So you’re building backlinks without actually knowing how many you need.
Just guessing. Building like 10 here, maybe 20 there and hoping it’s enough. That’s not really how this works.
If a specific focus keyword actually matters to your business, you need a real plan. You need to know exactly how many backlinks it takes to rank.
I’m going to show you how we calculate that number and then actually go build the links.
What Backlinks Actually Do
Backlinks are basically votes of confidence from other websites. They signal to Google that your content is credible and worth ranking.
When high-quality relevant sites link to you, it tells search engines your content is trustworthy in your niche. This directly influences where you rank.
Sites with strong backlink profiles usually rank higher, get more organic traffic and maintain visibility long term. So you need to understand backlink gap analysis.
Backlink Gap Analysis
It’s how you identify backlink opportunities by comparing your profile to your competitors.
The goal is finding websites that link to your competitors but not to you. This gives you a targeted list of who to reach out to.
It also answers how many backlinks you actually need. Sounds complicated but it’s not once you get the process.
How to Do It
There are four steps.
1. Identify Search Competitors
Your competitors are whoever’s ranking top 3 on Google. It’s not always your business competitors. Could be industry blogs, Reddit threads, whatever’s ranking really.
2. Gather Backlink Data
Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Majestic. Pull each competitor’s backlink profile.
3. Compare Profiles
This is how you figure out the gap between them and you. Find domains linking to one or more competitors that haven’t linked to you yet.
4. Prioritize Opportunities
Filter for the strongest opportunities. Site authority, traffic, relevance, trustworthiness.
Why This Works
Backlink gap analysis tells you precisely how many backlinks you need to compete.
There are three big reasons this matters:
Reveals proven link sources - If a site links to your competitor they’re way more likely to link to similar content. You’re not wasting time cold-pitching random sites.
Saves time - You’re targeting domains already linking in your niche. Way higher conversion rates than other prospecting methods.
Closes ranking gaps - Your competitors are getting SEO advantages from their backlinks. Targeting the same sources helps you catch up or pass them.
Calculating Your Number
Let me show you exactly how to do this with Ahrefs Keyword Explorer.
Example: “best accounting software for startups”
This is a bottom of funnel keyword. Drives conversions if you rank.
Pull it up in Ahrefs. You’ll see in the screenshot below under Keyword Difficulty, It estimates you need 3 referring domains to rank top 10.
We don’t care about top 10. We want top 3 where the clicks actually happen.
Scroll down and look at what the top 3 have.
Position 1: 55 backlinks
Position 2: 1 backlink
Position 3: 15 backlinks
Average is about 24 backlinks. That’s your number.
Now this assumes you’re competing on an even playing field. Meaning:
Your website has similar site authority (domain rating).
Your content satisfies search intent just as well as theirs.
And your website demonstrates trust signals to readers and to Google.
If your site authority is way lower you’re going to need more backlinks because you’re playing catch up.
If your content also doesn’t satisfy search intent or show trust, you need to fix that first.
Otherwise, building backlinks won’t really help.
This Is Ongoing
Backlinks are one of the most powerful ranking factors but not all links are equal so stop chasing random numbers.
Understand your competition and close the gap. Target opportunities that actually align with your industry and audience.
Combine backlink gap analysis with relevant link building. This creates a roadmap that tells you how many backlinks you need and makes sure they actually contribute to lasting rankings.
Link building isn’t one and done. It’s ongoing. Competitors are constantly improving their profiles and algorithms keep changing.
Being proactive about this makes sure you keep pace and actually surpass them over time.
If You Want Us to Handle This
We run backlink campaigns for SaaS and B2B companies. Our strategies close the gap and get you ranking.
Check out our backlink services: spacebarcollective.com/services/backlink-building
Chris Tweten - Founder & CMO @Spacebar Collective