Broken Link Buiding: 4 Ways to Build Links

If you’re looking to improve your website’s search engine rankings, you’ve probably heard of the importance of link building. But did you know that broken link building can be an effective strategy to build high-quality backlinks to your site? In this article, we’ll share the best methods for broken link building, So, keep scrolling to learn how to leverage broken link building to improve your website’s SEO and drive more traffic to your site.

What is Broken Link Building?

Broken link building is a popular link building strategy that can help improve your website’s SEO by acquiring high-quality backlinks. The process involves identifying broken links on other websites that link to content similar to yours and then reaching out to the website owner to inform them of the issue and suggest your own content as a replacement.

Does Broken Link Building Still Work?

Broken link building is a tried and tested link building strategy that has been around for years. While some may argue that it’s an outdated technique, broken link building still works and can be an effective way to earn high-quality backlinks.

The key to success with broken link building is to approach it with a strategic mindset and focus on providing value to the website owner. By identifying broken links that point to similar content and offering a relevant replacement, you can earn backlinks that can help boost your website’s search engine rankings.

In fact, broken link building can be a more effective way to earn backlinks than other link building strategies like guest posting or link insertions. This is because broken link building allows you to target specific websites and pages already linking to similar content, increasing the chances of them linking to your content as well.

Broken Link Building Methods

In this article, we’ll share the top broken link building methods that you can use to boost your website’s search engine rankings and attract more traffic to your site. From identifying broken pages with backlinks to evaluating link quality and contacting website owners, we’ll cover everything you need to know to get started with this powerful link building technique.

So, if you’re looking for a proven way to improve your website’s authority and drive more targeted traffic, keep reading. These broken link building methods will help you get the most out of your link building efforts and take your website to the next level.

Look for Broken Pages With Backlinks

If you want to find broken link opportunities for your website, one effective method is to look for broken pages that have backlinks pointing to your competitor’s websites. By identifying these broken pages, you can reach out to the website owners and offer to replace the broken link with a link to your content instead.

Identify your competitors’ broken pages with backlinks

To start your search, use a backlink analysis tool to identify the backlinks pointing to your competitor’s websites. Look for broken links among these backlinks, as these present an opportunity to reach out to the website owner and offer a solution. You can use tools like Ahrefs backlink checker. These tools can crawl your website and provide you with a list of pages that have backlinks but return a 404 error code or other errors.

For example, we found this broken page from Searchmetrics that has 144 domains:

Search for broken pages related to your target topic

Another method is to search for broken pages related to your target topic. Use Ahrefs content explorer tool to find articles and resource pages relevant to your industry that may have broken links. 

For example, we searched for sites about email marketing and found a broken page from Buildfire that has 125 referring domains:

Look for broken links on your competitor’s sites

Keeping an eye on your competitors’ websites can give you valuable insights into their SEO strategies and potentially uncover link building opportunities for your own website. To find broken links on your competitor’s sites, you can use various online tools such as Ahrefs or SEMrush. These tools can crawl your competitors’ websites and provide you with a list of broken links.

Take a look at these broken pages of Econsultancy that have a lot of referring domains:

Find broken links on resources pages

To find resource pages in your niche, you can use search queries such as “top resources for [your industry]” or “[your industry] resource pages.” You can also use online tools like Ahrefs or Moz to find websites that link to your competitors and see if they have resource pages that could be a good fit for your content.

We looked for broken copywriting resource pages using this search query “copywriting inurl:.com/resources” and found Copywritingcourse.com’s resource page that has 142 domains we’ve reached out to.

Evaluate Link Quality

However, it’s important to remember that not all broken pages related to your target topic are worth pursuing. Make sure to prioritize links from high-authority websites and relevant pages that can provide value to your website’s visitors.

To evaluate the quality of your backlinks, you can use online tools like Ahrefs or Moz to analyze the domain authority and spam score of the websites linking to you. A high domain authority indicates that the website is reputable and has strong SEO, while a high spam score could indicate that the website engages in spammy link building practices.

You should also evaluate the relevance of the linking website to your industry and the relevance of the anchor text used in the link. Ideally, the linking website should be in a similar industry or niche as your own, and the anchor text should accurately describe the content that the link leads to.

Develop a Replacement or Comparable Page

Developing a replacement or comparable page for the broken link is a critical step in link building. You aim to create a new page that serves the same purpose as the old one, but with fresh and updated content. Start by identifying the topic and keywords of the original page, and conduct thorough research to gather new and relevant information. You can also consider using the Wayback Machine to understand the old page’s content and structure.

Once you have gathered all the necessary information, begin creating a new page that is informative, engaging, and valuable to your target audience. Remember to optimize your page with relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and headers to ensure it ranks well in search engines. Additionally, consider adding multimedia elements such as images, videos, and infographics to make your content more visually appealing and shareable.

Reach Out

Engaging in outreach efforts is an essential step to letting people know about your new content and asking them to update the broken links. To do this, you can reach out to the website owners who are linking to the broken page and inform them about your new and relevant content that can be a suitable replacement for the broken page. You can send them a personalized email with a brief introduction, mentioning the broken link on their website, and provide a link to your new content.

Make sure to highlight the benefits of your content and how it can be helpful to their website visitors. Be polite and ask them to update the broken link with your new content. Remember that you offer them value, so be patient and follow up with them after a few days. You can also use social media platforms to reach out to website owners who have shared the broken link on their social media profiles.

Here’s a sample of the outreach template we use for our broken link building campaigns:

Final Thoughts

Broken link building is an effective strategy for building quality links to your website. To succeed with broken link building, it’s important to use effective tools and methods, such as searching for broken links related to your target topic, looking for broken links on your competitors’ sites, evaluating link quality, and engaging in outreach efforts to let people know about your new content and ask them to update the broken links. 

If you need help with backlinks, just send us a message, and our agency is happy to help your website stand out in the highly competitive online marketplace and achieve your long-term goals through our white hat link building services.