Broken link building has been around for many years as an SEO tactic, but how relevant is it in today’s ever-changing search landscape? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll take a fresh look at broken link building.
We’ll discuss everything from basic concepts to advanced link building strategies. You’ll find actionable tips for integrating broken link building into your overall SEO strategy.
Section Overview
- What Is Broken Link Building?
- Understanding Broken Links and Their Impact on SEO
- Advanced Detection: Uncovering Broken Links
- Comprehensive Guide to Fixing Broken Links
- Toolbox for Broken Link Builders: From Basic to Pro
- Real-World Success: Case Studies of Broken Link Building
- Mastering Outreach: Strategies, Templates, and Follow-ups
- The Maintenance of Link Health: An Ongoing Commitment
- Ethics in Link Building: Best Practices for Sustainability
- Enhancing User Experience by Fixing Broken Links
- Looking Ahead: The Future of Broken Link Building
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Broken Link Building?
Broken link building is an SEO strategy used to identify broken links in dead pages in your nuance and reach out to webmasters to retrieve the pages.
In broken link building, a website owner searches for pages with dead backlinks related to the industry they write content for. Once they have identified the related pages, they will reach out to the website and recommend that they link the dead page’s URL back to your content.
Broken link building was one of the early link acquisition tactics that helped sites rank better in the early days of SEO. Questionable link building strategies have faded. But the strategy remains viable and effective for ethical link building.
The basic concept in broken link building is straightforward. You find broken links on other sites pointing to missing resources and then contact the site owner to replace them with a link to your own content. But there are more thoughtful, strategic ways to approach it than the crude practices of the past.
Properly executed, broken link building can still deliver results such as:
- Diversifying your backlink profile
- Gaining quality links from reputable sites
- Strengthening topical relevance with contextual backlinks
- Improving user experience by fixing broken links
The remainder of this guide will explore proven strategies for making the most of broken and link building opportunities in 2023 and beyond.
Understanding Broken Links and Their Impact on SEO
Before diving into tactics, let’s look at some fundamentals about broken links and how they affect SEO.
There are three main types of broken links:
- Internal – These point to invalid pages within the same site, usually from site changes or deletions.
- External – These attempt to link out to external pages that no longer exist.
- Backlinks – These are incoming links from other sites that are now broken or redirected.
Each broken link type creates technical SEO issues:
- Crawlers hit dead ends when trying to index broken pages.
- The site’s overall connectivity decreases, hindering crawl efficiency.
- Invalid links waste crawler resources on 404 errors.
These technical problems then lead to negative UX consequences:
- Users get frustrating 404s when clicking broken links.
- Broken backlinks pass less equity compared to healthy links.
- Poor on-site navigation from broken internal links.
It’s clear that broken links undermine both SEO and UX. Next, we’ll explore how to uncover broken links report out them for repair.
Advanced Detection: Uncovering Broken Links
The first step is finding to find broken pages and links to fix or replace. Here are some advanced tactics beyond just using basic crawler tools:
- Leverage browser extensions – Tools like Check My Links and Broken Link Checker help analyze links on any page.
- Use scripts for deeper analysis – Scripts can recursive crawl and uncover links that tools miss.
- Audit backlinks – Use monitors like Ahrefs Alerts to detect broken referring links.
- Check APIs – Many sites expose data through APIs that contain broken internal links.
- Review sitemaps – Crawl sitemap XML files to surface broken links.
- Analyze site search – Site search tools will reveal frequently searched broken pages.
Thoroughly comb through your site to build a master list of broken links for repair and outreach. Use the best link building tools to identify broken links from competitors and convert them to your backlinks.
Comprehensive Guide to Fixing Broken Links
Once you’ve audited thoroughly, it’s time to start fixing links. Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough:
As shown in the decision tree above:
- Fix – If the page can be restored, do so by correcting the issue.
- Redirect – If the page is permanently gone, redirect it to relevant active content.
- Remove – If no good redirect target exists, delete the broken link.
Undertake this process for both internal broken links on linked page of your site and external broken backlinks pointing to your domain.
