Backlink Gap Tool

Start with a fair comparison

A backlink gap is a difference between link profiles, not a shopping list. A publication may cite a competitor’s original research, feature its founder or list a product you do not offer. The useful question is why the link exists and whether you have something relevant to contribute.

Choose competitors serving a similar audience. Export their backlinks and your own from the same provider, using similar dates, status filters and scope. Comparing a complete competitor export with a small sample of your links will exaggerate the apparent gap. Record the export date and coverage so that limitation travels with the report.

Bring the right columns

Upload a UTF-8 CSV or TSV, or paste records with a header row. Map the referring page URL or referring domain to the source column. A destination column is useful: it lets the tool exclude records pointing outside the site or page you selected. Without one, records are assigned to your entered target and the report states that assumption.

Anchor, relationship and status are optional. Select the boolean format only for a column where true means nofollow and false means follow. Otherwise use explicit relationship labels. Blank values remain unknown. Status values such as lost, removed, deleted and inactive are excluded; unfamiliar status labels are retained and counted as unknown.

Domain or page?

Domain scope combines a registrable domain and its subdomains. Exact-hostname scope keeps subdomains separate. Exact-page scope compares the complete destination URL, which is useful when competing guides or product pages matter more than whole websites.

Source grouping is a separate choice. Domain grouping reduces repeated links from the same publication to one source. Page grouping keeps individual referring pages separate and needs full URLs. The bundled Public Suffix List includes private suffixes, so unrelated sites on services such as GitHub Pages are not automatically merged into one publisher.

Read the missing view

Missing means a source appears in at least one competitor export and not in your eligible records. Shared means both sides contain it. Target only means it appears in your export but none of the competitors supplied. The match count measures how many competitor datasets contain that source; it does not measure authority or quality.

Start with sources shared by several competitors, then inspect the referring pages and the reason for each citation. Relationship filters narrow the displayed evidence after membership has been calculated. They do not erase a source you already have and relabel it as missing.

For comparison workflows, see Ahrefs’ Link Intersect guide and Semrush’s Backlink Gap documentation. Those products query their own indexes; this tool compares the exports you supply.

Build a useful shortlist

A relevant resource list, an editorial citation and a sitewide footer link need different follow-up. Read the source, check its audience and confirm the link still exists. Look for a genuine reason your page belongs there: stronger evidence, a current resource or a useful contribution. Several competitor matches alone do not justify an outreach email.

Export the filtered source table as CSV, or keep the complete JSON report with import coverage and evidence samples. Counts represent distinct imported records, not independently verified backlink totals. The tool does not fetch source pages, query Google’s index or invent traffic and authority scores. Imports and reports are not stored by this plugin; avoid including confidential notes in your files.

Once the shortlist is reviewed, the blogger outreach service can help research publishers and coordinate suitable opportunities. For a broader campaign plan, use the Link Velocity Planner alongside your existing acquisition data.