A link gap analysis compares your backlink profile with your competitors' and lists the websites that link to them but not to you. Sites that link to two or more competitors are the most useful finds, because they have shown they link to businesses like yours. Any backlink gap tool can produce that list in seconds. The value of a proper analysis is what happens next: removing the spam, directories you cannot use and links you could never replicate, then ranking what remains so your team knows exactly where to start.
We run link gap analysis as a fixed-price report within our link building services. You can take the prospect list and run outreach yourself, hand it to your current agency or have us secure links from it. It is also the step we use to plan every link building campaign, because the best link sources are usually the ones already proven in your market.
What Is a Competitor Link Gap Analysis?
A competitor link gap analysis is a comparison of referring domains: the unique websites linking to you versus the unique websites linking to the sites that outrank you. It answers three questions. Which sites link to several competitors but not to you? What kind of links are they (articles, resource lists, directories, partner pages, press coverage)? And which of those can you realistically earn?
It is different from a keyword gap analysis, which compares the search terms each site ranks for. The two work together: a keyword gap shows where you are missing pages, and a link gap shows where you are missing authority. If you need the keyword side as well, see our competitor analysis services.
What Our Backlink Gap Analysis Includes
| Included | What we do | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor selection | We identify the sites that actually rank for your target keywords, which may differ from the companies you think of as rivals. | The gap is measured against the sites you need to beat in search. |
| Referring domain comparison | Your site against three or five competitors, using Ahrefs and Semrush data, at domain level and page level. | A complete picture of who links to them and not to you. |
| Intersection filter | Domains linking to two or more competitors are separated from single-competitor links. | The strongest prospects rise to the top. |
| Manual cleanup | We remove scrapers, spam domains, link farms, sitewide links, expired-domain networks and dead pages. | No time wasted chasing links that are worthless or harmful. |
| Link type classification | Each prospect is tagged: editorial article, resource page, directory, partner or supplier, PR coverage, podcast, event, review or guest post. | You know which outreach method fits each prospect. |
| Value scoring | Prospects scored on relevance, organic traffic, authority and how achievable the link is. | A ranked list instead of a raw export. |
| Anchor text and link type comparison | How your anchors and link types compare with competitors (on the full analysis). | Shows whether your profile looks unnatural or under-built in specific areas. |
| Recommended approach | For the top prospects, the page on your site to pitch and the angle to use. | Your team or ours can start outreach the same week. |
How We Run a Link Gap Analysis, Step by Step
- Agree the competitor set (day 1 to 2). We check who ranks for your most valuable keywords and agree three or five competitors with you. We avoid giant publishers and marketplaces unless they are truly your benchmark, because their links are rarely replicable.
- Pull the data (day 2 to 3). We run referring domain comparisons in Ahrefs Link Intersect and the Semrush Backlink Gap tool, then merge the exports so no prospect is missed because one index lacked it.
- Filter by intersection (day 3). Domains linking to two or more competitors go into the priority pool. Single-competitor links stay in a secondary pool, because some are still excellent prospects.
- Clean the list by hand (days 3 to 6). We remove spam, scrapers, sitewide footer links, links that are already lost, foreign-language sites irrelevant to your market and any domain that sells links openly. This is where most of the time goes.
- Review each prospect (days 5 to 8). We open the actual linking pages, record the link type and judge how the competitor earned it. A link from a "best tools" roundup can be pitched. A link from a sponsorship or a founder's personal friendship usually cannot.
- Score and sort (days 8 to 9). Each prospect gets a score for relevance, traffic, authority and achievability, and the list is sorted by overall value.
- Report and walkthrough (day 10). You receive the spreadsheet and a short written summary, followed by a call to go through the top prospects and agree the next steps.
A snapshot against three competitors takes about one week. The full five-competitor analysis takes about two weeks.
Link Gap Report Deliverables and How to Use Them
- The prospect spreadsheet. Every cleaned prospect with domain, linking page URL, competitors it links to, link type, domain rating, organic traffic estimate, score and notes. The snapshot covers three competitors and lists the top 50 prospects sorted by value; the full analysis widens the comparison to five competitors.
- A written summary. The main patterns in your competitors' link profiles, the link types you are missing and the quickest wins.
- Anchor text and link type comparison. On the full analysis, charts showing how your profile differs from competitors by anchor type and by link type.
- Pages to promote. Which of your existing pages are the best match for the top prospects, and where a new resource would open up more links.
Success here is a list your team trusts enough to act on. If you have us secure links from the gap list, those links are reported with URL, target page and anchor, like all our link building work.
Link Gap Analysis Pricing
Link gap analysis is a fixed-price, one-off project. The price depends on how many competitors are compared, how deep the comparison goes (prospect list only, or link type and anchor analysis too) and whether you want us to secure links from the list as part of the same project. Large competitor sites with tens of thousands of referring domains take longer to clean, which can affect custom quotes.
Gap Snapshot
$250 one-time
One-time, paid upfront
- Your site against 3 competitors
- Domains linking to 2 or more competitors but not you
- Top 50 link prospects, sorted by value
- Spreadsheet plus short video walkthrough
- Delivered in 5 business days
Link Gap Analysis
$550 one-time
One-time, paid upfront
- Your site against 5 competitors
- Everything in Gap Snapshot
- Link type and anchor text comparison
- Your own backlink health and toxic link check
- 150 vetted prospects with tactic and contact for each
- 6-month link plan and 45-minute review call
- Delivered in 8 business days
Gap Analysis plus 5 Links
$1,450 one-time
One-time, 50% upfront
- Full Link Gap Analysis
- We secure 5 links from the gap list (DR 30+)
- Content written by our team
- Final report of links won and next targets
- Add-on
- Price credited in full against a 3-month link building plan started within 30 days
All prices in USD. Need something different? Ask for a custom quote.
