How to Check and Do Competitor Backlink Analysis

Imagine you’ve aced on-page SEO! Despite getting the content, keywords and technical aspects right, your page is still not ranking!  Then, it’s time to look at your site’s authority, fueled by backlinks. What could be giving your competitors the upper hand? This is where competitor backlink analysis comes in handy. It shows where your rivals get their strongest backlinks. 

Competitor backlink analysis would simply level up your SEO game! You can find untapped opportunities, spot link gaps, and build a smart link-building strategy to boost your site’s authority. Read on to learn why backlink analysis is important and simple steps to do it. Discover useful tools and the common mistakes to avoid.

What Is Competitor Backlink Analysis?

First, let’s understand backlinks. They are links from other sites pointing to your site. They are important in SEO. A  backlink is like a vote of confidence that tells search engines like Google how credible and trustworthy your content is. The more quality backlinks you have, the more your site is seen as relevant and useful by search engines, boosting your website’s authority. 

Your competitors rank well due to strong backlinks from many trusted websites, which makes them more reliable to search engines. Competitor backlink analysis is the process of checking the backlinks of your competitors. It helps you identify where they get backlinks from and what earns those links.

So, what is competitor backlink analysis​ good for? With this intel, you can discover new opportunities for your website. Instead of guesswork, you’ll find out what really helps your rivals rank better. This analysis helps you understand how your competitors build authority online and how you can do it better. 

Why Competitor Backlink Analysis Is Important

Why is backlink competitor analysis important? This requires knowing how backlinks work. When an authoritative site in your niche links to you, it passes some of its credibility to you, known as link juice. The more such high-quality backlinks you have from trusted sites, the more link juice you get, which boosts your authority and online visibility. 

Analysing your rivals’ backlinks shows why they rank higher in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It unveils high-quality link-building opportunities. You can see where they succeed and don’t, and unlock valuable link gaps to tap into. It also helps you realise how link juice flows across websites and boosts rankings. With data and actionable insights, you can build a stronger and smarter backlink profile for your site. Below are the key benefits of backlink competitor analysis:

• Identify strong link sources: Find out the websites that link to your competitors but not you. This gives you direct outreach targets.
• Spot content gaps: Identify the type of content in your niche that attracts good backlinks.
• Note link gaps: Using backlink gap analysis, find domains that link to multiple competitors, implying high relevance in your niche.
• Find working strategies: Learn how competitors earn backlinks (like via resource pages and guest posts). Apply similar tactics.
• Learn from pitfalls: Note toxic links and low-quality links your competitor might have and avoid them to prevent damage to your site.
• Strengthen your backlink profile: Build a set of stronger and authoritative backlinks to boost domain authority.
• Save time and effort: Instead of guesswork, analyse data and get actionable insights to focus on backlinks that would work.

How to Do Competitor Backlink Analysis In 6 Simple Steps

You might presume competitor backlink analysis to be a tedious process, but it’s not! In fact, knowing how to check competitors backlinks properly, analysing the gaps and getting insightful data with the right set of tools is all it takes. With a few clicks, you can understand where your rivals are staying ahead, and where and how you can pitch in. Here are 6 key steps to analyse competitor backlinks effectively and turn insights into action.

Step 1.  Identify Your SEO Competitors

To check competitor backlinks​, you must first identify who you’re competing with. In SEO, your competitors are websites that rank for the same keyword as you or have products or services or a target audience similar to yours. Some may not be direct business counterparts, but they rank well and compete with you in search results. 

Identify Competitors Ranking for Your Target Keywords

Google search is the easiest tool! Search your main keyword on Google and note the sites that top the SERP. They are your competitors as they already attract the traffic you want. Focus on sites that rank on page one of the SERP, not big brands that are hard to beat. 

You may also search for your brand name on Google. If you are popular, your rivals may place ads for brand keywords. If you’re into ecommerce, large marketplaces like Amazon or Flipkart may show up in the SERP. You may ignore them; they’re not your direct competitors, and their strategy won’t be of use to you.

