Competitor Backlink Analysis

Importance of Backlinks

Nowadays everyone wants to rank their sites Higher in search results and this can be done in different ways. One of them is Backlinking. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your site. Search engines view these links as Approval, which can help improve your website’s credibility and ranking.High-quality backlinks can improve your website’s authority,improve its position in search results, and bring more organic traffic.

What is Competitors Backlink Analysis?

Competitors’ backlinks analysis means looking at the websites that link to your competitors to see where they’re getting their links from. We do this to find new opportunities to get similar links, which can help improve your own website’s search engine ranking and visibility.

Importance of Competitors Backlinks analysis

Analysis helps you:

Discover where your rivals are getting their links.
Allowing you to target those sources for your own site.
Boost your website’s visibility, increase traffic and improve its search engine ranking.

“Common Errors People Encounter And How To Resolve Them”

Errors	Solutions
Focusing Only on Link Numbers: People often chase a high link count instead of quality.	Aim for links from reputable and relevant sites.
Skipping Link Health Checks: They might not verify if competitor links are still working.	Regularly check for and replace broken links.
Neglecting Link Placement: Sometimes, they miss analyzing where the links are placed.	Examine the context and relevance of each link’s location.
Ignoring Local or Industry-Specific Links: People often overlook local or niche-specific link opportunities.	Seek backlinks from local businesses or industry-related sites.

Quality Tools for Analysis

Ahrefs: Shows detailed information about where your competitors’ links come from and how good they are.
SEMrush: Gives a full picture of your competitors’ backlinks and other SEO details.
Moz Link Explorer: Checks out where links are coming from and how strong they are.

Best Technique For Competitors Backlinks Analysis

Here’s a simple and effective strategy for analyzing competitors’ backlinks, broken down into easy steps:

Step 1 : Finding Competitors An Essential First Step

Targeting your main Competitors for analysis is very essential.

When initiating this process, it’s important to differentiate between two types of competitors:

Domain-level
Page-level.

Let’s explore each type individually:

Domain-Level Competitors

Domain-level competitors are those that operate within the same industry or niche as your website.

While doing this analysis you have to remember the following points.

The competitor should be targeting comparable markets and audiences. Essentially, these should be your direct competitors who focus on the same primary keywords.
The competitor is also ranked on most of the keywords you are looking for.
Mainly, the competitors should focus on the same niche as your site and covering the topics that are relevant to your website.

To analyze domain-level competitors, you need to evaluate the backlink profiles of these entire domains. Utilizing comprehensive competitor analysis tools like Ahrefs,Semrush can provide a more in-depth view.

Here’s how you can identify domain-level competitors using semrush:

Log into your SemRush account.
Search for your domain within the tool.
Navigate to “Organic Competitors” to view the domains that share similar objectives and target audiences.

Now Export the list of the Competitors Backlinks Analysis to Excel file.

Page-Level Competitors

In contrast, page-level competitors do not necessarily target the same overall audience but may focus on specific pages relevant to your content. Analyzing page-level competitors involves examining the backlinks associated with particular pages.

To find page-level competitors using Semrush:

Log into your Semrush account.
Input the URL of the specific page you are interested in.
Select “Exact URL” to review the results.

Distinguishing Between Competitor Types

Once you have identified both domain-level and page-level competitors, compile separate lists for each category. This distinction will allow you to develop tailored strategies to effectively compete with and surpass these rivals.

Step 2 : Analyze Competitors Keywords

How to analyze your competitors’ keywords is one of the essential step for developing a successful SEO strategy.Following steps should be followed for this task:

Note: Keywords with KD (25-35) or higher are Appropriate as a Competitors Backlinks analysis

Use Keyword Research Tools: Utilize tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to gather information about the keywords your competitors are ranking for. These tools can provide detailed insights into which keywords are driving traffic to their sites.

Examine Keyword Lists: Look at the list of keywords that your competitors are using. Pay attention to both the high-volume keywords that attract a lot of search traffic and the long-tail keywords that might be more niche but highly targeted.

Analyze Keyword Performance: Assess how well your competitors rank for these keywords. Tools will often show you their ranking positions, the volume of search traffic for each keyword, and how difficult it is to rank for those terms.

Check Content and Optimization: Review the content on your competitors’ sites that is optimized for these keywords. Note their content strategy, keyword placement, and on-page SEO elements such as title tags and meta descriptions.
Discover New Opportunities: Identify any keywords that your competitors are using but you are not. These can present opportunities for you to target similar keywords and improve your own SEO efforts.
Track Changes Over Time: Keep monitoring your competitors’ keyword strategies over time. SEO is dynamic, and understanding how your competitors’ keyword focus evolves can help you adapt your own strategy.

Step 3 : Gather And Compare Competitors Backlinks Data With Your Own Site

I have discussed how to compare your Backlinks data with your competitors in detail below.

Enter Competitor’s Website: Type the URL of your competitor’s website into the search bar at the top and press Enter.
Go to Backlinks: After the search results appear, click on “Backlinks” from the menu on the left side. This will show you all the links pointing to their site.

Use Filters: You can filter the results to see specific types of backlinks, like which ones are dofollow or no-follow, and sort them by quality or other factors.

