There are literally hundreds of ways you can build backlinks to your website. Each tactic is worthy of it’s own blog post.
One of the best white hat link building strategies is to steal your competitors backlinks, and along with it their rankings and traffic.
With some competitive analysis and backlink research you can quickly outrank your competition and optimize your content strategy.
The best part, I’m going to show you how to do this for free!
Let’s jump in.
Here’s What We’ll Cover –
- How to analyze your competitor’s backlink profile
- How to use free tools to build a HUGE list of backlink targets
- How to steal backlinks from your top competitors
- How to set great foundation for your link building campaign
Why Steal Your Competitors Backlinks?
Before I begin, I have to give a big shout out to Matthew Woodward. He is one of a very small handful of online marketing experts I recommend anyone should follow if they want to build a profitable online business. His insights formed the basis for this post.
Do a search for one of your target keywords in Google.
Your competitors listed in the top 10 results are there partly because they have a quality and diverse backlink profile – the type of backlink profile you want pointing to your site 
Now, imagine what would happen if your website had the same backlink profile as not just the #1 ranked site, but every single site on the first page.
This is the first link building tactic I implement when taking on a new client. It’s relatively easy, even for someone new to SEO, and it’s scalable.
It’s a fantastic way to build a solid platform for the rest of your link building efforts.
So, let’s get started…
Helpful SEO Plugins
There are two Google Chrome extensions that I highly recommend installing before you begin your competitor backlink analysis. I’ll get into the use cases later in this article, but for now, head on over to the Chrome extensions marketplace and install the following two extensions –
1. SEOQuake
SEOQuake supports Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari browsers. Follow the prompts to install and activate the toolbar.
2. Mozbar
Open the same browser you installed SEOQuake on, and install and activate Mozbar.
When you do a search in Google you should see information from SEOQuake:
And from Mozbar under each search result:
How to Steal Your Competitors Backlinks
Pick a keyword you want to rank for.
Do a quick search in Google for that keyword and make a note of the URL associated with each of the top 10 organic search results.
You will be running each of the 10 URLs through the eight backlink checkers listed below.
The Method Behind The Madness
To extract a comprehensive list of backlinks for each of the top 10 search results we are going to be running each URL through a number of backlink checkers.
I normally use Ahrefs and SEO Spyglass when performing backlink analysis for my clients. However, since you will be using free versions of the backlink checkers you will need to use as many as possible in order to aggregate a large list of backlink prospects.
Before you start, open a new excel file. You will be pasting the backlinks you extract from each of backlink checkers into the spreadsheet to create a master prospect list.
Bing Webmaster Tools (Link Explorer)
Bing’s Link Explorer is a great tool for analyzing your competitor’s backlink profile.
In order to use Bing’s free Link Explorer tool you will need to first create a Bing Webmaster Tools account.
Once you have created your Bing Webmaster Tools account, the next step is to verify your site with Bing.
Log into BWT and click the “configure my site” dropdown and select “verify ownership”. Copy the <meta> tag and paste it into the <head> of your website.
If you own a WordPress website and have the WordPress SEO plugin installed this process is extremely easy. Navigate to the WordPress SEO plugin, click settings and then paste the <meta> tag into the BWT field. Hit save changes, then navigate back over to BWT and click verify.
Link Explorer
Once your site is verified within BWT, click the “diagnostics and tools” dropdown and select “link explorer”.
Enter your competitor’s URL, select “external” from the source dropdown, and click “explore”.
The Link Explorer Tool will give you a large number of backlink prospects. The only weakness is that it doesn’t provide robust link analysis metrics such as page rank, anchor text or follow/no-follow metrics. You only get the source link and title of the page.
You are able to export the results.
Ahrefs
In my opinion, Ahrefs is the best tool on the market when it comes to competitor backlink analysis.
The free account will give you a ton of backlink based data but you will only be able to view the top 10 backlinks for each URL. But hey, do this 10 times and you already have a 100 potential backlinks to targets.
Once logged in, go to backlinks > external, then backlinks > new/lost in order to export as many backlinks as possible.
Check the “one link per domain” box to make sure you maximize the number of unique results you get.
Make sure you are checking through both the new/lost link and new/lost referring domains sections to maximize the number of link prospects that are returned. You also have the option to filter these results.
Set the filter to 60 days to capture the highest number of link prospects –
Hit the “backlinks” dropdown to get the referring URL and anchor text associated with each backlink.
You will notice above that this blog post has a backlink from Columbia University a PR8 domain!
The paid account allows you to export all the backlinks into a CSV file with a single click. If you work in SEO, I would highly recommend upgrading to the paid account for this tool.
