How to Find Competitor Backlinks (Free & Paid Methods That Actually Work)

To find competitor backlinks, pull the referring domains of the pages that outrank you, run a link intersect to see which sites link to two or more competitors but not to you, and keep only the editorial links you could realistically earn. For a SaaS company, this works best at page level, against the specific pages that beat your comparison, use case and pricing pages.

Finding the links is the easy part. Deciding which ones are worth pursuing, and skipping shortcuts like link exchanges, is where the real work happens. This guide covers free and paid methods, what the main tools cost, domain and page-level analysis, and a framework for deciding what to chase first.

Why Competitor Backlink Analysis Actually Matters

Let's be clear about what competitor backlink analysis can and can't do:

What it CAN do:

• Reveal websites that already link to content like yours (warmer leads)

• Show you which link types work in your industry

• Identify content formats that attract links

• Uncover link building strategies your competitors use

What it CAN'T do:

• Guarantee those sites will link to you

• Replace the need for link-worthy content

• Work as a complete link building strategy on its own

Think of it this way: competitor backlink analysis is reconnaissance, not a battle plan. It tells you where opportunities might exist, but you still need a strategy to capture them.

Free Methods to Find Competitor Backlinks

Start with what you can do without spending money. Free tools have real limitations, and we will be clear about them.

Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker

What it shows: A free preview of the top backlinks, referring domains and Domain Rating for any domain or URL

The good: Ahrefs runs one of the largest link indexes, and its free backlink checker describes its crawler as the second most active after Google's. Even a short list of top links can reveal patterns, like which content types attract links or which publications cover your competitors.

The limitations: It is a sample. A competitor with thousands of backlinks may have its best opportunities buried in the links the preview does not show, and you cannot filter deeply or export the full list.

Best for: Quick reconnaissance when you want a general sense of who links to competitors.

Moz Link Explorer (Free Version)

What it shows: 10 free queries per month with a free Moz account

The good: Moz's Domain Authority metric is widely used, so you can get a quick sense of link quality. The interface is beginner-friendly.

The limitations: 10 queries per month goes fast. If you have multiple competitors to analyze, you'll hit the limit quickly.

Best for: Checking a few specific competitors when you're just getting started.

Ubersuggest (Free Tier)

What it shows: Basic backlink data with limited daily searches

The good: More generous limits than some tools. Good for small businesses doing initial research.

The limitations: Smaller link data than the paid suites, and limited filtering options.

Best for: Budget-conscious research when you need more than a few queries.

Google Search Operators (Completely Free)

You can use search operators to find some links manually:

link:competitor.com: this used to work, but Google retired it years ago. Don't waste your time.

"competitor.com" -site:competitor.com: shows pages mentioning your competitor. Not backlinks specifically, but it reveals who talks about them.

The reality: Manual Google searching is time-intensive and incomplete. It's useful for finding a few opportunities but not for comprehensive analysis.

Paid Tools for Serious Backlink Research

If you're building links consistently, a paid tool earns its cost quickly. Here is what each offers, with entry prices from the vendors' own pricing pages.

Prices change often, so confirm them on each vendor's page before you buy. Annual billing lowers all three.

Ahrefs (from $129/month)

Standout feature: Link Intersect finds the sites linking to your competitors but not to you. These are your warmest opportunities.

Best for: In-depth competitive analysis, especially at page level, when you need the most complete link data you can get.

Semrush (from $139/month)

Standout feature: The Backlink Gap tool compares your profile with up to five competitors at once and surfaces the domains that link to them but not to you.

Best for: All-in-one SEO needs. If you're already using Semrush for keyword research, the backlink tools integrate well.

Moz Pro (from $99/month)

Standout feature: Link Tracking Lists help you manage outreach to the prospects you find after the analysis.

Best for: Teams who want to track their link building progress in one place.

Which One Should You Choose?

If you're only buying one tool, Ahrefs or Semrush are the most complete. Our workflow-based guide to link building tools shows where each fits once the analysis turns into outreach.

The short answer: any of these tools will reveal more opportunities than you can realistically pursue. The bottleneck isn't finding backlinks: it's executing on them.

