Competition is everywhere—even in SEO.
This kind of competition is more pronounced here because there are only two options—either you’re ranking or your competitor is ranking.
So what does that mean, spying on the kind of links your competitor is building isn’t a sin but a very important strategy in outsmarting them.
The only (and reliable) way of spying on your competitor is through competitor backlink analysis.
This is a strategic practice that enables you to:
- Venture into your competitors' digital strategies
- Monitor their moves, and
- Leverage these insights to enhance your SEO efforts.
Since we have been in the industry, we’ve identified the best ways or strategies to go about competitor backlink analysis for SEO dominance—with a reliable step-by-step guide.
That’s what this article is all about. Let's get started.
What is a competitor backlink analysis?
If you’ve been in business for a long time, you know it’s always beneficial to uncover the hidden cards your competitor is using.
The same is true with backlink analysis—this is a link building strategy that helps you to identify sites that link to your competitor but are not linking to you.
The big idea here is that, once you know who is linking to your competitors, you can then reach out to them and pitch that they should also link back to your site.
Having said that, let’s take a look at the benefits of this process in the next section.
What are the benefits of competitor backlink analysis?
Essentially, competitor backlink analysis is a link building process of finding websites linking to your competitor’s site.
By analyzing your competitor’s backlink profile, you can enjoy the following benefits:
- Identify backlinks that helped your competitors rank on search engines in your industry.
- Gain insights into your competitors’ link building strategies.
- Implement some of the same strategies in your link building to lead to higher rankings in search engines and increased business outcomes.
- Focus your attention on what your audience already likes and isolates what they’re currently responding to.
- Create your content to achieve similar backlinks.
Now, let’s shift our focus to how to do a backlink competitor analysis.
What is SEO backlink Competitor Analysis: A Step-by-Step How-To Guide?
SEO backlink competitor analysis involves the process in which you study your competitor's links, and more to improve your SEO strategies.
This strategy plays a great role in allowing you to enhance organic traffic and the ranking of your website by surpassing your competitors.
The idea here is to understand your strengths and weaknesses inferred from the competitors.
Instead of relying on guesswork for your SEO strategy, you can plan with what works for your competitors and improve on it going forward—while avoiding what does not work.
Having said that, here are the steps you can follow.
Step 1: Identify Organic Search Competitors
The question here is, how will you find your search engine competitors?
There are two different ways of identifying your search engine competitors;
- Using Google or
- Getting help from SEO Tools.
The first option (although free) only allows you to see who your competitors are on the SERPs and in most cases is not reliable if you want to get real data about the SERPs.
So, the best option is to use SEO tools like Legiit GMSD dashboard. If you head on to the dashboard, you’ll see Audiit On-page SEO integration.
This integration allows you to analyze the sites that are already winning and tells you what to do to beat them.
To get started, you need to add your target keyword for which you want to rank to, get more backlinks and competitors.
For example, if we want to analyze competitors ranking for a keyword like “Outsourcing Design” the audiit tool allows you to find top results (competitors) for that keyword. After that, you can pick the top competitors and move to the next section where you analyze them.
Step 2: Conduct Competitor Backlink Analysis
Once you have decided on who your competitors are according to the scope of your business, the step that comes next is to perform page backlink analysis.
Why is it necessary to study your competitor's backlinks?
- You can identify potential sites that might also be interested in linking to your content.
- If a competitor is consistently outranking you, understanding their backlink profile can offer clues to refine your link-building strategy.
- Learning from the missteps of others can save you time and resources. If a competitor got penalized for a shady backlink tactic, you’d know to steer clear.
There are several backlink analysis tools available that can help you research your backlink profile.
- Moz: It provides data on inbound links, linking domains, anchor text, and more.
- SEMrush: It offers a Backlink Analytics tool that provides detailed information about your competitors’ backlink profiles, including the types of backlinks, referring domains, and top anchor texts.
- Ahrefs: The Site Explorer offers insights into referring domains, anchor texts, and the overall health of a site’s backlink profile.
Once you have the competitors you want to spy on and the tools you want to use, the next step is to start analyzing their backlinks.
What to look for when carrying out a competitor backlink analysis
When conducting a competitor backlink analysis, several key factors can provide valuable insights:
#1. Quantity and Quality of Backlinks
Evaluate the number of backlinks your competitor has. Consider both the quantity and quality of these links.
High-quality backlinks from authoritative and relevant sites carry more weight than numerous links from low-quality sites.
#2. Source Diversity
Look at the diversity of the domains linking to your competitor's site. Are these links coming from a wide range of sources, or are they primarily from a few domains?
A diverse backlink profile is usually more robust and less vulnerable to algorithm changes.
#3. Anchor Text Distribution
Analyze the anchor text used in backlinks. This can offer insights into the keywords or phrases other sites are using to link to your competitor. It helps to understand their SEO strategy and the keywords they might be targeting.
#4. Relevance of Links
Assess the relevance of the linking domains to your industry or niche. Relevant backlinks are more valuable in terms of SEO. Links from sites with content related to your industry carry more weight.
#5. Authority of Linking Domains
Consider the domain authority and credibility of the sites linking back. Tools like Moz's Domain Authority or Ahrefs' Domain Rating can help evaluate the authority of linking domains.
#6. Link Placement and Context
Evaluate where and how the links are placed on the linking site. A link within a relevant, informative context (such as within a blog post or article) tends to be more valuable than a link in a footer or sidebar.
