What is competitor backlink analysis? The short answer

Short answer: what is competitor backlink analysis? It is looking at which websites link to your competitors, then finding the ones that link to several of them but not to you. Those sites are your best link prospects, because they already cover your subject and already link to businesses like yours. The analysis ends with a short list of sites to contact, sorted by how realistic each link is.

That is the whole idea. The details below answer the questions that usually come next.

What do you actually compare?

Linking websites, also called referring domains. A competitor might have 5,000 backlinks, but if they come from 250 sites, there are 250 decisions to make, not 5,000. Each site has one editor you could write to.

You compare two to four competitors with your own site. The comparison has a name: a link gap, or link intersect. A site that appears on two or more competitor lists and not on yours goes on the shortlist.

Which competitors should you pick?

The sites that rank for the searches you want, which are not always the companies you sell against. A review site or a niche blog can be your strongest search rival. Pick by looking at the results for your main terms.

How do you know which links you can get?

Look at the page the link sits on.

• Easy to match: edited directories, "best tools" roundups, resource pages, and pages that mention your brand without linking.
• Possible with effort: guest articles, if you have a subject the site has not covered.
• Out of reach: news stories about a rival's own announcement, partner and customer pages, and sponsor or award pages unless you pay or enter too.

Ignore directories that list anyone. Google's spam policies name low-quality directory links as link spam.

Is buying the missing links an option?

No. Google treats buying or selling links that pass ranking credit as link spam, and that includes giving someone a product in exchange for a post with a link. Paid placements are only acceptable when the link is marked rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". If a rival has the same keyword link on many unrelated blogs, assume it was paid and leave it.

What tool should you use?

For most small teams, seogeoaeo.ai's Backlink Finder is the quickest route. You enter a domain and get the 100 strongest sites linking to it, each with a link rank from 0 to 1,000, a spam score out of 100, the date the first link was seen and how many of its links are followed. Run it on each competitor and on your own site, then compare the lists in a spreadsheet. A run costs 70 credits, and plans start at $29 a month for 2,000 credits, so a full three-rival comparison uses 280 credits.

What it does not do: list every single link, cover one page instead of the whole domain, find contact details, or tell you which links Google counts. Its figures are estimates from a link data provider.

If you want the gap built for you inside one screen, Semrush's Backlink Gap and Moz's Link Intersect both compare up to five backlink profiles at once. Semrush's SEO plan costs $139 a month; Moz gives 10 free Link Explorer queries a month with a community account. Those are the better choice if you run this every week across many clients.

How do you ask for the link?

Email the person who edits the page. Mention the page by name, where your link would fit, and one specific reason it helps their readers. Follow up once after a week. Then stop.

The one-line version

Competitor backlink analysis means listing the sites that link to your rivals, keeping those that link to more than one of them but not you, and asking the reachable ones for a link. The walkthrough in seogeoaeo.ai's guide to the links you are missing includes the spreadsheet formulas.