Why competitor backlinks are worth looking at
A backlink is another website linking to yours. Google and the AI engines read those links as votes: sites that earn them from real, relevant places outrank sites that don't. It's one of the oldest ranking signals there is, and it still decides close races.
Your competitor's backlinks are a map. The chamber page that lists them, the supplier that features them, the local news story that mentioned them - every one is a place your business could plausibly be too. You just have to know they exist.
What you get
- Who links to your competitors - and which of those links actually matter
- Where you stand next to them, in plain words
- The links you could realistically earn, starting with the easy ones
- A short call walking through all of it - no dashboard to learn, no report full of jargon
How it works
Fill in the form below. A real person - not a script - runs the analysis by hand, the same way we do it for paying SEO clients. Then we call you and walk through what we found. Nothing to install, no passwords needed, and your competitors never know.
Why free?
Same reason the SEO audit is free: it's how we meet businesses we can actually help. You keep everything we find either way. If you want help earning those links afterward, that's the SEO work we sell - and if not, you're still walking away knowing more about your market than your competitors think you do.
How to find a competitor's backlinks for free
You can get a useful picture without paying for anything. It takes an hour or two per competitor. Here is the method, step by step.
- Start with your own links. In Google Search Console, open Links and look at "Top linking sites." That is the free, official list of who links to you - you need it to compare against.
- Pick the right competitors. Not the biggest name in your trade - the two or three businesses that show up above you in the map and the results for the searches you want.
- Run each one through a free backlink checker. Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz each have a free option with limits, and each shows a sample of the sites linking to a domain. Use more than one - none of them sees every link.
- Put it all in one spreadsheet. One row per linking site, a column for each competitor, and one for you. Sort by how many competitors each site links to.
- Search for what the tools miss. Search Google for a competitor's business name in quotes, minus their own site - for example "Example Plumbing" -site:exampleplumbing.com. Local news stories, sponsor pages and directories often turn up here first.
The sites that link to two or three of your competitors but not to you go at the top of your list. They clearly link to businesses like yours - you just aren't one of them yet.
Which competitor backlinks are worth chasing
For a local business, a link's value has little to do with the authority scores the tools show. Ask two questions instead: is the site real and local, or relevant to your trade? And would a customer ever click it?
- Chamber of commerce and business association member pages
- Local news coverage, community calendars and event pages
- Sponsor pages for local teams, charities and events
- Suppliers, manufacturers and partners that list where to buy or who installs
- Trade associations and licensing bodies with member directories
- Well-kept local and industry directories - not the thousand-site networks
Skip the rest. Links from spammy directories, unrelated blogs and link sellers do nothing for you at best - and paying for links is against Google's rules.
What to do with the list
Work it from easiest to hardest:
- Claim what is already yours - directories and associations where you belong but never signed up
- Ask the partners you already have - suppliers, customers and organizations you work with - to list you the way they list others
- Earn the rest - sponsor something you care about, give a reporter a useful local story, publish a page worth linking to
A handful of real local links usually does more than a pile of weak ones. Check again every few months - your competitors keep earning new ones.
Request your free analysis
Common questions
What exactly is a backlink?
A link from someone else's website to yours. Search engines and AI engines treat good ones as votes of confidence - a big part of why one business outranks another.
What's the catch?
There isn't one. We run the analysis, we call, you keep what we found. If you want help acting on it, great. If not, no hard feelings and no follow-up sequence.
How is this different from the free SEO audit?
The audit looks at your own site - content, structure, technical problems. This looks outward at who links to your competitors and how you compare. They pair well; ask for both.
Do you need access to my website?
No. Just the addresses - yours and theirs. Everything we analyze is publicly visible.
What is competitor backlink analysis?
Looking at who links to the businesses that outrank you, and working out which of those links you could earn too. It turns a vague "they rank higher" into a short list of real places to get your business mentioned.
How do I find my competitors' backlinks?
Run their web address through a free backlink checker - Ahrefs, Semrush and Moz each have a free option with limits - then search Google for their business name in quotes, minus their own site using -site:. Combine the results in one spreadsheet and look for sites that link to several competitors but not to you.
Can I check competitor backlinks for free?
Yes, up to a point. Free tools show a sample, not every link, and cap how many lookups you get. For a local business that sample is usually enough to find the links that matter - or we will run the analysis for you, free.
Which competitor backlinks should I go after first?
Local and relevant ones you can realistically get: your chamber, associations in your trade, suppliers and partners, local sponsorships and news. Skip anything you would have to pay for.