Competitor backlink analysis is my favourite link building strategy of all time.
I have been using it for the last 10 years and it’s the only link building method that has stood the test of time.
With a simple competitor backlink analysis you can:
And then use them in your own strategy to outrank them.
Here is how to do it…
What Will I Learn?
Competitor backlinking is an SEO technique where you routinely analyse the backlinks of competing sites to see what types of links they have, how many, and the quality of links.
This is called competitor backlink analysis, and it helps you reverse engineer their link building strategy and use it for your own site. This will help your SEO and get you more traffic from Google.
Through this link profile analysis, you can get access to your competitor’s website performance from their number of external links and link metrics to their overall online authority – including page authority & domain authority.
A competitor backlink analysis helps you build (or improve) your strategy – the right way and allows you to:
Pretty cool, right?
Bellow, I’ll explain how to conduct this analysis to get great and fast results!
If you go to Google right now and search for your target keyword.
You’ll get on the first results page…
…The top 5x ranking sites that have all one important thing in common:
The idea of competitor backlink analysis is to-
Why waste time and money figuring out what works?
There’s already a proven link building blueprint out there waiting for you.
But to pull it off, you need a backlink analysis tool and you can get access to some incredible data without spending any money.
Before we do anything else we need to find all of the backlinks that are pointing to our competitor’s site.
Doing that is easy because we can take advantage of a number of tools that allow us to download all of our competitor’s backlink portfolio easily.
The 3x best backlink analysis tools on the market right now are:
They will return high numbers of links for every competitor website that you run through them. This is important because the more quality links you find, the more you can replicate!
Let’s take a closer look…
Ahrefs was the best tool on this list to find insight into competitors’ backlink profiles.
But in my more recent best backlink checker case study, they got absolutely blown away.
You can view all of your competitor’s backlinks (including their anchor text) in one dashboard thanks to Ahrefs Site Explorer.
You can then export them in a CSV file to form the foundation of your strategy.
Bonus: Ahrefs also allows you to monitor backlinks and set up backlink alerts so you can keep track of your competitor’s new backlinks!
The free SEMRush trial gives you access to a powerful tool with a very easy to use interface and relevant data sources that you can trust.
It’s certainly the best Ahrefs alternative out there to execute a backlink profile analysis.
But don’t be fooled by the high number of links it shows for my site.
SEMRush counts every link from a domain, but Ahrefs groups them together!
Either way, they give you a ton of data.
SEMRush has a freemium version of their tool that allows you to perform 10 data searches each day and you can also take advantage of a 100% free 14 day trial I set up for my readers.
Bonus: SEMrush offers the most comprehensive backlink audit you can find on the market.
See how Semrush stands against Ahrefs in my Ahrefs vs Semrush ultimate comparison.
SEO SpyGlass is the best desktop based backlink checker tool.
Although the link count is less than the last two tools…
It still gives you a significant number to work with:
However, their database is ever-growing with currently stands at 1.6x trillion links so it’s always going to find more than a handful for you.
SEO SpyGlass comes in two versions:
- Free: you can access data for 1,000x backlinks (but can’t export them)
- Paid: you can access data for unlimited backlinks and export them
But it doesn’t have an expensive monthly subscription like other tools.
Don’t worry, I understand these tools can be expensive if you’re starting out so feel free to take a look at my free seo tools list.
Honestly, you can’t make a wrong decision here. Each tool is going to provide you with more than enough backlink data to keep you busy.
And remember, if you are on a budget you can use the free trials to grab as much data as possible for your campaign.
| Ahrefs | SEMRush | SEO Spyglass | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $99/Month | $99.95/Month | $31.49/Month |
| Trial Available? | No. | Yes. 14 Day Trial & Freemium Model. | Yes. Freemium Model. |
| # Links Found | 69,600 | 1,600,000 | 35,500 |
But don’t do anything just yet!
First I want to show you precisely how we are going to use this data to grow our own search traffic!
Using the tools above I’m going to show you exactly how to steal your competitor’s links.
This is the proven repeatable method I’ve been using for years.
Better still:
Here’s what you need to do…
Your starting point is to get a list of the top #5 ranking URLs for your target keyword.
Select the keyword you want to target.
Then do a search in Google and make a list of the first 5x organic search results:
Your final list of URL’s should look something like this:
- https://backlinko.com/ecommerce-seo
- https://ahrefs.com/blog/ecommerce-seo/
- https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/ecommerce-seo/
- https://neilpatel.com/blog/seo-for-ecommerce-websites/
- https://www.shopify.com/blog/ecommerce-seo-beginners-guide
Head to this page to download my free competitor backlink analysis spreadsheet.
