Brian's Skyscraper technique is not outdated. It is still one of the excellent ways to steal your competitor's backlinks. Most high-quality sites link back to the resources that are helpful to the end readers. All you need to do is find your competitor's content with a healthy number of backlinks, create a more valuable resource than that, and convince its linking sites to link back to yours. It's a win-win situation for all—you, the linking site, and the readers (except your competitors!)
One of the best ways to track and steal competitors’ backlinks is by looking at competitor sites’ pages that are consistently acquiring backlinks organically. In Ahrefs, the ‘top pages by links’ feature will allow you to see top pages by the number of backlinks over the last 7 days or 30 days. This data will give you insight about what type of content is getting organic links consistently. Now, you have the proven idea of content topics for passive link building. You can then steal these content ideas to create better content than most of your competitors. Once you start ranking on those keywords, you will also get consistent backlinks and take SERP share from your website competitors.
A direct and no-holds-barred approach always works best when the aim is to get things done quickly. So sign up for a backlink checker tool (Ahrefs or Semrush are popular choices) and begin reviewing the websites offering links to your competitors. Once you identify them, there are two things you can do right away. First, contact these websites and negotiate an arrangement that brings you links. Then, do your research and dig up more websites in the niche that will likely offer you the links. This way, you match your competition's efforts and go one-up by signing on with more link partners. Stay consistent, and you will soon have a link-building strategy that works way better than your competing brands.
Two ways I follow to steal my competitor's backlinks - Ahrefs (Free + Paid): Through paid Ahrefs tool, we can get all backlinks of all competitors. Ahrefs has a feature "Link Intersect" where we can add multiple domains of our competitors & our website and see who is linking them. This is the best way to see "link opportunity" Most interesting thing is that it saves time, which we use to filter and remove duplicate websites/domains. We can also see competitor backlinks through the free Ahrefs feature, but it gives very limited sites. Through NAP Details (Free) We can also find our competitors backlinks through their business name or Phone. Like when we enter the brand name of our competitor on SERP, we will see all business listings & some other backlinks against this website that are indexed in Google.
By sponsoring events or charities relevant to your industry, you can gain backlinks from their websites, diverting potential links from your competitors. For example, if you are a technology company, sponsoring a tech conference can lead to backlinks from the event's website, potentially stealing some of your competitors' backlinks. Consider targeting events or charities with high domain authority and aligning with your target audience to maximize the impact of this strategy.
While many are tempted by shortcuts in the competitive space of SEO, my philosophy has always revolved around authenticity and quality. To truly outrank competitors and earn the trust of audiences, it's important to construct a platform that provides superior value and create quality content that appeases search engines. Naturally, organic backlinks follow, solidifying your standing. However, it is tough to rank if you have low DR than competitors. You have create backlinks targeting that specific content initially. I advocate for creating a handful of generic backlinks, combined with outreaching domains got through competitor analysis using tools like Ahrefs. Targeted email outreach can be a game-changer and has worked well for us.
Instead of focusing on stealing backlinks, businesses should consider collaborating with their competitors for mutual benefits. Through partnerships, joint ventures, or content collaborations, companies can leverage each other's expertise and audience to create valuable backlinks organically. This approach fosters a win-win situation where both parties can attract new audiences, enhance their credibility, and improve search rankings. For example, a clothing brand could collaborate with a fashion blogger to create a guest post featuring their products, which would naturally include backlinks to the brand's website.
Stealing competitors' backlinks or engaging in any unethical practices is not recommended and goes against fair business practices. Instead, focus on building your backlinks organically through valuable content, outreach, and networking within your industry. By creating high-quality content that others find useful and relevant, you increase the likelihood of earning backlinks naturally. Also, developing strong relationships with influencers and websites in your niche can lead to more backlink opportunities through collaborations and partnerships. Remember, ethical and sustainable SEO strategies are essential for long-term success and reputation.
Instead of stealing, foster collaboration with your competitors to build a mutually beneficial backlinking strategy. Co-create content, guest blog on each other's websites, or participate in joint projects to share audiences and resources. This approach promotes ethical practices, enhances industry relationships, and provides opportunities for both parties to benefit from increased visibility and backlinks. For example, a business selling vegan skincare products could partner with a competitor to co-create a blog post titled 'Top 10 Vegan Skincare Brands' and include backlinks to each other's websites.
