SEO ToolThe most reliable link-building prospects are the sites already linking to your competitors. They have shown they link to sites like yours, on topics like yours. A backlink gap analysis finds them.
What is a backlink gap?
A backlink gap (also called link intersect) is the list of referring domains that link to one or more of your competitors but not to you. A domain linking to three of your competitors and not to you is a much warmer prospect than a random site with a high authority score.
How to run one
1. Choose the right competitors
Use the sites that compete with you in search for your target keywords, not only your business rivals. Pick three to five. Too many and the list fills with generic directories that link to everyone.
2. Run the intersect
Enter your domain and the competitors. Sort the results by how many competitors each domain links to. Domains linking to all of them come first.
3. Qualify the list
Not every domain is worth an email. Remove:
- Spam and link farms: very high outbound link counts, no real content, unrelated topics.
- Sites you cannot get a link from: competitors’ own properties, partner pages that need a business relationship.
- Irrelevant topics. A link from an unrelated site helps little and is hard to get.
Then look at why each remaining site links to competitors. The answer tells you the pitch:
| Link type | How to get one |
|---|---|
| Resource or “tools” list | Ask to be added; show why you belong |
| Review or comparison article | Offer a trial or information for an update |
| Guest article | Pitch a topic the site has not covered |
| Directory or association | Apply or join |
| News or data citation | Publish original data the site can cite |
| Podcast or interview | Offer an expert for the next episode |
4. Prioritise
Score each prospect on relevance, authority and how easy the link is to get. Start with relevant sites linking to several competitors.
Two quicker wins
Broken backlinks
Links pointing at pages on your site that now return 404 are links you already earned and are losing. Find them, then:
- Redirect the dead URL to the closest live page (a 301), or
- Restore the page if it was removed by mistake.
This is often the highest-return link work you can do, because nobody needs to be persuaded.
Unlinked brand mentions
Pages that mention your brand without linking to you are the easiest outreach there is: the author already knows you. Track brand mentions, filter to unlinked ones, and send a short, friendly request.
Keep it going: monitor new and lost links
A one-off analysis gets stale. Set up monitoring so you hear about:
- New links to competitors. Each is a fresh prospect, while the topic is current.
- Lost links to you. Some can be recovered if you reach out quickly (a page was redesigned and your link dropped).
Measuring link building
Judge link building by outcomes, not counts:
- Referring domains (unique sites) over time, against competitors.
- Rankings and visibility for the pages you built links to.
- Authority Score trend. Remember that every tool’s authority metric differs, so track your own trend inside one tool.
Try it: our backlink checker includes backlink gap, broken backlinks, batch analysis of up to 200 domains, and new and lost link monitoring with alerts to Slack, email or a webhook. Pair it with brand monitoring for unlinked mentions.