Competitor backlink analysis means looking at the links pointing to the sites that outrank you, so you can find the same link opportunities for yourself. The fastest free way to do it: drop a competitor's domain into a free backlink checker, read their referring domains and anchor text, and build a shortlist of sites you can realistically earn links from too.
In short:
- What it is: studying a competitor's backlinks to find link opportunities for your own site.
- Why it works: backlinks are still one of Google's strongest ranking signals, and a site that already links to a competitor is a warm prospect for you.
- What you need: a free backlink checker and three to five real competitors. No paid subscription required to get started.
What Competitor Backlink Analysis Actually Tells You
Every backlink a competitor has is a site that already decided to link to a page like yours. That makes their backlink profile a pre-qualified list of link targets, far warmer than cold-pitching sites at random.
One widely cited study found that the top result in Google tends to have far more backlinks than the pages ranked below it. You don't need to match every link, but you do need to understand the pattern: which sites link to your competitors, what kind of pages earn those links, and which of them you can replicate.
Done well, competitor backlink analysis helps you:
- Find high-authority sites that link to rivals but not to you.
- See which content formats earn links in your niche.
- Spot link-building tactics that are already working, so you skip the guesswork.
First, Find Your Real SEO Competitors
Your SEO competitors are not always your business rivals. They're the pages that rank at the top for the keywords you want. A much larger brand might not compete with you commercially yet still outrank you for your money keywords, and that's who you study.
Two useful lenses:
- Domain-level competitors: sites competing with you across many keywords in your niche.
- Page-level competitors: individual pages ranking for the specific keyword you're targeting, even if the rest of the site isn't a rival.
To find them for free, search your main keywords in Google (use incognito to reduce personalisation) and note the domains that show up repeatedly in the top 10. Pick three to five to focus on. Tracking more than that usually creates noise, not insight.
How to Find a Competitor's Backlinks (Free, Step by Step)
Here's the full workflow using the free Backlink Checker. It takes a few minutes per competitor.
- Choose your competitor. Start with one of the three to five domains ranking above you for a target keyword.
- Run the domain through the Backlink Checker. Enter the competitor's domain or a specific URL into the free Backlink Checker to pull their backlink profile.
- Read the profile. Look at the total backlinks, the referring domains (unique linking sites), the follow/nofollow split, the anchor text they attract, and the spread of linking IPs. This is the shape of their link strategy.
- Judge link quality, not just quantity. For each notable link, ask: is the linking site relevant, does it have real authority, and is the link inside the main content (worth more) or buried in a footer or sidebar (worth less)? Editorial links beat site-wide template links.
- Build your shortlist. Note the strong, relevant links you could realistically earn: directory listings, resource pages, guest-post sites, roundups. That shortlist is your link-building to-do list.
Repeat for each competitor. Links that show up across several competitors are your best bets: a site that links to three rivals is very likely to link to you too.
Which Backlink Metrics to Analyse
When you read a competitor's profile, these are the numbers that actually matter:
- Referring domains: how many unique sites link to them. Diverse domains generally beats many links from a single site.
- Total backlinks: the raw link count. Useful for scale, but weaker on its own than referring domains.
- Follow vs nofollow ratio: a natural profile mixes both. An unnaturally high share of one can signal low-value links. More on this in types of backlinks.
- Anchor text distribution: a healthy mix of brand, generic, URL, and keyword anchors. Heavy exact-match keyword anchors are a red flag. See anchor text analysis.
- IP diversity: links concentrated in a narrow range of IPs can indicate an unnatural network.
- Authority and relevance: a single link from a trusted, on-topic site can outweigh dozens of weak ones.
Find the Links Competitors Have and You Don't (Link Gap)
The highest-value move in competitor analysis is a link gap analysis: comparing your backlink profile against a competitor's to reveal the domains that link to them but not to you. Those gaps are your clearest opportunities, because a site that links to your competitor's content is a strong candidate to link to yours, especially if your version is better.
Work through the gap list, prioritise by relevance and authority, and turn each one into an outreach target. See the full method in our guide to link gap analysis.
Turn Competitor Backlinks Into Your Own
Finding the links is half the job. Here's how to actually earn them:
- Replicate their referring domains. Directories, resource pages, and roundups that link to competitors often accept new, relevant submissions.
- Pitch resource pages. Show the page owner how your content adds value for their audience.
- Match their guest posts. If competitors publish on certain sites, pitch those same sites a topic that fills a gap in their content.
- Broken-link building. Find a competitor's dead page that still has backlinks, create a better resource, and offer it to the sites linking to the broken one.
- Content enhancement. Improve a competitor's most-linked page with fresher data, clearer steps, or deeper detail, then reach out to the sites that linked to the original.
Prioritise every prospect on three factors: relevance, authority, and how realistically you can replicate it. Ignore links you'll never be able to earn.
Watch for Bad Links: Don't Copy These
Not every competitor link is worth having. As you review profiles, flag links that look spammy or manipulative: links from link farms, irrelevant sites, hidden footer links, or paid links without proper tagging. Copying these does more harm than good.
If you're auditing your own profile for links like this and want to know how to remove or disavow them, follow our guide to finding and removing toxic backlinks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you see your competitors' backlinks?
Yes. Backlinks are public, so any backlink checker can show you the links pointing to a competitor's domain. Enter their domain into a free backlink checker to see their referring domains, anchor text, and top links.
How do I find competitor backlinks for free?
Pick three to five competitors ranking for your target keywords, run each domain through a free Backlink Checker, and note the strong, relevant links you could earn too. No paid subscription is needed to get a useful list.
What is the difference between SEO competitors and business competitors?
Business competitors sell what you sell. SEO competitors are whoever ranks for your target keywords, which is often a different set of sites. For link building, always analyse your SEO competitors.
How many competitors should I analyse?
Three to five is enough. Focusing on a small set lets you spot patterns without drowning in data.
How do I find backlinks my competitors have but I don't?
Run a link gap analysis. It compares your backlink profile against competitors and lists the domains that link to them but not to you.
Is it allowed to copy competitor backlinks?
Yes. Earning links from the same sites that link to competitors is a standard, legitimate link-building tactic. What violates Google's guidelines is buying links, and that's a different thing entirely.
Start Your Competitor Backlink Analysis
Competitor backlink analysis turns link building from guesswork into a research task: you're working from a list of sites that have already shown they'll link to content like yours. Start with one competitor, pull their profile in the free Backlink Checker, and build your shortlist today.