Toolbox for Broken Link Builders: From Basic to Pro
Finding and fixing broken links at scale requires leveraging the right tools. Here are the top free and paid tools available:
| Tool | Key Features | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Xenu Link Sleuth | Link crawler and validator, bulk analysis | Free |
| Ahrefs Site Audit | Crawler, broken link checker, filters | $99+/mo |
| Moz Pro | Link analysis, redirects manager, analytics | $99+/mo |
| Linkody | Link indexing, automated email outreach | $47+/mo |
Real-World Success: Case Studies of Broken Link Building
To inspire your own broken link building campaigns, here are some real-world examples of companies seeing powerful results:
Case Study 1: Home Services Company Earns Quality Backlinks
- Broken links found on edu sites, forums, and local directories
- Successfully replaced over 100 broken links
- Links came from many .gov and .edu sites
Case Study 2: SaaS Startup Gains Links on Authority Sites
- Focused outreach on broken links within their niche
- Landed featured guest posts replacing broken resources
- Average new link equity of replaced links: 65+ DA
The in-depth case studies above showcase diverse but highly successful applications of broken link building tactics.
Mastering Outreach: Strategies, Templates, and Follow-ups
Securing link replacements comes down to effective outreach. Here are the best practices for broken link building communication:
- Personalize every email – Make it specific to each site owner and their broken page.
- Provide value – Don’t pitch them or oversell. Offer to help fix their broken link issue.
- Include social proof – Show examples of other sites that have fixed links beneficially.
- Send appropriate replacements – Only suggest contextual pages relevant to their content.
- Follow up politely – If there is no response, follow up once more before moving on.
To save time, develop custom email templates you can quickly adapt per outreach. Track all outreach in a spreadsheet to streamline follow-ups.
The Maintenance of Link Health: An Ongoing Commitment
Like gardening, links require ongoing cultivation and care. Don’t “set and forget” your link building efforts:
- Set up recurring site crawls to surface new broken links
- Create automated alerts for broken backlinks
- Schedule quarterly link audits to monitor overall link health
Continuously pruning broken and dead links, and pursuing new opportunities will greatly improve your site’s authority and rankings. Refer to our backlink management guide to learn more about managing your backlink profile.
Ethics in Link Building: Best Practices for Sustainability
As with any SEO tactic, ethics should steer your efforts. Here are some best practices:
- Only fix genuinely broken pages (not intentionally sabotaging links)
- Recommend replacement links contextually relevant to their content
- Avoid excessive, spammy outreach
- Disclose your affiliation transparently
- Prioritize improving site usability over your own goals
Quality content, reasonable outreach, and win-win value will ensure your broken link building campaign success is built to last.
Enhancing User Experience by Fixing Broken Links
Beyond SEO gains, broken link building done right can significantly improve user experience. Here’s how:
- Site navigation works as intended when internal links function properly.
- External resources stay accessible rather than leading to dead ends.
- Pages load faster without heavy 404 penalties.
- Brand trust increases when the site works seamlessly.
Analyze user flow to identify high-traffic pages with broken links to maximize UX wins.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Broken Link Building
Like all SEO strategies, we can expect broken link building to continue evolving. Here are some predictions:
- Increased automation, but human outreach retains importance
- Integrating with link health monitoring platforms
- Identifying broken links on new content formats like JavaScript sites
- Adapting tactics in anticipation of future Google algorithm updates
The underlying principle remains: creating value for site owners by improving broken external links. The outlets may change, but the core strategy will continue thriving.
Conclusion: Integrating Broken Link Building into Your SEO Strategy
In today’s complex SEO landscape, a diverse yet ethical link building approach is vital. As we’ve explored in this guide, the broken link building technique retains relevance as part of the modern link builder’s toolbox.
By following the strategies outlined, you can integrate broken link building to:
- Strengthen topical relevance with contextual backlinks
- Improve technical SEO by fixing crawlability issues
- Boost rankings and drive organic growth
Most importantly, broken link building strategy done right improves user experience across the web. Few other link building tactics achieve that.
The opportunity is out there – over 60% of the web’s links are broken. Now, you have the knowledge and tools to uncover these link opportunities while creating value. With a thoughtful, sustainable approach, you can make broken link building opportunities an impactful part of your 2023 SEO success story.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does broken link building still work in 2023?
Yes, broken link building remains a viable SEO tactic as long as your link building outreach here is relevant and ethical. Focus on improving site usability rather than just acquiring links.
Can I automate broken link outreach?
Automation can help make link maintenance easier and more manageable. But, personalized outreach tends to work best for replacement requests. Prioritize quality over quantity.
Should I disavow broken links?
Disavowing dead link should only be a last resort for clearly spammy, manipulated links. Most broken links don’t require disavowal. Fix or redirect them instead.
Is it bad if I have broken links on my site?
Having some broken links on a regularly updated site is normal. Focus on identifying and fixing high-value broken external links that affect site usability and crawlability.
