Competitor SEO Analysis: How to Spy on Your Rivals' Backlinks

Your competitors already did the hard work. They spent months testing, pitching, and negotiating links. They figured out which sites actually move the needle. Why start from scratch when you can steal their playbook?

Competitor SEO analysis is the fastest shortcut in link building. You're not guessing which sites to target. You're looking at proven winners. Sites that already link to businesses like yours. Sites that accept your type of content. Sites with actual authority.

This isn't spying for the sake of it. It's strategic intelligence. And it's completely legal.

Why competitor backlink analysis works

Most link builders waste time on dead ends. They pitch sites that never link out. They chase domains with zero traffic. They ignore the relationship dynamics that actually get links approved.

Your competitors filtered all that noise for you. If a site links to three of your rivals, that site clearly accepts your industry. The editor knows your space. They've already greenlit similar content. Your pitch just became 10x easier.

Plus, you get context. You see which content formats work. Blog posts? Case studies? Data visualizations? You see which angles earn links. You stop guessing and start copying what already succeeded.

The data also exposes weaknesses. Maybe your top competitor has 500 backlinks but only 80 unique domains. That's vulnerability. You can outflank them by targeting different sites they missed.

Step 1: Find your real SERP competitors

Don't assume you know who your competitors are. Your direct business rivals might not be your SEO rivals. The sites ranking for your target keywords are what matter here.

Pick your top 5-10 money keywords. Search them in Google. Note who consistently shows up in positions 1-10. Those are your true SERP competitors. They're the ones Google trusts. They're the ones holding the ranking real estate you want.

Use Ahrefs or Semrush if you want to speed this up. Both tools have competitor discovery features. Plug in your domain. They'll show you who ranks for the same keywords. Export that list. You'll use it constantly.

Aim for 5-10 competitors max. More than that and you drown in data. Less than that and you miss patterns.

Step 2: Pull their backlink profiles

Now you grab their entire link history. Every tool does this slightly differently but the core process is identical.

In Ahrefs, go to Site Explorer. Enter a competitor's domain. Hit the "Backlinks" tab. You'll see every link pointing at them - or at least the ones Ahrefs knows about. Export the full list as a CSV. Do this for each competitor.

In Semrush, it's the Backlink Analytics tool. Same drill. Enter domain, export backlinks. If you're using Moz, it's Link Explorer.

Pay attention to these columns:

• Referring domain (the site linking to them)
• Domain Authority or Authority Score (how strong that site is)
• Anchor text (the clickable text used in the link)
• Target URL (which page on your competitor's site got the link)
• Link type (dofollow vs nofollow)

You want dofollow links from high-authority domains. Those are the ones that actually impact rankings.

Step 3: Run a link gap analysis

This is where things get tactical. A link gap analysis shows you sites that link to multiple competitors but not to you. These are your highest-probability targets.

Ahrefs has a tool literally called "Link Intersect." You enter your domain and up to 10 competitors. It spits out every domain linking to them but missing you. Sort by Domain Rating. The top of that list is pure gold.

Semrush calls it the "Backlink Gap" tool. Same concept. It even color-codes the results so you can see which competitors share which links.

Why does this work? Because these sites already:

• Accept your industry
• Link to similar content
• Are reachable (your competitors reached them)
• Have traffic and authority worth chasing

You're not cold pitching strangers. You're approaching warm leads with proof of concept.

Step 4: Analyze their best-performing content

Next question: what type of content earns these links? You need to reverse-engineer their linkable assets.

In Ahrefs, go to "Best by links" under "Pages." This shows you which individual pages on a competitor's site have the most referring domains. You'll see patterns fast.

Maybe their ultimate guides crush it. Maybe their original research reports. Maybe their free tools. Whatever format keeps appearing - that's your blueprint.

Click into a high-performing page. Check the "Backlinks" tab for that specific URL. Read the anchor text. See what angle people use to link to it. Are they citing data? Referencing a quote? Linking to a tool?

Now you know what to create. Build something similar but better. More data. Better design. Clearer insights. Then pitch it to the same sites that linked to the competitor's version.

Step 5: Check their anchor text distribution

Anchor text patterns reveal a lot. They show you what's natural in your niche. They also expose risky tactics you should avoid.

Export a competitor's anchor text report. Categorize the anchors:

• Branded (their company name)
• Generic ("click here", "this article")
• URL (naked domain or URL)
• Exact-match (keyword-stuffed anchors)

A healthy profile is mostly branded and generic. Some partial-match phrases. Very few exact-match keyword anchors. If you see tons of exact-match anchors - "best SEO tool for startups" over and over - that's a red flag. It's either old-school spam or they're playing with fire.

Google's guidelines are clear. Manipulative anchor text schemes can trigger penalties. You want your anchor profile to look natural. Studying competitors shows you what natural looks like in your space.

Step 6: Identify broken link opportunities

This is sneaky but effective. Find pages on your competitor's site that used to have links but now return 404 errors. Those linking sites need a replacement. You can be that replacement.

In Ahrefs, filter a competitor's "Best by links" report to show only 404 pages. Sort by referring domains. Any page with 10+ referring domains is worth recreating.