Open Site Explorer
Open Site Explorer is part of the Moz SEO tool suite.
The free account will give you a list of 50 backlinks for each URL.
By default, Open Site Explorer provides a list of both internal and external links. In order to filter the list so that you only get external backlinks, select “external only” from the “links from” dropdown.
Pay close attention to the page and domain authority for each backlink. The higher the authority the more page rank (link juice) the URL will pass onto your site.
Higher authority URLs will also be harder to get backlinks from.
Open Site Explorer also allows you to filter a “top pages” report by clicking the tab as shown below –
This is a fantastic tool for identifying the types of content that your competitors are using to attract the highest number of backlinks. This can help shape your content strategy moving forward.
If you want to take this strategy to another level hit the drop down next to the “filter” button. Select the 400 error option from the dropdown –
Make a note of the top pages that are returning 400 errors. These are dead links.
Next, enter the dead URL into the WayBack machine. This tool will give you an archived snapshot of what content used to live at that URL.
Now, simply plug the dead URL back into Open Site Explorer and filter the external links pointing to that URL.
This could give you hundreds of additional prospects for link poaching.
What’s link poaching?
Essentially, you’re replacing existing content (or dead links) with your own content.
Outreach to all the sites that are linking to the dead page and pitch your content as a replacement for the dead URL.
I usually get a 5-10% success rate with this outreach tactic.
Word of advice: make sure your content is just as good, if not better than content you want to replace.
Majestic SEO
Majestic SEO is a close rival to Ahrefs when it comes to backlink analysis.
If you sign up for a free account you can export all the backlinks for sites you own and verify. However, it will only let you pull the top 10 backlinks from your competitor’s profile.
You can get a few additional backlinks by navigating to the backlinks tab and then clicking the new tab.
Pay close attention to the “trust flow” of each URL. This is proprietary algorithm that indicates how trustworthy Majestic SEO thinks the URL is. This is based largely on the quality of links pointing to the URL.
You can see a host of other valuable metrics such as the type of link, when it was first indexed and last seen. You will notice that Majestic SEO also lists 301 redirects and even checks for links to both the www and non-www versions of the site.
SEO Spyglass
SEO Spyglass is one of my favorite backlink checkers.
It runs as a piece of desktop software.
Up until a year ago this tool might not have even made my list of backlink checkers. However, recent updates have it pulling more backlinks than Ahrefs and Majestic SEO combined.
The best feature of this tool is the analysis you can do for each backlink prospect. The free version will check if the links are live, display anchor text, page rank scores, social shares and alexa rank. All of this information is real-time fresh data.
The “linked-to page” analysis is my favorite piece of data. This shows which content your competitors are using to attract backlinks. This saves you a lot of guess work when tweaking your own content strategy.
If you are using the free version of SEO Spyglass you will be limited to 1,100 backlinks for each URL, and you won’t be able to export the results. My advice, focus on the backlinks that have a PR of two or above.
Cognitive SEO
Cognitive SEO is a new addition to my backlink analysis tool set. Like the other tools it allows you to extract backlinks at the domain, subdomain and page level.
Hat tip to Kristi Hines for introducing me to the tool.
The free version of Cognitive SEO provides some handy backlink analysis data, including anchor text, follow/no follow, social shares, link and domain authority metrics, link velocity, as well as a breakdown of fresh links.
But, the thing I like most about this tool is that it filters out duplicate results. This leaves you with a greater number of unique backlink prospects.
The free version allows you to pull 25 backlinks and a list of 10 referring domains. You aren’t able to export the results until you sign up for their 14 day free trial.
Backlink Watch
Backlink Watch is a free tool that uses Ahrefs to power its database.
The tool only returns about 11% of the results Ahrefs generates, but you do have the option to copy and paste the backlinks directly out of the tool.
The cool thing about this tool is there aren’t limitations on the number of backlinks you have access to.
You should pay close attention to the “outbound links” (OBL) column in the table of results. If the number is high very little page rank will be passed onto your site as it being split up between all the other outbound links.
Try and target PR2 URLs that have a relatively low number of outbound links to maximize the amount of link juice passed onto your site.
After you have copied the backlinks open an excel spreadsheet and right click > paste > special > text > ok and you’ll have a sizeable list of backlink prospects to pursue.
I once extracted 1,247 backlinks out of this tool! Not bad for a free tool.
Screaming Frog
The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a piece of desktop software that allows you to quickly analyze and audit your website’s key SEO, including technical and on-page elements.
One way you can use this tool to steal your competitor’s backlinks is to identify 400 response codes.
Enter the domain of your competitor into the spider and hit start.
