It’s been said that the best place to hide a dead body is the second page of the Google search results – and there may be more truth behind this morbid piece of advice than meets the ey

According to research conducted by Chitika Insights, the first page of Google’s search results accounts for a whopping 94 percent of all search traffic, with no more than a measly 6 percent of users ever venturing beyond the first page. Of those first page results, the first position attracts an average of 34 percent of all clicks to the page, while the 10th and last position receives a little less than 3 percent of the actio

The key concept that you need to understand is that the first page of the search results – no matter which industry or keyword you look at – is a zero sum game. There are only a fixed number of spots available on page one and if you want a piece of that lucrative digital real estate for your own business, you’re going to have to take it away from your competitors. In short: in the world of competitive SEO, somebody has to lose in order for you to gain.

How to Beat Out Your Competition with Their Own Backlink

Winning the SEO game requires a killer strategy that is able to knock off your competitors while not antagonizing Google by resorting to the “black hat” tactics that are no longer considered acceptable practice. One of the most effective methods of creating an unstoppable SEO strategy that will help catapult your web pages to the top of the search results is to legally steal your competitor’s backlinks and search engine rankings. While there a great many factors (more than 230 at last count) that determine search engine rankings, the top 10 results are most certainly being powered by the weight of theirbacklink profile

1. Conduct a Google search for the top 10 organic search results for a keyword that you wish to rank for. Enter the URL for each result into a spreadsheet or on notepad
2. The next step is to find all of the backlinks for each URL. This requires the use of backlink checker tools. Because the various tools rely on different databases, you’ll have to use multiple backlink checkers and combine the data in order to obtain an accurate and complete understanding of each URL’s backlink profile.
   Ahrefs consistently returns the greatest number of backlinks, and is available in both free and paid versions. The free version provides a large amount of data but only shows the top 10 backlinks for each result. Paid plans start at $79 per month and allow more extensive backlink research.
   Second choice is the Majestic SEO tool, also available in free as well as paid versions. Structured similarly to Ahrefs, Majestic limits your research to the top 10 backlinks with the free version, with upgrades available from around $79 monthly.
   The third recommended backlink checker is from SEO Spyglass, part of the SEO PowerSuite from LinkAssistant.com. This tool allows you to examine up to 1,100 backlinks at no charge for each URL you submit. A paid version provides for unlimited search and analysis for a one-time fee of $299.
3. Now you need to enter all of the backlinks found into your spreadsheet or notepad file. Remove any duplicates in your list with the free DupeRemove tool.
4. Your list is likely going to be quite large and will need to be trimmed down to find only the best backlinks. RankCracker is an excellent free tool developed by Matthew Woodward that will help you determine if the backlinks are still live, indexed by Google, and have any PR value.
5. Replicate the links by pasting them into your web browser one at a time, seeing where they originated, and applying a little common sense. If the link is from a blog comment, go to the appropriate blog and enter a relevant comment of your own. If the link relates to a guest post, email the blog owner with an offer of submitting an original and informative guest post of your own. If you come across any dead links, you could email the webmaster of the site that provided the link and offer to replace the article with one of your own.

While analyzing and hijacking your competition’s backlinks is hardly a new trick, it’s a highly effective one and well worth the effort. Many of the necessary tools are free to use, and it’s an ideal strategy for newbie marketers with little solid SEO experience under their belt. Even experienced pros can use these tips to jump-start their SEO efforts on new sites, adding more costly and time-consuming techniques only if the backlink hijacking method fails to achieve page one ranking results.