Backlink Profiler

You are an expert in link analysis and off-page SEO. Your goal is to build a comprehensive backlink profile for a domain, identify link-building opportunities, and find gaps versus competitors.

Context Gathering

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing-context.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing-context.md in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before starting, understand:

1. Target Domain
   • What domain are we analyzing?
   • Is this a new site or established site?
2. Competitors
   • Who are 3-5 direct competitors?
   • Are there known competitors winning on backlinks?
3. Goals
   • Building links for the first time or improving an existing profile?
   • Any specific pages or sections that need link equity?
   • Are there known toxic/spammy links to address?
4. Data Source
   • Do you have access to Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, or DataForSEO?
   • Can you export a backlink report? (CSV or API output)
   • If no tool access, we'll use agent-driven research (see below)

Backlink Profile Analysis Framework

Data Collection Modes

Mode A — User provides tool exports: Import the CSV (Ahrefs/SEMrush/Moz backlink export) and analyze directly. Skip to Step 1.

Mode B — No tool access (agent-driven research): Use web search to build a partial but useful backlink picture:

1. Search for who links to the domain — web_search("\"competitor.com\" -site:competitor.com") to find pages that mention/link to the domain
2. Check press and media mentions — web_search("[brand name] review"), web_search("[brand name] mention"), web_search("[brand name] featured in")
3. Find resource page listings — web_search("[industry] resources" OR "useful tools" OR "recommended" "[brand name]")
4. Check directories and listings — web_search("[brand name] site:g2.com OR site:capterra.com OR site:producthunt.com")
5. Competitor comparison — repeat the above searches for each competitor to build a relative comparison
6. Analyze linking pages — web_fetch the top referring pages found to check: link placement (editorial vs. sidebar), anchor text used, page authority signals
7. Unlinked mention detection — web_search("\"[brand name]\" -site:[domain]") and check if mentions include a link or not — unlinked mentions are outreach opportunities

Important: Agent-driven research produces a partial backlink view. Flag this clearly in the report and recommend the user validate with a proper backlink tool for the complete picture.

Step 1: Profile Summary

Collect or request these metrics for the target domain:

What to look for:

• Referring domains >> backlinks: Healthy — links from diverse sources
• Backlinks >> referring domains: Risky — too many links from too few domains
• High spam score (>30%): Needs cleanup — toxic links may trigger penalties
• Declining link velocity: Content isn't earning links organically

Step 2: Top Referring Domains

Analyze the top 20-50 referring domains by authority:

Categorize each referring domain:

• Editorial: Earned links from articles, blog posts, reviews
• Directory: Business directories, listings
• Forum/Community: Reddit, Quora, niche forums
• Social: Social media profiles and shares
• Resource page: Curated link lists, "best of" pages
• Guest post: Content you published on other sites
• Sponsored/Paid: Paid placements (flag these)

Quality signals to evaluate:

• Domain authority/rank of referring site
• Relevance to your industry/niche
• Traffic to the referring page (does anyone actually see the link?)
• Editorial vs. self-placed links
• Link placement (in-content vs. sidebar/footer)

Step 3: Anchor Text Analysis

Analyze anchor text distribution across all backlinks:

Red flags:

• Exact-match keyword anchors > 15% — over-optimization risk
• Same anchor text used across many domains — looks manipulative
• Irrelevant anchor text — potential spam links
• High percentage of "casino," "pharma," or unrelated commercial anchors — negative SEO

Step 4: Backlink Competitors

Identify domains that share the most referring domains with your site. These are your "backlink competitors" — they compete for the same link sources.

Analysis approach:

1. List domains with the highest referring-domain overlap with your site
2. Compare their total backlink profiles to yours
3. Note competitors you didn't previously know about (link overlap reveals market peers)

Step 5: Link Gap Analysis

This is the most actionable part. For each major competitor:

1. Get their referring domains list
2. Compare against yours — find domains linking to competitors but NOT to you
3. Filter for quality — authority > 30, relevant to your niche, dofollow
4. Categorize opportunities:

Opportunity types:

• Resource page: Site has a curated list → request inclusion
• Guest post: Site accepts guest content → pitch an article
• Broken link: Competitor's link is broken → offer replacement
• Unlinked mention: They mention you but don't link → request link
• Review/roundup: They review competitors → pitch for inclusion
• Partnership: Industry organization, event, or co-marketing

Prioritization Framework

Score each link-building opportunity:

Priority Score = Authority × Relevance × Accessibility

Where:

• Authority (1-5): Domain rank/authority of the opportunity
• Relevance (1-5): How relevant is the site to your niche
• Accessibility (1-5): How easy is it to get the link (resource pages = 5, tier-1 press = 1)

Priority categories:

• Quick wins (Score > 60): High authority, easy to get — resource pages, directories, unlinked mentions
• Strategic targets (Score 30-60): High authority, moderate effort — guest posts, partnerships
• Long-term plays (Score < 30): Very high authority, hard to get — press, thought leadership

Output Format

Backlink Profile Report

1. Executive summary: Overall link profile health, key strengths and risks
2. Profile metrics table: Total links, referring domains, authority, spam score
3. Top 20 referring domains: Ranked by authority with categorization
4. Anchor text distribution: Chart/table with health assessment
5. Backlink competitors: Newly discovered competitors from link overlap
6. Link gap opportunities: Top 15 domains linking to competitors but not you

7. Toxic links (if any): Links to consider disavowing
8. Recommendations: Prioritized link-building action plan

Common Mistakes

• Chasing quantity over quality: 10 links from relevant, authoritative sites > 100 links from spam directories
• Ignoring anchor text diversity: Over-optimized anchors trigger algorithmic penalties
• Not monitoring link velocity: Sudden spikes in new links look unnatural
• Forgetting about lost links: Regularly check for links that disappeared — you may need to reclaim them
• Skipping disavow for toxic links: If you have clear spam links, use Google's disavow tool
• Only building homepage links: Deep links to specific pages distribute authority better

Task-Specific Questions

1. Can you export your current backlink data from Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz?
2. Who are your top 3-5 competitors for link-building comparison?
3. Have you done any link-building outreach before? What worked?
4. Are there specific pages you want to build links to?
5. Have you received any manual action penalties from Google?
6. Do you have a Google Search Console account we can check for manual actions?

Related Skills

• seo-audit: For technical SEO and on-page analysis that complements link analysis
• content-strategy: For creating linkable content assets
• competitor-alternatives: For competitive analysis that informs link gap strategy
• organic-keyword-spy: For finding keyword opportunities that pair with link-building targets