Backlink research becomes much more useful when you stop looking at your website in isolation.

A competitor may have backlinks from websites, publications, directories, or other sources that your domain has never reached.

This creates a backlink gap.

The objective isn't simply to collect more backlinks. The objective is to discover relevant backlink opportunities through competitor research.

What Is Backlink Gap Analysis?

Backlink gap analysis compares the backlink profiles of multiple domains to identify differences between them.

For example:

Your Website
vs.
Competitor 1
Competitor 2
Competitor 3

The comparison can help identify backlink sources that appear in competitor research but aren't associated with your target domain.

SerpSpur Backlink Gap Analysis

SerpSpur provides a dedicated Backlink Gap Analysis tool designed around this type of competitor research.

The interface allows users to enter:

Your Domain (Target)
Competitor 1
Competitor 2
Competitor 3
Competitor 4

This makes it possible to investigate several competitors within one comparison.

Advanced Filtering

The tool also provides advanced filters for more focused research.

Users can select an Intersection Mode, choose the maximum result depth, and filter by:

Domain Rank (0–1000)

and

Spam Score (0–100).

There is also an option to exclude the target domain, which can help keep the analysis focused on competitor backlink data.

The interface supports results up to Top 1,000 Rows, depending on the selected configuration.

Why Is This Useful for Link Builders?

Imagine you are responsible for building backlinks for a client.

Starting from a blank spreadsheet means researching potential websites from scratch.

Competitor backlink analysis gives you another starting point.

You can investigate:

Which backlink sources are appearing around my competitors?

From there, you can manually evaluate each opportunity for:

Relevance
Website quality
Spam risk
Industry relationship
Editorial value
Outreach potential

The data becomes a prospecting starting point, not an automatic link-building list.

Who Can Benefit?
SEO Freelancers

Use competitor research when preparing backlink strategies for clients.

SEO Experts

Add backlink-gap analysis to broader competitive SEO research.

Link-Building Specialists

Use competitor backlink sources to generate potential outreach prospects.

Backlink Agencies

Analyze multiple competitors when developing link acquisition campaigns.

SEO SaaS Users

Use structured backlink comparisons as part of their regular SEO workflow.

A Simple Workflow

Step 1: Enter your target domain.

Step 2: Add relevant competitors.

Step 3: Select your preferred intersection mode.

Step 4: Set the result depth.

Step 5: Apply Domain Rank and Spam Score filters where appropriate.

Step 6: Exclude your target domain.

Step 7: Review the backlink opportunities.

Step 8: Manually evaluate the most relevant prospects.

Step 9: Build an outreach strategy around qualified opportunities.

This approach turns competitor backlink data into something actionable.