Link building is still an effective tactic in digital marketing. However, it doesn’t stand alone. The release and continuous update of Penguin algorithm (now a part of the core algorithms) push link builders and webmasters to optimize their sites through other methods besides link building. Hence, the SEO community shifts to other marketing campaigns such as content marketing, social media, pay-per-click, and others to achieve a higher conversion rate or ROI.

Though the Penguin algorithm makes link building difficult, it successfully regarded links on a higher standard. One must become creative and thorough to earn valuable links. Checking a competitor’s strategy and surveying its site for weak spots is one way to come up with a link building strategy. Reverse engineering a competitor’s backlinks is another link building strategy 2018 to add to SEO company Philippines tactics.

 

Reverse Engineering Defined

Based on the definition of Dictionary.com, to reverse engineer is to study or analyze a device or a product of technology to learn its details – design, construction, and operation – to produce a copy or an improved version. Applying the concept of reverse engineering in link building allows you to examine their links, spy on their tactics, and [maybe] replicate their sites.

Reverse engineering is ideal to find out how a competitor or a similar site rank on the SERP. It’s also a way to discover new opportunities to grow a site. It widens outreach and enables link builders to become creative in their approach. It can be a means to copy site content or steal competitor’s inbound links. It can also be both. Both paths will still end with copying their strategy.

 

Becoming Successful with Reverse Engineering

Before gathering websites from the SERP, it’s essential to know which market to target. It’s best to tap on the market with the biggest demographic relevant to the chosen keyword. Ensure to use all possible keyword combinations from generic short phrases to long-tail. That way, competitors will vary. Target small companies, blogs, and small websites. When done with those, go for authority sites ranking the chosen keyword. Compile the list of domains to be used as the reference.

After gathering the list of competitor sites, there are three ways to become successful in reverse engineering. Plan link building strategies based on the methods below.

1. Copying the other site’s content marketing campaign

Since the Panda algorithm, content became the key to being a valuable website in the digital community. However, everyone is already doing the same thing. It’s difficult to stand out especially when someone is already ahead in the game. Still, there are ways to reproduce content that’s already out there.

Replicating content is a way to come up with fresh content. Rewriting the piece or transforming it into a photo or video gives audiences something new without being entirely the same. Another way to hack their marketing campaign is by contacting the author. The maker of the content can provide insights regarding the deal or process of posting the author’s work on a site.

Last but not the least, surveying the website’s best-linked content (sites with the most backlinks) for patterns in the content topics, style, length, and format gives a picture of their plans as well as the trend which the market is most responsive.

2. Identifying their weak spots

Finding the pages that lost the most links is a chance to recreate the content and acquire the link.

3. Aiming for unique links and desired links

Unique links from a competitor’s site are backlinks with no matches. These can be called gems as they are the only website in the industry that got a referral. It is valuable especially if the site has high DA. At the same time, anticipating their desired links gives an advantage as it becomes a source of the link without breaking a sweat.

 

The Drawback of Reverse Engineering

It’s crucial to note that not all sites are trustworthy. Some of them may use black-hat SEO. Therefore, linking from them won’t help with SERP ranking. Using link research tools to analyze the health of the backlinks from each competitor will help filter through the list. Checking them manually is time-consuming but worth the effort.

Like any other link building strategy for 2018, it pays to figure out the why’s and the how’s. Reverse engineering competitor’s backlinks require tools. A backlink analysis or backlink checker is the first step to figure out why and how they got the link. Build a strategy from there.

Understand that backlinks are like a vote of confidence. Reverse engineering shows the content that users look forward to seeing on the site. Hence, it’s link building technique that employs content marketing.