Once the spider has crawled the website, select the “4xx” option from the response codes drop down –
This will give you a list of the site’s pages returning 400 errors.
These are dead pages.
Now, export this list of 400 pages and enter each of them into the URL checkers to get a list of sites linking to these dead pages.
The next step is to write a piece of replacement content, pich it to the site’s webmaster and get your backlink.
Small SEO Tools
Small SEO Tools is another free tool.
Just hop over to the website and enter your competitor’s URL, fill out the captcha and hit the “check” button.
You will be a list of backlinks along with additional data including, domain PR, page PR, as well as an SEO flag indicating whether or not the links are no follow.
If you want to export the links you will need to click through and export each of the results pages one at a time.
Rank Signals
Rank Signals is another great free tool that provides useful backlink data.
Simply enter the URL of your competitor’s backlink and hit “explore links”.
You will given the backlink URL, anchor text and PR value.
Raven Tools
Raven Tools pulls backlink data from Moz and Majestic SEO. You can create a free account and export up to 50,000 backlinks for any domain or URL.
After signing up for your free account, skip the app requests and hit the SEO tab on the left side of the screen. Scroll down and select “backlink explorer”.
From here, enter your competitor’s URL, select “fresh index” and choose whether you want to analyze the entire domain or an individual URL. Hit “explore”.
A report will be generated for the URL you entered. Click the URL and you’ll be taken to the backlink portfolio.
Here, you can filter the results based on a variety of SEO elements.
Raven Tools will also provide you with backlink analysis data, including – the backlink source URL, anchor text, citation flow (Majestic SEO metric), and whether or not the link is follow/no-follow. You will also be able to filter the results based on these metrics.
If you want to export the results, click the “Tools Options” button in the top right corner and select “export data”.
Your Master List
Open notepad and copy all of your backlink prospects into a new .txt file.
Next, remove all of the duplicate URLs or domains using the free Scrapebox duplicate removal tool.
To remove the duplicate URLs or domains from your master prospect list, click the “select source file button” and select your master list. Then click the “Select Target File” button, and give your new dupe free file a name.
Finally, click the “remove dup URLs” or “remove dup domains” button and your prospect list will be duplicate free.
Backlink Analysis
Your master list is probably full of irrelevant (garbage) backlink prospects.
This is the stage where you will analyze your backlink prospects to identify the best link building opportunities.
Remember those two Chrome extensions (Mozbar and SEOQuake) I had you install earlier? You’ll need those soon.
In general, I look for backlinks that are relevant, indexed and have a PR of at least 2. This way you can maximize the amount of link juice you can get from each backlink.
Bonus tip: don’t pursue backlinks from unrelated low quality sites as this could put you at risk of a Penguin penalty.
Here are the tools I use to analyze my link prospects –
#1 – SEO Spyglass
One of the reasons SEO Spyglass is one of my favorite tools is it’s ability to double as both a backlink checker and backlink analysis tool.
Paste in your backlink prospect URL. After the tool completes the backlink extraction you will see this pop up –
Click “yes” to perform the additional backlink analysis step, then select the SEO elements you would like analyzed. Click “next”.
After the analysis is completed you will be able to see additional backlink information such as anchor text, anchor URL, the number of external links and page rank for each backlink prospects.
I like to click the PR column to sort the list in descending page rank order to get a quick look at all of the PR 2+ backlinks.
You can also click “view statistics for all backlinks in project” from the top “backlinks” dropdown and sort by TLD type (.edu, .com, .gov etc)
It’s no secret that a few .edu/.gov backlinks can give your domain authority a significant lift.
Method 2 – Inspyder Backlink Monitor
Inspyder Backlink Monitor is another great free tool for analyzing backlink data.
Copy your list of backlink prospects and paste them directly into the backlink URL section and click “go”.
The tool will then crawl the list of backlinks and reveal a bunch of valuable link metrics such as anchor text, page rank, number of outbound links and whether or not the link is follow/no follow.
You can also use the selection tool to filter the list by backlink type, age, page rank, number of inbound links and a variety of other metrics that can save you a bunch of time when narrowing down your list of prospects.
Once you have sorted the links as desired, you will have the option to export them in a variety of formats.
Add all the PR2+ backlinks to your master list.
Method 3 – SEO Tools For Excel
You can also download SEO Tools for Excel and extract a range of backlink analysis data.
This excel add-in offers a huge subset of tools, including advanced scraping capabilities and direct integration with Google Analytics and Majestic SEO.
For the purpose of this post, I would recommend using the “Offpage” SEO analysis feature.
