Link Intersect

Link Intersect is our competitive analysis tool that lets you see domains and pages which link to your competitors’ websites, but not yours.

link-intersect-01

Here are some actionable use cases for it.

Find listicles to get links from

Let's say that we want to build links to our free AI writing tools. A perfect place to do that would be in listicles that mention other similar tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, and Copy.ai.

So, open the Competitive Analysis tool and select “referring pages”. Then:

  1. Enter our page in the top section

  2. Enter some competitors’ pages in the bottom section

  3. Set all URLs to Exact URL mode since listicles mentioning tools usually link to homepages

link-intersect-02

Then hit Show link opportunities. This shows us all the referring pages that link to any of these homepages, but not to ours.

link-intersect-03

Not all of them will be relevant. To narrow them down, click on the Links to competitors dropdown and select All competitors.

link-intersect-04

To narrow in on just pages coming from authoritative websites, use the filters at the top. Select Do-follow and filter for DR: From 50. Then hit Show results.

link-intersect-05

This will give us a short list of pages that could potentially link back to us.

Find websites to build citations for local SEO

Let’s say that we want to build links for our fictional plumbing website. To do this, we first need to search on Google for plumbers in our city.

Next, open the Competitive Analysis tool and select “referring domains”.

  1. Enter our website in the top section

  2. Enter some top competitors’ domains in the bottom section

  3. Set all URLs to Exact URL mode since citation links usually point to the homepage of local service providers

link-intersect-06

Then, hit Show link opportunities. This shows us a list of domains, many of which are clearly directories where you can add your company’s details.

link-intersect-07
1
Content Gap
2:51
About this course

How to use Ahrefs

64 lessons
3h 24m
Learn practical ways to use Ahrefs' SEO tools and reports to improve SEO.

What you’ll learn

  • How to analyze yours and your competitors’ websites with Site Explorer

  • How to master keyword research with Keywords Explorer

  • How to improve your on-page and technical SEO with Site Audit

  • How to track and improve your Google rankings with Rank Tracker

  • How to discover untapped keyword and link building opportunities with Content Explorer

  • How to get keyword and link building opportunities on autopilot with Alerts

Course by

Andrei ȚițAndrei Țiț is a product marketer at Ahrefs. He develops content to help you make the most out of Ahrefs.
Sam OhSam Oh is VP of Marketing at Ahrefs. He incorporates his commitment to education and love for entrepreneurship into actionable and easy-to-digest tutorials.