Link building is still one of the key ranking factors in SERP. Simply put, it is a strategy where you get more quality links pointing back to your website domain. It is more than this though. You need to grow those links that add value to your users thus letting Google grow your domain authority. This is where broken link building comes in handy as one of the popular link-building approaches where website owners leverage broken pages on the web to earn white hat backlinks.

This link-building strategy entails searching for dead pages on the internet and then doing an outreach request to the linker to link to a replacement page on your site in place of the 404 pages. In this case you are offering help to the target user and in turn you get a quality backlink!

Does Broken Link-Building Work?

Broken link building is a potent way to build high-quality white hat backlinks. It is a considerably successful and somewhat easy way to get backlinks because it is a win-win for all parties. On one end, a website receives relevant backlinks that increase visibility and potential organic traffic.

On the other end, the linking site does not have to worry about sending their visitors to a dead resource, especially not with close to 90 per cent of online consumers avoiding websites with poor user experience. Fixing broken links for such websites is, therefore, necessary for a glowing reputation.

Steps For Building Links With Broken Link Building:

Now that you know what broken links are, let’s get insights about how you can build backlinks with them.

Step 1: Look For Broken Pages With Backlinks

The first step is to find broken pages with backlinks. Finding broken pages can be a challenging prospect, especially with how vast the internet is. Fortunately, there are plenty of SEO tools that come in handy.

Tools like Ahref’s free backlink checker point you to the dead pages, and to add to that, they give you insight into how many links they have. Some tactics you can use to make the prospects of looking for broken links more successful are searching for competitors’ broken pages, dead pages about a relevant subject, and finding broken links on resource pages and competing websites.

Step 2: Assess The Link Prospects

You have found some dead pages. The next course of action is to vet the viability of the link prospects. You do not want to start creating a replacement page for every dead page with backlinks. Ensure that the broken link has high-quality backlinks and understand why people linked to the page. That helps you create the best replacement page. Your vetting process should involve two things:

• Checking Link Quality

It undermines the effort and could be pointless to pursue a broken link if the link-building opportunity does not lead to high-quality backlinks. It is necessary to check if the dead page has sensible backlinks.

• Understanding Link Reasons

Your replacement content will hit the right spot if you know what characteristics of the broken page made it get links. Your outreach campaigns have a better chance of success when you have taken the time to understand the link reasons.

Step 3: Create Content For The Replacement Page

You know why people linked to the broken page. That knowledge should be a guiding light for the next step- creating a replacement page. First, you will need a rough outline of the purpose of the broken page. The goal is not to have a replacement page that mirrors the dead page exactly, but it helps to have something similar. Your page should address similar things that the broken page did.

You could go the extra mile and improve the initial content. Make overall improvements to the initial content by providing updated statistics and reports. Your value proposition goes up when the content you have created for the replacement page is better than the initial one. Fixing accuracy, including graphics for visual effects, adding templates and simplifying the content are excellent ways to better the content.

It is worth noting that you do not always have to create new content from scratch. An alternative would be to look for a page on your site that covers the topic in depth to use on the replacement link.

Step 4: Do Outreach For Broken Link Building

Once you have the perfect replacement resource, the next step is to start an outreach campaign. Outreach involves pitching your content to websites linking to the dead page. This step is all about convincing prospects to replace their broken link with one to your site. You could draft a general email to everyone with a relevant dead page. This strategy is called shotgun outreach. Alternatively, you could opt for sniper outreach, where you craft personalised emails to every prospect.

The shotgun outreach method may have low conversion rates but does not require as much time and effort. The sniper outreach strategy has a higher potential for conversions but requires more time and effort. A good balance of the two techniques is to segment prospects and create personalised email templates for each group. That way, you will not have to send a personalised email to every contact but will still have a chance to reap the benefits of the sniper approach. Whichever technique you employ, your chance of getting a favourable reply boil down to how good your outreach email is.

Be sure to have a compelling email so the linkers cannot say no. You can find contacts of the site owners on their bio or about us pages. Tools like Hunter.io also come in handy in finding email addresses.

How To Increase Your Success Rate With Broken Link Building

As with any link-building technique, broken link-building does not always guarantee a definite return on investment. That said, there are some tips to help you make the most of this strategy and increase your chance at success. They are:

• Leverage available SEO tools to simplify the process of finding broken links.
• Check the status of the broken links to avoid wasting time on links that will not move a needle in your site’s SEO.
• Be on your best behaviour when reaching out to the website owner. Your impression will determine how willing they will be to let you replace the broken link with one to your site. Being courteous and polite helps your chances.
• Seek out broken pages with relevant content to increase the chances of organic traffic and conversion on your site.
• Supplement broken link-building with other link-building tactics.

Conclusion

SEO is an integral digital marketing element for any business with a digital footprint. Link building forms an essential part of an all-rounded SEO strategy. Broken link building is an excellent strategy that websites can use to increase visibility and grow organic traffic that translates to conversions.

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