Need more competitors, several markets or a gap analysis for an agency client? Ask for a custom link gap quote.
Backlink Gap Tools Compared: Which Link Gap Analysis Tool to Use
Several tools can produce a link gap list. Each uses its own crawler and index, so the same comparison returns different results in each one. We use more than one for that reason.
| Tool | Feature name | Strengths | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Link Intersect | Large, frequently updated index; easy to filter by how many targets a domain links to; page-level view. | Paid subscription needed; metrics like domain rating are Ahrefs' own estimates. |
| Semrush | Backlink Gap | Compares up to five domains at once; shows prospects for each competitor in one view. | Index differs from Ahrefs, so lists never match exactly. |
| Moz | Link Intersect in Link Explorer | Useful second opinion with Moz's Domain Authority and spam score. | Smaller index than the two above in many niches. |
| Majestic | Clique Hunter | Finds sites linking to several domains; strong historic data. | Interface is less friendly for non-specialists. |
| Google Search Console | Links report | Shows your own links as Google sees them. | Your site only; no competitor data. |
Free backlink gap tools exist, but most rely on a smaller index or limit results heavily. For a one-off project, buying a report is often cheaper than a month of software you have to learn.
Why a Backlink Gap Tool Alone Gives You the Wrong List
A raw export from any tool is misleading for several reasons, and acting on it wastes outreach time:
- Spam and scrapers. Many domains in any backlink profile are automated sites that copy content. They link to everyone and mean nothing.
- Links you cannot earn. Sponsorships, paid memberships, a competitor's own sister sites and links from staff bios cannot be replicated through outreach.
- Directories of mixed quality. A few industry directories are worth joining; most general directories are not. Tools count them all equally.
- Lost and outdated links. Some links in the index have already been removed or sit on pages that no longer rank.
- Metric bias. Sorting by domain rating pushes huge, irrelevant sites to the top. A small, highly relevant niche site is often the better prospect.
Reading SEO Competitor Backlinks by Link Type
Classifying competitor backlinks by type tells you which link building method to use for each part of the gap.
| Link type | How competitors usually earned it | Can you replicate it? | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editorial article mention | Content, data or expertise cited by a writer. | Often, with something worth citing. | Blogger outreach, digital PR |
| Resource page listing | A useful guide or tool added to a curated list. | Usually, if you have a comparable resource. | Resource page outreach |
| Contributed article | A guest post on an industry site. | Usually. | Guest posting |
| Press coverage | A news story, survey or expert quote. | Sometimes, with a new story. | Digital PR |
| Industry directory or association | Membership or a listing request. | Often, if you qualify. | Direct submission |
| Supplier or partner page | A business relationship. | If you have the same relationship. | Ask your partners |
| Sponsorship or event | Paid support of an event or cause. | Only by paying, and the link should be sponsored. | Budget decision |
Backlink Competitive Analysis Beyond the Gap List
The gap list is the headline, but a backlink competitive analysis also looks at patterns that explain why competitors win:
- Most-linked pages. Which competitor pages attract the most links. If a calculator or a statistics page earns most of their links, that tells you what kind of asset to build.
- Link growth over time. A steady climb suggests ongoing outreach or PR. A sudden spike may be a campaign, a viral piece or a link purchase.
- Anchor text mix. Profiles dominated by brand anchors are normal. Heavy use of exact-match anchors can mean a competitor is taking risks you should not copy.
- Followed vs nofollow balance. A natural profile has both. A profile with almost no nofollow links is often built rather than earned.
- Country and language of linking sites. Useful when you compete in several markets.
Can ChatGPT Do a Link Gap Analysis?
Not on its own. ChatGPT and similar AI assistants do not have a live, complete index of the web's backlinks, so they cannot tell you who links to your competitors. If you ask, they may produce plausible-looking but invented results. What AI tools can do is help process real data once you have it: grouping thousands of exported domains by topic, drafting classification labels or summarizing patterns. We use AI for some of that sorting, but every prospect in our reports is checked by a person on the live page.
Common Link Gap Analysis Mistakes
- Choosing the wrong competitors. Comparing against Amazon, Wikipedia or a national newspaper produces a gap you can never close.
- Treating every gap as a target. Most of the raw list should be discarded.
- Ignoring page-level gaps. Comparing domains only misses pages that link to a competitor's specific guide, which is often the best opportunity.
- Running it once and forgetting it. Competitors earn new links every month. A repeat analysis every six to twelve months keeps the list fresh.
- No plan to act. A prospect list with no outreach behind it changes nothing.
Who Needs a Link Gap Analysis
A good fit
- Businesses whose pages are as good as competitors' but rank lower, where authority is the likely difference.
- In-house SEO teams that want a ready-made, vetted outreach list.
- Companies about to start link building that want to begin with proven sources.
- Agencies that need a gap analysis for a client pitch or campaign plan.
Probably not a fit
- Brand-new sites with thin content. Fix the pages first with on-page SEO.
- Markets where competitors have almost no links. The gap is small, and a content or PR plan will do more.
Putting Your Link Gap Analysis to Work
A link gap analysis feeds every other link building method. Use it to plan blogger outreach services, find the curated lists that suit resource page link building, or target the publications for digital PR outreach. For a wider view of why competitors outrank you, combine it with an SEO audit.