Getting a backlink costs money now. Not a lot per listing, but it compounds fast. You start submitting to directories at $9 here, $19 there, $29 for a featured slot, $49 for a "premium" placement. Three weeks in and you have spent several hundred dollars across a mix of directories, most of which pass nofollow links, some of which have domain ratings so low they contribute nothing, and a few that are genuinely useful.
This is the reality of backlink building for early-stage founders. The market has fragmented into hundreds of directories built specifically to extract small fees from people who know they need backlinks but do not have the budget to be selective. The SEO value varies wildly and is rarely disclosed upfront. You are often buying discovery more than actual link equity.
We know this because we have been doing it for Tarkle.
What we built and why
Tarkle runs a directory for startups and agencies at tarkle.com/startups. Every listing gets a permanent dofollow backlink on tarkle.com. No account required, no payment, no attribution. You submit, we review within 48 hours, and if your product or agency is legitimate you get listed.
When we launched the directory, tarkle.com was DR30. It is DR33 now and still climbing. We publish comparison articles, build backlinks consistently, and every startup listed in our directory sits on the same growing domain.
The reason we keep it free is simple. Directory fees are a tax on founders who are already stretched thin. We have the infrastructure. We built the directory for our own SEO purposes. Opening it for free costs us nothing and helps people in the same position we were a year ago.
What you actually get
A permanent dofollow link from tarkle.com. No expiry, no renewal fee, no "sponsored" or "nofollow" fine print. The link is a standard HTML anchor pointing to your domain with no rel restriction, which means search engines follow it and pass equity.
tarkle.com currently has an Ahrefs Domain Rating of 33. That puts it ahead of most niche directories and well-positioned to pass meaningful link equity. The domain is growing because we are actively publishing more indexed content and building more links. The DR today is not the DR in six months.
Listings are reviewed manually. If your product or agency is real and your website is live, you will be approved. We are not gatekeeping. We are making sure the directory is useful for the people who browse it.
Save your spot while it is free
The first 250 listings are free. After that, new submissions will move to a paid model. There is no countdown and no waitlist. Submit now and your spot is reserved at no cost, permanently.
If you are building backlinks for a new product and looking for free dofollow placements on established domains, this is one of the few genuinely free options available right now.
Who should submit
Any SaaS product, startup, tool, or agency with a live website. It does not need to be related to file sharing or our niche. The directory is a general startup and agency listing, not a curated industry resource.
Early-stage founders, solo builders, and agency operators are the right fit. If you are actively building backlinks and looking for free placements on DR33+ domains, submit before the free tier closes.
How to submit
Go to tarkle.com/startups. Fill in your product name, URL, a short description, and a category. No account creation. No email verification. Submit and we review within 48 hours.
The first 250 listings are free. After that, submissions move to a paid model. Get listed while it is free.
