Broken Link Building: Step-by-Step Guide to Earn Links

Broken link building means finding broken links on other sites, having a resource of your own that works as a replacement and asking the page owner to swap the dead link for yours. It works because you help the editor fix a problem instead of asking for a favor. It requires a relevant broken link and a genuinely equivalent resource. There is also the reverse version: reclaiming links that point to broken pages on your own site. For the basics, see what backlinks are.

Quick summary

• Broken link building swaps "give me a link" for "this link in your article is broken, and I have something that can replace it."
• The work starts by finding dead pages that still receive links and understanding, on the Wayback Machine, what they said.
• Only build the replacement after vetting the quality of the links and knowing why people linked.
• The tactic divides practitioners: it is not easy, but it works when the resource is better and the contact is personalized.
• Before chasing new links, reclaim your own: pages with external links that return a 404 should be restored or redirected with a 301.

How to read this post: if you are new to this, read what it is, the step-by-step and the section on reclaiming links to your own site, which is the simplest and fastest part. If you already do link building, go to the methods table, the link vetting and the redirect edge cases.

What is broken link building and why does it work?

It is a tactic where you find pages that no longer exist but are still linked to, and offer a live alternative. The logic is that people who link do not want to send readers to an error. Ahrefs describes the tactic as the fifth most used in Aira's annual report, which gathers the opinions of more than 250 professionals, and acknowledges that it is not foolproof: sometimes it pays off, sometimes it does not.

In plain English: it is like telling a neighbor that his street sign fell down and pointing out where there is another one in good shape. He is grateful because the problem was his, and you get helped at the same time.

The difference from a direct link request, like a guest post, is that the conversation starts from a concrete, verifiable defect that is easy to fix.

What is the step-by-step?

Follow the order: discover, understand, vet, create, contact and record. Skipping "understand" produces replacements nobody wants.

1. Find dead pages that still receive links (methods in the table below).
2. See what the page said. Use the Wayback Machine to learn the topic, the format and the year.
3. Vet the quality of the links it received and see why people linked.
4. Choose or create the replacement. It can be content you already have, or something new, better and more current.
5. List who links and find the right contact (the editor or author of the page).
6. Send the email (template below), with the broken link, the passage and the replacement.
7. Record what was sent and what came back, and measure what changed on the pages that gained links.

Where do I find broken links?

In four main places. Ahrefs lists exactly these paths, and three require a paid tool:

Method	How it works	Tool	Cost
Competitors' dead pages	In the Best by links report, filter 404 pages and sort by referring domains	Ahrefs	Paid
Dead pages on a topic	Search by title, filter broken pages with at least 20 referring domains	Ahrefs (Content Explorer)	Paid
Broken links on competitors' sites	View the domain's broken links report and sort by how many sites link	Ahrefs	Paid
Resource pages	Search for link-list pages with search operators and check the links	Google and a browser extension	Free

Example operators for resource pages on a topic: topic intitle:resources inurl:links or topic intitle:"useful links". Resource pages are good because almost nobody updates them and they often list content that has links from other sites. See also the free backlink tools.

For SEO professionals: the competitor method pairs with link gap analysis. Pages a competitor deleted without redirecting are the most direct opportunity: the link already exists and the content "debt" is known. Cross the list with your own topics so you do not build a replacement with no fit.

How do I use the Wayback Machine to understand a dead page?

Search the address on the Wayback Machine and open the capture closest to when the links were made. You want to know the topic, format, depth and what the content offered. The Internet Archive's API can also help automate this: the availability lookup returns the closest capture of a URL.

curl "http://archive.org/wayback/available?url=example.com/old-guide&timestamp=20230101"

If the result comes back with "available": true, the capture address is in url. If there is no capture, the response has an empty archived_snapshots. Use the archive to understand, not to copy: your replacement needs to be original, and ideally better.

How do I vet the links before building the replacement?

Filter the links the dead page received and discard the junk. The filters Ahrefs suggests as a starting point are: dofollow links only, no free-platform subdomains, DR 5 or higher and domain traffic of 20 or more. The criteria vary, so adjust them to your own. In the guide's example, those filters cut a dead page's links from 100 to 29.

Next, classify links by reason. General links recommend the resource as a whole. Deep links point to a specific reason, such as the definition of a term or the formula for a calculation. Deep links are the most valuable, because they tell you what your replacement must contain. According to Ahrefs, that is what keeps content and outreach aligned and improves the success rate.

How do I do the outreach?

Use a hybrid approach: segment contacts by link reason and write one template for each group. Blasting the same email to everyone is risky and can get your sending domain blocked; writing a unique email for each one does not scale. Ahrefs recommends the middle ground, with one personalized template per segment.

