Learning how to find competitors backlinks is the fastest way to discover why your rival’s website outranks yours. Ever wonder why their content shows up first in Google even though yours is better?
Here’s the brutal truth: They’ve probably got a stronger backlink profile, and you’re about to steal their entire strategy.
I’m going to show you exactly how to uncover every single backlink your competitors have earned. No fluff, no theory – just the exact process I use to build link empires that crush the competition. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a roadmap of proven link opportunities that your competitors have already validated for you.
Understanding Competitor Backlinks and Their Strategic Value
Competitor backlinks are simply links pointing to your competitor’s website from other sites. Think of backlinks as votes of confidence – the more quality votes your competitor has, the more Google trusts them. This is why sites with strong backlink profiles dominate search results while others struggle on page two.
Here’s what makes this strategy so powerful: Your competitors have already done the hard work of finding link opportunities, you can see which tactics actually work in your industry, and you get a roadmap of sites that are willing to link to businesses like yours. It’s like having a cheat sheet for the SEO game, except this cheat sheet is completely legal and ethical.
How to Identify Your Real SEO Competitors
Most people get this completely wrong when they start looking for competitors. Your SEO competitors aren’t necessarily your business competitors – there’s a massive difference that can make or break your link building strategy.
- Direct competitors sell the same products or services as you.
- SEO competitors rank for the same keywords you want to rank for.
The second group is what matters for backlink analysis because they’re the ones stealing your organic traffic.
Here’s how to find your actual SEO competitors: Search for your main keywords in Google, write down the top 10 websites that appear, check if these sites are actually competing for your target audience, then remove any that aren’t relevant to your business. Don’t waste time analysing a massive corporation if you’re a local business.
Pro tip: Use Google’s “related:” operator by typing “related:yourwebsite.com” and see what comes up. The sites Google shows you are your true SEO competitors because Google’s algorithm has already identified the relationship.
The Best Tools for Finding Competitor Backlinks
You need the right weapons for this battle, and choosing the wrong tool will waste months of your time. The backlink analysis space is crowded with options, but they fall into a few main categories that serve different purposes.
Professional SEO Tools offer comprehensive backlink databases, advanced filtering options, and historical data tracking. These are the heavy hitters that serious SEOs use daily.
Free Browser Extensions provide quick backlink previews, basic link metrics, and they’re perfect for initial research when you’re just getting started.
All-in-One SEO Platforms combine backlink analysis with other SEO features, competitor tracking capabilities, and content gap analysis. These platforms are ideal if you want everything under one roof instead of juggling multiple tools.
The key data points you need from any tool are: referring domains (how many unique sites link to them), anchor text (the clickable text of the link), link type (dofollow vs nofollow), domain authority of linking sites, and page authority of linking pages. Focus on domain authority, page context, and link placement – everything else is secondary.
Step-by-Step: How to Find Competitor Backlinks
Here’s my exact process for uncovering competitor backlinks that actually matter. I’ve used this system to analyse hundreds of competitors, and it works every single time when you follow it precisely.
Step 1: Build Your Competitor List
Start with 3-5 of your strongest SEO competitors and resist the urge to go crazy with 20 different sites. You’ll drown in data and analysis paralysis will kick in before you take any action. Quality analysis beats quantity every time.
Step 2: Run Each Domain Through Your Backlink Tool
Enter your first competitor’s domain into your chosen tool and let it crawl their entire backlink profile. This usually takes a few minutes for established sites, so be patient. The tool is scanning thousands of pages across the internet to find every mention of your competitor.
Step 3: Filter for High-Quality Opportunities
Here’s where most people mess up completely – they try to replicate every single backlink they find. That’s a waste of time and will actually hurt your SEO efforts. You want quality, not quantity.
Filter for high domain authority (50+ is a good starting point), dofollow links (these pass more SEO value), relevant websites (in your industry or adjacent industries), and recently acquired links (shows the site is actively linking out). Ignore everything else.
Step 4: Find the Gap
This is the goldmine that separates successful link builders from wannabes. Look for backlinks your competitors have that you don’t – these represent proven opportunities that you know are achievable.
Create a spreadsheet with: linking domain, page URL where the link appears, anchor text used, domain authority, and your notes about why this link matters. Organisation at this stage saves hours later when you’re doing outreach.
Step 5: Export and Organise
Don’t keep this valuable data trapped inside your tool where it’s hard to work with. Export everything to a spreadsheet and take control of your research. This becomes your link building roadmap for the next quarter.
Rank opportunities by relevance to your business, domain authority, and how easy it might be to replicate. Start with the easiest wins to build momentum, then tackle the harder opportunities once you’ve got some successes under your belt.
How to Replicate and Leverage Competitor Backlinks
Finding the links is only half the battle – now you need to actually get them. This is where most people give up because outreach feels scary, but I’m about to show you exactly how to turn those opportunities into actual backlinks.
Guest Post on the Same Sites
If your competitor wrote a guest post for a site, you can too. But don’t just copy their approach like an amateur. Pitch a completely different angle or topic that adds value to their audience. Study what your competitor wrote, then offer something better or from a fresh perspective.
