What is Competitive Backlink Analysis?Competitive backlink analysis is the examination of the backlink profiles of websites competing for your target keywords, with the goal of: understanding how many and what quality of links you need to compete for specific rankings, identifying specific websites that have linked to competitor content and are therefore proven prospects
What is Competitive Backlink Analysis?
Competitive backlink analysis is the examination of the backlink profiles of websites competing for your target keywords, with the goal of: understanding how many and what quality of links you need to compete for specific rankings, identifying specific websites that have linked to competitor content and are therefore proven prospects for linking to your equivalent content, and discovering content types and topics that have earned many links in your industry (validating your linkable asset strategy).
Conducting Competitive Backlink Analysis for SaaS
Analysis workflow using Ahrefs: (1) Identify your top 5 organic competitors (pages ranking in positions 1-5 for your most important target keywords), (2) Use Ahrefs Link Intersect tool (under competitor comparison) to find domains linking to 3+ of your competitors but not to you: these are proven link-friendly sources in your category, (3) Analyze the top-linked pages for each competitor (Ahrefs Pages by Links report) to identify which content types earn the most links in your niche, (4) Review the referring domain profiles to understand the DR distribution and type (tech media, industry blogs, software review sites) of links your competitors have earned, (5) Export the highest-quality referring domains that link to competitors and build your link prospecting list from this data.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I prioritize which competitor backlinks to pursue?
Prioritization criteria: (1) Topical relevance: links from sites that discuss your exact product category or buyer problem are most valuable. (2) Domain authority: prioritize finding outreach opportunities on DR 50+ sites. (3) Link type: editorial links from genuine articles are more valuable than directory listings or profile pages. (4) Link count: sites linking to 3+ competitors in your space are clearly link-friendly in your category and warrant priority outreach. (5) Content match: sites where your specific content type (guide, research, tool) matches their editorial pattern are better prospects than sites that linked to competitors for reasons (sponsored content, press releases) you cannot replicate with editorial content.
How often should SaaS companies run competitive backlink analysis?
Quarterly analysis is standard practice: run a fresh competitive analysis before each link building campaign to identify new prospects and understand how the competitive landscape has evolved. Set up Ahrefs Alerts for your top competitors to receive notifications when they earn new referring domains: this real-time data surfaces fresh outreach opportunities while the linking site has recently demonstrated willingness to link to content in your category.