The positive impact that quality links have on search engine rankings cannot be overstated. In almost every case when a page is ranking well for a competitive keyword, it's due to the links pointing at that page.

When analyzing your competitor's pages to determine why they're ranking better, you should start by examining their incoming links. By knowing how to intelligently deconstruct your competitor's backlink profile, you'll quickly be able to build a comprehensive picture of why they're outperforming you in the rankings.

To accomplish this, we make use of Yahoo's free Site Explorer tool—certainly one of the best resources for analyzing a site's incoming links. The following video demonstrates exactly how to use Yahoo Site Explorer for competitive analysis on a high-ranking travel insurance site.

Scroll down, click the Play button and enjoy!