Competitor backlink analysis: reverse-engineering their link strategy

Key takeaways

• Competitor backlinks show which content, outreach and partnerships earn links in your industry.
• The link intersect method finds sites linking to several competitors but not to you, your most likely outreach targets.
• Top pages keep earning links: Ahrefs’ backlink growth study found most #1-ranking pages gained followed links from new domains at 5% to 14.5% a month.
• Pursue links that fit your brand and come from relevant, real publications; skip competitor links that came from schemes.
• Repeat the analysis each quarter as competitors publish and earn new links.

Every site that links to a competitor but not to you is a possible opportunity, and every competitor page with many links shows a content format that works in your market. This Emulent guide covers how to pick competitors, what to extract from their profiles, how to run a link intersect and how to turn findings into a plan.

How do you identify the right competitors to analyze?

Start with who ranks, then add who you sell against.

Five to eight competitors usually give a full picture; beyond ten, the extra data adds noise. Competitive research helps define this set.

What should you extract from competitor backlink profiles?

Patterns that explain why links happen.

• Top linked pages, which reveal formats that attract links, such as research, tools or glossaries.
• The mix of linking sites by relevance and real traffic. Authority scores from tools are third-party estimates, so use them only as rough filters.
• New referring domains per month, to see how quickly each competitor is earning links.
• Domains linking to three or more competitors, which clearly link within your space.
• Anchor text, which shows how others describe competitor content.

Focus on the reason behind each link. A pricing page with dozens of links may have earned them through comparison articles, not the page itself. Ahrefs’ backlink growth study also notes that top-ranking pages tend to keep attracting links, a pattern that does not prove links alone lifted them.

How do you find link gaps using the intersect method?

Compare several competitors against your domain in one report.

• Use Ahrefs Link Intersect, Semrush Backlink Gap or Moz’s link intersect tool with your domain and your competitor list.
• Rank results by how many competitors each domain links to; four of five beats one of five.
• Filter for relevance, real traffic and editorial quality.
• Open the specific pages that link to competitors to see what earned the link, such as a resource list, a roundup or a study citation.

The intersect list, combined with the content types you found, tells you whom to approach and what to offer them.

How do you turn competitor analysis findings into an action plan?

Translate findings into content and outreach.

• Fill content gaps first. If competitors earn links with original research and you have none, that is your priority.
• Load intersect domains into an outreach tracker and write personal pitches that point to the content you created.
• Use competitors’ monthly referring-domain growth as a rough benchmark, not a quota; quality and relevance count more than pace.
• Skip links competitors got through paid placements, networks or exchanges, which Google’s spam policies prohibit.
• Repeat the analysis quarterly to catch new tactics and content.

How can the Emulent team help?

Emulent runs competitor backlink analyses within enterprise SEO and competitive research engagements, turning the data into content plans and outreach lists. A caveat: link data from third-party tools is incomplete and estimated, so treat it as direction rather than a full census. Contact the Emulent team to analyze your competitors’ links.