SEMrush Backlink Gap: A Simple Guide to Boost Your Link Building Strategy

Published: December 21, 2024

Backlinks play a crucial role in SEO.

Websites with strong backlinks tend to rank higher in search results.

But did you know you can use your competitors’ backlinks to improve your own SEO strategy?

The SEMrush Backlink Gap tool helps you find the backlinks your competitors have but you don’t, opening the door to new opportunities to build a stronger backlink profile.

In this post, we’ll show you how to use SEMrush Backlink Gap to discover link building opportunities and improve your website’s SEO performance in a practical way.

Table of Contents

What is SEMrush Backlink Gap?

The Backlink Gap tool in SEMrush compares your website’s backlink profile to your competitors’ profiles.

It shows you the backlinks your competitors are gaining but you’re missing out on.

The goal is simple: identify high-quality websites linking to your competitors, then find ways to get backlinks from those sites too.

This can help you improve your domain authority, search engine rankings, and drive more organic traffic to your website.

How to Use SEMrush Backlink Gap: A Step-by-Step Guide

Let’s break it down into simple steps so you can start using Backlink Gap to find valuable link building opportunities.

1. Enter Your Domain and Competitor Domains

Before you can compare your backlinks with your competitors, you first need to identify who your competitors are. These are the websites you’re trying to outrank, so it’s crucial to pick the right ones.

Here’s how to get started:

Step 1: Log into your SEMrush account and navigate to the Backlink Gap tool under Competitive Research.
Step 2: Enter your domain in the search bar.
Step 3: Add up to five competitor domains to compare backlinks. Choose competitors who rank similarly to you or directly compete with you in search results.

Why this is useful: By comparing your backlinks with your competitors’, you’ll see where they are getting backlinks that you are missing.

These could be excellent link building opportunities for your own website.

2. Analyze the Backlink Gap Report

Once you’ve entered your domain and your competitors’ domains, SEMrush will generate a detailed Backlink Gap report.

This shows you a comparison of your backlinks against your competitors’.

Here’s how to read the report:

Step 1: Look at the comparison chart or table that shows the backlinks you share and the ones you don’t.
Step 2: Focus on the Unique Backlinks. These are the websites linking to your competitors but not to you.

Why this is useful: The Unique Backlinks are the key opportunities. They show you the websites where you could potentially build backlinks, which could improve your SEO ranking.

3. Filter and Sort Backlink Opportunities

The Backlink Gap report can get pretty detailed, so it helps to filter and sort the results to prioritize the best opportunities.

You can filter the backlinks by:

Authority Score: This score tells you the quality of the backlink. Focus on backlinks from high-authority sites (those with a higher Authority Score).
Link Type: Whether it’s a text link, image link, or another type. Text links are usually more beneficial.
Follow/No-follow: Follow links pass link juice and are more valuable for SEO. Focus on follow links when possible.

Why this is useful: Filtering helps you focus on the best, most valuable backlinks—those that will have the most impact on your SEO efforts.

By targeting high-quality backlinks, you can build a strong and authoritative backlink profile.

4. Reach Out to Websites for Link Building

Once you’ve identified the backlinks you want to target, it’s time to get in touch with the website owners.

Here’s how to approach this:

Step 1: Visit the websites with the unique backlinks.
Step 2: See if there’s a way to get a link to your site. This could be through guest blogging, partnerships, providing testimonials, or offering a valuable resource that’s relevant to the website’s content.
Step 3: Reach out to the website owners or content managers. Craft a personalized, compelling pitch that shows the value of linking to your website.

Why this is useful: By proactively reaching out to the right websites, you can start building backlinks from authoritative sources.

This is a key step in boosting your website’s SEO and authority in your niche.

5. Track Your Backlink Progress

As you implement your link building strategy and secure backlinks from these opportunities, it’s important to track your progress.

You can use SEMrush to monitor your backlinks over time.

Step 1: Set up a Backlink Monitoring project in SEMrush to track your backlinks.
Step 2: Monitor your new backlinks and see how they impact your rankings and organic traffic.

Why this is useful: Tracking progress allows you to see how well your backlink efforts are paying off.

If certain backlinks result in improved rankings, you can focus on more of the same types of links in the future.

Why SEMrush Backlink Gap Matters for Your SEO Strategy

Understanding the Backlink Gap is vital for several reasons:

Competitor Insights: It helps you identify where your competitors are getting links, so you can target those same opportunities.
Improved Rankings: High-quality backlinks from authoritative sites can help improve your search engine rankings.
Better Link Building Strategy: By focusing on the right backlinks, you can build a more effective link building strategy that drives long-term SEO success.

Conclusion: Close the Backlink Gap and Boost Your SEO

The SEMrush Backlink Gap tool is a straightforward, practical way to improve your link building strategy. By identifying the backlinks your competitors have but you don’t, you can discover high-quality link opportunities that can enhance your SEO performance.

Here’s a quick summary of what you can do: