How to build quality backlinks using SEMrush's three core tools

Executive overview

Good content alone won't rank if no site links to it. Backlinks are votes of confidence that tell Google a page is trustworthy — the more authoritative the linking site, the more weight the vote carries.

SEMrush provides three tools to systematically find and pursue backlink opportunities: Backlink Analytics (broken link building), the Link Building Tool (outreach), and the Backlink Gap Tool (competitor gap analysis).

The fastest path to quality backlinks is finding problems on other websites — broken links, gaps in competitor coverage — and offering your content as the fix.

What makes a backlink valuable

• Authority score of the linking domain determines how much weight it passes
• Follow links count as full votes; nofollow, sponsored, and UGC links carry less weight
• Referring domains matter more than raw backlink count — links from many different sites outperform multiple links from one
• Anchor text signals relevance — links using descriptive keywords help Google understand what your page is about
• Buying links risks Google penalties, including removal from search results entirely

Broken link building (Backlink Analytics tool)

• Go to Link Building > Backlink Analytics, enter a competitor's URL, click Analyze
• Navigate to the Indexed Pages tab and check the Broken Pages filter
• Results show pages that no longer exist, sorted by number of domains still linking to them
• Each broken page is a potential opportunity: if you have (or can create) a relevant replacement page, you have a pitch
• Use Ctrl+F on the linking page to locate the broken anchor text and confirm the fit
• Reach out to the site owner via email, social, or contact form — fixing a broken link is low effort for them and high value for you

Link Building Tool (prospect outreach)

• Go to Link Building Tool, enter your domain, then add relevant keywords (not the auto-suggestions)
• SEMrush generates a prospect list of sites linking to competitors or ranking for your target keywords
• Always open and inspect each prospect before adding it to your in-progress list
• In the In Progress tab, select an outreach strategy (e.g. guest post, directory listing) per prospect
• SEMrush auto-finds contact emails and pre-fills an email template with variable placeholders
• Customise the subject and body, save as a template, and send directly from the tool

Backlink Gap Tool (competitor comparison)

• Go to Competitive Research > Backlink Gap, enter your domain alongside one or more competitors
• Default view shows domains linking to all competitors but not to you — the highest-priority targets
• Click the arrow on any row to see which specific pages on competitors' sites are being linked to
• Use this to find comparison pages, list posts, directories, and broken link opportunities across multiple competitors at once
• Prioritise sites with high authority scores and content that logically fits a link to your page