Find where your competitors get links, and why

2 hrImpact: highEffort: medium

Look at the websites linking to the businesses that beat you in search, and work out why each link exists.

If several competitors are listed by the same association, directory or supplier and you aren’t, that is a link you probably qualify for. If they are cited for a useful page, that’s a page idea for you.

How to do it

1

Pick your 3 real search competitors

Search your main service and town. The businesses on page one are your search competitors, even if you don’t think of them as rivals.
2

See who links to them

Free versions of Ahrefs or Semrush show a sample of a site’s links. Note the linking websites for each competitor.
3

Find the overlaps

Websites linking to two or three competitors but not to you are your best leads: associations, directories, suppliers, local news.
4

Act on the honest ones

Apply where you qualify, and note any useful page competitors are cited for as an idea for your own resource.

Common mistakes

Don’t copy spam. If a competitor’s links come from link networks or paid posts, skip them: they can disappear overnight and take rankings with them.
A free tool shows only part of the picture. It is enough to find patterns.

How you will know it is done

You know which websites link to your competitors and why, and you have applied wherever you genuinely qualify.

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Find where your competitors get links, and why

How to do it

Common mistakes

How you will know it is done

Related missions

Track this in your hive