Web 2.0 sites are free platforms where you can publish your own pages. Used well, they give you a place to publish helpful content that links to your main site. A post in the "Free backlink" series on X picks Strikingly, the site builder, as backlink number 9. Here is what the post suggests, what Strikingly's free plan actually gives you, and what I couldn't verify.
How to Get a Free DR 94 Dofollow Backlink from the Zendesk Marketplace
AIArt.Tools Team
2026/11/07
If you run a SaaS product, the app marketplaces of big software companies are some of the best free link sources available. The domains are strong, the pages are about software, and each approved app gets a public listing that points back to its developer. This guide covers the Zendesk Marketplace, which a recent post on X describes as a free way to earn a dofollow link from a DR 94 domain.
What is the Zendesk Marketplace?
Zendesk is a customer support platform. Its Marketplace is where Zendesk customers find apps, bots and themes. According to Zendesk's developer docs, the Marketplace covers apps for Zendesk Support (including Messaging), Sell and Chat, plus themes for Guide. Public apps can be free or paid. There is also an "integration app" type for integrations that live in a third-party product instead of inside Zendesk.
DR and link attributes
- Domain Rating: DR 94, as reported by the source post (the author's screenshot shows an Ahrefs overview with DR 94).
- Link type: the source post says the app page links to your site with a dofollow link. I could not confirm the
relattribute of a live listing myself, so check it after you go live. - Cost: free to submit. Zendesk's docs say public apps can be offered free of charge, and I found no listing fee in the publishing docs. The real cost is building an app that passes review.
Step-by-step: how to get listed
Step 1: Create a Marketplace developer account
Go to the Zendesk Marketplace sign-up page. You can register with an email address, or sign in with Google or GitHub. Zendesk's docs also say you need to register your organization and create your Marketplace profile before submitting.
Step 2: Build a Zendesk app
Build an app with the Zendesk app framework. The source post says to build a "Support or marketing-only app". I could not find the phrase "marketing-only" in Zendesk's docs, so treat it as the author's shorthand for a lightweight app. Zendesk's publishing steps list these tasks:
- Request a sponsored test account.
- Build and test your app.
- Set up a global OAuth client (needed if your app makes server-side calls to the Zendesk API).
- Create brand assets: a large icon, a small icon, and screenshots in the app's
/assetsfolder. - Write your listing content.
Step 3: Package the ZIP
Zendesk's CLI (ZCLI) can validate and package your app with zcli apps:package. It saves the ZIP in a tmp folder inside your app directory.
Step 4: Submit for review
Sign in to the developer portal and open Submit a new app. Upload the ZIP, which is checked automatically (errors block submission and warnings don't). Then add an optional GitHub repo link, choose up to two categories, add a privacy policy URL if you have one, answer the compliance questions, and accept the terms. Zendesk's submission guide gives a turnaround of 1-3 weeks for new apps.
Caveats and common pitfalls
- This is a real app build, not a form. The ZIP is checked against file requirements and branding guidelines. Placeholder apps are unlikely to pass.
- Data disclosure is required. Zendesk requires your listing to say what Zendesk data the app accesses and why.
- Don't use API tokens for multi-customer apps. Zendesk's requirements say public apps that make server-side API requests must use global OAuth tokens.
- Expect a wait. New submissions take 1-3 weeks, according to Zendesk.
- Verify the link yourself. The dofollow claim comes from the source post. Inspect the outbound link on your live page for
rel="nofollow",ugcorsponsoredbefore counting it. - Check the DR figure yourself. Domain Rating changes over time.
Which sites is this good for?
- SaaS tools used by support, customer success or sales teams that already run on Zendesk.
- Products that can add context to a ticket, such as CRM data, order lookups, translation, QA, sentiment analysis or AI reply drafts.
- A poor fit for content sites, games and consumer tools that have no support workflow to plug into.
Source
This guide is based on this post by @rapid_indexer on X, part of a series on getting backlinks from SaaS app marketplaces. Submission details were checked against Zendesk's developer documentation.
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