What is broken link building?
Broken link building is a method that finds links on other websites pointing to dead pages, then asks each site owner to replace the dead link with a link to a working page on your site. The owner fixes an error and you gain an editorial link.
A broken link is a hyperlink to a URL that no longer works. The server answers with a 404 (not found) or 410 (gone) status code, or does not answer at all. Pages die every day as sites close, move content or delete articles, and the links pointing at them stay in place on thousands of other pages. Each of those links is an error the linking site’s owner wants fixed and a slot your page fills.
A backlink earned this way is an editorial link: the site owner chooses to place it because the replacement serves their readers. Packages differ by the number of replacement resources briefed and linking sites contacted.
How does broken link building work?
Broken link building works in five steps: find dead pages that still hold backlinks, check what each one covered, publish or match a replacement on your site, contact every site linking to the dead page, and log the links that switch.
- Find dead pages in your niche that still receive links from many referring domains.
- Read what each dead page said, using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which stores past copies of web pages.
- Match each dead page to an existing page on your site, or brief a new page that covers the same topic.
- Email every site that links to the dead page, naming the broken URL, where it sits on their page and the replacement.
- Log each site that updates its link, with the live URL and the link’s metrics, in your reporting sheet.
How do you find broken link opportunities in Ahrefs?
Ahrefs finds dead pages through its broken-backlinks and best-by-links reports. Ahrefs is a commercial backlink index; Site Explorer is its tool for analyzing one domain.
- Enter a competitor or a resource site in your niche into Site Explorer.
- Open the Best by links report and filter it to pages returning HTTP 404.
- Sort the dead pages by referring domains, highest first.
- Export the referring domains of each dead page as your outreach list.
The Broken backlinks report on your own domain runs the same check in reverse and feeds link reclamation.
What replacement content wins the link?
The replacement that wins the link covers the same topic as the dead page, at the same depth or deeper, on a URL that loads fast and stays live. Site owners swap links only when the new page serves their readers as well.
- Topic match: the replacement answers the question the original link promised to answer.
- Depth match: a 3,000-word guide that died is not replaced by a 400-word summary.
- Format match: a dead statistics page gets a statistics page, a dead tool gets a working tool.
The replacement brief records the dead page’s headings, its key facts and the linking anchors, so the new page fits every context that pointed at the old one.
What is link reclamation?
Link reclamation is broken link building on your own site: finding your dead URLs that still hold backlinks and restoring them. A 301 redirect to the closest live page, or a restored page at the old URL, brings those links back into use.
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that sends visitors and links from one URL to another. Three fixes cover every dead URL that still holds links:
- Restore the page at its old URL when the content still has value.
- Redirect the URL with a 301 to the closest live page on the same topic.
- Ask the linking sites to update the URL when the redirect chain is already long.
Which links does broken link building earn?
Broken link building earns contextual links inside existing articles on aged, already-indexed pages, because the dead link sat in the body copy before the swap. The site owner sets the link attribute, and most replacements keep the attribute the dead link had.
Those three traits are the ones buyers pay for elsewhere: placement inside body text, a page Google already knows, and a site owner’s editorial choice. The difference is volume. A site owner replies on their own terms, so a campaign produces the links that owners agree to, and no seller controls that number. We report every link won with its live URL, Domain Authority, Domain Rating and index status, and every link carries the 30-day index guarantee.
Is broken link building safe under Google’s policies?
Yes, when the site owner replaces the link without payment. An unpaid editorial fix sits outside Google’s definition of link spam. A site owner who asks for a fee turns the swap into a paid link, and we decline those requests.
Google defines link spam as creating links primarily to manipulate search rankings, and it names buying links among its examples. Broken link building asks for a correction, not a purchase. The outreach email offers a working page to a site owner who has a dead link; nothing else changes hands.
How long does a broken link campaign take?
A broken link campaign takes the delivery window of its package, shown in the tier grid, because each site owner replies on their own schedule. Links arrive one at a time across the campaign, which keeps the build rate natural.
Work starts within 24 hours of confirmed payment. Links won appear in the live reporting sheet the day each site owner updates the page. For the pace at which new links read as natural growth, see our guide on how fast to build links.
Where does broken link building fit in a link plan?
Broken link building is one channel in a link plan, not the whole plan, because it earns a steady trickle of strong editorial links and leaves three roles to other services. Those three roles are listed here:
- Foundation: new sites with no referring domains start with Web 2.0 packages before outreach has anything to point at.
- News coverage: journalist-written articles come from HARO and digital PR, a channel dead-link outreach does not reach.
- Authority metric targets: buyers who need a stated Moz score by a date order the DA increase service, which carries a full refund when the target is missed.