Once you have downloaded the add-in to excel, navigate to the “Offpage” button and select “Google Pagerank” from the dropdown.
Select the backlink you want to analyze, then drag the formula down the column adjacent each of your backlink prospects. This will then give the PR value for each link.
Sort the column by PR 2+ links.
The only problem with this tool is that it is slower than the other tools when analyzing a large set of backlinks.
Method 4 – Chrome Extensions
The Mozbar and SEOQuake extensions are useful when analyzing individual backlink prospects.
These are great if you have a small set of link prospects and want to to get a quick in-depth analysis.
Navigate to your chrome extensions page and enable the mozbar and SEOQuake extensions.
Open up Google (or Firefox) and enter the backlink URL and hit search.
You will see a number of SEO metrics listed with each search result, including domain authority, page authority, age, and the number of linking domains.
Note – Toolbar PR isn’t updated very often. As a result, newer pages with high PR sometimes display “n/a” for that metric. Instead, focus more on the ‘page authority’ for the page. This metric is updated monthly and is much more fresh than the PR metric.
I’ve found that the Mozbar gives a much more accurate linking domain count compared to SEOQuake which pulls its data from SEMRush.
Hit the “link analysis” tab and you’ll be taken to Open Site Explorer for an in-depth backlink analysis.
This is a slightly more tedious approach to backlink analysis and I would only recommend using it if you are working a handful of link prospects.
I’ve found this analysis technique better suited for the link profiles of smaller local businesses.
It’s Time To Start Replicating Backlinks
After you have cleaned your list and have a solid list of relevant high PR2+ backlink prospects, it’s time to start replicating as many of those backlinks as possible.
Open each link in your browser and identify how and where your competitor got the backlink.
If it’s a blog comment, you should get involved in the conversation and plug a link where it adds value to the conversation.
You might find that your competitor got a link through a forum post. Sign up to the forum and start engaging.
There may be backlinks from guest posts. You could reach out to the owner of the blog with an awesome piece of content and request your own guest post opportunity. Pay close attention to the guest post guidelines.
You will often find niche directories that your competitors are listed in, many of which are free. Create your listing and get your backlink.
In the case of ecommerce sites you might find that your competitors are getting backlinks from sponsor pages, product review sites, press releases or through partnerships.
Word of advice: you should never pay for backlinks. This includes sponsor pages and advertorials. Further, guest posts and press releases should be viewed as a channel for generating targeted traffic to your site.
It’s recommended that contextual backlinks from press releases and other advertorials be no-followed to avoid a Penguin encounter.
It helps to separate your link prospect list based on backlink type. This way you can filter the backlink prospects quickly.
As you move through the list replicating links you will quickly get a feel for your competitor’s link building strategies. Often, each competitor will have a different approach. Some of your competitors may focus more on directory links, others more on guest posts, while some may be investing in private blog networks and advertorial links.
This is a great opportunity to beat them at their own game(s). You can combine and leverage all of their strategies in one go.
Building A Killer Lists Of Backlinks
As you are moving through and replicating your competitor’s backlinks keep close track of all the links you have submitted/replicated.
Once you have finished replicating the list of backlinks plug them into Inspyder Backlink Monitor and check to see how many of those links are live and indexed. Monitor this over the next month and track the number of new backlinks you were able to acquire.
Update this list of “live backlinks” as you continue your link building efforts.
The great thing, you can re-use this spreadsheet and link building strategy over and over again.
Bonus Tip: If you replicate more than 50 of your competitor’s backlinks, it’s worth signing up for a tool such as Linkody. For only $5/month you get detailed backlink change reports emailed to you daily so you know where your links are placed, when they go live, and if they ever get removed. Linkody offers a 30 free trial.
Final Words
Replicating your competitor’s backlink profile is a powerful link building strategy. It can help you acquire backlinks quickly, lay a sustainable foundation for future link building efforts and provide valuable insights into the link building strategies of your highest ranking competitors.
By using all of the backlink tools listed above you will be able to build a giant list of highly relevant backlink prospects. The best part, you will be able to do it for free!
You will be able to get the backlinks of your top 10 competitors pointing back to your site and improve your content strategy.
You’ll also have a rock solid backlink profile to build off and be well on your way to the top of the SERPs.
What are your favorite link building tools?
Hey! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers annd starting a
new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable informatuon to work on. Yoou have done a
marvellous job!
Hey Janette,
Glad you enjoyed the post. If you liked this post, then you’ll love this one: http://www.robbierichards.com/seo/13-killer-link-building-strategies/. Feel free to join my email list as well. I’ll be sharing my most actionable content to help supercharge your online presence.
