How do I set up a link index for reviewing referring domains and competitor link building?

A good link index is basically a searchable database of backlinks and referring domains so you can review:

• who links to you
• who links to competitors
• which pages attract links
• what types of links are earning
• gaps you can target for outreach

Here’s a practical way to set one up.

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1) Decide what your link index needs to track

At minimum, include these fields:

• Source URL — the page linking out
• Source domain — referring domain
• Target URL — your page or competitor page being linked to
• Target domain
• Anchor text
• Link type — editorial, resource, guest post, directory, etc.
• Follow / nofollow / sponsored / UGC
• First seen
• Last seen
• Status — active, lost, redirected
• Language / country if relevant
• Topic / niche
• Authority metrics — DA/DR, traffic, estimated value, etc.
• Placement context — in-content, footer, sidebar, author bio
• Notes / outreach opportunity

If you want this for competitor analysis, also track:

• Competitor name
• Why they got the link
• Linkable asset type — guide, tool, study, infographic, listicle, etc.

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2) Choose your data source

You have three common options:

Option A: SEO tools only

Use tools like:

• Ahrefs
• Semrush
• Majestic
• Moz
• Similarweb (supporting traffic context)

Best if you want faster setup and less manual work.

Option B: Your own spreadsheet + exports

Export backlink/referring domain data from one or more tools into:

• Google Sheets
• Airtable
• Notion database
• Excel

Best if you want flexibility and low cost.

Option C: Full database + automation

Use:

• BigQuery / Postgres / Airtable / Sheets
• API pulls from SEO tools
• Automation via Zapier / Make / n8n

Best if you want ongoing monitoring at scale.

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3) Build the structure

A simple setup usually works best.

Table 1: Referring domains

One row per domain.

Columns:

• Referring domain
• Total links to your site
• Total links to competitors
• DR/DA
• Estimated organic traffic
• Top categories
• Country
• Spam score
• Notes
• Outreach status

Table 2: Backlinks

One row per individual link.

Columns:

• Source URL
• Source domain
• Target URL
• Target domain
• Anchor text
• Link attribute
• Placement
• First seen
• Last seen
• Status
• Notes

Table 3: Competitors

One row per competitor.

Columns:

• Competitor domain
• Brand name
• Main keywords
• Priority
• Notes

Table 4: Opportunities

One row per prospect or tactic.

Columns:

• Referring domain
• Prospect type
• Why it matters
• Contact info
• Outreach status
• Priority
• Result

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4) Import your own backlink data

Start with your site.

Pull from Ahrefs/Semrush/Majestic:

• all referring domains
• all backlinks
• lost backlinks
• new backlinks
• best links
• broken links

Clean the data:

• deduplicate domains
• normalize URLs
• remove obvious spam
• standardize follow/nofollow labels
• group by root domain

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5) Add competitor backlink data

Choose 3–10 competitors.

For each competitor, export:

• referring domains
• backlinks
• new/lost links
• best links
• link intersect data if available

Then merge into your index and tag each record by competitor.

This lets you answer:

• Which domains link to multiple competitors but not us?
• Which content types earn the most links?
• Which pages are consistently attracting links?

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6) Create useful views and filters

This is where the index becomes valuable.

Helpful filters

• competitor vs your site
• follow vs nofollow
• by industry/topic
• by authority threshold
• by country/language
• by link type
• by link status
• new vs lost links

Useful reports

• Link intersect report: domains linking to competitors but not you
• Top referring domains
• Top linked pages
• Lost link recovery list
• High-authority prospects
• Resource page prospects
• Unlinked brand mention opportunities

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7) Score prospects for link building

Add a simple scoring system, for example:

• DR/DA: 1–5
• Relevance: 1–5
• Traffic: 1–5
• Link placement quality: 1–5
• Outreach feasibility: 1–5

Then create a total score.

This helps prioritize:

• high-relevance links first
• easy wins first
• high-value competitor gaps next

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8) Set a review workflow

A good recurring process:

Weekly

• add new referring domains
• check new/lost links
• review competitor gains
• identify new prospects

Monthly

• compare link growth vs competitors
• review best-performing content
• refresh outreach list
• clean spam or low-quality domains

Quarterly

• identify major gaps
• update competitor set
• assess link velocity and authority trends

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9) Automate where possible

If you want less manual work, automate:

• API pulls from Ahrefs/Semrush/Majestic
• scheduled CSV imports
• deduplication by root domain
• tagging based on keyword/topic rules
• alerts for new competitor links
• alerts for lost links

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10) Keep the index usable

A link index fails when it becomes noisy.

Best practices:

• keep the schema simple
• use consistent tags
• separate domain-level and URL-level data
• archive old/unhelpful rows
• build dashboards instead of only raw data
• document definitions for link types and statuses

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Simple starter setup

If you want the fastest path:

Use:

• Google Sheets or Airtable
• Ahrefs exports
• 3–5 competitors

Build:

1. Referring Domains tab
2. Backlinks tab
3. Competitors tab
4. Opportunities tab
5. Filters by competitor, authority, link type, status

Weekly routine:

• import new backlinks
• export competitor link changes
• tag opportunities
• prioritize outreach

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If you want competitor link building specifically

Focus on these analyses:

• Link intersect
• Best-linked pages
• Content format comparison
• New links acquired in last 30/90 days
• Editorial vs directory ratio
• Top linking domains by niche relevance
• Anchor text patterns

That tells you not just who links, but why they linked and what you should build next.

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If you want, I can also give you:

1. a Google Sheets template structure,
2. an Airtable schema, or
3. a step-by-step Ahrefs + Sheets workflow for this.