Reverse-Engineering Links
Want to know what content earns backlinks in your industry?
Look at what's already earning them. For your competitors.
The Process
Step 1: Pull up your competitor in Ahrefs or SEMrush.
Step 2: Go to their "Best by links" report. This shows their pages sorted by number of referring domains.
Step 3: Identify the keywords those pages target.
Those keywords? They attract links. Naturally.
Why This Matters
Some content formats naturally earn backlinks:
When you see your competitor's most-linked pages, you see what FORMAT and TOPIC combination works for link earning in your space. This is the core principle behind content-based link building.
The Play
Create your own version. Better.
Update the data. Improve the design. Add depth they missed.
Then outreach to the same people who linked to the competitor. "Hey, we just published an updated version of [topic] with 2026 data." Digital PR for link building gives you the full outreach playbook.
Works like a charm.
The Keyword Connection
The keywords these linkable pages target become dual-purpose assets:
That's a flywheel. And it starts with studying what your competitors' backlinks tell you about keyword selection. Ahrefs covers this exact reverse-engineering process in their keyword research methodology.
After 500+ campaigns, this is one of our favourite keyword research shortcuts.
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