This is the intelligent sheet I have developed over the years for this specific task – you are going to love it!
Just paste the 5 links from step #1 above into column A on the first sheet-
Click on the “Click Here” links to automatically open the right report you need.
Export the data as a .CSV file.
You can export as much data as the tool will allow.
The more, the better!
Once exported, let’s put it into the tool…
Head over to tab #2 – Data in the sheet to Import each of the files you just exported.
The quickest way is to:
This is how you should do it:
Once you have loaded all the data you are ready for…
Head to Tab #3 – Plan Of Attack.
You’ll see a table of links.
These are the best competitors backlinks for you to target.
The tool has already:
That means in just a small amount of time you can put together a near-perfect link building strategy for your site.
(There’s that “keep it simple” motto in action again.)
That means it’s time to put your balaclava on and…
You have all of the actionable data you need to get started.
What you’re looking for in your Plan Of Attack tab is:
For example…
…If the link came from a blog comment, you’ll just need to write your own:
…if it was a forum post or a blog post, join the discussion and include links in relevant places:
…if it was a guest post, you’ll need to pitch your own for publication:
Take a look at each link and reverse engineer the process to figure out how to do it.
Just work through the Plan Of Attack tab and replicate each link – it really is that easy!
Stealing your competitors backlink strategies is one of the most effective ways to boost rankings and increase your traffic – including organic traffic & referral traffic.
It can save you:
By giving you an easy-to-follow blueprint that is proven to rank for your keyword.
To quickly recap:
This is the only link building strategy that has stood the test of time and it’s the first link building strategy I have applied on all of my sites for the last 10 years.
If you have any questions/thoughts about this strategy or if you need any SEO tips, please leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to help!
Just remember… Before starting building links, make sure you have read the full link building checklist that explains all the link building process.
Or, if you want to outsource it, check out my review of the top link building services.
Next I want to introduce you to resource page link building.
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thanks for sharing this article with suggestions of the tools that we can use for backlink analysis, bookmarking your site to read more articles like this. keep sharing..
No problem- glad it helped!
Great knowledge I owe you a beer buddy! Its what I need for my freelance designer London site!…………….Thank You…….
Haha glad it was helpful!
Thank you for this valuable post it was very helpful. I really appreciate your effort. please keep us update.
No worries! Glad you liked the post!
This is a great blog! thanks for sharing this ! Would like to hear such information!
Thank you! Cheers!
Thanks for the great post Matthew , wish you the best .
Thanks, Kay!
Very informative and insightful . Keep up the good Work. Thanks for sharing
No problem! Always happy to help!
HI, Your link is not good, Its the doc for keywords, not for backlinks analysis.Can you share the good link please ?Thanks
You get both sheets – the backlink analysis comes next, just keep an eye on your email.
Hey, Matthew, I’ve just build links like 12,13 on high authority sites and my site is somewhere a year old still the keywords are not ranked any suggestion for that?
How long ago were the links placed?
Great Article Matthew, I agree. This is the easiest method by far. I tried emailing competitors links to other websites for a guest post, but it seemed over 90% of the owners were charging for guest posts. I love the blog comment strategy. Thanks
Hey Marcus. Yes this is one of the two strategies I use for 80% of my link building! A lot of people now charge for guest posting but there are still people out there who will be happy to publish high quality unique content.
Thank you
How many backlinks we should create at once on eCommerce site?
Depends on how many your competitors have.
I am very thankful to read your blog, I was searching for something similar.
Glad you found me
Thanks For sharing a great post. It’s really helpful for us.
Glad to help 🙂
great way thanks for sharing it’s me for create backlink.
No worries Kamal – let me know how you get on with this strategy.
Thanks for sharing your view it’s helpful
Happy to help – hope this helps you build quality backlinks
As always, another brilliant tutorial. Putting it into action today!
Great news Mike!
Hi Matt,Thanks for the insight, this is the best tutorial I have ever seen on competitors backlink analysis, keep it up, I love reading your blog post.
Awesome thanks Daniel 🙂
Amazing Information. Thanks for giving us for informational Article
Hope it helps building your backlink profile Ruby 🙂
Hi, Thanks a lot for sharing the great post with us. I was looking for the backlinking strategy, the tools and other info all over the web. But when I finally landed on to your website, I closed all the other tabs from my screen. Here I got much more than what I was looking for. I am new to SEO and I am preparing myself for the interview and this massive information will be a big help to me.Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us all Cheers!
Welcome to the world of SEO 🙂
That’s really great information, I’m suffering how to find influential backlinks, This post seems so helpful, I’m definitely apply top get backlinks. Thank you so much!
