What Is Competitor Backlink Analysis? How to Do It (Step-by-Step)

Building links is essential for boosting SEO, as it helps improve your website ranking and position on search engines. To obtain quality links, it’s necessary to examine many different websites; the broader your search, the more potential backlink opportunities you can discover. 

But instead of guessing where to start, analyzing your competitor’s backlink profile will give you more information on how to improve yours. So, if you want to uncover link-building opportunities and fill the gaps in your SEO, continue reading and find out how to perform a backlink competitor analysis like a pro.

What Is a Competitor Backlink Analysis?

Competitor backlink analysis involves examining your competitors’ inbound links to find new link-building opportunities. It also helps you understand their content strategies and improve your website’s authority in search rankings. This process is more than collecting data. It shows you why your competitors succeed.

Analyzing backlinks supports the development of your efficient link-building strategies, helps identify what kinds of content draw valuable links, and addresses any threats caused by irrelevant or harmful links. Despite changes in Google’s algorithms, obtaining high-quality and relevant backlinks continues to be a key factor in ranking higher.

How to Perform Backlink Competitor Analysis Step by Step

If you are wondering why your competitor is ranking higher than you, there is probably a better SEO strategy that contributes to a successful website. Here are simple steps to follow and achieve better results compared to your rivals.

1. Find Competitors

First thing you should do is to find your competitor relevant to your niche. Focus on pages that rank higher and avoid paid ads, as these don’t reflect natural SEO performance. This can be done by searching for the same keyword you are targeting or using automated SEO tools to see which websites consistently outrank you in your niche.

For example, if you target “SaaS SEO services”, according to SERP, your competitors are:

You can see there are blogs and service pages too. If you don’t know how to find, you can also search for more informational keywords like “what are seo services for saas” and analyze the SERP, as the blogs that appear may belong to your competitors.

Also, you can use AI search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or the one you prefer to find your competitors more easily. 

2. Compare Backlinks

Once you’ve identified your competitors, perform a general backlink analysis to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Enter the URL of your competitor’s website into the tool of your choice. In this case, we will use the major competitor, as it has many backlinks. 

We use Ahrefs, and it looks like this:

Pay attention to the following metrics: number of backlinks, domain authority, anchor text, DR (domain rank), and UR (URL rank), etc. You can filter the results to focus on follow or nofollow links. 

3. Identify Common Gaps and Discover Opportunities

Once you’ve analyzed your competitors’ backlinks, look for patterns and gaps in their strategies. Identify websites, content types, or link sources they are getting links from that you haven’t used yet. These gaps represent opportunities for you to gain backlinks where your competitors already see value. 

From the previous example, analyze their referring domains from the left sidebar. Are they getting links from blogs? directories? tools? news sites?

Look for patterns like:

• Same type of websites linking to them
• Repeated domains across competitors

4. Check the Links Quality

Not every backlink has an SEO value. When you have your competitors’ links, analyze their quality and reach to the ones that you think are good. Check for:

• Relevance to your industry.
• Low number of spammy links.
• High number of backlinks.
• Good organic traffic.

Let’s take a look at the example from above.

The dofollow ref. domains show how powerful the linking site is overall. The number here means that 1,486 domains are linking to it, indicating a strong site. This can be your prime outreach target because they probably accept guest posts and collaboration.

5. Discover Harmful Links

Find bad backlinks like spam comments or links from poor-quality sites. Being able to spot these harmful backlinks in your competitors’ profiles is important for your SEO. Avoiding similar low-quality links protects your site’s ranking and helps you maintain a clean, trustworthy backlink profile. 

With a bad backlinks checker like Ahrefs, you can quickly uncover low-quality links. Look for:

• Websites with very low DR (<10).
• Domains with zero or near-zero organic traffic.
• Spammy links like irrelevant directories, auto-generated pages.
• Irrelevant niches.
• Unnatural anchor texts.

6. Build Your Backlink Strategy

Once you have all the information from your competitor’s backlink analysis, you can start your own strategy. The main goal here is not just to copy everything your competitor’s doing. Prioritize what’s best for your site.

For this matter, begin your plan with:

1. Prioritizing the best backlinks you uncovered during your analysis. These are the prime targets because they link to other competitors, but not to you, indicating a strong likelihood that they may link to you as well.
2. Don’t overlook the value of existing relationships. If a site already links to you, there’s a strong chance they’ll link to more of your content if you reach out with a relevant page.
3. Create valuable content to attract quality backlinks. Original research, detailed and engaging content will increase your chances to earn natural quality backlinks. 
4. Monitor and adjust to keep track of your strategy. Using tools will help you measure your rankings and refine where needed. 

7. Plan Your Outreach

If you have already identified a potential backlink opportunity, it’s time to reach out to them manually. An example of how the message could look is as follows:

You can reach out to them by email or contact them on their LinkedIn profile. 

Why Does Competitor Backlink Analysis Matter

Analyzing your competitors’ backlinks can help you:

• Set Clear Goals: By analyzing what works for others, you can prioritize your efforts and avoid spending time on low-impact strategies. 
• Boost Productivity: Focusing on the right strategy will make you more productive. Competitor insights will guide you to the right path to boost your visibility. 
• Better Strategy Approach: Analyzing their backlink patterns can reveal gaps in your own strategy and discover opportunities for creating a smarter strategy approach.
• Stay Competitive: Uncovering opportunities can help you not be left behind in your niche. You can target the same or better link and stay competitive. 

Analyzing their strategies and backlink profiles can provide valuable insights to boost your online visibility. It helps you focus on the most effective tactics for building high-quality links, saving you time and effort.

Final Thoughts

Regularly reviewing and updating your backlink building strategy is the best way to keep your rankings higher. The right backlink competitor analysis strategy can significantly improve your visibility, which in turn brings more organic traffic to your website. Ultimately, the main focus here should always be on delivering real value to users who are seeking information through your content. When a service page or a blog post provides useful and relevant information, it naturally earns contextual backlinks from other websites. This kind of organic visibility strengthens your authority and supports sustainable SEO growth over time.