How to Analyze Competitor Backlinks (Link Gap Analysis)

A link gap is the list of sites that link to your competitors and not yet to you. To analyze it, pick three to five competitors that fight for the same search, pull their referring domains in a backlink tool, filter by relevance and audience, and classify each site by the type of opportunity. If you need background first, read what backlinks are.

Quick summary

• The analysis answers "who links to them and not to me," but not "why." You find the why by opening the page that links.
• Ahrefs (Link Intersect) and Semrush (Backlink Gap) do the cross-check automatically. Without a paid tool, you can do a manual version that is smaller and more laborious.
• Filter before prioritizing: relevance, real audience, language and the chance of winning the link.
• Classify by type (directory, press mention, guest post, resource page, partnership, paid placement) because each type calls for a different approach.
• Copying the whole list is a mistake: the tool does not distinguish an editorial link from a bought one or from spam.

How to read this guide

If you are a beginner, follow the step-by-step and the hypothetical example with a single page and three competitors. If you already work in SEO, go to the table of opportunity types, the prioritization formula and the "For SEO professionals" callouts, which cover filters, edge cases and tool limits.

What is a link gap and what is it for?

A link gap (or backlink gap) is the difference between the sites that link to your competitors and the ones that link to you. It is used to find realistic link-building opportunities: if a site has already linked to two or three competitors, it is a natural candidate to link to you as well, as long as you have something that deserves the link.

The analysis shows who linked, not why they linked. That is why it complements, rather than replaces, the estimate of how many links you need, covered in how many backlinks do I need.

In plain English: it is like finding out which events in your industry invited your competitors. You get the guest list, but you still need to understand what each competitor offered (a talk, a study, a product) to be invited before you knock on the door.

Which tools run a link gap analysis?

The two best known are Ahrefs' Link Intersect and Semrush's Backlink Gap. Both come with subscription plans. Free routes exist, but they show less and require more manual work. The table summarizes what each route does and its documented limit.

Route	What it does	Limit or caveat
Ahrefs, Link Intersect	Shows sites that link to competitors and not to your target, by domain or by page	Accepts up to 10 domains or URLs; exporting each domain's backlinks is done separately
Semrush, Backlink Gap	Compares your site with up to four competitors and filters prospects; exports to Excel or CSV	Limit of five sites per comparison, counting yours
Manual Google search	Looks for mentions of the competitor on other sites with search operators	Small sample and no metrics; lots of manual work
Search Console	Shows the links you receive	Only your own site, and only as a sample

For SEO professionals: Google's search operators page documents site:, quotation marks and the minus sign, but it offers no operator to list backlinks. For the manual version, a search like "competitor brand name" -site:competitor.com finds mentions on other sites; then you open them one by one to see whether there is a link. To see the no-cost options and what each one shows, read free tools to analyze backlinks.

How do you run a link gap analysis, step by step?

There are eight steps. Do it per page, because the link gap of a blog article differs from that of a service page.

1. Define the page and the search. Choose the URL you want to strengthen and the main search it competes for.
2. Pick competitors from the results page, not from your business. Use the sites that actually appear on page one for your search. Include at least one small or recent competitor: it shows links that are easier to replicate.
3. Run the cross-check. In the tool, enter your domain and three to five competitors. Start with referring domains, not pages, to see the list of sites.
4. Filter. Keep only sites that link to at least two competitors and not to you, with organic traffic above zero and a compatible language and country. Remove anything clearly spam.
5. Export to a spreadsheet and add the columns from the prioritization table (see below).
6. Open the linking page. Read the context: is the link in an article, a list, a comment, an ad? Understand what the competitor did to earn it.
7. Classify by type and choose the approach. Each type calls for different treatment (next table).
8. Repeat every quarter. Competitors win and lose links, and the list ages.

How do you classify and prioritize opportunities?

Classify each site by link type and score it on relevance, audience, chance of success and effort. The type defines the approach, and the score decides the order. The table shows the most common types.

