Why Marketing Agencies need this
Client acquisition tops the agency worry list, and once a client signs, you still have to show link progress every month. Most agencies handle both by hand: opening competitor sites, guessing who might link to a client, and pasting notes into a spreadsheet that never gets reused. The Link Intersect / Backlink Gap tool gives you a faster first pass. Enter two competitors of one client, add the client's own site if you like, and you get the domains that link to both rivals, ranked by SeoMods' own Authority score, plus a second view of the external domains the two pages you entered link out to. For a marketing agency, that is the raw material for a prospect list you can refine per client and per campaign. It is a starting point, not a finished plan: the big platforms crowd the top, the data covers each site's 500 strongest referring domains, and nothing here tells you whether a site accepts outreach. Used well, it replaces an afternoon of tab-hopping with a short, checkable list, and it gives you something concrete to show a client who asks what link work is happening.
Marketing Agencies specific guidance
Choosing the pair and the client site
Start with one client and the two rivals that outrank them for the term the client cares about. Paste both competitor URLs; the first block compares at domain level, so a homepage or a main resource page such as https://rival-one.example/resources/ works fine. Fill in Your site with the client's domain so anything already among their 500 strongest referring domains drops off. Five minutes of setup is enough, so do not queue ten pairs yet. One run covers exactly two competitors and one client, so repeat per pair. A short list for a small or new competitor proves nothing about missing links, because the index keeps growing and coverage is never complete.
Reading the table without chasing giants
The top rows of a well-linked competitor are usually big platforms such as Google, Cloudflare, Wikipedia, GitHub, Medium or Shopify, because they link almost everywhere. Skip them and scroll to the niche names further down. Authority is SeoMods' own 0-100 score, so label it that way in client reports and never as DA or DR. Open the first ten niche domains in tabs and note what each one is: a directory, a publication, a partner, an association. The table does not show the linking page, anchor text, rel attribute or date, and it cannot tell you whether a site is relevant, spammy or open to guest contributions. For those details, run the Backlink Checker on one competitor.
Order of work after the list
First, check each shortlisted domain against the client's real profile, since a domain outside their top 500 can stay on the list while already linking to them. Second, copy the keepers into your own sheet, one tab per client, because the tool has no export, saved list or outreach feature. Third, find a contact by hand and pitch something specific: a data point, a resource, a correction. Resist templated pages built only to win links; Google treats mass-produced pages made to manipulate rankings as spam. A finished list promises no replies and no links, so report activity and confirmed placements honestly, not expected outcomes.
Example scenarios
1. Week-one prospect list for a new retainer
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A new client sells appointment software and sits behind two rivals. The account manager wants a first link prospect list before the week-one call.
- Input
- Competitor A:
https://rival-one.example/| Competitor B:https://rival-two.example/blog/| Your site:https://client.example/ - Reading the result
- The cards show each rival's referring-domain total, Shared domains, and Already link to you. Suppose the table fills with 100 shared domains: the first 15 or so are big platforms to skip, and from around row 20 a few niche practice-management blogs and a trade association appear. Shortlist those, verify the client's profile, and treat the rest as unvetted.
2. Answering the client who asks what link work happened
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A retainer client questions the link line in the monthly report, so you compare two rival roundup pages to show a defensible pool of targets.
- Input
- Competitor A:
https://rival-one.example/best-crm-tools/| Competitor B:https://rival-two.example/crm-reviews/ - Reading the result
- In the Link Intersect Overview you might see A links to 62, B links to 48 and Both (prospects) 9. Those nine chips are domains both pages link out to, perhaps review sites and a comparison directory. They are outbound links on those two pages, not sites linking to the rivals, so describe them in the report as shared resources worth pitching.
3. A rival too heavily linked to compare
- Situation
- Illustrative example: An agency covers a regional landscaping client and picks the best-known national brand as one of the two rivals, hoping for a list of about 100 shared domains.
- Input
- Competitor A:
https://national-brand.example/| Competitor B:https://local-rival.example/services/| Your site:https://client.example/ - Reading the result
- A notice may appear instead of the 100-row shared-domain table because the larger site cannot be compared. Swap in a smaller rival, or use the Link Intersect Overview on two specific service pages. Do not tell the client no shared links exist; the notice says the comparison was not possible, nothing more.
Common mistakes
- Calling the whole list prospects. The top of the table is full of platforms that link everywhere. Niche candidates sit further down, and each one still needs a manual relevance check.
- Reporting Authority as DA or DR. The score is SeoMods' own 0-100 measure, not a Google metric and not Moz or Ahrefs. Label it correctly so a client does not compare it with another vendor's number.
- Describing outbound chips as backlinks. The chips in the Link Intersect Overview are domains the two entered pages link out to. They do not show who links to your client's competitors.
- Skipping the already-links-to-you check. Only your 500 strongest referring domains are removed from the list. Look at the client's full profile before emailing a site that may already link to them.
- Reading a short list as proof of no gap. New and small sites may be missing from the index. An empty or thin result says the data is thin, not that the competitors share no links.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get SEO clients using a backlink gap comparison?
Run a prospect's site against two of their rivals and bring the shared-domain cards and the first niche rows to the pitch call. It shows you have looked at their market, not just their homepage. Be straight about limits: coverage is the 500 strongest referring domains per site, it is not complete, and it says nothing about rankings. Offer it as a starting list you will vet by hand, never as a promise of links.
What can I put in SEO reporting for agencies from this tool?
You can report the referring-domain total of each competitor, the Shared domains count, how many already link to your client, and the niche rows you shortlisted. There is no export, so copy rows into your own report. Call the score SeoMods Authority. Since linking pages, anchor text and dates are not shown, run the Backlink Checker on a competitor when a client wants that detail.
Can I run this for several clients in one go?
No. Each run takes two competitors and one optional client site, and there is no project, saved list or batch mode. Run it once per client and rival pair, then keep your own sheet with one tab per account. That also keeps each client's already-linking domains separate, which matters because only that client's top 500 referring domains are removed from the shared list.
Does a gap list help with SEO client retention?
It gives you visible work to discuss each month: a vetted shortlist, outreach sent, placements confirmed. That is more convincing than a vague line about link building. It does not prove any link was earned or that rankings will move, so keep the report honest. When a placement does go live, confirm it with the Backlink Checker and note it separately from the prospect list.
Does it show who links to my client's competitor?
Partly. The first block lists domains that link to both competitors, taken from SeoMods' own link index at domain level and limited to each site's 500 strongest referring domains. The second block, the Link Intersect Overview, is different: it fetches the two pages you entered and shows the external domains they link out to. Neither block is a complete backlink profile, so never promise full coverage.
Reference: Before you turn any prospect list into mass outreach or a content push, read Google's spam policies on scaled content abuse, which define pages produced mainly to manipulate rankings rather than help users.