Competitor Backlinking Strategies for Better SEO

Competitor backlinking can be a game-changer for your SEO, helping you outrank your competitors and increase your online visibility.

To start, you need to identify your competitors' most valuable backlinks, which can be found in the "Analyzing Competitor Backlinks" section. This involves looking at the types of websites linking to your competitors, such as industry publications, social media platforms, and other relevant sources.

By identifying these valuable backlinks, you can create a plan to acquire similar links for your own website, as discussed in "Creating a Competitor Backlinking Plan". This will help you build a strong backlink profile and improve your search engine rankings.

Acquiring backlinks from industry-specific websites can be particularly effective, as seen in the "Types of Competitor Backlinks" section. These types of links can help you establish your brand as an authority in your industry and improve your online credibility.

Competitor backlinking is an SEO strategy that involves analyzing the backlinks of your competitors' websites to understand their standards for the types, quality, and number of backlinks.

This helps you build a more robust and effective link-building strategy. You can use this information to find new link building opportunities and boost your efforts.

A competitor backlink analysis can help you identify websites that link to your competitors, but not to you. This can significantly reduce the time you spend on researching topically relevant websites.

Websites that already link to your competitors might be interested in linking to your website too, potentially increasing your link building success rate. By analyzing your competitors' backlink profiles, you'll make sure you're not seriously underperforming compared to them.

A competitor backlink analysis can also give you new link building campaign ideas. You may discover new content ideas or content promotion tactics in your competitors' backlink profiles.

Here are some benefits of competitor backlinking:

To set up competitor backlinking, start by identifying the tools you'll use. Backlink Gap is a great tool for this purpose, allowing you to easily find competitor backlinks.

With Backlink Gap, you can enter your domain and up to four competitors' domains to analyze their backlink profiles. There's a drop-down menu next to each domain with three options for each portion of the website you can evaluate.

The options are Root domain, Subdomain, and URL. Root domain is useful when you want to compare entire websites. Subdomain is perfect for comparing links to subdomains, such as two blogs hosted on subdomains.

URL is ideal for comparing specific URLs, like two blog posts on the same topic. In this example, we'll show you the analysis for root domains, which is a good place to start if you're doing competitor backlink analysis for the first time.

Here's a summary of the options:

By understanding these options, you can effectively analyze your competitors' backlink profiles and identify opportunities to gain backlinks for your own website.

To analyze your competitors' backlinks, you need the right tools. Here are 5 different SEO platforms for the job.

You can use several backlink analysis tools because each has its weak spots and strengths, and combining their analyses will produce the best result.

Some of the free tools to find your competitors' backlinks include Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, Linkody, cognitiveSEO, and Kerboo.

Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz are all popular SEO suites with robust link-building capabilities.

When selecting the right tools for analyzing competitor backlinks, it's essential to consider multiple options. There are several SEO platforms available for the job. Here are 5 different SEO platforms to get you started:

Some of the free tools to find your competitors' backlinks include Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, Linkody, cognitiveSEO, and Kerboo.

To get the most accurate results, it's best to use several backlink analysis tools, as each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Ahrefs, for instance, will give you a list of backlinks for any website you search, along with the Domain Rating (DR) and organic traffic received by those links.

Semrush is another top contender, offering a Backlinks Competitors feature that allows you to X-ray your competitors' profiles and identify new opportunities.

Moz is also a powerful SEO suite, renowned for its link-building capabilities, including Link Research and Link Intersect.

Here are some key features to look for in a backlink analysis tool:

Listicles are a great way to get your product or service featured on a website, especially if your competitors are already listed. You can find these articles using the Backlinks report and scanning the results for articles that shouldn't be easy to find.

Filtering the report by "best", "top", and "leading" in the Referring page title can also help you find listicles. This is because listicles often have these words in their title.

The Content Explorer is another reliable tool to find listicles with multiple competitors relevant to your niche. It will return results with articles mentioning your competitors, but not you.

In these results, you should be able to find articles where slotting in your product or service is possible without much difficulty. All that's left is reaching out to the author of the article and asking to be included in the list.

If the article is a "competitor X vs competitor Y" comparison, it's more challenging to get featured. In this case, offering a free trial or access to your affiliate program could be an extra incentive to consider writing about your product.

