9 Steps for Competitor Backlink Analysis

Competitor backlink analysis helps you improve your SEO by learning from your competitors' link-building strategies. The top-ranking pages on Google often have 3.8× more backlinks than lower-ranking pages, making this a key tactic for better visibility and traffic. Here's a quick breakdown of the process:

• Find Competitors: Identify top competitors using tools like Semrush or Ahrefs.
• Review Backlink Data: Analyze competitors' backlinks for patterns and opportunities.
• Check Link Quality: Focus on high-authority, relevant links while avoiding toxic ones.
• Find Broken Links: Spot 404 errors and offer your content as replacements.
• Make a Link Plan: Prioritize quality backlinks and set a budget.
• Compare Backlink Gaps: Identify sites linking to competitors but not to you.
• Build Links: Use outreach and content strategies to secure links.

Quick Comparison of Tools:

This step-by-step guide gives you actionable insights to improve your SEO strategy and close the backlink gap with competitors.

Understanding How a Page Got Backlinks

Step 1: Find Your Main Competitors

To start, identify the competitors who share your market and target the same keywords. Use the methods below and specialized SEO tools to zero in on these key players.

Tools for Competitor Research

SEO tools make it easier to identify competitors by providing detailed insights and analysis.

Semrush offers tools like Traffic Analytics, Organic Research, Advertising Research, and Social Media Tracker to gather competitive data.

Ahrefs provides a helpful "Organic competitors" report that maps out your competition based on three main factors:

• Organic traffic volume
• Traffic value
• Number of ranking pages

Here’s a quick comparison of features between Semrush and Ahrefs:

Choose the Right Competitors

Focus on 3–5 competitors that share your audience, offer similar products or services, rank well organically, and have strong backlink profiles.

Tools like SpyFu's RivalFlow AI can help simplify this process by identifying competitors who outrank you for critical keywords. This ensures your analysis targets competitors with backlink strategies that are most relevant to your niche .

Once you’ve pinpointed these competitors, you can dive deeper into analyzing their backlink strategies.

Step 2: Get and Review Backlink Data

Tools for Backlink Research

Ahrefs is a favorite among SEO professionals, with 64% trusting its link data accuracy over other tools . It processes massive amounts of data daily, offering detailed insights into backlinks.

Semrush is another excellent option, analyzing over 43 trillion backlinks across more than 808 million domain profiles .

"When it comes to pure value, Semrush wins. That's mostly because you get a fully-featured SEO software suite AND Google Ads software for the same monthly price." - Brian Dean, Founder, Backlinko

Here’s a quick look at some key backlink metrics you can track using these tools:

These benchmarks help you spot patterns in successful link-building strategies.

Find Common Patterns

Look for recurring trends in competitor backlink data to uncover strategies that work. Pay attention to:

Link Sources: Identify the types of websites that frequently link to your competitors. This could include industry blogs, news sites, or forums that consistently provide backlinks.

Content Types: Study the content formats that attract the best backlinks. Research reports, detailed guides, and infographics are common winners .

"I love the feature that lets you analyze the keyword and backlink gap with your competitors. This is very useful in determining which keywords you aren't ranking for, that you could be getting." - Paul Meluzzo, Creative Director, Omnislash Visual

Quality Indicators: Focus on high-authority referring domains rather than sheer link volume. A strong backlink profile typically has a natural mix of dofollow and nofollow links, with dofollow links making up about 70% .

Step 3: Check Link Quality

Assessing Link Quality

Once you've collected your backlink data, the next step is to evaluate the quality of those links. Metrics like Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR), both scored on a scale of 1–100, are commonly used to measure backlink strength and trustworthiness .

Domain Authority Scores and Their Meaning :

"Using links to approximate the popularity of pages was a big part of the original Google algorithm, and whilst a lot has changed since, we can see this is still a vital component today."

In addition to DA and DR, consider other metrics like Page Authority (PA) and the number of linking root domains. This will give you a clearer picture of the overall strength of your backlink profile.

Once you've assessed the quality, it's time to identify and address harmful links.

Spotting Toxic Backlinks

Toxic backlinks can harm your website's performance and even lead to penalties from Google. It's crucial to identify and remove these low-quality links .

