Link building is difficult as it is, but how on earth would you get your competitor to link to you? Links from competitors are the links that you want, especially if those competitors of yours are ranking high on Google. Google is saying that this a great resource on the topic, as evidenced by their ranking high. Google doesn't rank poor-quality sites highly. These are the sites you want to get links from.
Why would Apple link to Microsoft or Coke link to Pepsi? It seems obscene to try to get a link like this. They are voting(links are seen as votes for other resources) for your competitor. It is possible, however, with a bit of thinking and strategy.
- Create such magnetic content about the industry that they feel obliged to link to you. This will only work for out-of-this-world content that is super useful and helpful. It also works as a design firm; we at Media Surgery have picked up a handful of links over the years from other local design firms that admired our design. Sure, we are not talking dozens of links with this strategy, but a few meaningful links from other local agencies help a LOT.
- Broken link building - I covered broken link building a few weeks back. You would use a tool such as AHrefs or SemRush and run it on a competitor's site to see whether they have any broken links. You can then create content in place of what is broken, then outreach to your competitor to see if they can replace their broken link pointing to your newly created content. To supercharge this technique, you would also use the same tool to check other sites that are linking to this broken resource. Giving you more opportunities to reach out, asking if they want to fix their site by linking to your newly created resource.
- Round-ups - You could feature other design and development agencies in your area in a kind of round-up post. Some of these sites will be honoured to be featured and link back to your post. Sure, this technique involves 2-way linking and reciprocal linking, but that's ok. A 2 way linking exchange is better than not getting these links at all, especially if you really are playing catch-up to your competitors.
- Skyscraper technique - This is a classic link-building technique and involves using a tool like Ahrefs to analyse who your competitors are linking to. You then create content better than what your competitors are linking to. The next stage is to contact your competitor and politely ask them if they can link to your incredibly useful, helpful and interesting piece of content. Like the broken link building technique above, you can also see what others are linking to an inferior piece of content and do outreach to them, too, to see if they will update their link to your brilliant piece of content.
These 4 techniques are valid in 2026 and will garner you links. My weapon of choice is Craft CMS and use it to great effect for SEO, but these technciques work for any platform. Try and believe it’s possible to build beneficial links, even from competitors.
Written by John Macpherson