Your competitors’ backlink profiles are a roadmap to your link-building strategy. Here’s how to read that map and use it.
What You’ll Learn
Backlinks remain one of Google’s strongest ranking signals. Instead of guessing which sites might link to you, you can see exactly where your top-ranking competitors get their links and pursue the same sources. This guide covers a step-by-step process using Ubersuggest (free) to identify competitor backlinks, evaluate quality, and acquire listings — including what to avoid and how to track progress.
Key Takeaways
- Backlinks from topically relevant, high-quality sites tell Google your site is trustworthy. Backlinks from spammy sites can actively hurt rankings.
- Your competitors’ link profiles show proven opportunities — sites that already link to businesses like yours.
- Ubersuggest provides competitor backlink data for free at the level you need for this process.
- Quality over quantity. Ten strong, relevant backlinks outperform a hundred weak ones.
- Analyze multiple competitors. Each analysis surfaces new opportunities the others missed.
- Maintain your listings — outdated information on directories undermines the link value.
Step 1: Find Your Top 3 Competitors
Search Google for your primary service + city: “emergency plumber Tulsa”, “wedding photographer Berlin”, “SEO consultant London.”
Identify the three businesses consistently appearing in positions 1–5. These are the link profiles you’ll reverse-engineer.
Don’t analyze businesses with huge brand authority (national chains, media outlets). Focus on comparable local or niche businesses that outrank you with profiles similar to yours in age and size.
Step 2: Pull Their Backlinks in Ubersuggest
Go to ubersuggest.com. Enter a competitor’s domain. Navigate to the Backlinks section.
You’ll see a list of all domains currently linking to that competitor. For each one, note:
- The linking domain — what kind of site is it?
- Domain authority/score — how trusted is it?
- Anchor text — what does the link say?
Export this list for all three competitors and combine them. You now have a comprehensive pool of link opportunities.
Step 3: Evaluate Quality — Which Links Are Worth Pursuing
Not all backlinks help. Some can hurt.
Good signs:
- Real editorial content on the site (not just a links page)
- Genuine traffic (check with Ubersuggest or SimilarWeb)
- Topically relevant to your business
- No spammy patterns (excessive outbound links, low content quality)
Red flags:
- Sites that exist only to sell links or list businesses with no curation
- No real content, just directories with thousands of entries and no traffic
- Unrelated niche (a pet supply site linking to a plumber)
- Very low domain scores with no legitimate backlinks of their own
A handful of strong, relevant links is worth more than fifty weak ones. Google’s algorithms are good at detecting link schemes — pursue quality, not volume.
Step 4: Identify Actionable Opportunities
The best opportunities from competitor backlinks are usually:
Local directories: Chamber of commerce, city business directories, neighborhood portals. Often free to submit, high relevance for local SEO.
Industry directories: Trade associations, niche listing sites for your profession. If your competitors are listed and you’re not, that’s a gap.
Industry blogs and publications: Where your competitors have been featured, mentioned, or quoted. These require outreach — guest posts, expert quotes, or press mentions.
Resource pages: Curated lists of local businesses or services in your category. Find them, check if you can be added.
Sort your list by impact (topical relevance + domain authority) vs. effort (free submission vs. outreach required). Start with free, high-relevance submissions.
Step 5: Submit and Complete Profiles Thoroughly
For each directory or listing site, complete every available field:
- Business name (exact, consistent with your GBP)
- Full address
- Phone number
- Website URL
- Business description with service + location keywords (naturally)
- Photos where the platform allows
Incomplete profiles rank lower within the directory itself and provide weaker SEO signals. Spend 10 minutes per submission, not 2.
Step 6: Repeat for Each Competitor
Competitor 1 will surface opportunities Competitor 2 doesn’t have, and vice versa. Run the full analysis for all three before you start submitting.
Different businesses pursue different strategies. Combining three analyses gives you a more complete picture than any single competitor’s profile.
Common Mistakes
Prioritizing quantity over quality. Submitting to 200 low-quality directories produces no ranking improvement and can trigger spam signals. Thirty high-quality citations beats two hundred weak ones.
Analyzing only one competitor. One analysis is a starting point. Three is a strategy.
Not maintaining listings. If your phone number, address, or name changes, update every listing. Inconsistent NAP across directories creates conflicting signals that Google and customers both notice.
Actionable Checklist
- Search your primary service + city. Identify top 3 non-brand competitors in the results.
- Enter each competitor domain into Ubersuggest → Backlinks. Export the data.
- Combine the three lists. Flag each link source: local directory, industry directory, blog mention, resource page.
- Score each source: topical relevance (high/medium/low) × domain authority (use Ubersuggest scores).
- Start submitting to local directories and industry listings that accept free submissions.
- Build a tracking spreadsheet: source → submission date → live URL → notes.
- Set a quarterly reminder to re-run competitor analyses. Competitors add new links over time.
- Check each listing 30 days after submission. Ensure it’s live and information is correct.
Wrap-Up
Competitor backlink analysis removes the guesswork from link building. Your top-ranking competitors have already proven which directories and publications link to businesses like yours. Pull their link profiles with Ubersuggest, evaluate for quality, and submit where they’re listed. Start with the free local and industry directories — those are your quickest wins. Then work toward the higher-effort placements (blog features, expert quotes) as you build authority.