The Ultimate Guide to Competitor Backlink Analysis in [Industry]

Introduction

Backlinks remain one of the most important ranking factors for SEO success in [year]. As such, competitor backlink analysis should be a key part of any [industry] SEO strategy. Studying the backlinks of your top competitors reveals valuable data about high-quality link building opportunities you may be missing. This guide will teach you how to take your competitor backlink analysis to the next level. Read on to learn advanced techniques, tools, and strategies to inform your own [industry] link building and help improve your SEO rankings.

TL;DR

Competitor backlink analysis allows you to identify new link building tactics by examining the backlinks your competitors have earned. This guide covers how to perform advanced competitor backlink research with free and paid tools, create a structured analysis template, avoid common mistakes, and leverage competitor link data to boost your own [industry] link building results. Implement these tips to find link prospects you’ve been missing out on.

Backlink Analysis Basics

Before diving into advanced competitor backlink analysis, let’s quickly cover what backlinks are and how they impact SEO rankings (see this beginner's SEO guide for more details).

Backlinks are inbound hyperlinks from other websites that point back to pages on your own site. Search engines like Google use backlinks as one of the top factors for determining page rank and authority. The more high quality backlinks you have from reputable sites, the better your pages will rank in SERPs. This makes backlink building a crucial part of any SEO strategy.

So how does competitor backlink analysis help? By studying the backlink profiles of your top competitors, you can discover new websites and link building tactics that are working in your industry. Essentially, it allows you to tap into the research your competitors have already done and model their successful link building activities.

Advanced Competitor Backlink Analysis

Now let’s get into the meat of advanced competitor backlink analysis for [industry] SEO.

First, you need to identify your 3-5 closest competitors or industry leaders to analyze. Refer to [industry] rankings, search volume, and domain authority metrics to select your targets.

Next, you need the right tools to research competitor backlink data. For large-scale analysis, paid tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush provide the most robust data. You can also use free tools like the MozBar browser extension.

Create a structured competitor backlink analysis template to organize your research in a spreadsheet. Track competitor root domains, referring domains, link types, linking anchor text, URL ratings, etc. Filter and sort this data to identify the most valuable link prospects to pursue for your own link building.

Pay special attention to "niche edit" link building, which refers to guest posts and articles on authority sites related to your industry. These provide a natural way to earn high quality backlinks. Look for patterns of niche edits amongst your competitors and make a list of publications and sites to pitch guest posts to.

Leveraging Competitor Backlink Data

Armed with comprehensive competitor backlink research, you can now leverage these insights for your own [industry] link building strategy:

• Identify the 20-30 most valuable competitor backlinks. Reach out to those sites to ask about contributing your own guest post or content.
• Compile a list of link building tactics, placements, and referring domains that are working for your competitors. Brainstorm creative ways you can replicate this success.
• Search for broken backlinks pointing to competitors and try to claim them for your own site by creating relevant content.
• Use competitor anchor text data to inform your own link building anchor text mix.
• Avoid over-optimizing anchor text or placing too many links from the same site. Focus on building natural, diverse links.
• Set up backlink monitoring alerts to track when competitors earn new high-value links so you can try to replicate their success.

Conclusion

Competitor backlink analysis provides invaluable intelligence to shape your [industry] link building and SEO strategy. Follow this guide to take your competitor research to the next level using advanced tools and techniques. The time investment will pay dividends by uncovering new impactful link building tactics and placements. With the insights from properly analyzing your competitors' backlink profiles, you'll be on your way to ranking higher in [year].