Competitor backlink analysis
Find Your Competitors' Best Backlink Opportunities
A competitor backlink finder that does not stop at the link count. BacklinkDone finds the sites that link to several of your competitors but not to you, analyzes which of them are relevant, explains why they may link to you, and finds who you should contact.
- 412link to 2+ competitors, not to you
- 96relevant to your business
- 41with a real reason to link to you
Search intent
Competitor backlinks are evidence, not a to-do list
When you look up competitor backlinks, you are really asking which sites would link to you too. A list of every link your competitors have does not answer that.
A competitor's backlink profile is a record of everything that ever happened to them: press coverage from a funding round, a customer's case study, a conference sponsorship, a review from a blogger they know, a directory they paid for, and a handful of editorial links from sites that genuinely cover your category. Only that last group is useful to you.
Good backlink competitor analysis is the work of finding that group, understanding it, and turning it into actions. That is what BacklinkDone is built to do.
How it works
From competitor backlink data to competitor backlink opportunities
Five steps, each one removing work you would otherwise do by hand.
| Step | What BacklinkDone does | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pick competitors | Uses the competitors you add, ideally the sites that rank where you want to rank | The right comparison set |
| 2. Find shared linkers | Finds the sites that link to multiple competitors but not to you | Sites that cover your category, with the strongest overlap first |
| 3. Check relevance | Analyzes which of those sites are relevant to your business | Why each site is relevant |
| 4. Find the reason to link | Explains why each relevant site may mention or link to you | A credible reason to link, or a reason to move on |
| 5. Find who to contact | Contact discovery for the person behind the page | Who to contact for each opportunity |
The strongest signal
Start with sites that link to several competitors
One competitor link can be a coincidence. Links to three competitors in the same category are a pattern: the site covers your space and links to products like yours.
BacklinkDone puts the sites that link to multiple competitors but not to you at the front, because they are usually the most realistic place to start. For a full side-by-side view of what you are missing, use the backlink gap tool.
- How many of your competitors each site links to
- Whether the site already links to you
- Why the site is relevant to your business
Why they linked
Separate the links you can earn from the ones you cannot
Every competitor link has a reason behind it. What matters is whether a credible reason exists for the same site to link to you, and that is what BacklinkDone explains for each relevant site.
As a rule of thumb, competitor links fall into two broad groups.
Usually worth pursuing
Reviews and comparisons, tool and resource lists, newsletter roundups, guides that use tools as examples, and articles that cite data you also have.
Usually not worth pursuing
Funding and acquisition news, customer case studies, event sponsorships, links from a competitor's own investors or sister sites, and placements that were paid for.
Links in between, such as partner pages or podcast appearances, depend on what you can bring: a partnership, original data or a story worth telling.
| How a competitor got it | Can you earn it? |
|---|---|
| Reviewed in a comparison | ✓ Yes, it lacks a startup-priced option |
| Listed in a tool list | ✓ Yes, it's for your exact audience |
| Funding announcement | ✕ No, it doesn't apply to you |
| Event sponsorship | ✕ No, not without paying |
Who to contact
Know who put your competitor on the page
A link to a competitor was added by a person. That person, not a contact form, is who you want to reach.
For each opportunity, BacklinkDone finds who to contact, such as the author of the linking article or the editor responsible for the list. The contact, the reason to link and a recommended offer travel together into the backlink opportunity finder, where the opportunity gets a target page and a priority against everything else on your list.
Getting it right
Choosing the right competitors to analyze
The quality of a competitor backlink analysis depends on the competitors you feed it.
Search competitors first
The sites that rank for the keywords you want, including blogs and review sites, tell you which links help in your search results.
Similar size, similar stage
A competitor ten times your size earns links you cannot yet match. Peers and slightly larger rivals show what is realistic now.
Three to five is enough
A handful of well-chosen competitors gives a clear overlap pattern. Adding more mostly adds noise.
Why it is different
A competitor backlink finder that shows opportunities, not just links
Typical tool Find competitor backlinks
- Total backlinks and referring domains per competitor
- Links sorted by a domain metric
- Funding news, sponsorships and customer links mixed in with editorial links
- No contact and no reason the site linked
BacklinkDone Find competitor opportunities
- Sites that link to multiple competitors but not to you, first
- Why each site is relevant and why it may link to you
- A short list of opportunities worth pursuing
- Who to contact, ready for the opportunity finder and your pipeline
BacklinkDone complements the SEO platforms you already use for research. If you want to understand your own profile in the same way, see backlink analysis.
FAQ
Competitor backlink analysis FAQ
What does a competitor backlink finder do?
A competitor backlink finder shows the sites that link to your competitors. BacklinkDone goes one step further: it highlights the sites that link to multiple competitors but not to you, analyzes which of them are relevant to your business, explains why they may link to you, and finds who you should contact. The output is a list of opportunities rather than a list of links.
Which competitors should I analyze?
Start with the sites that rank for the keywords you want, not only your business rivals. A blog or a review site that outranks you is a search competitor even if it sells nothing. Three to five competitors usually give a clear pattern of which sites link to products like yours.
Why focus on sites that link to more than one competitor?
A site that links to one competitor may have a one-off reason, such as a customer story or a personal connection. A site that links to several competitors in your space has shown that it covers your category and links to tools like yours. That makes it one of the strongest signals you can find in competitor backlink analysis.
Which competitor backlinks can I realistically earn too?
As a rule of thumb, reviews, comparisons, tool lists and guides are the competitor links you can most often earn as well. Sponsorships, funding news and links from a competitor's own customers usually are not, because the reason behind them does not apply to you. BacklinkDone focuses on that reason: for each relevant site it explains why the site may link to you, so you are not guessing from the link alone.
Can I just export my competitors' backlinks from an SEO platform instead?
Yes, and for raw research that works. The export tells you who links to your competitors. It does not tell you which of those sites fit your business, why they linked or who to contact. That reading and judgment is the part BacklinkDone does, and the part that takes most of the time.
What happens after the competitor backlink analysis?
The relevant sites with a credible reason to link become opportunities in the backlink opportunity finder, where they get a reason to link, who to contact, a recommended offer, a target page and a priority. From there they move into your pipeline.
Backlink Opportunity Finder
Turn thousands of backlinks into a short list of opportunities worth pursuing, each with a reason to link.
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Find the domains that link to several competitors but not to you, ranked by how realistic they are.
Learn morebacklink analysis toolBacklink Analysis
Go from who links to whom to which links are realistic for you and what to do next.
Learn more14-day free trial
Turn your competitors' backlinks into your opportunities
Add your domain and the competitors you lose to. BacklinkDone shows which of the sites linking to them are relevant to you, why they may link, and who to contact.
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