Link Building Part of the how to get backlinks guide
How to find your competitors' backlinks and win the same links
Check competitor backlinks with free or paid tools, sort them by link type, and pitch the ones you can realistically win. A step-by-step link gap method.
Nikunj Thakkar Published 10 min read
Short answer
Put two or three competitors' domains into a backlink tool (free options include Ahrefs' free checker, Moz Link Explorer and Bing Webmaster Tools), export the linking pages, and remove anything you can't win, such as sponsorships and paid placements. Then pitch the lists, comparisons and resource pages that mention competitors but not you, starting with pages that link to two or more of them.
On this page
To find which sites link to your competitors, enter their domains into a backlink tool, export the list of linking pages, and filter it down to pages where your product would also belong. Then pitch those pages one at a time, starting with “best X” lists, alternatives posts and comparisons that already mention one or more competitors but not you.
This is one of the twelve methods in our guide to how to get backlinks, and for SaaS it is one of the most productive. A page that links to a competitor has already shown that its editor covers your category. Your job is to find those pages, decide which ones you can realistically win, and give each editor a good reason to add you.
Key takeaways
- Free tools show a sample of any site’s backlinks. Paid tools show far more. Neither shows everything.
- Pick two or three similar-sized competitors, not just the category leader.
- Sort links by type and remove the ones you can’t win: sponsorships, partnerships, paid placements and the competitor’s own properties.
- Pages linking to two or more competitors are the strongest prospects. This is called a link intersect.
- Pitch each page on its own terms. “You link to them, so link to me” is not a pitch.
How do you check a competitor’s backlinks?
You check a competitor’s backlinks with a third-party backlink index, because Google does not show other sites’ links. Tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz crawl the web, record which pages link where, and let you look up any domain; Bing Webmaster Tools offers a limited free version. You enter the competitor’s domain, view its referring domains and linking pages, and export them.
A few terms first. A referring domain is a unique website that links to the target at least once. A backlink is each individual link. For prospecting, referring domains and the specific linking page matter most, since you will pitch one page at a time.
Your own site is different. Google Search Console’s Links report shows sites linking to you, but Google notes that it “isn’t a comprehensive list” and that its tables are limited to 1,000 rows. It only works for sites you have verified, so it cannot show competitors.
What are the best free competitor backlink checkers?
Free tools are enough to start; paid tools save time once you are doing this regularly. The table summarises what each free option gives you, based on the vendors’ own pages as of October 2026. Limits change, so check before you rely on one.
| Tool | Free access | What you get | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Backlink Checker | Free web tool | Domain Rating, referring domain and backlink counts, and a limited preview of backlinks | Only a preview; full lists need a paid plan |
| Moz Link Explorer | Free Moz account | Linking domains, top pages, new and lost links | 10 queries per month on the free account |
| Semrush | Free account | Backlink overview and some lists | Free plan allows 10 reports a day across its tools |
| Bing Webmaster Tools | Free, needs a verified site of your own | Compare your backlinks with another site’s, including sites you don’t own | Bing’s own index, so coverage differs from the paid tools |
Bing’s tool is the most underused of the four. Since a 2020 update, once you have verified your own site its backlinks tool lets you compare your links with a competitor’s, which gives you a rough free link gap.
Paid tools add full exports, filters by link type and anchor, historical data and a link intersect feature that compares several competitors at once. If you plan to do this every quarter, a month of a paid plan during your analysis is usually worth it.
A note on numbers: Domain Rating by Ahrefs, Moz’s Domain Authority and Semrush’s Authority Score are each vendor’s own estimate of a site’s link strength. They are useful for sorting a list. They are not Google metrics, and they disagree with each other.
Which competitors should you analyse?
Analyse two or three direct competitors that are roughly your size, plus one that is a step ahead. The category leader’s profile is full of links you cannot get yet: major press coverage, deep integrations, sponsorships and years of brand mentions. A rival with a similar product and a modestly stronger site shows you what is achievable next.
