How to Find Competitor Backlink Gaps
Your competitors' backlink profiles are a ready-made outreach list. Here's a step-by-step workflow to find the relevant links you're missing.
The fastest way to build a relevant outreach list is to study who already links to your competitors. A backlink gap analysis surfaces the exact referring domains linking to them but not to you — and most of those sites are open to linking to you too, if your content earns it.
Pick the right competitors
Choose two or three competitors that rank for your target keywords and are roughly in your league. Comparing against a giant with a decade of links will drown you in unattainable opportunities.
Run the gap and filter for relevance
Generate the list of referring domains that link to competitors but not to you. Then filter hard: keep only sites that are topically relevant and where a link would be editorial. Discard link farms, low-quality directories, and anything spammy.
- Sort by authority and topical relevance.
- Prioritize 'everyone-but-you' links multiple rivals share.
- Skip low-quality or manipulative sources entirely.
Turn gaps into outreach
For each keeper, identify the angle — guest post, resource page, roundup, broken link — and send a personalized, honest pitch. BacklinkGoals lets you push gaps straight into your CRM and draft outreach from there.
Turn this into a tracked backlink goal
BacklinkGoals helps you set a target, find ethical opportunities, and track every prospect, pitch, and win in one place.
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