The “Link Intersect” Strategy: Closing the Gap with 3 Major Competitors
Client: A B2B SaaS company in the “email marketing” space.
Challenges We Faced
The client was a challenger brand with a good product but was invisible in search results compared to giants like Mailchimp and HubSpot:
Massive Authority Gap
Their Domain Rating (DR) was 25, while competitors were DR 80+.
Missing “Easy” Wins
A Comprehensive Competitor Audit revealed they were missing 500+ high-quality links that all their competitors had.
Stuck on Page 3
Their “money” pages were stuck behind 20+ competitors.
No Outreach Strategy
They were guessing at link targets instead of using data.
Low Brand Trust
Site owners preferred linking to well-known brands, making it hard for a smaller challenger to earn backlinks.
Steal Your Competitors’ Links
“Want the exact links your competitors are using to rank #1? Our Backlink Gap Analysis will find them and help you win them.”
Our Approach – How We Solved These Challenges
Backlink Gap Analysis
We used Ahrefs’ “Link Intersect” tool to find sites linking to at least 3 of their top competitors but not to them.
This generated a “gold list” of 450 high-probability targets (tech blogs, resource pages, and directories).
Competitor Link Replication
We launched a Manual Outreach & Pitching campaign to these 450 sites. The pitch was simple: “You link to [Competitor A, B, and C], but we offer [Unique Feature]. Here’s why we should be on your list.”
Content Gap Link Building
We identified that competitors were getting hundreds of links to their “Email Benchmarks Report.” We created a better, more up-to-date “2025 Email Industry Report” to steal those links.
Lost Backlink Recovery
We monitored when competitors lost links (broken pages) and pitched our new report as a replacement.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Link Intersect” Opportunities Closed | 0 | 125 | +125 links |
| Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) | 25 | 48 | +23 points |
| Organic Traffic (to “Money” Pages) | 800/mo | 12,000/mo | +1400% |
Free Gap Analysis
“Not sure what links you’re missing? Claim a Free Competitor Backlink Audit and let our competitor backlink analysis company find your gaps!”
Advice for Marketers & Brand Owners
- Your competitors have already done the work. Use Backlink Gap Analysis to find the sites that are proven to link to companies like yours.
- Focus on the intersection. A site linking to three competitors is much more likely to link to you than a site linking to just one.
- Create “me too” assets, but better. If a competitor has a “Benchmarks Report” with 500 links, create a newer one and steal their traffic.
Extra Factors That Made It Work
- The “Link Intersect” list had an incredibly high conversion rate (15% vs. standard 2%) because the targets were already pre-qualified.
- The new “2025 Industry Report” became a natural link magnet.
- Using Pitchbox to automate the follow-ups ensured we didn’t miss any opportunities.
