Broken link building is a widely recognized link-building technique, which revolves around the idea of replacing links to dead or non-existent pages with links to relevant, active pages on your website. The process not only offers value to webmasters by helping them eliminate broken links but also provides SEO benefits to the one executing the strategy by earning backlinks. Below, we dive into the step-by-step process of conducting a successful broken link building campaign using insights from various experts.
1. Understanding Broken Link Building
What is it? Broken link building is a tactic that involves identifying broken pages on the web, and subsequently approaching the websites linking to these broken pages to replace the dead links with links pointing to a relevant page on your own website.
Does it Work? There’s some debate among SEO professionals regarding the effectiveness of broken link building. Some believe it’s a pointless effort while others argue that like all link building strategies, its success largely depends on how well it’s executed. The consensus is that it can be effective if executed correctly.
2. Step-by-Step Guide to Broken Link Building
1. Finding Broken Pages with Backlinks
Using SEO tools: Utilize SEO tools to discover highly linked broken pages. Without these tools, the task becomes challenging. Tools like Ahrefs offer functionalities that allow you to look for broken pages with many backlinks. You need to be especially interested in pages from competitors or within your niche [1].Niche-specific searches: Use search strings in Google to uncover pages that have a lot of external links, especially “Resource Pages” that curate resources on a specific topic. These pages usually have a significant number of external links.
2. Assessing the Quality of Backlinks
- Prioritize backlinks: Not all backlinks are created equal. When you identify a broken page, ensure that it has backlinks from authoritative websites or websites relevant to your niche.
3. Creating a Replacement Page
- Quality content: It’s crucial to offer a high-quality replacement for the broken link. The content should be well-researched, relevant, and beneficial to the audience of the linking website.
4. Conducting Outreach
Approach with value: Traditional outreach often entails asking for something without offering anything in return. However, with broken link building, you’re presenting a solution to the webmaster’s broken link problem before asking for a link replacement.Personalize your pitch: Ensure your outreach email is tailored to the recipient. Mention the specific broken link and how your content can be a suitable replacement.
5. Tools and Resources
Ahrefs: A multifunctional tool that can help you find broken pages with backlinks from competitor sites or within your niche.Check My Links: A Chrome Extension that allows you to quickly check for broken links on any given page.Web Archive: Can be useful to view the content of the dead page, ensuring your replacement content is relevant and offers similar or better value.
3. Conclusion
Broken link building can be an effective strategy when executed with precision. It’s essential to prioritize value, both in terms of the content offered as a replacement and in the outreach approach. By building genuine relationships and focusing on providing solutions, you can utilize broken link building as a valuable tool in your SEO arsenal.