Spoiler: the number is often much lower than you’d imagine. That’s because it’s not just about quantity — the strategy is what truly matters. Here’s how to accurately determine how many links your content needs to rank where it’s seen and clicked (this approach is used by experts like Robbie Richards). Plus, how to prioritize properly, which pages to promote first, and how many links to build monthly to stay at the top — and keep your competitive edge.
Identify priority pages for link building
Every website has dormant potential — pages that are close to the top but haven’t reached full visibility yet. They generate some traffic but fall short of their full potential. These are the ones you should boost first.
How to find them?
- Look into your site’s structure. Commercial pages are often under subfolders like /products or /services. Go to Ahrefs, Semrush, or any other SEO tool and check which pages are ranking between positions 4–10. These are your targets.
- Think like a potential customer. If your site doesn’t have a clear structure — no problem. Look for keywords with modifiers like “best,” “comparison,” “review,” “for business,” etc. — these queries show purchase or decision intent. If you find them, move forward.
Build a priority matrix for pages:
- SERP position (4–10)
- Search volume of keywords
- Conversion value of the page
Example: A page like /product/project-management-tool ranking 7th for “project management software for teams” (2,400 searches/month) and offering a $49/month subscription is a much higher priority than a blog post ranking 4th for “how to organize team tasks,” which only brings informational traffic with no direct conversion.
Analyze SERP data
Before launching an active link-building campaign, you need a clear understanding of who your competitors are and what “level of play” they’ve already set.
Go to Ahrefs, Serpstat, or a similar platform and analyze the top 10 results for your target keywords. What should you focus on first?
- How many unique domains are linking to these pages. Don’t confuse this with total backlinks — the number of referring domains (not duplicate links) is what reflects the strength of their position.
- Which domains are linking. Links from authoritative and topically relevant sites carry much more weight than random mentions on questionable sources. The rule here is: not more, but smarter.
This kind of analysis is your benchmark — showing how far (or close) you are from your target spot in the TOP. And what exactly you’ll need to get there.
Let’s say for the query “best CRM for small business,” the top results look like this:
- HubSpot (DR 93, 235 domains)
- Zoho (DR 89, 192 domains)
- G2 Crowd blog (DR 85, 212 domains)
Your site has DR 40 and 12 referring domains. You can’t join the “mega battle” until you reach at least 50+ quality domains with DR 30–60, focusing on niche-relevant partners.
Analyze competitors’ backlink profiles
Not all backlinks impact rankings equally. So before you set a target, break down your competitors’ backlink profiles by quality — not just quantity.
Here’s a simple filter that works:
- Dofollow only. Ignore anything that doesn’t pass SEO value, and keep only those links that actually influence rankings.
- DR 30 and above. Skip mentions from sites with questionable reputations — low authority offers minimal benefit.
- The domain must have some traffic. If no one visits the site, why would you want its link? Set a filter: traffic > 1. It’s a quick way to eliminate “dead” backlinks.
After this filtering, you’ll get a clear picture: which channels competitors use most often, how many of their links actually work, and how many quality mentions you need to boost your rankings.
Segment competitor links in a Google Sheet:
- Export backlinks from Ahrefs (Backlinks → Export CSV)
- Filter by: Type: Dofollow, DR ≥ 30, Traffic ≥ 1
- Add a column: “Link Type” (guest post, content partnership, link in review, etc.)
Evaluate the authority distribution of referring domains
The next step is to understand which websites link to your competitors and whether it makes sense to aim for the same mentions.
- DR 70+ means high trust.Links from domains with a high Domain Rating are valuable assets. They carry significantly more weight than links from lower-authority sources and can give your site a serious push. But they’re also harder to get — so you need to know where to focus your efforts.
For example, if a competitor has a dozen mentions from DR80+ sites and a similar number from DR70–79, replicating that will be challenging.
Open the referring domains list in a tool like Ahrefs to see exactly how your competitors are building their backlink profiles.
- Topical relevance matters.Not all strong links are equally useful. If the site linking to you is off-topic, search algorithms may barely notice it. But links from relevant websites in your niche send a clear trust signal to search engines within a specific field of expertise.
This analysis gives you clarity on which types of backlinks actually move content in your niche — so you can aim for the right domains: authoritative, relevant, and with real traffic.
A good strategy is a mix: links from DR 30–50 (easier to get) plus a few powerful DR 70+ backlinks. This helps grow your link profile quickly while also gaining authority from trusted sources.
Define the pace: how many links you need monthly
You already know roughly how many backlinks you need, what quality to aim for, and what strategies can help you get them. But for truly competitive pages, one-off efforts won’t cut it.
The top results change monthly. Competitors keep fueling their rankings with fresh links — and to stay “in the game,” you need to keep up.
So, how do you know how many links to build consistently?Go to Ahrefs and switch to the New backlinks report.
- Check activity over the past 1, 3, and 6 months — this shows how fast your competitors are growing their link profiles, and how many links per month you’ll need to keep your rankings stable.
In SEO, it’s not just about quality — it’s also about rhythm. If your link building is consistent, your site keeps pace and stays visible in search results.
Conclusion
By knowing how to calculate the number of backlinks your content actually needs to rank well, you can plan your promotion strategy more precisely and allocate your resources effectively.
Not every page needs a large-scale campaign. Start with the highest-priority ones — those already close to the TOP. Often, just a few quality backlinks from relevant and trusted sources are enough to push a page to the top positions.
Relevance, quality, and strategy — that’s what really works in search.
