Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for SEO success. Analysing where your competitors are getting links from can provide valuable insights into their strategies and uncover smart ways for you to enhance your own backlink profile. In this article, we’ll explore the importance of studying competitors’ backlinks, methods for identifying their backlink sources, tools to export and analyse data, and how to ultimately leverage those findings to boost your website’s authority and rankings.
The Value of Competitor Backlink Analysis
Backlinks signal trust and authority to search engines. The more high-quality backlinks pointing to a website, the more likely it is to rank well in SERPs. That’s why analysing where your competitors are acquiring links should be a key part of your SEO strategy.
Here are some of the main benefits of studying competitors’ backlink profiles:
- Find new backlink opportunities – Identify authoritative sites linking to competitors that you can potentially get links from too.
- Understand link building strategies – Reverse engineer what methods competitors use to build links, such as guest posting, outreach campaigns, etc.
- Assess link quality – Gauge the value of different link types by analysing metrics like domain authority, trust flow, etc.
- Improve your own efforts – Learn what works well in your niche and adjust your link building approach accordingly.
- Monitor trends – Keep updated on new links competitors acquire to stay on top of latest strategies.
- Identify gaps – Discover areas where competitors are lacking links that you can capitalize on.
By leveraging data from competitor backlink analysis, you can develop a robust link building campaign that drives more authority to your own website.
Methods for Identifying Competitor Backlink Sources
There are a few key methods for uncovering where your competitors are acquiring backlinks from:
Manual Backlink Research
The most basic technique is to manually search for links pointing to a competitor website. For example, you can use Google with operators like “link:” and “site:” to find pages with links back to a competitor domain. This works for identifying a sample of links, but isn’t scalable for larger analysis.
Backlink Analysis Tools
Specialized backlink analysis tools automate the process of surfacing competitor backlinks. Options like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz allow you to input a competitor URL and generate a full backlink report. You can also filter by metrics like domain authority to focus on the most authoritative links. These tools expand your analysis capabilities.
Leverage SERP Data
Look directly in search engine results for instances where competitors rank for keywords related to your business. Identify which backlinks on the SERP helped them achieve that ranking. Use SEMrush or Ahrefs to uncover more details on those pages.
Link Intersect
If you have multiple competitors, you can find sites that link to several of them using a link intersect comparison. Ahrefs has this feature so you can easily detect authoritative pages linking within your niche.
By combining a few different techniques, you can gather the most extensive data on competitors’ backlink profiles.
Powerful Tools for Backlink Analysis and Export
Specialized SEO tools are extremely useful for analyzing competitors’ backlinks. They allow you to gather data on link profiles, then export it for further analysis. Here are some top options:
Ahrefs
Ahrefs provides robust backlink profiling. It surfaces comprehensive data on competitor links, including breakdowns of referring domains, anchor text, the type of link (follow vs nofollow), and much more. You can easily export full backlink reports into Excel or Google Sheets.
SEMrush
SEMrush is another powerful tool for analysing competitors’ backlinks by domain authority, page authority, trust metrics and other factors. The exportable backlink reports integrate nicely with Google Sheets for additional filtering.
Moz
Moz offers thorough analysis of competitor links by trust, equity and citation flow. You can leverage Page Authority and Domain Authority metrics in their reports. Data integrates seamlessly with Google Sheets and Excel.
Majestic
Majestic provides backlink analysis by trust flow and citation flow. This helps assess the quality of links pointing to a domain. Majestic has robust sorting and filtering capabilities for competitor links.
BuzzStream
BuzzStream specializes in outreach and pitching to earn backlinks, but also has competitive link analysis features. You can view competitor links by domain authority and export data.
Raven Tools
Raven Tools allows users to analyse competitors’ backlink profiles and then identify potential domains to pitch by comparing metrics like domain authority. Data integrates with Google Sheets.
These powerful tools give you the most extensive capabilities for gathering and assessing data on competitors’ backlink profiles. With all this data exported and organized, you can start identifying the most promising link building opportunities.
Strategic Ways to Leverage Competitor Backlinks
Once you’ve done the hard work of analysing competitors’ backlink profiles, it’s time to take action. Here are some effective ways to leverage competitors’ backlinks for your own benefit:
Target Link Intersections
Find domains linking to multiple competitors using a link intersect comparison. These sites are authoritative sources relevant to your niche that you likely want to acquire backlinks from too. Prioritize outreach to intersecting domains.
Redirect Brand Mentions
If competitors are gaining links from brand mentions, you can redirect those to your own site by reaching out to webmasters. For example, if a page links “Competitor X”, convince them to change it to “Your Brand”.
Pitch Guest Posts
Check competitors’ profiles for guest posts on authoritative sites. Reach out to those same websites and influencers to contribute your own guest content and earn a backlink.
Fix Broken Links
Leverage broken links pointing to competitors by asking webmasters to link to your content instead. Monitor these using Ahrefs and Majestic.
Improve Link Velocity
If competitors spiked in new links from a recent campaign, it’s a sign you may need to accelerate your own link velocity. Analyse what activities drove their growth.
Boost Keyword Rankings
Target backlinked keywords where competitors rank well but you don’t. Strengthen your own content for those terms and build relevant links.
Evaluate Link Quality
Assess metrics like domain authority and trust flow for competitors’ links. Seek similar quality links for your site, not just any link.
By taking strategic actions based on intelligence gathered from competitors’ backlink profiles, you can make steady improvements to your own link building results and SEO performance. Just be sure any outreach is personalized and adds value for website owners.
Ongoing Competitor Monitoring
Analysing competitors’ latest backlinks should be an ongoing initiative, not just a one-time activity. Set reminders to revisit their profiles periodically. Here are some signals to watch for:
- Sudden link growth – Shows new strategies you may want to adopt.
- New authoritative domains – Great link prospects you can pitch to.
- Content upgrades – Indicates you may need to improve pages they now outrank for.
- Higher rankings – Suggests their link building is becoming more effective.
- New guest posts – Potential sites for you to write for as well.
By continuously monitoring competitors’ backlink profiles, you can identify the most promising link building opportunities and stay on top of the latest link trends and tactics.
Improving Your Own Backlink Strategy
Gaining actionable intelligence through competitor backlink analysis is extremely valuable for improving your overall link building approach. Here are some ways to leverage insights from their profiles:
- Build relationships with influential sites linking to competitors.
- Adopt link building tactics producing results for competitors.
- Create content assets comparable to competitors’ popular backlinked posts.
- Improve link equity for keywords competitors rank well for.
- Diversify link types mimicking competitors’ balanced profiles.
- Set targets for metrics like referring domains based on leaders in your space.
- Eliminate ineffective link building activities competitors have abandoned.
- Monitor competitors so you can adapt faster to new link building approaches.
By learning from what works well for competitors, yet customizing your strategy based on your own business goals, you can improve your website’s authority and search visibility over time.
For expert help expanding your backlink profile, contact us today.