Cheers!
Everyone loves itt when people come together and share opinions.
Great website, continue the good work!
Thanks Kristopher! Feel free to jump on my email list for a boat load of new actionable content coming down the pipeline 😉
Saved as a favorite, I really like your blog!
Hey Mellissa,
Glad to hear you’re liking my blog. What’s your favorite post so far?
Also, feel free to join my email list. I’ve got a few more posts in pipeline that I think you’ll really enjoy.
Cheers!
Robbie, Thank you so much for sharing this valuable information with us! can’t wait to start working on this!
My pleasure Jenny! Let me know if you have any questions along the way.
Hey Robbie
Another tool you may want to add to your list is http://siteexplorer.info
Its a free online tool, without limitations on quantity of inbound links.
Whats more it shows PR, Anchor & Alexa as well as couple of other metrics
Hope you find it of some use
Awesome, I’ll have to check it out 😉
Hello Robbie, probably the best detailed SEO tutorials.
It’s long but really great that you can share this info with us. I’m totally following you.
Thanks Cadivi, glad to have you on board
This is Great Post Thanks for Sharing
No problem Raju! Glad you enjoyed it 😉
Great post better start this today.
That’s the spirit, Richard 😉
Let me know if you have any questions about tactics mentioned in the post.
Cheers!
Hey Robbie
You keep popping up with great content. My question is : Is page rank still a valuable metric or have Google stopped using it as a refrence? I thought i heard recently that they had stopped looking at PR rank
cheers
Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Great question. I think the factors that contribute to Page Rank value are just as important as ever before. So yes, Page Rank itself is important.
However, Google has only updated the PR value once or twice in the past 12 months, that I’m aware of. It appears they are moving away from making the value “public”. But I suspect they are still placing just as much weighting on it. This failure to update could be a result of number of things. But, there are a ton of tools out their that give near equivalent indications of a domain/page’s authority, such as Moz Rank, Trust Flow and Ahref’s URL rank.
Referring domains/ inbound links are still a top ranking factor.
Great list of tools and how to use them. But getting someone to give you a link is a whole different matter.
DT,
You’re right. It will all depend on the strategies they using to build links.
Guest post = reach out and claim your own (focus on contextual links)
Forum links = not worth the time
Epic blog posts = Jackpot! Blow it out of the water with the skyscraper technique and then outreach to all the sites you identify in the OSE Top Pages report (works like a charm) http://www.robbierichards.com/seo/case-study-triple-traffic-in-30-days/
Directories = some are worth the effort
.Edu/.Gov sites = look for resource page opportunities
So many opportunities with this strategy. Great for initial direction, then with some smart targeted outreach you can usually get some solid quick wins.
Thanks for the killer post. great tutorial here with amazing sources. Very thorough. Thank you.
Cheers Jarrett! Glad you enjoyed it 😉
wow….You are genius. I am new to blogging and thank you very much for the insight into the backlink universe.
Sri, definitely NOT a genius, but thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed the article. Let me know if you have any questions.
First of all thank you for sharing in detail.
However, some of the online tools you suggest has problems and they don’t match the results when you compare them.
I give you sample: When I use Ahrefs, I get great result.
Than when I jump on to Majestic..all kind of problems shows up.
Like: crawl error-Title tag is missing.
Also there is another tool you have not mention “Traffic Travis” there is pro and free version to start with.
I will add this article to my SEO Book collection. because it is a treasure.
Thanks again for the insight.
Hey,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. You’re right, there are definitely discrepancies in the data, that’s why I’ll typically pull data from a number of different sources to maximize accuracy/ # of results. Never going to get a perfect data set, better to take it in relativity
This post makes my brain hurt. So much helpful information that makes me realize I have so much more to learn in the SEO world. Very awesome though and thank you. For some reason I couldn’t verify my site in Bing. I chose the copy the meta into the Yoast SEO option, but when I click verify it came up red on all the options as if to indicate I am supposed to use all three to verify and not one of my choosing.
Hey Tim,
Glad you liked the post. This is my “go-to” strategy when it comes to building backlinks, in any niche. Don’t worry about the brain hurting, that’s how I feel all the time ;P It’s inevitable, things change so much!
Sometimes the verification process can be a little finicky. I’d try verifying in Google first, then Bing. Just make sure you’re only adding the letters/ numbers…no tags.
Let me know if it still doesn’t work.
Cheers!
Nice article, simple and useful, also for non english webmasters !
Glad you found it useful
Hi Robbie,
FIrst of all thanks for this complete list, First time I got a complete list for SEO and backlink tools. But My query is when I am posting any comment in any web then nobody approve my comments. I don’t know why they reject it.