Analyzing competitors is a crucial step in competitor backlinking. To outperform your competitors, you need to surpass them, not just replicate their backlink profiles.

You can analyze competitor backlink profiles in terms of link categories and niches, which will help you cast a wider net and look at other similar sites. This strategy is popular because it enables you to leverage the strategies that other companies in your niches have successfully put to work.

You can use tools like Backlink Gap to find competitor backlinks and identify websites you can reach out to and gain backlinks. For example, you can enter your domain and up to four competitors' domains into the Backlink Gap tool and analyze the results using the drop-down menu options, such as root domain, subdomain, or URL.

Here are some key metrics to track when analyzing competitors:

By analyzing these metrics, you can identify areas where you can improve and create a comprehensive SEO and link-building strategy to surpass your competitors.

To analyze the gap between your website and your competitors', you need to understand their link-building strategies.

Use tools like Ahrefs to get your competitor's backlink profile.

You can see the Domain Rating (DR) and organic traffic received by the backlinks of your competitors in Ahrefs Site Explorer Tool.

This data will give you a holistic idea of which websites you'd want a backlink from.

To determine if your competitor uses HARO links, enter their website URL in Site Explorer and set the search mode to Exact URL.

Filter the results by the person's name in the anchor and surrounding text when you find a quote.

The number of such links can indicate if the website is using HARO and how effective it is.

You can also use the Ahrefs Site Explorer Tool to see the backlinks for any website you search, including your competitors'.

SEO experts agree that simply replicating a competitor's backlink profile isn't enough to outperform them.

You need to surpass your competitors by analyzing their backlink profiles in terms of link categories and niches.

This approach allows you to cast a wider net and target similar sites that your competitors are not linking to.

Replicating all competitor backlinks may not be feasible and even if you managed to do so, it may not be enough to outrank them.

A comprehensive SEO and link-building strategy focusing on targeted link-building is key to achieving success.

Knowing who your competitors are is a crucial step in analyzing them. You can sort them into domain-level and page-level competitors to find the right opportunities for link building.

Direct competitors can be overwhelming, especially if they're big websites with many backlinks. Start with your two biggest domain-level competitors for your main keywords to manage your backlinks more efficiently.

To find your direct competitors, look at the Keyword overlap and Share in the Organic competitors report. However, if the domain name isn't clear, do a few more checks to ensure they're in the same industry and niche as you.

Here are some key characteristics of direct competitors:

You can use tools like Ahrefs to find your competitors' backlinks and analyze them. For example, Ahrefs will give you a list of backlinks for any website you search, including the Domain Rating (DR) and organic traffic received by those backlinks.

Here's a rough guide to help you understand the difference between high-quality and low-quality backlinks:

By applying filters like these, you can get a more accurate picture of your competitors' backlink profiles and identify potential opportunities for your own link building campaign.

Page Level competitors are pages competing with another page, not the full domain.

You can use the Ahrefs Chrome Extension to see the referring domains providing links to your page level competitors. This allows you to filter out bad results and compile a list for an outreach campaign.

One simple way to do this is by using Google and the Ahrefs Chrome Extension again with the same keywords you've been using throughout this guide.

This will bring up a list of domains providing links to your page level competitors.

Monitoring brand mentions is a crucial step in analyzing competitors. You can use social listening tools like Brandwatch to track competitor brand mentions, giving you a clear understanding of the website's audience.

Staying updated on competitor link building can help you analyze your website's competitor. This knowledge can be used to get your brand mentioned on the same websites, potentially earning a valuable backlink.

Knowing where competitors are getting mentioned can be a good opportunity to get your brand up there too.

Monitoring your competitors' keywords can give you a huge advantage in the game of online marketing. You can know what keywords they're ranking on Google to gain organic traffic.

By tracking their keywords, you can also rank your website on search engines. This is especially true if you choose keywords that are related to your content.

Knowing what websites your competitors submit their guest posts to is also a bonus. If those websites accept guest posts from your competitors, there's a good chance they'll accept yours too.

Just be sure to stick to keywords that are relevant to your content, or your audience will be completely off the mark.

Finding and replicating links from your competitors can be a game-changer for your website's backlink profile. This involves identifying websites that link to your competitors but not to you, and then reaching out to those sites to request a link.