Good candidates:
- Products that appear next to yours in “best X” lists and alternatives posts.
- Products ranking on page one for your main category search.
- Products your customers mention when they explain what they switched from.
If you are not sure who your search competitors are, search your category (“[category] software”, “best [category] tools”) and note which products appear in the top results’ lists most often.
How do you run a link gap analysis?
A link gap analysis finds sites that link to your competitors but not to you. Here is the process we recommend for a small team working from a spreadsheet.
- Export linking pages for each competitor. One export per competitor, with the linking URL, the linking domain, anchor text, and whether the link is followed. Keep only one row per linking page.
- Remove sites that already link to you. Compare against your own backlinks from Search Console or the same tool. What remains is the gap.
- Find the intersect. Mark pages and domains that link to two or more competitors. These editors clearly cover the category rather than one company, so they are your best prospects.
- Classify each page by type. List or roundup, alternatives post, comparison, review, resource page, guide, news, directory, partner page, sponsorship or other. The type tells you whether and how to pitch.
- Drop what you can’t win. Sponsorships, event pages, the competitor’s own sites, integration partners you don’t work with, paid placements and obvious link farms.
- Check the live page. Open each remaining page, confirm the competitor mention is still there, note who wrote or edits it, and check the page has been updated in the last year or two.
- Prioritise and pitch. Lists and alternatives posts first, then comparisons and resource pages, then guides.
Steps 4 and 5 are where most of the value is. A raw export of a competitor’s backlinks often runs to hundreds or thousands of rows, and only a small share are pages you could realistically get.
Which competitor links can you actually get?
You can usually get links from pages that compare or list several products, because adding another option improves the page. You usually cannot get links that came from a business relationship, a payment or the competitor’s own content. Use the type you assigned in step 4 to decide quickly, and judge each one against what makes a backlink worth winning.
| Link type | Can you get it? | How to approach it |
|---|---|---|
| “Best X” list or roundup | Often | Pitch the author with where you fit and why readers would care |
| “[Competitor] alternatives” post | Often | Explain who should pick you instead and why |
| Comparison (“X vs Y”) | Sometimes | Offer a factual note or ask to be included in an update |
| Resource page | Often, if relevant | One-line description that matches their format |
| Review of the competitor | Rarely | Possibly a “what else to consider” mention; don’t push |
| Guide that mentions the competitor | Sometimes | Show where your product solves the step they describe |
| News or press | Rarely from outreach | Earn it with data or news of your own |
| Integration or partner page | Only with a real partnership | Build the integration first |
| Sponsorship, event, donation | Not without paying | Skip, or treat as marketing spend |
| Paid or sponsored post | Not without paying | Skip; a followed paid link breaks Google’s policy |
| Low-quality directory or link farm | Possibly, but not worth it | Skip |
The last two rows matter. Google’s spam policy on link spam lists “buying or selling links for ranking purposes” and “low-quality directory or bookmark site links” as examples. If a competitor’s profile is full of these, copying it would copy their risk, not their results.
Our guide to choosing sites to pitch has a fuller checklist for vetting each page: audience fit, editorial standards, whether the site sells links, and signs that it is still maintained.
Why are pages that link to a competitor good prospects?
A page that already links to a competitor tells you three useful things before you write a word. The editor writes about your category. Their readers are interested in tools like yours. And the page is built to hold more than one product, so adding you does not require a new article.
That is why competitor-mention pages convert better than cold prospects found from a general search. It is also why “[competitor] alternatives” posts deserve their own process; we cover that in detail in how to get into competitor alternatives articles.
There is a catch. The editor already knows your competitor, so a vague pitch loses. Be specific about the reader who would pick you over the products already listed, and say where in the post you would fit. Our alternatives post outreach template shows a structure that works.
Can you find competitor links without a backlink tool?
Backlink tools miss pages, especially new ones. You can find many of the most valuable competitor mentions with ordinary Google searches, which also surface posts that mention a competitor without linking.