The Step-by-Step Process (That Actually Works)

Here's how to do competitor backlink analysis efficiently:

Step 1: Identify the Right Competitors

Not all competitors are useful for backlink research. You want:

• Similar authority level: A startup analyzing Enterprise SaaS giants will find mostly unattainable links

• Overlapping keywords: They should rank for terms you're targeting

• Active link building: Some competitors have links from years ago but aren't actively building (less useful for finding current opportunities)

Start with three to five direct competitors, not 20. For a SaaS company, the best list usually comes from the search results themselves: the sites ranking for your most valuable comparison and alternatives terms, plus any category sites that keep appearing in software review roundups. Those are the competitors whose links are moving the rankings you care about.

Step 2: Export Their Backlink Data

In whatever tool you're using:

1. Enter competitor URL

2. Navigate to backlinks section

3. Switch to referring domains rather than individual backlinks, so one site with hundreds of sitewide links counts once

4. Filter for "dofollow" links (these pass ranking credit)

5. Sort by Domain Rating or Domain Authority (highest first)

6. Export to spreadsheet

Repeat for each competitor, and keep the exports in one sheet with a column for the competitor each link came from.

Step 3: Find the Overlap

Most tools have a "link gap" or "link intersect" feature. This shows:

• Sites linking to multiple competitors (highest opportunity: they clearly link to sites like yours)

• Sites linking to competitors but not you (the gap you need to fill)

The overlaps are your starting point. If a site links to 3 of your 5 competitors, they're probably open to linking to you too.

Domain-Level vs Page-Level Analysis: Which One You Need

Most guides stop at domain-level analysis: every link pointing anywhere on a competitor's site. That is the right view for overall strategy, because it shows which publications, directories and partner programs cover your category. But it mixes links to a competitor's blog, careers page and help center with links to the pages that compete with yours.

Page-level analysis answers a narrower and more useful question for a SaaS team: why does this specific page outrank ours? Enter the URL that beats your comparison or alternatives page, not the domain, and look at its referring domains. The gap between that page and yours tells you how many relevant links you need, and our guide to reading the link gap between your page and the top results shows how to read it without overreacting to one outlier.

Use both. Run the domain-level intersect once a quarter to refresh your prospect list, and run page-level checks whenever a commercial page stalls between positions five and twenty.

The Evaluation Framework (The Part Most Guides Skip)

Finding backlinks is step one. Deciding which to pursue is where strategy happens.

Not all backlinks are worth chasing. Use this framework to prioritize:

Tier 1: High Priority (Pursue First)

Characteristics:

• Domain Rating/Authority 50+

• Links to multiple competitors (proves they link out in your space)

• Contextual links within content (not directories or footers)

• Topically relevant to your business

• Has clear outreach path (contact info, guest post pages, etc.)

Why prioritize: These are proven link sources with high value and reasonable acquisition likelihood.

Tier 2: Medium Priority (Pursue Second)

Characteristics:

• Domain Rating/Authority 30-50

• Links to one competitor

• Relevant but not perfectly aligned to your content

• Might require content creation to match their linking patterns

Why they're second: Still valuable but require more effort relative to outcome.

Tier 3: Low Priority (Only If Resources Allow)

Characteristics:

• Domain Rating/Authority under 30

• Unclear how they acquired the link

• No obvious outreach path

• Marginally relevant to your content

Why deprioritize: Time spent here could be better invested in Tier 1 and 2 opportunities.

Links to Skip Entirely

• Paid link directories: These are often low-quality or penalized

• Sitewide footer links: Little SEO value, often look spammy

• Links from unrelated sites: A cooking blog linking to your B2B SaaS? Probably not valuable

• Exact match anchor text patterns: If every link uses the same keyword anchor, it might be a manipulative pattern you don't want to replicate

From Analysis to Action: What Comes Next

You've found opportunities. Now what?