Use SEO Tools to Find Organic Competitors 

SEO tools help you spot your competitors quickly and more accurately. For instance, SEMrush or Ahrefs show competitive website rankings for the keywords you target. The best part? These tools may list competitors which you may miss in a manual search. SEO tools give you a clear and reliable list of competitors to analyse.

Step 2. Gather Competitor Backlink Data

Once you have a list of your competitors, the next step is to get their backlink information. This data shows you where they get links from and why those links help them rank well. Competitor backlink research is most effective using data and insights provided by SEO tools. 

Choose the Right Backlink Analysis Tools

SEO tools are greatly useful in data collection for competitor backlink analysis. SEMRush, Ahrefs and Ubersuggest, to name a few. They list websites that link back to your competitors, the type of links and link quality. Besides, they let you filter strong and weak backlinks. Thus, you get a clear and complete view of your rivals’ backlinks and can focus on useful data. 

Export Backlink Data for Analysis

Once you’ve collected the backlink data, export it into a spreadsheet. This allows you to easily review links, compare competitors and identify patterns. You can sort links by source, quality or relevance. Thereby, you can filter out the best opportunities for your link-building.

Step 3. Analyze Competitor Backlink Profiles 

What’s a backlink profile? It is the entire set of backlinks (also called inbound or incoming links) to a website. This includes the number, quality and relevance of those links. Think of it like a resume of the site for search engines, which influences site authority, ranking and online visibility. The stronger a site’s backlink profile, the higher its authority and rankings will be.

Why should check competitor backlink profiles? It’s a deep dive into what those links look like and how they help. You get insights into the link quality, target URL and anchor texts to learn how and why they boost your rival’s rankings. This knowledge helps you apply similar winning strategies, identify link/content gaps and improvise your SEO approach. When considering how to analyze competitors backlinks, the popular SEO tools are your go-to.

Evaluate Link Quantity vs. Quality 

Backlink quality is one of the key insights you get from competitor backlink analysis. More backlinks need not mean better results. Their relevance and strength also matter. Imagine a site A with too many backlinks from low-authority and non-relevant domains. Another site, B, has a few links, but each is highly relevant and from high authority sites. B will rank higher than A due to the strength of link juice it gets from those few high-authority sites.

So, the quality of backlinks matters more than quantity. Avoid links from spam or low-quality websites. Focus on backlinks from:

• Popular, high-authority, and trusted sites
• Websites in your same niche that send real visitors

Check Anchor Text Patterns 

Anchor text is the clickable text of a link, and it tells the search engine what the target page is about. Too many backlink anchor texts that match the exact keyword of your site can look spammy and be penalised by search engines. A mix is safer and more effective. Check whether your competitor uses brand names, keywords or natural words like “further reading” or “read more”.

Look at Backlink Types & Context 

Different types of backlinks exist—editorial, guest post, forum & comment backlinks, to name a few. Some carry more weight than others. Moreover, the placement of the link also matters. Therefore, links in the core content are stronger than those in the footers or sidebars. Check how and where the competitor’s backlinks are placed—blog links, guest post links, directory links or editorial mentions.

Find Trends and Patterns in Competitor Links 

Look for common patterns in competitor backlinks. They show what strategy works in your niche. Thereby, you can make your link-building ideas smarter. Observe:

• Websites linking to many of your competitors
• What content types and topics attract more backlinks

Step 4. Perform a Backlink Gap Analysis 

Competitor backlink analysis is incomplete without backlink gap analysis. It’s one of the fastest ways to grow strong backlinks. It helps you find websites that are linking to your rivals and might as well link to you. Here’s how to find competitors backlinks that you don’t have.

Discover Backlinks Competitors Have That You Don’t 

• Use SEO tools to compare your website with your top competitors.
• Find sites that link to them but not to you.
• List these sites as new link-building opportunities.

Prioritise Prospects for Outreach

• Focus on the most relevant and trusted websites first. They must be sites with good domain authority and that match your niche or topic.
• Avoid spammy or low-quality sites.
• Start outreach with high-value sites for best results.

Step 5. Turn Analysis Into Link Building Action

SEO competitor backlinks data helps only when you act on it. So, turn the information into an actionable plan and smart link-building steps to earn better links than your rivals.

