Why it matters on an HVAC site
In the trades the intersect is usually short and unusually actionable, because the sites that link to several contractors tend to be suppliers, manufacturers, associations and local press rather than anything exotic.
It also tells you whether authority is the binding constraint at all. If the intersect is nearly empty and you already match the ranking set on domains, the problem is somewhere else and a link campaign will not fix it.
How to check it yourself
- Establish the real ranking set from the live results first, never a guessed competitor list.
- Pull referring domains for each competitor and for yourself, with history set to live and mode set to the root domain.
- Intersect the competitor lists, subtract your own, keep domains hitting two or more, and rank by overlap count before authority.
Worked through in numbers
Five contractors rank for a metro head term. Pulling referring domains for all five and the client produced an intersect of 34 domains hitting two or more competitors and none linking to the client.
Of the 34, 19 were directories anyone can join, 9 were suppliers and manufacturers with dealer pages, 4 were the county paper and local news, and 2 were trade associations.
The 15 non-directory domains were the actual list. Eleven were earnable by being a customer, a member or a dealer, which the client already was in six cases and had simply never asked.
Where this sits in the rankings
Scored under Link building. Sites that link to several of your competitors and not to you.