Link reclamation is the process of identifying and recovering valuable backlinks that have been lost due to website changes, page removals, or broken links. Over time, websites can lose backlinks when pages are deleted or moved, URLs change, or linking sites mistakenly remove your links. These lost links can negatively impact your website’s SEO performance, as backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors in search engine algorithms.
In this guide, we’ll cover how to identify lost backlinks, the steps to recover them, and best practices for maintaining a healthy backlink profile through link reclamation.
What Is Link Reclamation?
Link reclamation involves tracking down and recovering broken, lost, or misdirected backlinks. It’s a proactive way to maintain your website’s SEO authority by restoring high-quality links that were once pointing to your site but have since disappeared or become ineffective.
Here are some common reasons backlinks are lost:
- Page Deletion: If a webpage that was linked to has been deleted or moved, the backlink becomes a dead link.
- URL Changes: Changing the URL of a page without setting up proper redirects can result in lost backlinks.
- Broken Links: Websites that once linked to your content may have broken links due to technical errors, typos, or site redesigns.
- Content Updates: A site that linked to your page may update or remove the link if they revise their content.
- Link Removal: Websites sometimes remove links intentionally or accidentally.
By identifying and fixing these issues, you can recover valuable links and improve your website’s SEO without creating new content.
Why Link Reclamation Matters for SEO
Backlinks are a key factor in determining your website’s authority and ranking potential. Losing valuable backlinks can negatively impact your search engine rankings, making it harder to compete for organic traffic. Link reclamation helps you restore these lost links, ensuring that your backlink profile remains strong and contributes positively to your SEO performance.
Here’s why link reclamation is important:
1. Restores Valuable Backlinks
High-quality backlinks from authoritative websites carry significant SEO value. When you lose a backlink, you’re essentially losing a vote of confidence from another website. Reclaiming these links helps you restore that value and maintain your website’s authority.
2. Improves Search Engine Rankings
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for search engines like Google. Losing a high-authority backlink can lead to a drop in your search rankings. Link reclamation helps you regain these links and improve your overall ranking potential.
3. Cost-Effective Link Building
Reclaiming lost links is one of the most cost-effective link-building strategies. Instead of creating new content or securing new backlinks, you’re simply recovering links that were previously earned. This allows you to maintain your backlink profile with minimal effort.
4. Fixes User Experience Issues
Broken links create a poor user experience, both for the websites linking to you and for visitors trying to access your content. By fixing broken or misdirected links, you improve the user experience and maintain a positive reputation with your audience and linking partners.
Step 1: Identify Lost or Broken Backlinks
The first step in link reclamation is identifying which backlinks you’ve lost or which links are broken. To do this, you’ll need to use SEO tools that can track and monitor your backlinks over time.
Here are some tools and methods for identifying lost backlinks:
1. Use Ahrefs or SEMrush
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush offer powerful backlink monitoring tools that allow you to track your entire backlink profile. These tools can show you:
- Which backlinks are broken or no longer working.
- When a link has been removed or is no longer pointing to your website.
- The source of the lost link and the referring domain’s authority.
Simply input your website’s URL into these tools, and you’ll be able to see a comprehensive list of your current backlinks and any lost or broken links.
2. Check Google Search Console
Google Search Console provides insights into the health of your website, including information about broken or missing pages. While it doesn’t directly track lost backlinks, you can use the Crawl Errors section to identify any pages that have been removed or moved. If these pages were once linked to, you’ll need to reclaim the backlinks.
3. Monitor 404 Pages
If you’ve changed or deleted pages on your website, you may have inadvertently created 404 errors (pages that no longer exist). Use tools like Screaming Frog or Google Analytics to identify 404 pages. Once identified, you can check if these pages were previously linked to and set up redirects to recover the backlinks.
Step 2: Reclaim Lost Backlinks
Once you’ve identified your lost backlinks, it’s time to take action and reclaim them. There are several methods you can use to recover these links, depending on the cause of the loss.
1. Contact Website Owners
If a website has removed a link to your content or if the link has become broken, the first step is to reach out to the website owner. Politely inform them of the broken link and ask if they can update or reinstate the link to your content. Here’s an example outreach email:
Subject: Broken Link on [Website Name]
Hi [Website Owner’s Name],
I was visiting your website and noticed that a link on your [Page Title] seems to be broken. The link to my page, [Your URL], is no longer working. I’d be happy to provide an updated URL if you’d like to replace it. Here’s the correct link: [Updated URL].
Thanks for your time, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Best,
[Your Name]
Most website owners appreciate being informed about broken links, as it helps them maintain a high-quality user experience.
2. Set Up 301 Redirects
If the lost backlinks are due to page deletions or URL changes on your own website, you can reclaim the links by setting up 301 redirects. A 301 redirect tells search engines and visitors that the page has been permanently moved to a new URL. This allows the backlink to pass SEO value to the new page.
For example, if a blog post was deleted or moved to a new URL, you can create a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one, ensuring that any backlinks pointing to the old page are preserved.
3. Recreate Missing Content
If you’ve deleted a page that was generating backlinks, consider recreating the content and reinstating it on your website. Once the content is live again, the original backlinks should begin to point back to the page, restoring the link equity.
Recreating content is particularly useful if the page was receiving high-authority backlinks. You can update the content to make it more relevant, but be sure to keep the original focus and structure intact to avoid confusing linking sites.
Step 3: Prevent Future Link Losses
While link reclamation is a valuable strategy, it’s even more important to prevent future link losses from happening. By proactively managing your website and backlinks, you can reduce the risk of losing valuable links in the future.
1. Monitor Your Backlinks Regularly
Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to monitor your backlink profile regularly. These tools can alert you when backlinks are lost, allowing you to take immediate action. Regular monitoring ensures that you catch broken or missing links before they significantly impact your SEO.
2. Maintain URL Consistency
If you’re redesigning your website or updating your content, ensure that URL consistency is maintained. If you need to change URLs, always set up proper 301 redirects to avoid losing any backlinks. Avoid deleting pages unless absolutely necessary.
3. Update and Refresh Old Content
Keep your content up to date and relevant. Old or outdated content is more likely to be removed by linking websites, leading to lost backlinks. Regularly updating your pages, blogs, and resources helps maintain their value and keeps backlinks intact.
4. Communicate with Linking Sites
Building relationships with the websites that link to you can help you recover lost links more easily. When you maintain good communication with these websites, they are more likely to respond positively to your outreach efforts when you need to reclaim a link.
Best Practices for Link Reclamation
To maximize the success of your link reclamation efforts, follow these best practices:
1. Prioritize High-Authority Links
Focus your link reclamation efforts on recovering high-authority backlinks from trusted sources. These links carry the most SEO value and have the greatest impact on your rankings.
2. Be Polite and Helpful in Outreach
When contacting website owners to recover lost links, always maintain a polite and professional tone. Offering helpful suggestions or solutions increases the likelihood of a successful recovery.
3. Track and Document Reclaimed Links
Keep track of all reclaimed backlinks using tools like Google Sheets or Excel. Document the original link, the action taken, and the result. This helps you track your progress and measure the impact on your backlink profile.
Conclusion
Link reclamation is a powerful and cost-effective way to restore lost backlinks and improve your website’s SEO. By identifying lost links, reaching out to website owners, and setting up redirects, you can recover valuable backlinks and maintain a strong backlink profile.