Opportunity type	How to recognize it	Approach	Guide
Directory or industry guide	List of companies in a segment or association	Sign-up or request for inclusion	Check the directory's criteria
Press or blog mention	Article that cites the competitor	Offer data, a source or a comment	Digital PR
Guest post or column	Outside author signing the text	Topic pitch	Guest post outreach
Resource page or curated list	"Best tools for...", "Useful resources"	Ask for inclusion if you have a better resource	Show your differentiator
Broken link on a resource page	Competitor's link to a page that no longer exists	Suggest your content as a replacement	Broken link building
Partnership, client or event	Partners, testimonials or sponsors page	Business relationship	Treat it as a business deal
Identified paid placement	"Sponsored content," ad	Commercial decision, with the correct rel	Guest post or paid backlink
Spam or network	Comments, mass profiles, sites with no readers	Discard	Quality backlinks

To rank them, a simple formula works in most cases. Adjust the weights to your niche.

score = relevance (0 to 3) + real audience (0 to 3)
        + chance of winning (0 to 3) + bonus of 1 if it links to 2+ competitors
        - effort (0 to 2)

And a column template for the spreadsheet:

domain | linking URL | competitor(s) | type | DR | organic traffic | language | rel | context | score | status

For SEO professionals: if the tool allows it, filter for domains the competitor gained in the last 90 days. They reveal campaigns in progress (a PR push, a study, a partnership). Also look at the links competitors lost: recovering a mention they let drop can be easy. And compare at the page level: the link gap of one URL may have little to do with that of the whole domain.

Hypothetical example: from a map of 1,240 sites to a 90-day plan

Hypothetical example, with invented numbers used only to show the filter funnel. An online language school wants to strengthen its "Spanish course for travelers" page and analyzes five competitors that appear on page one.

Step	Criterion	Sites remaining
Raw cross-check	Domains that link to at least one of the 5 competitors	1,240
Filter 1	Link to 2 or more competitors and not to the school	86
Filter 2	Organic traffic above zero and DR of 20 or more	41
Filter 3	Manual review: no spam, in English, related to languages or travel	23

After the review, the 23 sites break down like this: 7 directories and study-abroad guides, 6 articles and mentions, 4 guest posts, 3 resource pages, 2 partnerships and 1 identified paid placement. The school picks the 2 resource pages and 3 directories (lower effort) and pitches 2 guest posts, for a total of 7 approaches in the first month, and leaves the articles until it has its own data to offer. None of this guarantees a reply: the goal is a prioritized queue, not a forecast of results.

What are the mistakes and ethical limits of the analysis?

The main mistake is treating the list as a shopping list. The tool shows the link, not the intent: it can be editorial, paid, swapped or spam. Remember that Google's spam policy cites as link spam buying or selling links for ranking, excessive exchanges, links created by automated programs and optimized anchors in guest posts and press releases distributed on other sites. Copying what a competitor did, without checking, can import their risk.

Other common mistakes: looking only at the total number of links; ignoring language and country; targeting high-authority sites unrelated to your topic; and forgetting that the tool's index is not Google's, so numbers and lists are approximations. Also keep a balanced profile, as explained in natural backlink profile, and use unlinked brand mentions as an easy source of opportunities.

In plain English: a link gap list is a map of places where competitors were seen, not a guarantee that the path is safe. Before following someone else's steps, check that the place is any good.

Frequently asked questions

How many competitors should I analyze in a link gap?

Three to five is usually enough. Semrush limits the comparison to five sites (yours plus four) and Ahrefs accepts up to ten. More competitors add noise and make the list too long. Prefer a few, well chosen from the search's first page.

Can you do a link gap without paying for a tool?

Yes, in a reduced version. Search Console shows only the links to your own site. For competitors, what remains is manual searching for mentions with Google operators and a few free tools with limits. The result is smaller and slower, but it works to get started with one page.

Should I win every link my competitors have?

No. Aim for the ones that make sense for your business, come from sites with a real audience and can be earned with something you offer. Replicating paid or low-quality links brings the risk without the benefit. The goal is a healthy profile, not a copy.

How often should I repeat the analysis?

Every three months is a good pace for most sites. In very active markets, or right after a campaign, it is worth looking monthly at competitors' new domains. Record the date of each analysis in the spreadsheet to compare progress from one round to the next.

Is link gap useful for new sites?

Yes, and it can be even more useful. Choose smaller or more recent competitors that appear on page one, because their links tend to be easier to replicate. Combine it with the schedule in link building for new sites so you do not acquire links at an abnormal pace.

Next step

With the prioritized list, the next stage is reaching out to the sites. The guide to guest post outreach with email templates shows how to pitch topics, and the Digital PR guide explains how to earn mentions with data and sources. If you decide to pay for some placements from the list, read is buying backlinks safe? first. At Contentor, a link on a Brazilian, Portuguese-language site costs $49 in the standard niche and is permanent, but the choice of site is not the client's, so link gap analysis serves your strategy, not the choice of domain.

Read also:

• How many backlinks do I need
• How to identify quality backlinks
• SEO, AEO and GEO glossary