Stealing competitor backlinks is not a crime, given that you do so in a legal manner. It also does not matter whether they rank better or lower than you. The only reason to do this is to divert competitor traffic to your site, which you are missing out on.
Identifying and replicating competitor backlinks is, therefore, a great way to improve your website’s ranking in the SERPs. It can also be a great way to try and boost your DA (Domain Authority) as well. Today, I shall show you how steal competitor backlinks without breaking any rules. Let’s get straight to it!
What Is A Competitor Backlink?
A competitor backlink is a site backlink on a competitor’s page that you would prefer for your site due to it being a similar niche or the backlinking site being quite popular. A competitor link or link gap analysis is used to identify these exact pages and sites.
Getting quality backlinks will allow you to rank, but these can be tricky to earn. Identifying and replicating competitor backlinks is a successful strategy because backlinking sites have already proven their interest in your topic or niche.
Research competitor keywords and successful URLs to create better, far more engaging, and informative content so you can request backlinking. Highly curated content gives you a better chance at securing a backlink and increasing domain authority.
Why Is Competitor Link Analysis Used?
Having a great link profile allows domains to rank better. Note that every domain has a unique link profile which is appreciated by Google individually and indexed accordingly.
If you bring all competitor link profiles together, your own will become much more powerful. Google will surely appreciate this leading to an increase in both DA and SERP ranking.
The great thing about replicating backlinks is that you use your competitor’s entire efforts and hard work, including their backlinking strategy, without much effort on your part. All of this is great for enhancing your link profile to the maximum. Let’s see in what other ways competitor link analysis can help you out:
Enables You To Identify Your Competitors
A competitor link analysis will help you enlighten yourself about your competitors. This moves your attention to the top names in your industry and what you can do to attain a similar position in both the online and direct business markets.
- Backlinking sites from competitors are likely to provide you with added credibility.
- It helps you build your link profile, from scratch.
- Websites linking to several competitors bring added value to your content. You can request backlinks or offer to create guest posts.
Helps With Keyword Analysis
Keyword gap analysis not only helps you deduce the keywords you lack but also gives you an idea of which ones work best. You must know that target keywords are crucial for SEO and higher rankings. Keywords can be used to:
- Create fresh content
- Build links
- Reorganize site architecture
- Rewrite existing content
Enhances Your Digital Marketing Strategy
The digital market is quite tricky and complex. It involves a lot of planning and action, and competitor analysis allows you to create complex strategies and campaigns more easily. With greater insights, market data, and trends, you can create a suitable campaign quickly.
Competitors are the cream of your industry, so analyzing their activity will allow you to learn something new each time. The more knowledge you have on how to reach the top, the easier it will become to make your plans work. The best part is that famous sites are credible information sources that will prevent you from landing in a hot mess.
Rate SEO Experts
Many businesses hire SEO experts to work on their websites and content. A competitor analysis will help you see whether your hired expert is good enough or is lacking.
Enlightens You About The Audience’s Opinion
Brand mentions are crucial for any business as it allows your products and services to get added exposure. A competitor link analysis enables you to learn what others have to say about your brand and what parts you can improve. This will ultimately allow you to boost revenue and develop a better marketing campaign.
How To Find And Replicate Competitor Backlinks?
Step 1: Research And Identity Competitors
Input the keyword you wish to rank for into the Google search bar to see the top sites that pop up. These are your competitors for the specific target keyword that you input. Look at the top 3 to 5 websites to keep your research concise.
Any site that competes with you for a specific keyword is considered page-level, while those that compete with you as a whole will be considered domain-level competitors.
Step 2: Grab Competitor Backlinks
You must use a backlink checker or SEO tool to identify backlinks. You can use your favorite paid or free tool but note that each will offer varying results. It is a good idea to use multiple tools for multiple research results to get an average. Look for the domains linking to your competitors and collect backlink data for all competitors.
Step 3: Create A Backlink Master List
By the end of your analysis, you will be left with a good amount of links. Filter these into lists so you can deduce which one will work best. Remember only to pick high-quality links, as spammy links can get you a penalty from Google. Check the domain authority of every website on your list. Other things to account for before you narrow down to the top 25 links include:
- Active links
- Authority domains
- Expired domains
- Number of outbound links
- Authority of separate pages
- Anchor text ratio and distribution
- The ratio of do-follow and no-follow links
- Duplicate links
Step 4: Start Replicating
Once you have a list of backlinks, you need to see what backlink strategy your competitor used, as this will need to be replicated too. Open referring pages to check whether links were obtained via guest posting, forum links, blog commenting, or author bio links.
Follow the same strategy to get natural backlinks to your content. If you have to write a guest post, then make sure you follow posting guidelines or contact the owner/editor directly. Create accounts to leave comments, and make sure you provide insightful information.
Endnote
Some people think that replicating competitor backlinks is illegal, but the truth is it is not. Replication is using a competitor’s strategy to help gear your own superior link-building campaign. This eases the process for you and improves your organic traffic.