You can use tools like Ahrefs to find these link opportunities. In Ahrefs, head to Site Explorer and key in your domain URL, then navigate to Link Intersect from the Backlink profile section in the menu. Type your competitors' URLs in the Show me who is linked to these domains or URLs section, and in But doesn’t link to, type in your domain URL.

You can also conduct a backlink gap analysis to find websites that link to your competitors but not to you. This involves using tools like Ahrefs to analyze your competitors' backlink profiles and identifying link opportunities that you can pursue.

Some popular tools for finding competitor backlinks include Ahrefs, Semrush, and Hunter.io. These tools can help you identify link opportunities, determine which ones are worth pursuing, and take the right steps to win new backlinks.

To replicate some of your competitors' links, you can find out which directories they are featured in and submit a request to have your website featured. You can also look for podcasts and interviews where your competitors have been featured, and reach out to the podcasters or interviewers to request a link.

Another approach is to look for links to pages with outdated content on your competitors' websites. If your website has a page with fresher or more relevant information, you can reach out to the website that linked to the outdated content and ask them to replace the stale link with a link to your more up-to-date page.

Here are some specific steps you can take to find and replicate links from your competitors:

By following these steps, you can find and replicate links from your competitors and improve your website's backlink profile.

Evaluating your competitor's backlink profile is a crucial step in understanding their SEO strategy and identifying opportunities for improvement.

Their overall link profile can give you valuable insights into their SEO strengths and weaknesses.

To start, you should assess the overall health of their domain, including traffic, Domain Rating, referring domains, and backlinks.

You can find this information in their Domain Overview in Site Explorer.

A closer look at their backlink profile will reveal their dofollow/nofollow ratio, the DR and UR of their backlinks, and the number of referring domains over time.

This data can be found by clicking on the Backlink profile tab in the overview.

You can also research specific pages by looking at subdomains, paths, and exact URLs in the Overview report.

This level of analysis will give you an idea of what you should be aspiring to in terms of backlinks and Domain Rating.

However, it's essential to remember that you don't need to match your competitors' metrics to compete against them.

According to my experience, 300-500 high-quality backlinks are usually enough to rank and get a fair bit of organic traffic.

Building an effective backlink strategy is crucial to outrank your competitors.

First, you need to identify your competitors' link-building strategies to guide your own. This can be done by analyzing their backlinks and understanding how many links they have.

By using tools like Ahrefs Chrome Extension, you can see the number of backlinks a website or page has, which can help you make a plan to compete. For example, if you're targeting the keyword "best football gloves", you can see that the top-ranking article has 143 backlinks.

It's essential to understand that not all backlinks are created equal. Many low-quality links can do nothing for an article's rankings. In the case of the top-ranking article for "best football gloves", you might discover that only 20 of the links are actually any good.

To build an effective strategy, you need to understand how to identify and capitalize on opportunities. If a resource links to your competitors and not you, it's likely because they haven't been approached yet. Similarly, if you find a resource your competitors use that you haven't used before, don't hesitate to capitalize on it.

Here are some actionable tips to improve your backlink building strategy:

Remember, building an effective backlink strategy takes time and effort, but it's essential to outrank your competitors and increase your visibility and domain authority.

To analyze your competitors' backlinks, you'll need the right tools. There are several SEO platforms that can help you find their links.

Some of the free tools to find your competitors' backlinks include Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, Linkody, cognitiveSEO, and Kerboo. These tools can help you get started with your competitor backlink analysis.

After running your competitors through several rounds of backlink analysis tools, you'll end up with a vast array of backlinks. To make sense of it all, look for patterns and similarities in the data.

Direct vs indirect competitors are a crucial distinction when it comes to building relevant backlinks.

Direct competitors fall in the same industry as you do, which means they have the same target audience. For example, if you're selling cars, your direct competitors are other car merchants on the web.

Direct competitors have the same target audience, making them a prime target for link building.

Indirect competitors, on the other hand, are not related to your industry, but they compete with your website on a page level for organic keywords.

Assets are a crucial part of any content marketing strategy. They come in different shapes and forms, including infographics, original research, ultimate guides, free interactive tools, case studies, and templates and checklists.

