Backlink Framework Calculator

A free SEO calculator for estimating backlink gaps by competitor and domain rating tier.

For SEO leads and founders who want to know how many links a page needs before buying or building any.

How to use it

1. Find the pages you are up against. Pick a country and your target keyword, then note the top 5 ranking pages.
2. Collect Domain Ratings. Paste each competitor URL and your own page into the sheet, with the Domain Rating your SEO tool shows for each.
3. Count links by DR tier. For each page, enter how many linking domains it has in six tiers: DR 10–19, 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59 and 60–100.
4. Read the results. The sheet averages the five competitors per tier and shows the difference against your page.

Worked example: How to read the result row

Say the five competitors average 12 links from DR 30–39 sites and your page has 4. The difference row shows −8 for that tier: that is your link gap. A negative number in any tier means competitors have more links of that strength, and pages with fewer links are less likely to outrank pages with more.

Questions

Which SEO tool do I need?

Any tool that shows Domain Rating and referring domains by DR, such as Ahrefs. The sheet only needs the numbers, not a specific tool.

It is a CSV. Where are the formulas?

Open it in Google Sheets or Excel and fill it in there. The layout and labels are all in the file; save it as a sheet so your entries stay.

Should I close every gap?

Start with the tiers where the gap is biggest relative to the average. Matching the competitors in the middle tiers (DR 30–59) usually matters more than a few very high-DR links.

Related: Modern Search Blueprint 2026 · Search Campaign Checklist

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