Check what the page used to be about. Use the Wayback Machine if you need to. Then build your own version of that content. Reach out to every site still linking to the dead page. Let them know the link is broken. Offer your updated, live resource as a replacement.

They want to fix broken links. You're making their job easier. It's a win-win with a high conversion rate.

Step 7: Monitor their link velocity

Link velocity is the rate at which a site gains new backlinks. It tells you what's realistic in your niche. It also helps you avoid unnatural spikes that look spammy to Google.

Track your top 3 competitors monthly. Use Semrush's Backlink Analytics or Ahrefs. Note how many new referring domains they gain each month. Average it out. That's your baseline.

If competitors in your space gain 5-10 new domains per month, don't suddenly launch a campaign that gets you 50 in a week. That screams manipulation. Match the natural pace. Stay under the radar.

Also watch for lost links. If a competitor's backlink count drops sharply, something happened. Maybe they got penalized. Maybe they removed bad links. Dig into it. Learn from their mistakes.

Step 8: Find their guest post targets

Guest posting still works if you do it right. Your competitors can show you which sites accept guest contributions in your niche.

Filter a competitor's backlinks for author bio links. These usually come from guest posts. In Ahrefs, search the anchor text column for their name or company name. Look for links from "/author/" URLs or author bio sections.

Export that list. Vet each site:

• Does it have actual traffic?
• Is the content quality decent?
• Are comments/engagement real?
• Is the domain authority respectable?

Good sites get added to your outreach list. Weak sites get ignored. You now have a pre-qualified list of guest posting opportunities. Pitch them something better than what your competitor published.

Common mistakes that waste time

Chasing too many competitors spreads you thin. Stick to 5-10 max. More than that and you're analyzing instead of executing.

Ignoring link relevance kills results. A link from a high-DA site in a completely unrelated niche does almost nothing. Topical relevance matters more than raw authority.

Copying spammy tactics backfires. If a competitor is buying links from sketchy networks or stuffing exact-match anchors, don't follow them. You'll both get penalized eventually. Only copy the white-hat stuff.

Focusing only on dofollow links misses context. Some nofollow links - like those from major publications or Reddit - send traffic and build brand credibility. They still matter.

Neglecting link attributes is risky. According to Google's official guidelines, paid links must use rel="sponsored". User-generated content links need rel="ugc". If competitors aren't following this, note it. Don't repeat their compliance mistakes.

Tools you actually need

You can do basic competitor analysis with free tools but paid ones save massive time.

Ahrefs is the gold standard for backlink data. Their index is huge. Their link intersect tool is unmatched. It's expensive but worth it if you're serious.

Semrush is the main alternative. Slightly different data but equally powerful. The backlink gap tool is excellent. They also bundle other SEO features.

Moz has smaller index coverage but their Domain Authority metric is still widely used. Good for quick checks.

Screaming Frog handles technical audits. Use it to crawl competitor sites and analyze internal linking structure.

For free options, Google Search Console shows who links to you. It won't show competitor data but it's a baseline for comparison.

How Revised automates the boring parts

Manual competitor analysis takes hours. You're clicking through hundreds of backlinks. Cross-referencing data. Building spreadsheets. Sending cold emails.

Revised handles the automation. The platform scans your niche and surfaces high-value contextual backlink prospects automatically. It identifies broken link opportunities on authority sites before you even ask.

It tracks competitor mentions so you know when they gain new links. It flags risky links in your own profile. It provides analytics dashboards showing exactly which links drive traffic and rankings.

You focus on strategy and relationships. Revised handles the data grind.

Want to skip the manual work? Try Revised for free and get competitor insights in minutes instead of days.

Real-world workflow example

Here's what a full competitor analysis week looks like:

Day 1-2: Identify 5 SERP competitors. Pull their domain-level backlink overviews. Record total referring domains, authority scores, and estimated traffic.

Day 3-4: Run link gap analysis. Export domains linking to 2+ competitors but not you. Sort by authority. Build a prioritized outreach list.

Day 5-6: Analyze their best-performing content. Identify linkable assets. Study anchor text distribution. Spot patterns and red flags.

Day 7-8: Find broken link opportunities. Filter for 404 pages with 10+ referring domains. Plan content to replace those dead pages.

Ongoing: Track monthly KPIs. Monitor new/lost referring domains. Measure link velocity. Iterate based on what's working.

This process gives you a 90-day roadmap minimum. You'll have more qualified link targets than you can outreach in a quarter.

Final thoughts

Competitor SEO analysis isn't cheating. It's efficiency. Your rivals spent time and money testing the market. Use their lessons. Avoid their mistakes. Target their proven link sources with better content.

The brands that rank on page one didn't guess their way there. They studied the competition. They identified gaps. They executed smarter, not just harder.

You can do the same. Start with one competitor. Pull their backlinks. Find the gaps. Pitch better content to those sites. Build momentum from there.

Or let Revised do the heavy lifting while you focus on growing your business.

For more on building a strong backlink profile, check out our guide on how to build backlinks and authority for your website. If you're just getting started, read backlink building for startups to see what actually works in 2025.