#7. Link Building Strategies
Identify the strategies your competitor might be using to acquire backlinks. They could be guest posting, creating valuable content, utilizing directories, or engaging in influencer marketing. Understanding their tactics can inspire your approach.
#8. Lost and New Links
Monitor the changes in their backlink profile over time. Have they gained significant new links or lost some valuable ones? This could offer hints about their content performance or potential changes in their SEO strategy.
#9. Social Signals
While not direct backlinks, social media mentions and shares can indirectly influence SEO. Check if your competitor has strong social signals linking back to their site.
The idea here is to look for which websites link to multiple competitors? These sites might be potential link opportunities for you.
Once you’ve identified quality backlinks your competitors have, it’s time to strategize how you can earn similar links.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Competitor Backlink Analysis
When conducting competitor backlink analysis, it's essential to be aware of potential pitfalls that can lead to misleading conclusions or ineffective strategies:
#1. Focusing Solely on Quantity: A large number of backlinks doesn’t necessarily equate to a strong backlink profile. Quality is key. A smaller number of high-quality, relevant backlinks can often be more valuable than numerous low-quality ones.
#2. Ignoring Link Quality: Not all backlinks are equal. Some might come from spammy or low-quality sites, which can harm your site's SEO. Failing to differentiate between high-quality and low-quality links can lead to mistaken strategies.
#3. Overlooking Link Context: Context matters. Backlinks within relevant and valuable content tend to carry more weight than those placed in footers or sidebars. Assess where and how the links are embedded on the linking sites.
#4. Missing Nofollow Links: Nofollow links don't directly pass SEO authority, but they can still drive traffic and have indirect benefits. Overlooking them might result in ignoring potential opportunities for visibility and referral traffic.
#5. Copying Strategies Blindly: While analyzing competitors is useful, blindly copying their strategies might not work for your specific situation. Each website has its unique goals, audience, and content strategy, so adapt insights from competitors to suit your own strategy.
#6. Neglecting Freshness and Relevance: Backlink profiles can change over time. Neglecting to regularly update your analysis may lead to outdated strategies. Also, what worked for a competitor in the past might not be as relevant now.
#7. Focusing Only on Competitor Links: It's crucial to diversify your backlink strategy beyond your competitors' backlink sources. Seeking links from a wide range of relevant and authoritative sites can improve your site's overall authority and visibility.
#8. Not Analyzing Anchor Text Distribution: Anchor text diversity is crucial. Overusing exact-match anchor text or neglecting a variety of anchor text can appear unnatural to search engines and potentially lead to penalties.
#9. Ignoring Technical Aspects: While analyzing backlinks, don’t overlook technical SEO issues. This includes broken backlinks, redirects, or canonicalization problems that could impact your own site's SEO performance.
#10. Forgetting Your Own Unique Value Proposition: While competitor analysis is essential, always keep your unique value proposition and audience in mind. Emphasize what makes your brand, content, or services distinctive rather than solely mimicking competitors.
This brings us to the next step. Making use of the competitor backlink analysis data.
Step 3: Make use of the competitor backlink analysis data
Competitor backlink analysis provides a wealth of valuable information that can be leveraged to enhance your own SEO and link-building strategies.
In this section, we’ll look at some of the ways you can make the most of the data you gather:
#1. Identify Link Opportunities: Look for high-quality sites linking to your competitors but not to your own site. Reach out to these sites with a proposition for why they should link to your content or website.
#2. Learn from Successful Strategies: Analyze the tactics and strategies your competitors are using to acquire backlinks. Understand what works well in your industry and adapt these strategies to fit your brand’s unique offerings.
#3. Focus on Quality Over Quantity: Prioritize acquiring links from authoritative and relevant sites. Use your analysis to build relationships with these sites or create content that naturally attracts links from such sources.
#4. Diversify Your Backlink Profile: Use the analysis to identify the types of sites your competitors are getting links from. Aim to diversify your own backlink profile by targeting various types of sites—blogs, forums, news sites, industry directories, etc.
#5. Optimize Anchor Text Strategy: Analyze your competitor’s anchor text distribution to understand their keyword targeting. Use this insight to refine your own anchor text strategy, ensuring a natural mix of keywords and variations.
#6. Improve Content Strategy: Assess the types of content that are earning your competitors backlinks. Identify content gaps or areas where you can create more valuable, shareable content that might attract links.
#7. Fix Broken Links or Replicate Lost Opportunities: Identify any broken backlinks leading to your competitor's site. Reach out to these linking sites and offer your content as a replacement, especially if it's more relevant or updated.
#8. Monitor Changes Over Time: Regularly update your analysis to stay informed about changes in your competitors' backlink profiles. Keep an eye on new links they acquire or any lost opportunities you can capitalize on.
#9. Create Better Outreach Strategies: Use insights from competitor analysis to refine your outreach and relationship-building strategies. Understand the types of pitches or content that might resonate with potential linking sites based on what worked for your competitors.
Final Thoughts
There you go. From the start of this guide up to this point, we’ve covered pretty much everything you need to know to master backlink competitor analysis for SEO dominance.
We’ve why it is important, how to go about it, tools to use, and how to use the data you acquire to your advantage.
If you follow everything discussed here, you can begin to dominate SERPs ahead of your competitors.
Let’s get this done.
Download