Craft Personalised Outreach Campaigns 

You may write custom emails for each website and mention how and why your content adds value to theirs. Avoid copy-paste cliche template messages. Keep the emails brief, crisp and polite.

Replicate & Improve Competitor Strategies 

Revamp and rework your content if needed. Note what content of the competitors earned them backlinks. Create similar but better content. Update the visuals, examples and data and promote it to the same websites.

Use Opportunities from Lost or Broken Links

Note down broken links on the linking website pointing to a competitor page. Create a valuable and useful replacement page on your domain. Reach out to the site owner and suggest your link as a fix.

Step 6. Monitor & Refine Your Backlink Strategy 

Competitor backlink analysis is a continuous process. It needs regular tracking, fine-tuning of strategy, spotting issues and leveraging gaps to help you top the SERP results over time. 

Track New and Lost Backlinks

As a best practice, check the new backlinks you gained every month. Watch out for links that disappear and find the cause of the loss. Try to recover valuable links.

Measure Impact on SEO Performance 

Observe changes in keyword rankings and organic traffic growth. Note down the links that bring the most traffic and value. Remove or disavow harmful links, if any.

Repeat Competitor Backlink Analysis Regularly 

Ideally, redo competitor backlink analysis every few months. Note the new link trends and update your link-building strategy to stay ahead in the SERP performance.

Tools You Need for Competitor Backlink Analysis 

Knowing how to find your competitors backlinks and studying them requires the right SEO tools. They help you see actual data on who is linking to your competitors, the strength of those links, and which of those sites you can pitch to earn links for yours. Often, not one but a mix of tools gives a clear, simple view of your competitors’ backlink profiles. Here are the popular ones:

• SEMrush: All-in-one platform to check a competitor’s backlinks, referring sites, anchor text, and link quality. Besides, it highlights strong and weak links.
• Ahrefs: Find total backlinks of your SEO rival, site strength, and their pages that get the most links. It helps you spot high-quality link chances.
• Moz Link Explorer: It shows backlinks along with a trust score for each site. This helps you gauge the value of a link.
• Ubersuggest: An easy-to-use, beginner-friendly platform that lists backlinks along with link sources and anchor text. 

Common Mistakes You Should Avoid

While analysing your SEO competitor backlinks is very useful for SEO, small mistakes can hurt your results. Avoid the following common errors to earn better links and SEO results:

• Copying every backlink of your rival without checking its quality
• Focusing on the number of links and not their quality and value
• Overlooking spammy, low-quality links
• Repeated use of anchor text or overuse of the exact focus keyword as anchor text
• Failing to check if links are still active and skipping regular checks
• Forgetting to match links with your niche and content

Wrapping Up

Competitor backlink analysis helps you unlock the stash of your SEO rivals and do better. Identifying and analysing strong links, fixing gaps and improving your link-building plan is key. Focus on link quality over quantity. Creating a stronger backlink profile and monitoring and revising it regularly is important. Besides, avoid the common mistakes for a foolproof strategy. 

If you’re looking for experts to level up your link-building and SEO, Webdura is your perfect partner. With a proven track record working with international brands, our expertise and tailored approach can take your site’s SEO to the next level. Reach out to us today!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is backlink gap analysis?
   It shows backlinks your competitors have, but you don’t. This step helps you find new websites to earn backlinks from.
2. What is competitor backlink analysis in SEO?
   It is the process of checking where your SEO rivals get their backlinks from, finding gaps and improving your link-building strategy for better SERP performance.
3. How often should I run backlink analysis? 
   Typically, running a backlink analysis every 3 to 6 months suffices. You may have to do it more often in a very competitive niche or market.
4. Are all backlinks equally valuable? 
   No. Links from trusted, high-authority websites that are relevant to your niche are more valuable than non-relevant, low-authority or spam links.
5. What’s the easiest tool to find competitor backlinks? 
   Tools like SEMrush, Ubersuggest and Ahrefs are easy. They clearly show backlinks, domains, and link strength, among other insights.

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