Last Updated on August 7, 2026 by Team TBH
Most SEO teams consider competition analysis and link building as separate tasks. However, they are the same thing. Each and every backlink that your competitor receives is a public record of who is ready to link out to websites similar to yours – and that proof is one of the quickest ways to compile your outreach list.
Why Competitor Backlinks Are a Shortcut, Not a Shortcut Around Quality
When performing the analysis on the backlink profile of a competitor, one should understand that he or she doesn’t copy the strategy of that company but just bypasses the stage of discovery. Someone else has already performed the experiment by learning which blogs, directories, publications, and resource pages have the willingness to link out in your industry.
Three questions to ask about every competitor link:
- What content or asset earned this link?
- Is the linking site still active and reputable?
- Would this site plausibly link to us, or only to that specific competitor?
Building an Outreach List From Competitor Gaps
After extracting the data from the backlinks using platforms such as Ahrefs, focus on gap links, which are the websites that link to your competitors more than twice but do not link to your website. This way, you have a higher chance of gaining a link.
This method is also applicable across industries, even high-regulatory or competitive niches. In particular, niche-focused companies providing casino SEO services often use gap analysis techniques to identify existing websites featuring affiliate directories, reviews, and industry-related content, all of which contain backlinks to more than one operator; this way, they convert a regulated and crowded niche into an organized list of contacts.
Now that you’ve made your gap list, it’s time to split it up based on type of link:
- Resources – these are easiest to pitch; pitch yourself as a resource.
- Guest post sites – these are sites that allow guest posts.
- Editorial mentions – these need content to be newsworthy or data-based.
- Directory/Listings – these take little effort but are worth the work.
- Broken link opportunities – these are broken competitor pages that still have backlinks.
Turning Competitor Content Into Linkable Assets
Backlink statistics can show you who is linking to your page; gap analysis in content will tell you why. Identify the pages that have the most links from among your competitors’ pages and determine the common factor – original research, free tools, surveys, or a guide.
If the competitor’s “State of the Industry” report received 40 referring domains, this is definitely not an accident. Create your own report using better data, better visualization, or an updated dataset, and then contact these same linking sites, explaining what’s new or improved.
A Simple Workflow to Repeat Monthly
- Export backlinks for your top 3-5 competitors
- Filter for gap links (linking to competitors, not you)
- Categorize by link type and effort required
- Identify top-linked competitor content and its format
- Draft one new linkable asset per month based on the pattern
- Outreach to the highest-probability targets first (gap links, resource pages)
- Track response rates and refine targeting each cycle
Treating this as a recurring workflow – not a one-time audit – is what separates teams that steadily gain domain authority from those that plateau after the first outreach push.
FAQ
How many competitors should I analyze?
Three to five direct competitors is usually enough. Beyond that, data becomes noisy, and outreach lists get diluted with low-relevance sites.
Is it ethical to target a competitor’s exact backlinks?
Yes – you’re not asking sites to remove existing links, only offering an additional or alternative resource. Reputable sites make their own editorial decisions.
How long does this process take to show results?
Most teams see the first new links within 4-8 weeks, depending on outreach volume and asset quality. Sustainable authority growth typically takes 3-6 months of consistent effort.
What tools are essential for this process?
A backlink analysis tool (Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz), a spreadsheet for tracking outreach, and an email tool with follow-up sequencing cover most needs.
To read more content like this, explore The Brand Hopper
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