Link Reclamation: How to Find and Fix Broken Backlinks for SEO

You spent months building backlinks. Outreach. Guest posts. Digital PR. All that work.

Then you check your backlink profile and half of them are gone. 404s. Redirects to nowhere. Links that used to send authority to your site now sending visitors to error pages.

Here's the thing: 66.5% of links to sites in the last nine years are dead. That's not a typo. Two out of every three backlinks decay over time.

And you're probably not getting them back unless you actively reclaim them.

Link reclamation is the process of finding and recovering those lost backlinks. It's faster than building new links. It's cheaper. And it works.

Let's talk about how to do it.

What Is Link Reclamation (And Why It Matters)

Link reclamation is finding backlinks you used to have and getting them restored.

This is different from broken link building. Broken link building is when you find someone else's broken link and pitch your content as a replacement. Link reclamation is about links that already pointed to your site but got removed or broken.

Why does this matter?

Because building a new backlink from scratch takes 10-20 hours of work. Finding and reclaiming a lost one takes 30 minutes.

The math is simple. If you're losing 50 links a year to link decay and you're not reclaiming them, you need to build 50 extra links just to stay even. That's 500-1000 hours of work you're throwing away.

Link reclamation fixes that. You already did the hard part (earning the link). Now you're just asking someone to restore it.

Why Backlinks Break in the First Place

Links don't just disappear for no reason. Here's what actually happens:

Content Gets Deleted or Moved

The most common reason. A site updates their content, migrates to a new CMS, or just removes old blog posts. Your link was in that content. Now it's gone.

URLs Change Without Redirects

They change their permalink structure. Switch from /blog/post-title to /2026/01/post-title. Forget to set up 301 redirects. Your link now points to a 404.

Sites Go Down or Change Ownership

Domains expire. Sites get acquired and shut down. Businesses close. The link dies with them.

Manual Link Removal

Someone at the company decides to "clean up" old content. They remove external links to reduce "link leakage." Yours gets cut.

Your Site Changed

This one's on you. You redesigned. Changed your URL structure. Moved content around. Didn't set up redirects. Now half your backlinks point to pages that don't exist anymore.

All of these are fixable. But you have to find them first.

How to Find Broken Backlinks

You can't reclaim links you don't know you lost. Here's how to find them.

Method 1: Use Ahrefs

This is the fastest method.

Go to Ahrefs Site Explorer. Enter your domain. Click on "Backlinks" in the left sidebar. Then click the "Broken" filter at the top.

You'll see every backlink pointing to a page on your site that returns a 404 or redirect error. Sort by DR (Domain Rating) to prioritize high-authority links.

Method 2: Use Google Search Console

Free option. Go to Search Console. Click "Pages" under Index. Look at the "Not found (404)" section.

This shows you which pages on your site are getting 404 errors. If these pages used to have backlinks, you need to either restore the pages or redirect them.

Cross-reference with your backlink data to see which 404 pages have inbound links.

Method 3: Use Semrush

Similar to Ahrefs. Go to Backlink Analytics. Enter your domain. Click "Broken Backlinks" under the "Issues" tab.

You'll see which referring domains are linking to broken pages on your site.

Method 4: Monitor Link Losses in Real Time

Set up weekly or monthly alerts in Ahrefs or Semrush to track lost backlinks. This catches links as soon as they break, before they hurt your rankings.

Ahrefs shows you a "Lost" backlinks report. Review it regularly. If a high-DR link disappears, investigate immediately.

What to Look For

Not all broken backlinks are worth reclaiming. Focus on:

• High DR/DA links - Authority matters. A broken link from a DR 70 site is worth reclaiming. One from DR 5 is not.
• Relevant referring domains - Links from sites in your niche carry more weight.
• Links with traffic - If the referring page gets traffic, reclaiming the link could send visitors your way.
• Dofollow links - Nofollow links don't pass ranking credit. Focus on dofollow.

Ignore broken links from spam sites, PBNs, or irrelevant directories. Let those stay dead.

How to Fix Broken Backlinks

Once you've found broken links, you have three options.

Option 1: Restore the Page

If the broken link points to content you deleted, bring it back.

Republish the page at the same URL. If it was thin content, update it and make it better. If it was outdated, refresh it with new data.

This is the easiest fix because you don't have to reach out to anyone. The link just starts working again.

Option 2: Set Up a 301 Redirect

If you don't want to restore the page, redirect it to a similar page that still exists.

For example, if you had a page at /blog/seo-tips-2023 and deleted it, redirect it to /blog/seo-tips-2026. The backlink will pass most of its authority to the new page.

Don't redirect to your homepage unless there's no relevant alternative. That's a weak signal and you'll lose most of the link value.

Option 3: Reach Out and Ask for an Update

If the broken link is on someone else's site (they linked to you but the URL changed or broke), email them and ask them to update it.

Here's a template:

Subject: Quick fix - broken link on [Page Title]

Hi [Name],

I noticed you linked to our article about [topic] on your page here: [URL]

The link is currently pointing to [broken URL], which returns a 404. We moved that content to [new URL].