Yep, it’s simple once you know how 🙂
very good
Thanks a lot.
Great work! This list will surely help many of us, thank you.
I certainly hope so 🙂
A great article Matt, thanks. Backlinking is one of the most neglected areas of SEO because people see it as ‘hard work’ for little return, which is simply not true. Thanks again.
Thanks Marc! Having quality backlinks is certainly one of the main Google ranking factors!
Hey Justin. Start by completing a site audit – https://searchlogistics.com/seo/on-page/seo-audit/ to fix any underlying issues, build a strong foundation and understand exactly what your audience wants from your site. Then you can follow this guide to build backlinks and check out some other strategies here – https://searchlogistics.com/seo/link-building/strategies/
Really, This Is Amazing article And I have learned a lot of thing from this site. so I will never forget this site and Thank you so much for publishing very very important information.
No worries – glad I could help 🙂
very informative blog.great knowledge
Thanks a lot Naeem
Cheers, MattMy link building has been so slack recently. This is such a great idea. I first saw you on the Niche Persuit Podcast and have been diving into your stuff ever since.
Hey Vince – this is honestly my favourite and easiest way to build links. You should definitely try it out 🙂
Hi Sir,That’s a very good article about what are backlinks and how these backlinks help SEO. I’m into SEO recently ..And to check backlinks I follow Ahref. But after reading this I understood there are several other ways to create backlinks and to check it.
Yep, there are a lot of ways depending on your time/budget/preference.
It was great. Thank you.
No problems at all!
Pretty! This was an extremely wonderful article.Many thanks for providing this information.
No worries – hope you found it useful.
Ok great 🙂
I got it
Hi Matt, I did not get the confirmation link to download the spreadsheet, it been 24 hour. can you please send me?
Have you checked your spam folder?
Hello thanks for sharing this important Knowledge with us. It will help me to make my backlinking Strategy.
No problem, it’s always an interesting experiment to run.
Thank you so much for sharing such excellent content with us and I have read your whole article and I am just loving it and also very helpful to me.
Glad you found it helpful Richa
Thanks for sharing such a nice post. Really useful to me in my daily work.
I hope it helps you successfully build some great backlinks 🙂
I have a question, Matthew. I am running a CPA Offer Website, can I do the same for this and I am very much stuck with the guest post. Suggest some ways!
Analyse how your competitors are building their links and you will have your answer 🙂
Bless your heart, Matt! I read this with keen interest and paid attention. I’d be visiting your blog more than ever!!! Thank you!!!!
Happy to have you here Liam
I am in fact happy to read this webpage posts which consists of lots of valuable data, thanks for providing these statistics.
My pleasure!
Great work writing this! In the process of Seo-optimizing the main thing is to be sequential. If you have a good checklist it will be not that hard to analyze your website, still personally i prefer making it with various seo tools. One of my favourites are Plerdy Seo Checker and Screaming Frog Seo Crawler, which tools could you recommend besides them?
You can see which tools I recommend and why in the post
Hey Matthew, Your blogs are very insightful. But I get stuck as your excel sheet is connected to Ahref and I use SEM rush. Can you suggest a workaround semrush?
Hi Matthew,This post made my night, i truly value the information and i can’t wait to start implement them.Thank for sharingDavid
Happy to help David 🙂
I want too know how can we get access too your free tool and if we use your free tool will we need ahrefs or no more need of ahrefs or semrush just use your tool
You will still need access to Ahrefs, SEMrush or SEO Spyglass but they all have trials you can use to get the data you need for my spreadsheet. Just follow the steps in the tutorial.
Hey matthewwoodward, Can I contact you on whatsapp. or any social media. We need to chat please sir.
Feel free to ask any questions you have here.
Quality content is key!
Hi Matthew,Wow, thanks for a brilliantly fantastic blog post that is as practical as it is valuable. Started implementing them.Can’t wait to see how Google reacts.You’re a legend :)Best regards,Pedro
Hey Pedro – great news. Let me know how you get on 🙂
nice post Thanks for sharing information
No problem – it’s easy when you know how, right.
Hey..Matthew, Thanks a lot for sharing valuable information. This is the best way to build backlinks It helped me more as we are working in this way to achieve positive results.
No worries Samson, glad you are having success with this method too.
Thanks Matthew, just added this strategy coupled with your similar kw research/stealing spreadsheets. Appreciate ya
Cheers Justin, hope they work well for ya 🙂
Wow, amazing weblog format! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging glance easy. The entire glance of your web site is great,as neatly as the content material!
Hey, if you’re interested – https://searchlogistics.com/about/