SEO SpyGlass Tutorial: Steal Your Competitors’ Best Ranking Traffic
Link building remains a primary ranking factor in modern search engine optimization. Instead of guessing which links will move the needle for your website, you can use SEO SpyGlass to replicate the exact backlink strategy of your top-ranking competitors.
This guide demonstrates how to analyze competitor backlink profiles, identify high-value link opportunities, and systematically outrank your competition. Step 1: Discover and Map Your True Competitors
You cannot steal traffic until you know exactly who holds it. While you may know your direct business competitors, your search engine competitors are often completely different websites. Action Steps: Launch SEO SpyGlass and select New Project. Enter your website URL to establish your baseline profile.
Navigate to the Domain Comparison module in the left-hand sidebar. Click Add Domains and enter up to five competing URLs.
Review the Intersection Chart to see overlapping keyword footprints. Step 2: Uncover the Competitor Link Intersection
The easiest links to acquire are the ones that already point to multiple competitors. If a website links to three of your rivals, they are highly likely to link to you as well. Action Steps: Navigate to Domain Comparison > Link Intersection.
Set the filter to show domains that link to All Competitors. Exclude domains that already link to your own website.
Sort the remaining list by InLink Rank to prioritize high-authority sites.
Export this curated list as a CSV file for your initial outreach campaign. Step 3: Filter for High-Authority, Low-Risk Backlinks
Not all competitor links are worth stealing. Pursuing low-quality or spammy links can trigger search engine penalties and damage your domain authority. Action Steps: Go to the Backlink Profile module and click on Backlinks. Add the Penalty Risk column to your main workspace view.
Filter out any referring domains with a penalty risk score above 50%.
Filter for Dofollow links to ensure equity transfers to your site.
Look for contextually relevant blogs, resource pages, and industry directories. Step 4: Identify Competitor Top-Performing Content
To steal traffic, you need to understand which specific pages attract the most links. Replicating their content framework allows you to offer a superior alternative to their link partners. Action Steps: Navigate to Backlink Profile > Top Pages.
Sort the pages by Backlink Count and Unique Linking Domains.
Analyze the anchor text distribution for those specific pages.
Identify the format of the top pages (e.g., ultimate guides, free tools, infographics).
Create a significantly better, more updated version of that content on your site. Step 5: Execute the Outreach and Substitution Campaign
With your superior content live and your highly targeted prospect list ready, you can begin the process of diverting competitor link equity to your domain. Action Steps: Open your exported Link Intersection CSV spreadsheet.
Locate the exact page where the competitor link exists using the Penalty Risk tab.
Find the editorial contact information for each target website. Reach out with a personalized, value-first email pitch.
Point out outdated information in the competitor’s link and offer your new resource as a superior replacement.
To make this tutorial more practical for your business, tell me a bit more about your industry niche, the approximate size of your website, and which specific competitor you want to target first. I can then provide custom outreach templates and tailored filtering criteria for your project.