So How can I make backlinks and boost my site ranks. Backlinking is not a major matter for me but the main thing is I can’t participate in any discussion and join the team.
Well I have tried most of the tools in your list I like SEOQuake Addons, Mozbar Addons, Spyglass, backlink monitor.
One more thing I was not aware about bing webmaster backlink tool secret. Thanks for all this information.
Rajiv,
I’d be curious to learn what types of comments you are leaving? How active the threads are?
At the end of the day, I don’t use forum comments to build backlinks. I use them to build relationships that I can leverage in the future (roundups etc..) and drive relevant traffic to my site. Comments pass next to no link juice, so don’t focus on it as a direct link building strategy. Use it build relationships that you can leverage down the road.
WOW! Amazing Article! I’m so glad I clicked on it in the result page in google… Thank you very much for sharing all this knowledge and those tools!
I have a question: why do recommend to not buy PR Links? That’s exactly what I wanted to do haha because I’m in a very small niche where there is no forums, no article directories, all the PR 2+ links from my competitors are from other sites on the same niche. They all know each other basically. And me, I arrive with my little brand new website, and there is very little chances they are going to recommend me on their high quality websites, you know.. Do you have a tip about that?
Thanks again!
Julien
Hey Julien,
Buying links could get you slapped with a Penguin penalty.
Do you mind telling my me what niche you’re in? I might be able to give you some ideas.
Cheers!
I am glad to read such a informative post. Thanks for writing.Keep posting
Wonderful article, one of the most in depth I have seen for seo. I will for sure start following you. Keep up the good work!
Excellent website. Plenty of helpful information here.
I’m sending it to several pals ans also sharing in delicious.
And of course, thanks on your effort!
Thanks mate! Appreciate the support.
Robbie, that was one great piece of article. I have been thinking of a way of getting links to topple my competitors and this is the strategy. Thank you. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Amos. Glad you enjoyed
Hey Robbie,
thanks for the amazing post, i am very new to link building, and honestly was confused as hell as to where should i start, with your post, i now have a much better understanding of the link building process and how to go about it….
And believe me, i did read lot of posts and results from google on how to do it, however none of the posts are as good in terms of explanation as yours.
Amazing job, your blog and this post is now added on my favs bar, so i would always read all the new tips and tricks of link building and seo,
thanks once again, you saved me a lot of time and surely lot of headache:)
Thanks Krishna!
Glad it helped. This is just one strategy. But it’s a great place to start for any business in any niche.
Hey Robbie, a lot of the comments above are purely from GSA. Delete them if I were you.
1. Misspelling certain words on purpose to reduce spam
2. Generic approval of your blog without mention of anything within the article
3. Website listed as something trash
Cheers Tom!
I’ve been trying to manually sift through the garbage
This post is really helpful for me because I am looking for ways to build backlinks for my website. Thanks a lot!
You’re welcome Vanessa! Glad you’re finding it helpful.
that was really helpful!!! thanks!
Awesome, glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Robbie,
Thanks for this very thorough article on back link building. I am going to start using the tips today. I also am planing to ad a link to your article from my eBook “Getting a First Page Listing on Google My Business.”
Awesome, let me know when your book is published. Would love to check it out!
Thank you so much for this wonderful article. Very Informative. Will start using these tips soon.
Cheers, Ashish! Let me know if you have any questions.
Hey Robbie
Yes I do have a question. I was checking one of my clients site for backlinks through one of the free tools you mentioned – backlink watch, and I found more than 900 backlinks, most of the links when I clicked on them returned a 404 error or Domain for sale or Auction. I just wanted to know the story behind having 900 backlinks (with no PageRank).
Hey Ashish,
That sounds fishy. Are the 404 errors coming from pages on a relevant domain?
Hey Robbie
What an awesome post. The last couple of paragraphs are the gold for me. Its always been the stumbling block for me when considering link building. Thank you.
Dave
Awesome, happy to hear you got something out of it David! Let me know how you go with it
Thank you so much for this wonderful article
High quality backlinks are definitely a must, great blog!
Thanks Melinda! Glad you’re enjoy it
Awesome post, you rock man !
Thanks Robbie for the Post. Gonna checkout Ahrefs,
I know Ahrefs but now only I know that it is better than Majestci
I found this guide very helpful for my site
Awesome article hope I can use this info to establish my starter blog.
Hi Robbie,
I analyzed and listed all of my competitor’s backlinks. Now should I get only do-follow backlinks?
Thank you fot that great post!
Yeah, definitely invest your time in the do-follow links. Try to target site’s with 30+ DA too.