Check Key Metrics: Look at important details such as how many websites are linking to your competitor’s site, the authority of these sites, and which pages are being linked to the most.
Review Anchor Text: Look at the “Anchor Text” section to see the words or phrases your competitor is using in their backlinks. This tells you what keywords they are focusing on.

See Top Pages: Check out the “Top Pages” section to find out which of your competitor’s pages are getting the most links. This shows you their most popular content.

Save Your Data: If you want to keep the information, you can download it by clicking on the “Export” button and saving it as a CSV file.

Step 4 : Finding Backlinks Gaps

Here’s how you can find Backlinks Gap and get the best opportunities for link-building.

After clicking “Find prospects,” in SEMrush you will see a report under the “Best” tab. This section displays websites that link to your competitors but not to you. These sites represent your top link-building opportunities, as they might be open to linking to your site as well.

You can refine your results using the filters available at the top of the page. Here’s a breakdown of each filter:

Best: Sites linking to all your competitors but not to you.
Weak: Sites linking to both you and your competitors, but more frequently to your competitors.
Strong: Sites that exclusively link to you.
Shared: Sites linking equally to all websites analyzed.
Unique: Sites linking to only one domain, which could be yours or a competitor’s.
All: Sites linking to at least one of the websites in your analysis.

To address the backlink gap, start by reviewing the “Best” tab. These domains are the most promising for link building. Each domain’s Authority Score and monthly traffic are shown. You can narrow your search by applying additional filters.

For instance, use the “Authority Score” filter to focus on domains with a score between 61 and 70. You can also refine your search by location through the “Advanced filters” menu. For example, you might look for domains in the United States.

Filtered results will display columns showing the number of backlinks each competitor site receives from these domains. Clicking the “>” symbol next to a number will expand the row, revealing pages linking to the competitor’s site. Analyze these pages to understand their content and linking strategy. This insight can guide your own content creation for attracting similar backlinks.

Here are two more tabs “Weak” and “Unique” tabs:

Weak:Domains that link to you and your competitors but favor your competitors more. These could be opportunities to strengthen existing relationships and increase your backlinks.
Unique:Domains that link to only one site in your list. Gaining backlinks from these domains can give you an edge over those who do not have links from these sources.

Set 5 : Extract Traffic (Competitors and Own Site)

To evaluate if a backlink is worth pursuing, knowing the total traffic of a domain can be very helpful. Here’s a simple guide using Ahrefs Batch Analysis:

Open Ahrefs Batch Analysis:
- Go to Ahrefs
- and find the Batch Analysis tool. It can analyze up to 200 URLs at once.
Enter Your URLs:
Input the list of domains you want to analyze into the tool.

Export the Data:
- After the analysis is complete, export the data. This is usually done by clicking an Export button.

Prepare the Data:
- Open the exported file in a spreadsheet program like Excel or Google Sheets.
Clean Up the File:
- Delete all columns except for Target (the domain) and Total Traffic.

Now, you have a streamlined list showing only the domains and their total traffic, making it easier to assess the value of potential backlinks.

Create a personalized strategy based on your analysis.

Having completed a comprehensive analysis for competitor backlinks analysis, you now possess key insights into their link-building approaches. The next essential step is to leverage these insights to develop a link-building strategy that outperforms your competitors.

Key Steps to Enhance Your Link-Building Strategy:

Target High-Value Backlink Sources: Focus your outreach efforts on sites that have provided backlinks to several of your competitors. These sites are more likely to be open to linking to your content as well. Aim for reputable, high-authority sites that can make a significant impact on your SEO.
Address Content Gaps: Create content that covers topics or formats that your competitors have effectively used but are lacking on your site. This could involve detailed articles, how-to guides, infographics, or case studies.
Leverage Broken Link Opportunities: Identify and reach out to websites with broken links found in your competitors’ backlink profiles. Offer your content as a high-quality replacement. This approach helps you secure a backlink and assists the website owner by fixing a broken link.
Produce Superior Content: Use your competitor analysis to identify the types of content that attract the most backlinks in your industry. Aim to create content that not only matches these types but also exceeds them in quality and value.
Enhance Shareability: Ensure your content is designed for easy sharing on social media and other platforms. Incorporate engaging visuals, compelling headlines, and user-friendly formats to boost its shareability.
Connect with Industry Influencers: Identify key influencers and thought leaders who frequently link to or share content in your niche. Interact with them on social media, comment on their posts, and consider reaching out for guest blogging opportunities.
Personalize Your Outreach: Customize your outreach communications to potential backlink sources. Demonstrate your engagement with their content and explain why your resource would be valuable to their audience.

By following these steps, you can effectively utilize your competitor insights to enhance your link-building efforts and achieve superior results.

Concluding Thoughts

Without a thorough competitor backlink analysis, improving your link-building strategies can be tough. .By following the steps discussed in the above strategy you can get an effective analysis.

Keeping a strong backlink profile means regularly checking out your competitors’ backlinks. We’ve examined the advantages and shared effective strategies. Moreover we’ve shown you how to use the tools and gather data to enhance your link-building attempts.

Wishing you success in enhancing your website’s performance!