How to Find Out Where Competitors Get Their Backlinks

To find out where competitors get their backlinks, run their domain through a backlink tool, pull the list of referring domains, then sort by which sites link to them but not to you. Those shared sources are directories, roundups, guest posts, and partner pages you can pitch too. You don't need their entire link profile. You need the handful of sources they keep coming back to.

Where do competitors actually get their backlinks?

Most small competitors get links from a short, repeatable set of places. Once you see the pattern, you can copy it. The usual sources are:

• Niche directories and listicles any business in your space can submit to
• Roundup and "best tools" posts where a writer lists several options
• Guest posts on blogs that accept contributor content
• Partner and integration pages from tools they work with
• Podcast and interview pages that link back to the guest
• Press mentions from a launch, a data study, or a founder quote

The goal is not to admire their links. It is to find the sources that repeat, because a site that gave them one link will usually give you one too.

How do you pull a competitor's backlinks?

Here is the practical process. It works with free tools and takes about twenty minutes per competitor.

1. Pick 3 to 5 real competitors. Use the sites that already outrank you for your main keywords, not the biggest brand in the industry.
2. Run each domain through a backlink or domain intelligence tool and export the referring domains.
3. Sort by domain rating or authority so the strongest links sit at the top.
4. Flag every source that appears across two or more competitors. Shared sources are the safest bets.
5. Filter out links you cannot realistically get, like a link inside a paid news wire or a scraped copy of their site.
6. Save the rest as your outreach list.

When one directory or roundup shows up for three competitors, that is not luck. That is a doorway sitting open for anyone in the niche, including you.

How do you tell which links are worth copying?

Not every backlink is worth chasing. Score each source with three quick questions:

• Can I actually get it? A directory or guest slot is open. A link from an exclusive partnership is not.
• Does it carry authority? One link from a trusted, on-topic site beats fifty from thin blogs.
• Is it on-topic? A link from a site in your niche passes more relevance than a random general blog.

If a source clears all three, it goes to the top of the list. If it fails the first question, drop it and move on. Effort is the scarce resource here.

Why backlinks still matter for AI answers

There is a newer reason to care. When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity for the "best tool" in your category, the model leans on the same signals search engines use, including who gets mentioned and linked across trusted sites. If your competitor sits in every roundup and directory and you do not, the AI recommends them instead of you. The same link sources that lift your rankings also feed your AI visibility.

So competitor backlink research does double duty. You climb the traditional results and you show up when an answer engine decides who to name.

Turn the list into links

Once you have your ranked source list, work top to bottom. Submit to the directories. Pitch the roundup writers. Ask the tools you integrate with for a partner listing. Track which ones land so you learn which pitches work.

Start with one competitor and one tool. Run their domain through Domain Intel, grab the repeatable sources, and go get the same links. When you want more targets, pair it with the free SEO audit to fix the pages those new links will point at.