What enthralled me about using SEOmoz's Competitive Link Finder was not the raw stats. In fact, considering how early on in the SEO process I am with my current client, it was somewhat disheartening to see how strong the backlinks were to established competitor sites. What was a lot more interesting was to see the kind of sites that were providing my competitors backlinks. Some were resources I had never considered before, and as soon as they entered my mind, I knew I had a bevy of hundreds of sites to potentially seek for backlinks.

My client, CMP.Jobs, features an it job board that updates listings in real time. The dynamic job listings separates CMP.Jobs from a business standpoint, but creates a number of complications and frustrations for an SEO campaign. Since CMP.Jobs is a start-up, it also has to compete with many more established sites when it gets its foot in the SEO door.

However using Competitive Link Finder, I was able to compare CMP.Jobs to a handful of similar job sites with an IT focus. Most of these sites were well established, but what I was able to see where they got a number of their listings: from college career websites looking to supply recent graduates with job opportunities.

While most of the specific colleges mentioned were out of our target audience, just the idea of submitting our website to college career offices was enough. Within seconds, I had suddenly had hundreds of potential link building leads. It could be just as beneficial for career offices to know all the job sites at their disposal. Since universities have high quality links, many of which are .edu links, this would be a huge boon for me.

As in most things in the SEO process, what works in theory may not work in practice. I still have to send out hundreds of personalized emails, and I still have to make sure those emails fully convey the benefits of linking a career website. It's unclear just how strong the benefit would be. But because of Competitive Link Finder, I was able to get a qualitative sample of competitor links and a bevy of new ideas for how to approach link building. This service does not harm competitors; it doesn't take down their backlinks, and the information on their backlinks is in the public domain anyway. Instead, I got a tool that organized all that info within seconds, and allowed me to see new approaches.

Obtaining backlinks is the hardest part of an SEO campaign, one that requires the most creative effort, and with a high rate of failure. The Competitive Link Finder tool, in my mind, can only lead to innovation and collaboration of ideas, using information already available. New ideas for link building is beneficial for an individual SEO campaign, but in the long run, will probably benefit the entire SEO industry.