There are a few ways to steal your competitors' backlinks. Here are a few of the most effective methods: Find broken backlinks. One of the easiest ways to steal backlinks is to find broken backlinks on your competitors' websites. These are backlinks that no longer point to a valid website. You can find broken backlinks using a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush. Once you've found broken backlinks, you can reach out to the website owners and ask them to update the backlink to point to your website instead. Guest blog on the same sites as your competitors. If your competitors are guest blogging on certain websites, you can do the same thing. This is a great way to get backlinks from high-quality websites. When you guest blog, make sure to write high-quality content that is relevant to the website you're guest blogging on.
One effective method is to use backlink analysis tools like Ahrefs to identify the websites linking to your competitors. Analyze the quality and relevance of these backlinks to understand why they are valuable. Once you have identified potential backlink opportunities, reach out to the website owners, offering them even better and more valuable content than what your competitors have. Highlight the unique value your content provides and explain why it would be beneficial for their audience. Additionally, you can also explore broken link building. Identify broken links on the websites linking to your competitors and offer your own content as a replacement for those broken links. This tactic can help you redirect valuable backlinks to your website.
Infographics are popular link magnets. By observing which of your competitors' infographics are earning the most backlinks, you can create a superior or more updated version of the same. After creating the infographic, approach the websites linking to your competitor's version and propose that they link to your improved resource. This technique combines visual appeal with valuable information, attracting more backlinks.
A bit of an intense strategy, but there is no better way to take advantage of a competitor's assets than through acquiring that business. Once you own the domains, the backlinks can be your's through 301 redirects to your company's domain. While this may seem daunting, it's incredibly doable in fragmented industries with a large number of solopreneurs and smaller firms.
Analyze competitors' backlinks through SEO tools The best way to "steal" your competitors' backlinks is not through unethical practices but by analyzing their backlink profiles using reputable SEO tools. These tools allow you to identify the websites linking to your competitors and understand the quality and relevance of those links. Once you've identified potential link opportunities, you can reach out to those websites with a compelling reason why they should link to your content instead. Perhaps you have a more comprehensive guide, updated information, or a unique perspective that adds value. Remember, building backlinks is about creating valuable and relevant content that others naturally want to link to. Focus on quality and relevance, and always approach backlink acquisition with integrity and professionalism.
An often neglected strategy for "stealing" competitors' backlinks is constant participation in relevant communities, in person or on social media, forums, and platforms (besides creating relevant content and building strong topical authority). Active participation aids in understanding audience needs, building relationships, and establishing authority. The process involves identifying relevant online communities, actively participating, providing value, engaging with influencers, and adhering to community guidelines. Look for forums, Q&A websites (like Quora), social media groups, and other online communities relevant to your industry. Be an active participant. Always provide value. Engage with key influencers. Their endorsement provides significant visibility and lends credibility. An active presence, providing insightful and relevant information, naturally attracts backlinks to content. Regards, Irina Poddubnaia Founder and CEO of TrackMage.com https://trackmage.com
Founder & CEO at PRLab
Answered 3 years ago
An effective approach to gaining your competitors’ backlinks is to identify and repurpose their broken links. Often, your competitors' websites might contain inactive or outdated links. By identifying these broken links and offering valuable content in their place, you can create an opportunity to acquire those backlinks ethically. Once you've updated the content, reach out to the website owner and inform them about the broken link, while showcasing your improved content. If they find value in your content, they might replace the broken link with yours. Various tools are available to help you identify broken links on a website, making this strategy a smart way to enhance your backlink profile with relevant and authoritative links.
Utilising SEMrush's competitor analysis is the best way to obtain backlinks that your competitors are linking to. Its competitor analysis tools let you assess your competitors' backlink profile and pinoint the most authoritative ones. Apart from this, with SEMrush you can also track, monitor and adapt your strategy on the basis of real-time statistics.
The best technique I've tried for doing this is known as the “Skyscraper Strategy,” which involves using tools like AHREFS to identify and analyze potential link opportunities. You can look through all of your competitor’s links and try to find ones that are no longer working or have been removed completely because they weren't worth keeping around anymore. Once you've identified these broken links, it's time to start creating content that would be worth putting in place of those links—possibly even better content than what was there before! You can try writing an article that's more in-depth than what existed previously or create a new video tutorial covering the same topic. Then once it's published online, reach out directly to each site hosting one of those deleted/broken backlinks from earlier and let them know about your newly created content.
The term 'steal' is a bit misleading. What I prefer to do is strategically 'earn' backlinks my competitors have. I use tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush to analyze competitors' backlinks, identify high-quality sources, then create even more valuable content that those sources might link to. I reach out to these sources, present my superior content, and request them to link to my page instead. It's a win-win, as they're linking to better content, and I'm earning quality backlinks.