Subject: Broken link on "[Title of their page]"

Hi [Name],

I was reading "[Page title]" and noticed the link in the passage "[anchor]" goes to a page that no longer exists: [broken URL].

I wrote [title of your resource], which covers [the same point: definition, calculation, step-by-step] and was updated in [month/year]: [URL].

If it makes sense, it could take the place of the broken link. Either way, it's worth fixing the link so readers don't land on an error.

Best,
[Name]

Hypothetical example: an accounting site notices that another site's guide, "tax deadline calendar for small businesses," has gone offline, but 14 sites still link to it. On the Wayback Machine, it sees the page was a table of dates. It builds an updated calendar, with an official source, and sends the email above to all 14, personalizing the passage for each. If 2 or 3 swap the link, the campaign has already paid off. The numbers are illustrative.

There is no reliable public success rate for the tactic. Ahrefs says the topic divides opinions: what exists are reports from people who do better when the replacement is relevant and the email is personal. For a general order of magnitude on outreach, see the response rates in the post on guest post outreach. The link building schedule for new sites helps fit the tactic into a gradual pace.

What about broken links pointing to MY site?

These are the easiest to reclaim, because the link already exists and you control the destination. If one of your pages moved or was deleted and other sites link to it, restore the page or use a 301 redirect to the equivalent page.

In plain English: it is like moving stores and leaving a note on the old door with the new address. People who arrive the old way do not get lost.

1. List the linked pages. In Search Console, the Links report shows the most linked pages. Google notes that the report is a sample, with up to 1,000 rows per table. Use a backlink tool as well.
2. Check the status of each URL. Look for the ones that return a 404. In the Page indexing report, Google explains that a 404 is not necessarily a problem if the page was removed with no replacement, but that if it moved, there should be a 301 redirect.
3. Decide: restore or redirect. Restore if the content still makes sense. Redirect if there is an equivalent page. Avoid sending every link to the homepage: the reader loses the context of the original link.
4. Implement the 301. Google recommends permanent redirects (301 or 308) for pages that changed address.
5. Verify. Test the redirect, confirm it leads to a 200 and that there are no chains (A to B to C). Googlebot follows up to 10 hops, but each hop is waste.
6. Ask for a fix when it is a typo. If the link has an error, ask the owner whether they can correct it, or create the redirect.

Example rule on Apache:

Redirect 301 /old-seo-guide https://yoursite.com/blog/seo-guide

For SEO professionals: use a 302 only for truly temporary moves, because Google uses the redirect type as a signal for which URL should be canonical. Redirect only what has a genuinely equivalent destination, and document everything in a spreadsheet of old URL, new URL, date and reason.

What mistakes should I avoid?

Almost all of them come from treating the broken link as a pretext.

• Building a replacement without understanding the original page. If you do not know why people linked, the email goes nowhere.
• Suggesting a weak replacement. The editor feels the difference and, on top of that, loses time.
• Not confirming the link is actually broken. Test with another browser and device before writing.
• Asking for the link as a favor. The focus is fixing a defect for the reader.
• Forgetting your own 404s. Reclaiming a link that already exists usually takes less work than earning a new one.
• Expecting shortcuts. If the content does not deserve a link, no email will fix that. See linkable assets for what to create.

If you want a public relations tactic instead of a fix, Digital PR uses a different angle. Terms like "dofollow" and "DR" are in the SEO glossary.

Frequently asked questions

Does broken link building still work?

It works when the replacement is relevant, the broken link is real and the email is personal. The tactic is popular but divides opinions: there is no guarantee, and the success rate depends on the quality of the resource and the list. Treat it as a niche tactic, not a shortcut.

Do I need paid tools?

They help a lot, especially for finding dead pages with many links. But you can start with Google searches for resource pages, a browser extension to check broken links, the Wayback Machine and Search Console for your own 404s.

Can I copy a dead page's content from the Wayback Machine?

No. The archive is only for understanding what the page offered: topic, format and depth. Copying the content can be a copyright problem and does not help you earn the link. Create something original, more current and more useful.

How do I know whether a 301 redirect worked?

Open the old URL in an incognito window and confirm it leads to the new one with a 200 status. Use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to check how Google sees it. Look for redirect chains and fix any longer than one hop.

How long until I see results?

There is no official timeline: it depends on how long the editor takes to reply and when Google reprocesses the pages, which can take days to weeks. Measure by page: links earned, impressions and positions before and after.

Next step

The tactic works best when you have resources worth swapping in. See how to create them in linkable assets: what to create to earn backlinks.

Read also:

• Guest post outreach that works
• Competitor backlink analysis (link gap)
• Digital PR for link building