Compare several competitors
Prioritize referring domains that appear across multiple relevant competitors instead of copying one profile.
Competitor backlink gap tool
Find domains that link to your competitors but not to you, then turn overlap into a practical outreach list.
The portfolio problem
A competitor's full backlink list contains thousands of irrelevant or unrepeatable links. A useful gap analysis asks a narrower question: which domains repeatedly link to sites like yours while still missing you?
Remove existing links
Exclude domains already linking to your site so the output represents genuine gaps.
Export the shortlist
Move qualified gap domains into outreach research without rebuilding the comparison in spreadsheets.
A practical workflow
From raw movement to a useful decision
- 1
Define the peer set
Choose competitors with similar products, audiences, or content—not merely the largest brands in the category.
- 2
Rank by overlap
Look first at domains linking to two or more peers, then inspect whether the relationship is relevant and reproducible.
- 3
Qualify before outreach
Check the linking context, audience fit, and target page before contacting anyone.
Worked example
What this looks like in practice
If a trade association links to three competing agencies' annual studies but not yours, that is a stronger prospect than a directory appearing in only one competitor profile.
Coverage and limitations
A gap is a research lead, not proof that a website will link. Editorial relevance, page context, and outreach quality still determine whether an opportunity is real.
Read the Common Crawl methodology or explore the underlying approach in our original research.
Questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
What is a competitor backlink gap?
It is a referring domain that links to one or more selected competitors but does not link to the target domain in the selected dataset.
How many competitors should I compare?
Three to five close peers usually produces a more useful signal than one competitor or a long list of loosely related sites.
Does overlap mean the link is high quality?
No. Overlap is a prioritization signal. You should still review relevance, placement, and the reason each link exists.
See Linkwake with real portfolio data
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