Hey
I have a doubt. There are less number of sites having high PR and it is said that higher the number of backlinks, higher would be the rank in search engine of your site. If we focus on backlinks, then Domain authority will suffer and if we concentrate on domain authority, backlinks will be less.
So, what to do in practically? Backlinks coming from 0 PR do-follow 2,000 sites is better than backlinks from 50 high PR sites, some of them no follow?
Rakhi,
Only build links from relevant quality sites. When it comes to backlinks, quality is more important than quality.
You did an awesome job on this article! I’ve been trying to figure how to build incoming links for a week. This is going to be a major project I suppose. How long do you think it takes to complete this? Thanks, Robbie!
Thanks Hector! Timing depends on the number of competitors you’re analyzing and the tools you have access too. I like to give myself 3-5 hours to analyze 5-10 competitors.
Hey Robbie,
Great post, man.
This is the first time I’ve heard of this one.
Awesome!
I’m gonna get started on this.
Thanks!
Julian
I’m off to share this! 😀
Cheers Julian! Let me know how it goes 😉
Very helpful post. I have done no backlink building yet and still have very good SERP positions with my 3 year old site (60.000/monthly visits). I hope that focusing now on continuous linkbuilding and slooooowly getting quality backlinks from my competitors will supercharge my SERP positions from 3rd right to the 1st
Wow, 60,000/ month. Nice work Tom! Let me know how you go.
Robbie – thanks for this great link building guide. Probably the most comprehensive guide on link building I’ve seen.
Quick question: the hardest links are the ones you ask for. What is a good success rate at getting webmasters to link back to you, assuming that you are really helping them with great content or alternative links.
Thanks again!
Hey John,
The success rate depends on the industry. I usually see around 5-10% with that specific strategy.
Hey Robbie,
Thanks for sharing those cool tricks on how to “steal” the competitor’s backlinks – very informative indeed! I want to share my experience with “building” backlinks for one of my blogs as it might be a useful insight to some of your readers. It is in a low to moderate competition niche, but all those sites that came on the first page of google were not dedicated to that particular subject. In other words they just had a post about it, but that’s all – sites with high authority. So I decided to build up a blog from scratch that is entirely dedicated on the niche – or micro niche blog that only contains content on pretty much few keywords. I rolled up my sleeves and did about 95 articles – some long enough (800-1000 words) others much shorter. As you can imagine I only focused on putting up some content. After 1 month and a half, for one of the keywords I’m on 7th position in google, and for another major keyword I’m on the 11th position in google – NO BACK LINKS building whatsoever.
So in my view, if you have a dedicated blog on one niche, and do a good number of quality posts, you can certainly outrank even sites that have very high PR, thousands of backlinks, and thousands of articles – at least that’s my experience.
Anyhow, thank you again Robbie for sharing this helpful info – keep my email in your newsletter loop, as I want to be updated of other helpful tips and tricks regarding SEO!
Regards
Hey Baba,
Thanks for stopping by. You’re right, being ultra-focused is a good strategy. Often, many larger sites will rank content purely on the back of their high domain authority. This presents an opportunity. If you can write an epic piece of content, include strong on-page SEO you can outrank high DA/ low PA articles. It all depends on the niche. But, I’ve had some similar experiences.
Probably the best link building strategy. And a list of awesome tools. Thanks for the post.
Robbie : Very Helpful post. But Still a question.
1. How important is the Domain Authority and Page Authority is??
I always look at DA when assessing link targets. It’s a great way to quickly identify link targets that could pass a lot of juice.
Fantastic post Robbie, the most detailed info I have come across, with some programs mentioned that I had never heard of before. Well done!
Cheers Des! Any tools you’re currently using or considering?
Robbie, thank you for a great in depth post. I have a question though as to which of the above mentioned software(s) you use for your own and client SEO strategies? (Or is this your entire strategy?) There are so many to choose from and each one requires a different approach to the competitive analyses. I am just trying to be efficient in my process. Thanks again, I studied every word of what you wrote!
Hey Dan,
Glad you enjoyed the post. I’ve used every tool on the list at some point. However, I’m now finding Ahrefs to be the best solution for my needs. They are releasing a bunch of new features. The tool keeps getting stronger.
When it comes to outreach, I use BuzzStream.
Hi Robbie!
This is my first visit to your blog. I found really helpful piece of information from you.
Thanks for sharing friend
Robbie – You’re the man! A great a simplified explanation of how to be a better SEO.
Cheers Adley, glad you found it helpful
Nice Article and Very helpful article for bloggers.. Thanks!!! Keep Sharing such killer articles….
