The essentials
- Objective: find the sites that link to several competitors and not to you; those are the easiest links to obtain, since they already link comparable players.
- Tools: Ahrefs, Semrush or Majestic (paid, complete data); Search Console and limited free tools to start with.
- Qualify before acting: authority, real traffic, subject area, type of link (editorial, directory, partner, sponsored).
- The deliverable: a list of 30 to 100 sites to contact, sorted by ease and by value.
The competitors ahead of you in the results almost always have more quality inbound links. Analysing their backlinks profile reveals where they got them, and therefore where you can get them too. Here is a six-step method, doable in a day with a backlink tool, that ends in a list of concrete actions.
Step 1: choose the right competitors
SEO competitors aren't necessarily your commercial rivals: they are the sites ranking ahead of you on your target queries. Take 10 important queries, note the top 5 results for each, and keep the 3 to 5 domains that recur most, excluding the giants (Wikipedia, marketplaces, national media) whose link profile is unreachable. For a local business, add the local pack competitors.
Step 2: extract the link profiles
| Tool | What it gives you | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | The widest database, a "Link Intersect" report (shared links), history | From $129 / month |
| Semrush | Backlink Gap, a toxicity audit, integrated with the rest of the suite | From $139 / month |
| Majestic | Trust Flow / Citation Flow, topics, "Clique Hunter" for shared links; see Majestic SEO | From €46 / month |
| Moz Link Explorer | Domain Authority, a limited free version | Limited free tier; $99 / month |
| Search Console | Your own links only, not your competitors' | Free |
For each competitor, export the list of referring domains with, at minimum: domain, authority (DR, AS or TF depending on the tool), number of links, target page, anchor, type (dofollow or not), date first detected. A one-month subscription is enough for a one-off analysis; the comparison of the suites is in GreenRed against Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz and HubSpot.
Step 3: find the shared links
The "intersect" function (Link Intersect, Backlink Gap, Clique Hunter) lists the domains linking to at least two competitors and not to you. Those sites have an established practice of linking players in your sector: trade directories, specialist media, niche blogs, shared partners, event organisers. That is the heart of your action list. Sort by the number of competitors linked (3 out of 3 at the top) then by authority.
Step 4: qualify each domain
- Real traffic: authority isn't enough; a DR 50 site with no visitors is often a link-selling site. Check the estimated organic traffic.
- Subject area: does the site write about your sector or your region? An off-topic link is worth little.
- Type of link: editorial (within an article), directory, partners page, sponsored, comment, profile. The first two are the targets; the last two should be ignored.
- How the competitor got it: read the page. A customer testimonial, a guest article, an interview, a sponsorship: each points to the approach to reproduce.
- Toxicity: set aside site networks, revived expired domains, and pages with hundreds of unrelated outbound links.
Step 5: analyse the pages that attract links
Beyond the domains, look at which of your competitors' pages receive the most links ("Best by links"). Often it is three or four pieces of content: a study, a guide, a tool, a glossary. That is the signal of what your sector likes to cite, and therefore of the content to produce, better or from a new angle, to capture equivalent links. The formats are detailed in 12 strategies for earning backlinks.
Step 6: build and track the action list
| Column | Example |
|---|---|
| Domain | Target site |
| Competitors linked | How many, and from which page |
| Authority / traffic | The value of the expected link |
| Type of approach | A listing, a contact, an article proposal, a testimonial, a partnership, a sponsorship |
| Ease (1 to 3) | A directory = 1, an editorial contact = 3 |
| Page to offer | Your most relevant page for that site |
| Status and date | To contact, contacted, obtained, refused |
Start with the easy, high-value rows, at 10 to 20 contacts a week. Track each month the referring domains gained (Search Console or a tool) and the rankings of the target pages; the effect shows at 2 or 3 months. Redo the analysis every six months: competitors keep gaining new links. To check your own profile before reaching out, see auditing the links to your site.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's SEO module brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Can you analyse competitors' backlinks for free?
Partly. The free versions of Ahrefs (Webmaster Tools, on your own site), Moz Link Explorer and Semrush give a few dozen rows per domain. For a full analysis, a one-month subscription to one of the paid tools is the cheapest route.
Which authority metric should you use?
Each is specific to its tool: Domain Rating (Ahrefs), Authority Score (Semrush), Trust Flow (Majestic), Domain Authority (Moz). They aren't comparable with each other. Use your tool's metric to sort, and always add estimated traffic and subject area.
Should you disavow the toxic links found on your own site?
Rarely. Google says it ignores poor-quality links, and the disavow tool is only useful in the case of a manual action or a past mass link-buying campaign. Concentrate the effort on acquiring good links.
How often should you redo the competitive analysis?
Every six months, or as soon as a competitor moves up noticeably in the rankings. Between analyses, watch competitors' new links with your tool's alerts, so you can react quickly to opportunities (a new outlet, a new directory).