Getting Links that Your Competitors Have

Definition: This technique involves running link analysis on a competitor to find out which websites link to them. From this, you try to find out which of these websites may also link to you. You then reach out to these websites using the same method as your competitors to try and secure the link to you.

Types of links you get: The quality of link you get here can vary massively depending on how well your competitors have been link building. There is also the problem that your competitors may be getting some of their links because of a really good USP they have which you don’t. Add to this the possibility that some competitors will be using spam techniques to get links, and you may find that your time is better spent elsewhere. Most of the time, the types of links you get can be of moderate quality but the very fact that you can replicate them, means that they are not likely to be the absolute best you can get.

Something else to note here is that whilst this technique can be useful to get quick wins and a few easy links, it is not one that you want to base your link building strategy around. Your core link building strategy should actually be focused on getting the links that your competitors can’t. This can help make the difference when it comes to rankings and traffic.

The process: For this technique, the process is pretty straight forward but it can take some time to filter through the links and find the ones that are of good quality and that you can replicate.

★ Run your competitor through a backlink analysis tool like Open Site Explorer or Majestic

SEO

★ Sort the links by the highest Domain Authority or Trust Flow

★ Go through the links you find and see if you also have a chance of securing a link from

the same website

★ Optional: you can download your competitors links into a spreadsheet, then search for

words such as “guest post” “competitor” in the Title and URL fields. This may produce

some links that you can replicate

Additional resources:

★ http://www.seomoz.org/blog/competitor-analysis-for-linkbuilding-a-guide-for-peoplewho-

hate-linkbuilding

★ http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/link-building-analysis.html