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Why You Should Analyse Your Competitor’s Backlink Profile Before Building Yours

3 min read

In 2023, link building remains an undisputed cornerstone of effective SEO, regardless of differing opinions. It is vital in shaping how search engines perceive and rank your website. The absence of quality links can undeniably harm your position on the SERP.
Furthermore, a deficiency in high-quality links, especially if linked to spammy or dubious websites, has the potential to derail your quest for search engine prominence prematurely. Conversely, acquiring high-quality backlinks from renowned websites with impressive Domain Authority (DA) and an impeccable reputation bolsters your prospects of securing higher rankings.
Before embarking on your link-building journey, investing substantial time in assessing your competitors’ backlink profiles is immensely beneficial. This in-depth analysis can help you pinpoint pitfalls to avoid and opportunities to replicate (with your unique spin) for the benefit of your brand. Continue reading to discover how to leverage competitor backlink profile analysis for strategic advantage.

First, let’s talk about things you need to avoid.

Anchor Texts

A noteworthy red flag arises as you navigate through a website if you encounter an abundance of anchor texts repeatedly employing the same keyword or its close variations. Such a pattern often signals a looming issue that can lead to further complications.
These repetitious anchor texts are frequently driven by SEO motives rather than as pathways to pertinent, contextually relevant information meant to address users’ search queries effectively. It’s important to note that this practice can lead to diminishing returns, and once Google detects it, the risk of penalties, whether manual or algorithmic, becomes a genuine concern.
To uphold your brand’s SEO integrity, it’s advisable to diversify your anchor text selection. Incorporating a mix of exact matches, partial matches, branded, non-branded, and naked anchor texts can contribute to optimal SEO health and reduce the chances of undesirable consequences.

Obsolete Link-building Tactics

Steer clear of link farms, blog network links, directory links, press release links, and low-quality links stemming from badly crafted guest posts. It is imperative to avoid engaging with these practices at all costs. Involvement in such tactics is highly likely to lead your website and reputation into troublesome waters, potentially making it exceedingly challenging to recover.
Warning signs of these detrimental practices include content created haphazardly, without logical coherence, primarily to accommodate a link or two without consideration for niche alignment, quality standards, or relevance.

Things You’d Want to Replicate and Possibly Better

Content Quality

Be vigilant when encountering content that sparked intense engagement and went viral, amassing many views, likes, shares, and more. Take a meticulous approach to analyze these viral pieces, delving deep into why they achieved such widespread popularity compared to other content.
Similarly, scrutinize each piece of content that generated a substantial volume of backlinks, including mentions on authoritative websites such as governmental and educational platforms and renowned publications. Your objective here is to discern the factors contributing to their success.
Now, leverage these insights to craft your content in a distinctive and improved manner tailored to your brand’s identity. This strategic approach represents your most promising avenue for organically earning high-quality backlinks.

The Outreach Tactics

What distinguishes their actions from yours, enabling them to forge partnerships with prominent websites while you await a single response from the 100 emails you’ve dispatched to various sites? Consider considering who their outreach targets are: news outlets, educators, educational websites, or peers within their niche.
If, by some chance, you can obtain samples of the outreach emails they are using (although it can be challenging), this discovery would be precious. By dissecting their communication, you can draw inspiration and craft even more compelling outreach messages, enabling you to reach out effectively to similar websites.

The Influencer Marketing Tactics

We are in the era of influencers, a reality that cannot be denied or disregarded. If you aspire to have a significant impact on your brand and its perception, enlisting the aid of influencers to promote your brand is essential. The probability is high that your competitors have already successfully leveraged this strategy.
Identify influencers who are right with your brand and reach out to them via email, proposing a potential collaboration to endorse and promote your brand on their website, blog, and social media platforms. To gain insights, consider exploring social media to identify individuals discussing your competitor’s brand, providing you with a starting point.
While conducting this level of research for each competitor may be challenging, it’s a superior approach compared to navigating unthinkingly and finding yourself searching for answers in the dark. While it doesn’t guarantee higher rankings than your competitors, it is undoubtedly the correct method for cultivating valuable backlinks for your website.