required ‘unique content.’”

Pitfall 3: Submitting too many in one day

Marcus:

“I submitted 40 in a single day. Then Google Search Console showed a lot of ‘discovered – not yet indexed’ pages. I later learned that a sudden influx of new backlinks triggers Google’s review mechanism.”

Pitfall 4: Forgetting to follow up after submission

Aisha:

“I submitted 35 directories and then went back to product work. Three months later I checked—only 12 were indexed. If I’d checked after two weeks and resubmitted the unindexed ones, the indexing rate could have been 70 %+.”

Pitfall 5: Submitting only the homepage

Kenji:

“I submitted only the homepage for every directory. Later I learned some directories let you submit specific landing pages—like your pricing page or feature page. Those sub‑page backlinks help with keyword rankings more than the homepage.”

Q6: If you could do it again, what would you change?

10 out of 12 gave similar answers: “I’d spend less time on low‑quality directories and more on high‑DR core directories.”

David’s answer stuck with me:

“If I could start over, I’d split directory submissions into two phases. Phase 1: focus on ten core directories with DR 50+, using the best description and complete assets. Phase 2: use an AI tool to filter 20–30 industry‑relevant directories and submit them slowly over 3–4 weeks. The rest I’d ignore—those with DR 20 or lower are better spent writing a great article.”

Rachel:

“I’d first spend an hour analyzing competitor backlinks to see which directories they’re indexed in. That hour is ten times more valuable than ten hours of blind submissions.”

What I Learned from These 12 Founders

After compiling all the conversations, a few things became clear:

First, directory submission is a “consensus action” among SaaS founders. No one skips it; they just differ in method and investment.

Second, the biggest split is “do it yourself vs. outsource.” Founders who did it themselves spent an average of 12–18 hours; those who used tools or VAs spent 1–2 hours. The results aren’t dramatically different—sometimes the outsourced submissions have higher indexing rates because the tool filters for quality.

Third, no one saw “explosive growth” from directory submissions. But it’s seen as “foundational work”—like registering a domain, setting up SSL, or submitting to Google Search Console. You won’t succeed because you did it, but you’ll fall behind if you don’t.

Fourth, 10–15 high‑quality directories is the consensus. No one recommends “submit 500 directories.” Everyone emphasizes quality over quantity.

Fifth, competitor analysis is the most underrated step. Looking at where competitors are indexed is ten times more effective than Googling “directory list.”

If You Want to Start Today

Based on these 12 founders’ experience, I’ve put together a “minimum viable plan”:

Investment: 2 hours → Output: 10–15 high‑quality directory submissions

1. 30 minutes: Use Ahrefs to check backlinks of three competitors and extract their directory sources.
2. 30 minutes: Prepare three versions of your product description (50 words, 200 words, 500 words).
3. 1 hour: Submit to 10–15 pre‑screened high‑quality directories.

If you don’t want to screen directories yourself, use BackLinkSubmit’s AI matching feature—enter your product URL and it automatically selects the most relevant directories and even helps you submit. Three of the twelve founders have used it and all said “saved time.”

If you want the full directory data (DR, traffic, link type), check out AI Backlink Ranking—a database of 1,900+ platforms.

In Closing

After interviewing these 12 founders, my biggest takeaway is: SaaS founders treat directory submissions with surprisingly pragmatic realism.

No one sees it as a “growth hack,” nor does anyone think it’s useless. They treat it as “basic hygiene”—like brushing your teeth. You won’t become handsome just because you brush, but if you skip it you’ll have problems.

Get 10–15 high‑quality directories right, then spend your time creating great content and building your product.

That’s the real work.

These 12 founders come from various SaaS sectors, with ARR ranging from pre‑revenue to $500K. Names have been anonymized for privacy.

BackLinkSubmit Team — AI matching + manual submission. Helping 500K+ sites acquire high‑quality backlinks. Learn more →