GlossarySEO
What is broken link building?
Also called: dead link building, broken backlink outreach
Definition
Broken link building is finding links on other websites that point to dead pages, then contacting the site owner to suggest a working, relevant page of yours as a replacement.
Broken link building, explained
The web is full of broken links. Resources go offline, companies shut down, articles get moved without redirects. Site owners generally don't want broken links on their pages, because they frustrate readers. Broken link building offers a small fix: here's a dead link on your page, and here's a live resource that covers the same thing.
The process has four steps. Find dead pages in your niche that used to have links, often through an SEO tool's "broken backlinks" or "best by links" reports filtered to 404s, or by checking resource pages in your field. See what those pages covered, using the Wayback Machine if needed. Make sure you have a genuinely equivalent or better page; create one if not. Then contact the sites that link to the dead page, briefly and specifically.
It works best when the replacement is a close match. A dead free tool replaced by your free tool, a defunct guide replaced by your current guide on the same topic. It works poorly when you suggest your homepage or a sales page, because it doesn't fix the reader's problem.
Keep outreach human. One short email per site, naming the page and the broken link, suggesting the replacement, no pressure. Many won't reply. That's normal.
There's a defensive version too. Check your own site for broken outbound links and broken internal links, and check which of your old URLs still have backlinks but now return 404. Redirecting those to the right live page is link reclamation, and it's usually the fastest link win you have.
Why it matters for founders
It's one of the few outreach tactics that helps the other site as much as you. With a genuinely relevant replacement page, it earns editorial links without paying or trading.
Example
A defunct startup's free "SaaS pricing calculator" had links from 40 blogs. A founder builds a better calculator, emails the 40 site owners, and 6 update their links.
Common mistakes
- Suggesting a replacement that doesn't match what the dead page offered.
- Sending templated mass emails.
- Forgetting to fix broken links and 404s on your own site first.
Related terms
- Link reclamationLink reclamation is recovering links you have lost or should already have, by redirecting old URLs that still have backlinks, asking for broken or removed links to be fixed, and turning unlinked mentions into links.
- Linkable assetA linkable asset is a page created to be genuinely worth referencing, such as a free tool, original dataset, template, calculator or definitive reference, so other sites link to it without being paid or traded.
- Link buildingLink building is the work of getting other websites to link to yours. Links help search engines discover pages and judge their importance, which is why link quality and how links were earned both matter.
- 301 vs 302 redirectA 301 redirect says a page has moved permanently, so search engines should treat the new URL as canonical. A 302 says the move is temporary, so they keep showing the original URL.