Useful searches:
"[competitor] alternatives"and"alternatives to [competitor]""[competitor] vs"to find comparison posts"best [category] tools" "[competitor]"to find lists that include themintitle:"best [category]" "[competitor]" -site:[competitor].com
Our free search string builder generates these for your category and competitors. This approach also catches fresh posts that backlink indexes have not crawled yet, which are often the easiest to get into because the editor is still updating them. Directory links also show up in most gaps; our test of dozens of SaaS directories shows which are worth the form.
How do you pitch a page that links to a competitor?
Pitch the page, not the competitor. Editors respond to what improves their article for readers, so the email should be about their post: which list or section you belong in, who you are a better fit for, and one concrete reason. Mentioning that they link to a competitor is fine as context, but it should not be the argument. Address it to the person who edits the page (here’s how to find the editor’s email), and start from the best-of list pitch if the page is a list.
A strong pitch for a competitor-mention page:
- Names the exact post and the section where you would fit.
- Says which reader would choose you over what is listed, in one sentence.
- Gives one specific fact the editor can verify, such as a feature, a price point or a use case the list misses.
- Offers a short description they can paste, written in their list’s format.
- Asks nothing else: no link swap, no payment, no guest post.
Then follow up once or twice and stop. Our link outreach hub covers finding the editor’s address, writing the pitch and following up in depth.
How should you track a link gap campaign?
Keep the gap list as a living spreadsheet: page URL, type, competitor(s) mentioned, contact, date pitched, reply, outcome and link status. Re-run the competitor exports each quarter and add new rows rather than starting over.
Check that any link you win is live and followed with our nofollow link checker, and re-check it occasionally, because pages get edited and links get removed. Backlink monitoring covers how often and what to look for.
Doing this every week
The manual process works, but steps 4 to 7 take the most time: reading every page, checking you fit, finding the editor and writing a pitch that names the exact post.
BacklinkGenie automates that part. It runs the searches your buyers run, including “best X”, “[competitor] alternatives” and comparisons, keeps only posts where your product fits, verifies the person who edits each one, and drafts a pitch for that specific post for you to approve. Competitors you name are used to find these posts and are never contacted. Full detail is on how it works. Agencies run the same loop per client; see link building for agencies.
Disclosure: BacklinkGenie sells an outreach product. The method above works with free tools and a spreadsheet.
Next steps
Start with the free tools, two or three competitors and a spreadsheet. Once you have a shortlist, work through the lists and alternatives posts first. To find list posts the backlink tools missed, read how to find every “best X” post in your niche, or go back to the full list of ways to get backlinks.
Questions people ask
Is it legal to look at a competitor's backlinks?
Yes. Backlinks are public: anyone can see that one page links to another. Backlink tools simply crawl the web and index those links. Using that list to find pages where your product also belongs is standard practice in SEO.
Should I ignore nofollow links in a competitor's profile?
Not automatically. Google treats nofollow, ugc and sponsored as hints rather than strict rules, and a nofollow mention on a list your buyers read still sends visitors who are comparing tools. Judge each linking page by its audience and type first. Use the rel attribute to rank prospects, not to delete them.
Why do different tools show different backlinks for the same site?
Each tool runs its own crawler and index, so each sees a different slice of the web and updates at a different pace. None is complete. Cross-checking two sources, or confirming the link on the live page, is the reliable way to know a link exists.
Should I copy every link my competitor has?
No. Some were paid for, some come from partnerships you don't have, and some are low-quality links that do them no good. Copy only the links an editor would add for you on merit, and skip anything that would need payment or a link swap.
How do I spot new competitor links between full analyses?
Set Google Alerts for each competitor's name combined with words like alternatives, vs and best, so new posts reach your inbox. Several paid backlink tools also send new-link alerts for any domain you track. New posts are the best prospects because the editor is still actively working on them.
Written by
Nikunj Thakkar · Founder, BacklinkGenie
Nikunj builds BacklinkGenie, an outreach agent that pitches editors for links you earn rather than buy. He writes about link outreach, email deliverability and how products end up in the posts people read.
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