For Guest Post Opportunities

If competitors got links through guest posts:

1. Study the content format that got published

2. Identify topics they haven't covered yet

3. Pitch with a specific angle and outline

For Resource Page Links

If competitors appear on resource pages:

1. Make sure you have a comparable resource to offer

2. Reach out to suggest your addition

3. Explain why your resource adds value for their readers

For Editorial Mentions

If competitors get mentioned in articles:

1. Build relationships with those publications over time

2. Create newsworthy content or data they might cover

3. Consider whether journalist request services that match reporters with expert sources could help

For Broken Link Opportunities

If you find dead links pointing to competitors (our guide to replacing dead links with your own resource covers the full process):

1. Create content that matches what the dead page covered

2. Reach out suggesting your content as a replacement

Competitor Links You Should Not Copy

A competitor's profile shows what they did, not what was safe. Some of those links were bought, swapped or built through networks, and copying them copies the risk. Google's spam policies list "buying or selling links for ranking purposes", "excessive link exchanges" and low-quality directory or bookmark links as link spam, so treat those patterns as warnings rather than opportunities.

Two recent developments are worth knowing. Google's September 2026 spam update rolled out from September 24 to October 8, 2026, and Google said at launch that it does not target link spam, so a competitor's sudden drop in that window is probably not about its links. And Google's John Mueller said the disavow tool "has its place & time" and "does have effects". If your own profile already includes links copied from a competitor's paid placements, that is the case where disavowing makes sense; for the random low-quality links every site collects, it does not.

A simple test before you add a prospect: would the link exist if no money or favor changed hands? If the answer is no, skip it, however well it seems to work for the competitor.

When DIY Makes Sense (And When It Doesn't)

Competitor backlink analysis is something anyone can learn. But executing on what you find is a different matter.

DIY Makes Sense When:

• You're just starting and need to understand your competitive landscape

• You have time but limited budget

• You're targeting a small number of specific opportunities

• You want to learn the process before potentially outsourcing

Getting Help Makes Sense When:

• You've identified opportunities but can't execute at scale

• Your team's time is better spent on other activities

• You need consistent link building, not just occasional efforts

• The gap between you and competitors is significant

There's no shame in either approach. What matters is being realistic about your capacity.

For a realistic look at what professional link building costs, our guide to link building pricing breaks down the numbers. And if you're specifically in the software space, our playbook for SaaS link building covers strategies that work for B2B companies, while eight backlink tactics that work for SaaS sites shows where copying competitors fits among the alternatives.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

These are the patterns that waste the most time:

1. Analyzing Too Many Competitors

More data isn't always better. Five well-chosen competitors give you actionable insights. Twenty competitors give you analysis paralysis.

2. Chasing Every Link

Your competitor might have 5,000 backlinks. You don't need to replicate all of them. Focus on the 50-100 highest quality, most attainable opportunities.

3. Ignoring Context

A link is worthless without understanding why it exists. Did the competitor get it through a relationship? Paid placement? A unique piece of content? Context determines whether you can replicate it.

4. Skipping the Content Question

You can identify every link opportunity in your space, but if you don't have content worth linking to, it won't matter. Link building and content work together, and our breakdown of why most SaaS content never ranks explains the content side.

5. Expecting Instant Results

Competitor analysis takes a few hours. Building the links you identify takes months. Set realistic timelines.

Putting It All Together

Competitor backlink analysis isn't complicated, but it requires discipline:

1. Choose the right competitors (similar authority, overlapping keywords, ranking for your commercial terms)

2. Analyze at both levels (domain-level for the prospect list, page-level for the pages that beat yours)

3. Use appropriate tools (free for reconnaissance, paid for comprehensive analysis)

4. Find the overlaps (sites linking to multiple competitors are your best opportunities)

5. Evaluate before pursuing (not all backlinks deserve your time, and some should never be copied)

6. Match tactics to opportunity type (guest posts, resources, editorial, broken links)

7. Be realistic about execution (finding links is easy; building them takes work)

The companies that win at link building aren't the ones who find the most competitor backlinks. They're the ones who systematically pursue the right opportunities, create content worth linking to, and execute consistently over time.

Start with the analysis, but treat it as the beginning. If you want the execution handled, our SaaS link building team earns editorial placements on DR 50+ publications through relationship-based prospecting, never PBNs.

The Bottom Line

Competitor backlink analysis is worth an afternoon every quarter, not a strategy on its own. Pull the referring domains of the pages that outrank yours, run an intersect to find the sites that link to several competitors, and pursue the editorial links you could earn with content you already have or can build.

Then skip anything that only exists because someone paid or traded for it, and judge the work by whether your commercial pages move. A short list of the right prospects, worked consistently, beats a spreadsheet of every link your competitors ever got.