Common Signs of Toxic Backlinks:

• Links from sites with thin or duplicated content
• Over-optimized anchor text that exactly matches high-volume keywords
• Backlinks from penalized or de-indexed domains
• Links from unrelated foreign language websites
• Link farms with excessive outbound links
• Low-quality directories with little to no editorial standards

"Bad backlinks are a problem not just because they can lead to penalties by Google. Backlinks with a negative traffic trajectory also provide a decreasing ROI as they age."
– Greg Heilers and Morgan Taylor, Jolly SEO

To further evaluate link quality, focus on these key factors:

• Relevance: Ensure the linking site aligns with your industry or niche.
• Editorial Integrity: Look for sites that maintain strict content standards.
• Engagement: Check for user interactions like comments and social shares.
• Site Updates: Confirm that the site is regularly maintained, with functional and updated links .

A single backlink from a trusted, authoritative site often holds more value than dozens of low-quality links . Instead of chasing quantity, aim to build meaningful connections with respected websites in your field.

Step 4: Find Broken Link Options

Track Down Broken Links

After evaluating link quality, broken competitor backlinks can become great opportunities for link-building. A broken backlink happens when a link between two sites no longer works - usually because the target page was moved or deleted .

To find broken links efficiently, use tools designed for the job:

For Semrush users, here’s how to prioritize broken pages with strong backlink potential:

1. Open the Indexed Pages Report and use the "Broken Pages" filter to find 404 errors.
2. Sort the results by referring domains to uncover the most valuable opportunities.

Fix Broken Links

Once you've identified broken links, turn them into opportunities by creating updated, high-quality replacement content. Here are some effective strategies:

• Find Resource Pages: Use Google search operators to locate resource pages with broken links:
  • "Keyword" + inurl:resources
  • "Keyword" + intitle:links
  • "Keyword" + "helpful resources"
  • "Keyword" + "useful resources"
• Wikipedia Dead Links: Search for broken links in Wikipedia entries related to your niche. Use the search operator: site:Wikipedia.org [your keyword] intext:"dead link"

Once your improved content is ready, reach out to the websites linking to the broken pages. In your outreach, point out the broken link, suggest your updated resource as a replacement, and explain how it benefits their readers.

Broken links happen for various reasons - products being discontinued, URL changes, deleted or redirected pages, or the removal of external links. By addressing these gaps, you can build valuable connections.

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Step 5: Make Your Link Plan

Build Your Plan

Design a plan that targets the best backlink opportunities. Focus on quality over quantity, prioritizing backlinks based on these key factors:

Group these opportunities into tiers based on their value and the effort required. Research has shown that backlinks from authoritative sources deliver stronger results than a large number of low-quality links .

To get started, try these methods:

• Use your existing network to gain natural links.
• Turn unlinked brand mentions into backlinks.
• Respond to journalist requests through HARO.
• Create content that resource pages will naturally want to reference.

Once your plan is ready, calculate the budget needed to carry it out.

Set Your Budget

The cost of link building depends on the quality of the links you're aiming for. Here's a breakdown of current market rates:

You'll also need tools to support your efforts. Backlink analysis tools cost around $99–$299/month, email outreach platforms start at $99/month, and guest post content services range from $100–$500 per article.

Most businesses allocate 10–20% of their marketing budget - about $1,000 to $5,000 monthly - for link building. On average, 74% of link builders spend $83 per link, while SEOs dedicate about 30% of their SEO budget to this area .

If your resources are limited, focus on:

• Creating content that naturally attracts backlinks.
• Building partnerships within your industry.
• Participating in industry forums and discussions.
• Offering expert insights through HARO's free tier.

Step 6: Compare Backlink Gaps

Using Gap Analysis Tools

Backlink gap analysis helps you uncover websites linking to your competitors but not to you. These "missing links" are opportunities to boost your search rankings and traffic .

Here's what to focus on during your analysis:

Tools like Semrush's Backlink Gap feature let you compare up to five domains at once, helping you identify websites that link to several competitors . Once you've collected this data, organize it to focus on the most promising opportunities.