Replace Broken Competitor Backlinks
This is pure gold and one of the easiest link building strategies you’ll ever use. Use your backlink tool to find competitors’ broken backlinks, then reach out to the linking site and suggest your content as a replacement. You’re solving a problem for the website owner while getting a valuable link.
Here’s the email template that works: “Hi [Name], I noticed you linked to [competitor’s broken page] in your article about [topic]. Looks like that page isn’t working anymore. I’ve got a similar resource that might be helpful for your readers: [your URL]. Would you consider updating the link? Thanks, [Your name]”
Get Listed Where Competitors Are Featured
Look for industry directories, “Best of” listicles, resource pages, and tool comparison pages where your competitors appear. If your competitor is listed, you probably can be too. These are often the easiest backlinks to acquire because the site owner is actively seeking businesses like yours.
Reach Out to Journalists and Bloggers
Find journalists and bloggers who have linked to your competitors – they’re already interested in your industry. Pitch them with new data or research, expert commentary on industry trends, or exclusive insights they can’t get elsewhere. Position yourself as a valuable source for future articles.
Create Superior Content
This is the long-term play that builds sustainable link equity. Find content that’s earning your competitors links, then create something 10x better. More comprehensive, better designed, more up-to-date – whatever it takes to make your version the obvious choice.
Then reach out to everyone who linked to the original and show them your improved version. Many will update their links because they want to provide the best resources to their audience.
Pro Tips for Strategic Backlink Analysis
Not all backlinks are created equal, and understanding the difference will save you months of wasted effort. Here’s how to separate the gold from the garbage when analysing competitor backlinks.
Assess Backlink Quality
Green flags include high domain authority (50+), relevance to your industry, editorial links (mentioned naturally in content), and links from reputable, established sites. These are the links that actually move the needle in search rankings.
Red flags to avoid include spammy anchor text, links from unrelated industries, footer or sidebar links (less valuable), and sites with suspicious link profiles. Chasing these low-quality opportunities will waste your time and potentially hurt your SEO.
Prioritise Your Opportunities
Focus your energy on high authority plus high relevance opportunities (top priority), easy wins like directories and listings you can join immediately, and relationship opportunities where you know someone at the linking site. Everything else can wait until you’ve exhausted these categories.
Avoid Toxic Links
Some competitor backlinks are actually hurting them, and you don’t want to make the same link building mistakes. Skip links from obviously spammy sites, sites with mostly foreign language content (unless you target those markets), and sites that look like they exist just to sell links.
Monitor and Stay Ahead
This isn’t a one-time activity that you can set and forget. The most successful link builders treat competitor analysis as an ongoing competitive intelligence operation that gives them a constant edge.
Set up monitoring to catch new opportunities as they appear: Check weekly for new backlinks your main competitors have acquired, do a monthly full analysis of one competitor’s link profile, and review quarterly to update your target list based on ranking changes. This systematic approach ensures you never miss a valuable opportunity.
Track which links you’ve successfully acquired and measure the impact on your rankings. This helps you see what outreach methods work best for your industry and allows you to double down on the most effective strategies while abandoning the time-wasters.
Your Next Steps
Here’s exactly what to do right now to start dominating your competition: Pick your top 3 SEO competitors, choose a backlink analysis tool, export their top 50 backlinks, filter for high-authority relevant opportunities, then start your outreach with the easiest wins first.
Remember that your competitors have already proven these sites will link to businesses in your space. You’re not shooting in the dark or hoping something will work – you’re following a proven path that’s already been validated by your competition.
The only difference is you’re going to execute better than they did. Most people never actually implement what they learn about finding competitors backlinks, but that’s not you. You’re going to take action and build the link profile that pushes you past your competition in search results.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How often should I analyse competitor backlinks?
Monthly for your main competitors, quarterly for the broader competitive landscape. New opportunities appear constantly, so regular monitoring keeps you ahead.
2. Is it legal to copy competitor backlink strategies?
Absolutely. Backlinks are public information, and studying competitor strategies is standard practice in SEO. You’re not copying content, just identifying link opportunities.
3. How many competitors should I analyse?
Start with 3-5 main SEO competitors. Analysing too many creates information overload. Focus on quality analysis over quantity.
4. What if my competitor has thousands of backlinks?
Filter for the highest quality links first. Focus on domains with 50+ authority that are relevant to your industry. You don’t need to replicate every single link.
5. Can I get penalised for using competitor backlink data?
No, using backlink analysis tools and studying competitors is completely legitimate. The penalty risk comes from acquiring low-quality or spammy links, not from the research process itself.
6. How long does it take to see results from competitor backlink strategies?
Typically 3-6 months for individual links to impact rankings. The key is consistency – acquiring 2-3 quality backlinks per month compounds over time.
7. Should I focus on dofollow or nofollow links?
Prioritise dofollow links as they pass more SEO value, but don’t ignore quality nofollow links from authoritative sites. A natural link profile includes both types.
8. What’s the biggest mistake people make with competitor backlink analysis?
Trying to replicate every single backlink instead of focusing on high-quality, relevant opportunities. Quality beats quantity every time in link building.
The bottom line: Learning how to find competitors backlinks gives you an unfair advantage in the SEO game – use it wisely.