Good information. Lucky me I ran across your website by accident (stumbleupon)
Glad to hear it Myles!
Very informative article, all things in one shop i would say!!!
thanks
Glad you enjoyed it Kumar!
Hey thanks for all the valuable info but I have a question do you offer SEO service?
Thanks Fernando! Yes, I am currently taking on a handful of new SEO projects. Shoot me an email.
Iam in love with Ahref, in my opinion its the best SEO tool 😉
Thanks for this post and thanks for sharing.
Cheers Max! Big fan of Ahrefs also
Hi Robbie!,
I have gone through your post and found some great information on competitors backlink analysis. I mainly use free tools like Backlink Watch, smallseotools, Ahref, Moz tool to check competitor backlink. But, you have mentioned about so many free tools here that’s really good and I had no information on these tools.
Thanks for this post….:)
Hi Robbie,
I’d love to use Moz, Open Site Explorer.
Thanks
But if we steal exact backlinks then will our site get penalized by Google or Not ?
coz google knows that you are making the same backlinks as other site of the same niche !
Ameer, as long as the links are quality you’ll be fine. The key is replicate as many links from your competitor’s profile, and then go a step further and acquire additional links they don’t have. This is where the degree of separation comes in
Epic post Robbie – unfortunately, as of October 1st, 2015 Webmaster Tools has shut down Link Explorer. D;
Oh, right. Thanks Michelle. I definitely need to update that post
Here is one of the best seo tutorial for every seo specialist. Thanks for great article.
Cheers Minhaz! Appreciate it.
very helpful topic , thx
Glad it was helpful
this is one of the best tuturial on seo i ever read.thanks a lot for sharing such a nice aeticle.
i enjoyed this article a lot ,inhanced my knowledge.plz keep it up
Glad it helped Muhammad!
Nice Post Robbie!
Very Informative and helpful keep sharing
Big fan of yours
Cheers Haris, appreciate you taking the time to reach out. Glad you’re digging the content
I think this is the best article I have read in the past couple of months regarding Backlink building. This is the combination of hundreds of blogs and articles I have read. You are the best.
Jason
http://www.macuha-artgallery.com
Thanks Jason! Glad you enjoyed the article.
Wow, nice write. Thanks for your sharing.
Great article, am putting everything I just read into practice right away, even though it will be a lot of hard work, I believe the reward will far supersede the effort. Thanks
Obodo, it’s a great place to start for any link building campaign
Great Content Robbie. I came across your website few days and I have been feeding on your contents. Thank you so much for the insights.
Glad you’re enjoying the content, Hephzy!
Thanks for this Robbie. I was actually searching for a way to remove a competitor in CognitiveSEO and your post showed up. I read it and I think this will be useful in our campaigns since this covers many tools.
I especially appreciate hearing about Scrapebox tool here and will try it to make filtering the list from various tools easier.
Sweet, glad you liked the post Jeff!
Thank God I found your blog just about 2 months into this traffic search business. I’ve bookmarked and signed up for your freebies. Keep sending, good work. Thanks
Thanks Dan! Glad it’s helpful.
Hey Robbie,
This is an old article, so not sure if you’ll see this, but I had a couple of questions.
You suggested this is a “scalable” backlinking method. How would you suggest to scale this across multiple clients? VAs?
Also, is it going to be an issue replicating a whole heap of backlinks at once, or should they be dripped out over time?
Thanks heaps if you see this!
Hey David,
VAs could definitely help scale the outreach process, which tends to be the most time consuming. I don’t see there being any problems with replication. Realistically, less than 10% will stick anyways.
Thanks Robbie
Excellent article, showed me actually how SEO and back links building are interesting and challenging. So many things to learn and understand. You are real master!
Thanks Maja! Definitely wouldn’t call myself a master. Just learning, implementing and sharing the knowledge
Hi Robbie
Thanks to provides very good information about various tools, I m using semrush since 1 year and I deserve semrush is good for Keyword ranking and back-links checking.
Hi
Superb tutorial. Was tempted to give this a go but was wondering if you provide this as a service and if so how do I go about getting a quote?
Hey Greg, thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed the post. At this time I am not offering this strategy as a stand alone service. I’m currently focusing on more full cycle SEO projects.
Hi, great post! First time i’ve found anything like this, looking forward to giving a go on the site i’ve worked so hard on but fails to get anywhere in google. I see someone has already commented on it, but with not link explorer from bing anymore, any idea of something else I can use to get competitor backlink prospects? Many thanks and great work!!
I should of really continued reading… didn’t realise it wasn’t just a step but part of a list of various backlink prospects. My bad, thanks again