Sort Your Results

To make the most of your findings, sort and filter your backlink opportunities using these criteria:

• Domain Strength Assessment: Look at Authority Scores and organic traffic. Websites with higher scores usually offer stronger backlink value .
• Relevance Evaluation: Analyze keyword overlap with your target topics. For example, seoClarity shows how shared keyword rankings can indicate relevance .
• Link Quality Analysis: Aim for "follow" links from domains with a track record of producing quality content.

You can also create a priority matrix to streamline your outreach efforts:

This structured approach ensures you're focusing on the backlinks that will have the most impact on your SEO goals.

Step 7: Start Building Links

Stick to Your Plan

Using the insights from your gap analysis, it's time to put your link-building plan into action. Begin by focusing on creating strong links to your homepage before moving on to other content pages .

Here are some steps to get started:

• Set Up Your Foundation
  Create social media profiles and list your business in relevant directories. These actions help establish credibility with search engines .
• Submit to Directories
  Look for high-quality directories related to your niche and submit your site for backlinks.
• Outreach with Purpose
  Reach out to potential link partners thoughtfully, aiming to build meaningful connections.

This stage is all about applying what you've learned so far to strengthen your online presence.

Monitor Your Progress

As you work on building links, keep an eye on your progress. Use tools to track new backlinks and keep tabs on what your competitors are doing. For instance, SE Ranking's Backlink Monitor can help you evaluate competitor backlinks, while their Page Changes Monitor notifies you of any updates to competitor content that might influence your strategy .

Keep a record of new backlinks, evaluate their quality, stay updated on competitor activities, and analyze how your content is performing.

As Derek Halpern puts it:

"You may not have unique ingredients, but you've got a unique recipe. And that unique recipe is all that matters" .

Helpful Tools and Resources

To analyze competitor backlinks effectively, you'll need reliable tools that provide accurate data and actionable insights.

Top SEO Marketing Directory

This directory offers a curated list of SEO tools and services tailored for backlink analysis and link building. It’s a great starting point to compare options based on your specific needs and budget. Once you've explored it, dive into some of the top backlink analysis tools to see how they measure up.

Leading Backlink Analysis Tools

Choosing the right tool for backlink analysis can sharpen your competitor strategy and strengthen your overall SEO plan. One standout option is Ahrefs, trusted by 44% of SEO professionals who rely on its Domain Rating metric . Ahrefs updates its index every 15 minutes, tracking an impressive 437 billion pages, 245 million domains, and 35 trillion external backlinks .

Here’s a quick comparison between Ahrefs and SEO SpyGlass, another popular tool:

These features explain why many professionals lean toward Ahrefs for in-depth and wide-ranging analysis.

"Ahrefs is simply the best all-in-one SEO tool on the market. It's impossible to be a top tier SEO without it. At the rate they keep releasing new powerful features, no one else can catch up"

"SEO SpyGlass is the first backlink tool that has made a measurable difference in our website's rankings"

Ahrefs offers plans ranging from $29 to $1,499 per month, with the Standard plan at $249/month being a favorite among mid-sized businesses . According to Greg Heilers, Co-Founder of Jolly SEO:

"Without Ahrefs, we would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each year"

Summary

Steps Overview

Top-ranking pages tend to have 3.8× more backlinks than lower-ranking ones . Here's a breakdown of the key steps we discussed:

These steps summarize the tactics outlined earlier, helping you refine your strategy.

Next Steps

Keep the momentum going with consistent competitor analysis. Federico Jorge, a Competitive Intelligence Expert, suggests:

"Involve stakeholders from different departments (sales, product, marketing) that understand the space and competitors well. You can lean on this 'board of experts' and share information as you find it."

Monthly Monitoring Tips:

• Track new backlinks competitors are gaining (top-ranking pages typically acquire 5%–14.5% more do-follow backlinks each month ).
• Adjust your link-building priorities based on competitor activity.
• Evaluate your content performance and look for fresh linking opportunities.

Successful link building requires a balanced approach. Create content that naturally attracts backlinks while pairing it with targeted outreach. For example, Backlinko increased organic traffic by 110% in just two weeks by improving popular content and focusing on outreach .

Regular performance reviews will help you discover additional opportunities .

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