How to Do a SaaS Backlink Gap Analysis (And Find High-Value Outreach Targets)

You've been there. A thousand cold emails go out, and the replies trickle in at maybe two or three. Not because your pitch was bad, but because your foundational approach to link building for SEO was broken before you ever opened your email client. You scraped a list of high-DR sites, fired off the same template to all of them, and hoped volume would make up for relevance. It never does.

A backlink gap analysis fixes that at the source. In short: it's the process of finding the pages already linking to your competitors so you can figure out which of those same pages would plausibly link to you too, based on real topical overlap instead of a domain authority number. Do it right and you walk into outreach with a list of sites that have already shown interest in your exact space, not a random pile of strangers.

Here's how to actually run one.

Step 1: Pull Your Competitors' Real Backlink Profiles in Ahrefs

Most people stop at domain-level metrics. They check a competitor's overall DR, maybe skim the referring domains count, and call it research. That tells you almost nothing about which specific pages are worth targeting.

The real work happens at the page level.

1. Plug your top three SaaS competitors into Ahrefs Site Explorer.
2. Head to the Backlinks report, or Best by Links if you want a ranked view.
3. Filter out anything pointing to the homepage. You want links that go to feature pages, blog posts, and resource guides specifically.

Homepage links are usually the least useful data point here. They tend to come from directory listings, partnership pages, or one-off mentions you can't realistically replicate. The links pointing at actual content are the ones built around a specific topic, which means they're the ones you have a real shot at earning too.

Step 2: Filter for Relevance, Not Just Domain Rating

This is where most gap analyses go wrong. A DR 80 site sounds great on paper, but if it has zero connection to your product category, that link is doing very little for you even if you land it. Honing in on true topical alignment is how you scale link building without losing quality instead of chasing vanity metrics.

Instead of sorting by DR first, ask two questions about every referring page:

• Does this page actually talk about your sub-niche, or does it just mention SaaS in passing?
• Is this page already ranking for terms your buyers search for?

That second question is where Ahrefs' Organic Keywords report earns its keep. Pull up the referring page, check what it's ranking for, and cross-reference that against your own target keyword list. A page that ranks for three or four terms your buyers actually use is worth far more than a high-authority page that's never touched your topic.

Step 3: Spot the Content Gaps Worth Pitching

Once you've got a filtered list of relevant, already-ranking pages, the next job is finding your angle. You're not asking for a link as a favor. You're offering to fix something that's actually broken on their page.

Look for these three flaws specifically:

1. Outdated data. The page cites a study or stat from a few years back. Newer research exists, and you can point to it.
2. Missing competitors. A roundup or comparison post lists the older, more established tools in the space but skipped over yours or your client's, probably because it hasn't been updated since before you existed.
3. Incomplete guides. The post covers a complex topic at a surface level, with no real step-by-step breakdown. That's an opening for a more thorough resource.

Any one of these gives you a legitimate reason to reach out. It also means your email isn't competing with a hundred other generic pitches sitting in that person's inbox, because you're the only one who actually read their page closely enough to notice the gap.

Step 4: Build Your Master Outreach Prospecting Sheet

Before you draft a single email, get everything organized in one place. A simple spreadsheet with four columns does the job. A simple spreadsheet with four columns does the job and feeds right into your broader 7-step outreach system::

• Target URL: the page you're pitching.
• Referring Page & Content Flaw: what specifically is outdated, missing, or incomplete.
• Proposed Asset: your article or your client's page that fixes the gap.
• Custom Outreach Angle: a one-line note on how you'll frame the ask for that specific page.

This sheet becomes your single source of truth for the whole campaign. It also makes the actual email writing faster, since you're not starting from a blank page each time. You already know exactly what to say and why it's relevant to that one site.

Key Takeaways for SaaS Marketers

• A backlink gap analysis beats cold list-buying because it starts from proven relevance, not raw authority.
• Page-level data matters more than domain-level metrics. Look at what's actually linking to content, not just what's linking to a homepage.
• The best pitch angle usually comes from a real flaw in their existing content, not a generic "add my link" ask.
• Most of the work in a strong outreach campaign happens before the first email gets written. Research is roughly 80% of the job, copywriting is the other 20%.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a backlink gap analysis and a competitor backlink audit?

A competitor backlink audit usually looks at an entire competing domain to see all of their links in aggregate. A backlink gap analysis is more targeted: it specifically isolates the pages and content pieces driving your competitors' rankings so you can identify exact overlapping opportunities where your site can earn a contextual link.

Why should I filter out competitor homepage links during my analysis?

Homepage links are typically earned through generic directory listings, platform partnerships, or brand mentions that are nearly impossible for a newer or mid-sized SaaS site to replicate. Focusing your analysis on page-level links (such as blog posts, resource guides, and feature pages) gives you actionable targets built around a specific topic.

How many competitors should I include in a backlink gap analysis?

Starting with your top 3 to 5 direct SaaS competitors in Ahrefs is the sweet spot. Analyzing more than that often leads to data overload with diminishing returns, while fewer than three might miss key industry content trends.

What should I do if a target page has a content gap, but my site doesn't have an asset to fix it?

Instead of forcing an outreach pitch with an irrelevant page, use the gap as a content brief. Write a short, highly targeted resource on your own blog that explicitly solves that problem first, then launch your outreach campaign using that newly published asset.

Conclusion

If digging through Ahrefs reports and building prospecting sheets isn't how you want to spend your week, professional SaaS link building services like LinkyJuice can take on the entire gap analysis and target research process for your campaign, so you're only stepping in once the list is ready to go.