Building backlinks can go a long way in your website’s SEO campaign. Not only should you make sure that the links you are linking to are not broken, but you should also be wise in choosing which links to put in your site. This factor gave rise to competitive backlink analysis, which has become an effective tool to boost SEO for any website.

When it comes to search engine optimization, many websites turn away from broken 404 pages. However, when used properly, these broken links can actually create amazing opportunities for your business.

Here are some competitive backlink analysis strategies that will help you increase your chances of landing at the top of search results:

1. Make a List of Your Top 5 Competitors

This step of competitive backlink analysis involves creating a short list of the top five websites that compete with you on the same field. You can do this using Google: search for the keywords that you are targeting and websites that have a higher ranking than yours.

2. Locate Your Competitors’ 404 Pages

There are two ways you can search for your competitors’ 404 links. You can do a manual search of the different links. However, this is time consuming.

An easier way is to download one of the many free online tools for searching 404 pages. Some of the popular online applications to help you look for potential backlink opportunities include Open Site Explorer and Ahrefs.

3. Get The Link From A Webmaster

Most webmasters do not want to have 404 errors on their websites because it could hurt their search engine rankings. This is the main principle behind competitive backlink analysis: you can convince webmasters to replace their broken links with the URL of your website.

To start this, draft an email that informs the webmaster of broken links on their website and recommend your pages as an alternative link.

However, you must understand that most webmasters may not give in to your request since they will treat you as a competitor. Don’t pester them if they turn down your request or stay radio silent to your email. Most likely, only a fraction of your competitors will reply and a smaller percentage will use your URLs.

More About Competitive Backlink Analysis

Some website owners and developers do not frequently check if there are broken backlinks on their websites. If this is the case, they would not mind linking to a competitor. In addition, they may not have the time to search for alternative backlinks and would accept the links you gave them.

Competitive backlink analysis may entail doing adjustments to your approach. Determine the flaws of your proposed email and do some tweaking to make it more convincing.

Using your competitors’404 pages to build quality links to your website entails a little creativity on your part. Mastering these strategies can help boost your search engine rankings and beat the competition. The success of your efforts lies on being able to convince your competitors of the benefits they will get by linking to your URL.

Your top priority is to establish your website as an authority resource in your industry. This way, it will make the job of convincing competitors to link to your website much easier.