Infographics are a popular type of linkable asset that can make content visually appealing. They can also add value to the content by providing original statistics.

Original research can be a resource-heavy asset, but it's a great way to attract links organically. You can also leverage statistics to create highly linkable assets if you don't have the time or manpower for it.

Ultimate guides require a fair bit of effort to make them valuable, but they're less time-consuming than original research. Infographics, templates, and checklists are easy to recreate and improve on.

Here are some examples of linkable assets that can attract backlinks:

To find links to these assets, you can use tools like Site Explorer to search for pages containing specific file types, such as .jpg, .svg, .webp, and .png files. You can also filter the results by the Target content type: Links to Non-HTML content.

Participating in interviews and podcasts can boost your brand visibility and establish you as an authority in your niche.

Site Explorer and the Backlinks report are your tools for checking if your competitors are using this strategy in their SEO campaigns.

Entering a competitor's domain URL into Site Explorer and searching for "interview", "podcast", or "episode" in the referring page title or URL can reveal their tactics.

This technique can help you identify gaps in your own SEO strategy and make informed decisions to improve your online presence.

Resource pages are a great way to get high-quality backlinks to your website. You can ask to be added to a curated list of resources on a particular topic.

The technique is effective because it's mutually beneficial: by adding a link to the resource page, you increase its value. This is why some resource page owners provide a form where you can pitch your resources.

To find resource pages, enter your competitor's URL in the Backlinks report in Site Explorer and filter the results by "links" or "resources" in the Referring page URLs.

Competitor backlink analysis is an easy but effective way to acquire backlinks and potentially outrank your competition.

Identifying competitor backlinks is important because it allows you to keep an eye on your competitors and make sure that you're not lagging behind them.

Analyzing competitors' backlinks can increase your success rate because you target websites that already link to similar content, making it easier to secure the backlink.

This link building strategy makes the process of link-building more efficient as you're capitalizing on the work done by your rivals.

By analyzing your competitor's backlinks, you can discover new content ideas and content promotion tactics that can inject a dose of freshness and creativity into your link-building campaigns.

A deeper analysis on your competitors' backlinks will give you precious insights into their SEO strategy, such as the types of content they create, and their targeted keywords.

You can avoid your competitors' mistakes and use their good findings by analyzing their backlinks.

Here are some benefits of competitor backlink analysis:

Competitor backlinking can be a game-changer for your website's rankings and visibility. Spying on your top ranking competitors and securing the same links as them is one of the simplest ways to increase your rankings and piggyback off what the competition is doing right.

Analyzing your competition's backlinks can give you crucial insights about their content and how well it is received by your target audience. By creating quality content on a regular basis, you can increase your visibility and domain authority.

Here are some actionable tips to help you get started:

Analyzing your competition's backlinks can give you crucial insights into their content and how well it's received by your target audience. This is especially true when you use backlink analysis tools to find broken links to your competitors' sites.

One thing that backlink tool analysis can give you is the list of broken links to your competitors. You can reach out to backlink sources and offer to replace the broken links with links to content on your site. This is a great way to build high-quality backlinks and improve your site's visibility.

Employ only reliable backlink building tools, as buying cheap backlink bundles can leave you with a mess of spambot-generated social media or forum posts that will take a lot of resources to clean up and may downright ruin your SEO efforts.

Creating quality content on a regular basis is one of the most important sources of organic backlinks that will increase your visibility and domain authority. This is because analyzing your competition's backlinks can give you crucial insights into their content and how well it's received by your target audience.

There are plenty of coop opportunities out there that help you build a diverse backlink profile specifically for your niche. Look into guest blogging opportunities, influencer integrations, joint actions such as giveaways, negotiate about cross-linking and generally built as many horizontal and vertical relationships in your sphere as possible.

Here are some actionable tips to get you started:

Remember, building a strong backlink profile takes time and effort, but with the right strategy and tools, you can increase your site's visibility and domain authority.

Competitor backlink analysis is a simple yet effective way to grow your website.

Securing the same links as your top ranking competitors can increase your rankings and piggyback off their link building efforts.

Google rewards websites for their link building efforts, so it's logical that they would reward you for doing the same thing.

Staying updated on your professional world is crucial to making informed decisions about your online presence.