@Nick_zv_: Your competitor: 30,000 backli...

Your competitor: 30,000 backlinks, ranking #1

You: 200 backlinks, ranking page 7

Here’s EXACTLY how you’re going to outrank them.

(The exact process we used for 10s of clients) 🧵

1/ Most people see their competitor's backlink count and quit immediately.

"They have 30k backlinks, I can never catch up!"

Wrong.

Your competitor doesn't actually have 30k backlinks.

They have maybe 200 REAL ones.

Let me show you the math 👇

2/ Step 1: Find Your Real Competitor

Not the biggest brand in your space.

Find competitors who:

- Rank for YOUR target keywords
- Have similar domain age
- Operate in your niche
- Actually compete for the same traffic

Pick your top 3 direct competitors.

3/ Step 2: Run the Backlink Audit

Plug competitor #1 into Ahrefs or Semrush.

Go to Backlink Analytics.

Before you freak out at the number you see...

Apply these filters 👇

4/ The Essential Filters:

✓ Dofollow links only
✓ Active links only

✓ One link per referring domain

Why?

Nofollow = no SEO value

Dead links = don't count

Multiple links from same domain = minimal extra value

Watch the number DROP dramatically.

5/ Real Example:

Competitor shows: 30,000 backlinks

After filters: 1,394 backlinks

That's a 97% reduction.

Feeling better already?

But we're not done yet...

6/ Step 3: Export to CSV

Download all remaining backlinks.

Now comes the manual work (or hire a VA for $5/hour).

Time to eliminate the garbage 👇

7/ Remove These Junk Links:

❌ Scraper sites (auto-generated garbage)
❌ Low-quality directories
❌ Links from search engines
❌ Backlink farms
❌ Foreign spam domains
❌ Sites with zero traffic
❌ Completely irrelevant niches

This is where the REAL number emerges.

8/ The Final Number:

After removing all junk - you get ONLY 124 REAL backlinks

See what just happened?

Your "impossible" competitor suddenly has just 124 quality links.

Now we can work with that.

9/ Step 4: Audit YOUR Backlinks

Run your own domain through the same process:

1. Apply the same filters
2. Export to CSV
3. Remove junk links manually
4. Count your REAL backlinks

Let's say you end up with 50 quality links.

10/ Step 5: Calculate the Gap

Competitor: 124 real backlinks
You: 50 real backlinks

Gap: 74 backlinks

This is your target.

Now let's figure out your timeline 👇

11/ Step 6: Set Your Timeline

Option A - Aggressive (6 months):
74 ÷ 6 = 12-13 links per month

Option B - Moderate (12 months):
74 ÷ 12 = 6-7 links per month

Option C - Conservative (18 months):
74 ÷ 18 = 4-5 links per month

Pick what's realistic for your budget/time.

12/ My Recommendation:

Aim for 8-10 quality backlinks per month.

This is:

- Achievable without spending $10k/month
- Fast enough to see results
- Sustainable long-term
- Won't trigger any red flags

Here's how to actually hit this target 👇

13/ The Link-Building Breakdown:

To get 8-10 links per month, do this:

- 3-4 guest posts
- 2-3 HARO/journalist features
- 2-3 resource page mentions
- 1-2 broken link replacements

This diversifies your link profile.

And it's 100% doable.

14/ Guest posting strategy example:

Find 50 blogs in your niche.

Send THIS pitch:

"Hey {Name},

Saw [competitor] is ranking #1 for [keyword], but you’re not targeting it just yet.

I’d love to help! I’ll write a 2,500 word, Surfer-optimized blog for the keyword, all I’m asking for is a single link back to my site.

⏭️

Does that sound like a fair deal?

You can check out some of my samples here: [link]

- Nick"

15/ Track Everything:

Create a Google Sheet with:

- Date acquired
- Source domain
- Link type
- DR of linking site
- Target page
- Anchor text
- Status (active/dead)

This helps you stay on target and spot patterns.

16/ The Math Gets Better:

Here's the secret:

While you're building 8-10 links per month...

Your competitor is probably building 2-3 (if any).

So you're not just catching up.

You're actually PASSING them.

Math works in your favor.

17/ Common Mistakes to Avoid:

❌ Buying cheap bulk links
❌ Only building to homepage
❌ Ignoring link relevance
❌ Using exact match anchors too much
❌ Getting links too fast (looks unnatural)
❌ Not tracking what you build

Quality > Quantity. Always.

18/ The Bottom Line:

Your competitor's 50,000 backlinks?

It's actually 124.

You need 8-10 quality links per month.

That's 2-3 per week.

Totally achievable.

Stay consistent for 12 months, and you'll catch up.

It's just math.