Would you mind updating the link? Happy to return the favor if you ever need anything.

Thanks!

Keep it short. Make it easy for them. Don't pitch anything else.

Most people will update it if you make it simple. They don't want broken links on their site either.

Link Reclamation Outreach Strategy

Some broken backlinks require outreach. Here's how to do it without sounding desperate.

Personalize Your Emails

Generic templates get ignored. Mention something specific about their site or the page you're linked from. Show you actually read it.

Make It Easy

Include the exact URL of the page with the broken link. Include the anchor text. Include the new URL they should link to. Don't make them hunt for information.

Don't Be Pushy

You're asking for a favor. Be polite. If they don't respond after one follow-up, move on. There are other links to reclaim.

Offer Value

If the page that linked to you is outdated, offer to help update it. Suggest a few other resources they could link to. Make it mutually beneficial.

Track Your Outreach

Use a spreadsheet or CRM to track who you contacted, when, and what the status is. Follow up on non-responses after 5-7 days. Don't spam.

How Often Should You Run Link Reclamation?

At minimum, once a quarter. Ideally, once a month.

Link decay happens at about 7% per year. If you have 1,000 backlinks, you're losing 70 of them annually. That's 6 per month.

Set a recurring calendar reminder. Check for broken backlinks. Reclaim the high-value ones. This takes 1-2 hours per month and can save you hundreds of hours of link building.

Link Reclamation vs Building New Links

Here's the cost-benefit breakdown:

Building a new backlink from scratch:

• Research and prospecting: 2-4 hours
• Outreach and follow-up: 3-6 hours
• Content creation (if needed): 5-10 hours
• Total: 10-20 hours per link

Reclaiming a lost backlink:

• Finding the broken link: 5 minutes (automated with tools)
• Outreach: 15 minutes
• Follow-up: 10 minutes
• Total: 30 minutes per link

Reclamation is 20-40x faster.

And since you already earned the link once, the success rate is higher. They linked to you before. They're more likely to do it again than a cold outreach to a stranger.

Common Link Reclamation Mistakes

Redirecting Everything to Your Homepage

This is lazy. If you delete a product page, don't redirect it to your homepage. Redirect it to a similar product or a category page. Otherwise you lose most of the link equity.

Ignoring Internal Broken Links

Your internal links matter too. If you have 50 pages linking to a URL that 404s, you're wasting crawl budget and confusing search engines. Fix your internal broken links first, then focus on external backlinks.

Waiting Too Long

The longer a link stays broken, the less likely it is to get fixed. Sites update their content regularly. If you wait six months to reclaim a link, they might have already rewritten the page and removed the link entirely.

Not Prioritizing

You can't reclaim every broken link. Focus on the ones that move the needle. High DR. High relevance. High traffic. Ignore the rest.

How Revised Automates Link Reclamation

Here's the problem with link reclamation: it's manual. You have to monitor links. Reach out. Follow up. Track responses.

Most businesses don't have time for that.

Revised solves this by acquiring expired domains that already have quality backlinks from authoritative sources like Wikipedia, Reddit, and Hacker News. When we acquire a domain, we redirect those contextual links to relevant pages on your site.

You're not reclaiming individual broken links. You're inheriting entire link profiles from domains that built authority over years.

The backlinks are already there. The authority is already built. We just redirect it to you.

It's link reclamation at scale, automated, without the manual outreach.

If you're tired of chasing down broken links one by one, see how Revised works.

Tools for Link Reclamation

Here are the best tools for finding and reclaiming broken backlinks:

Ahrefs - Best overall. The "Broken" backlinks filter in Site Explorer makes it easy to find lost links. Alerts let you monitor link losses in real time. Not cheap, but worth it if you're serious about link building.

Semrush - Solid alternative to Ahrefs. The "Broken Backlinks" report under Backlink Analytics works well. Also has position tracking and site audit features.

Google Search Console - Free. Shows you which pages on your site are returning 404s. Doesn't show you which backlinks point to those pages, so you'll need to cross-reference with another tool.

Screaming Frog - Desktop crawler that finds broken internal links. Useful for fixing your own site before you start reclaiming external backlinks.

Monitor Backlinks - Budget-friendly option. Tracks backlink changes and sends alerts when links are lost. Doesn't have as much data as Ahrefs or Semrush, but it's cheaper.

Pick one. Set up alerts. Check monthly. Reclaim the valuable links.

Final Thoughts

Link reclamation isn't sexy. It's not as exciting as landing a guest post on a DR 80 site or getting featured in a major publication.

But it's effective. And it's way easier than building new links from scratch.

You already did the hard work. You earned those backlinks. Don't let them disappear just because a URL changed or a page got deleted.

Check your backlink profile. Find the broken links. Reclaim the ones that matter.

Or let Revised do it for you with automated backlinks from expired domains.

Either way, stop losing links you already earned.