What is broken link building?
Broken link building is a way of earning links by fixing other people's dead links. You find a link on someone else's site that now leads to a page that no longer exists, publish (or already have) a page that covers the same thing, and email the site owner to suggest your page as the replacement.
For example, a hiking blog's "best trail resources" page links to a gear checklist on a retailer's site that closed in 2024. The link now returns a 404 error. A site with a current, thorough hiking gear checklist emails the blog: one of your resources is dead, and here is a working alternative. The blogger fixes a broken experience for readers, and the checklist page gains an editorial link.
The method works because it gives the site owner a reason to reply that is about their site, not yours.
How common are broken links?
Broken links are very common, which is why broken link building has a steady supply of opportunities. Pew Research Center found in 2024 that 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer available, that 23% of news webpages contain at least one broken link, and that 21% of webpages from government sites do too [1]. Pew also found that 54% of Wikipedia pages contain at least one link in their References section pointing to a page that no longer exists [1].
Those figures describe link rot across the web, not link building results. They show that dead links are everywhere, not that the owners of those pages will answer an email about them.
How does broken link building work?
Broken link building works in four steps, as set out in Ahrefs' guide [4]:
- Find dead pages that still have backlinks. The most efficient route is to start from a dead page rather than a single broken link. A dead page in your topic that dozens of sites still link to gives you dozens of outreach targets at once.
- Vet the linking pages. Check that each linking site is real, relevant and still maintained, and read the context of the link so you understand why it was there.
- Create or choose a replacement page. The replacement must cover what the dead page covered. Use the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine to see what the dead page actually said before deciding your page is a fair substitute.
- Do outreach. Tell the site owner exactly which link is broken and where it sits on the page, then offer your page as one option.
Earlier versions of the process were more manual. Garrett French's 2012 process for broken link building at scale ran to ten steps, from searching for pages likely to hold resource links, through scraping their outbound links and checking status codes, to gathering contact details and sending outreach [3].
When did broken link building start?
Broken link building became a named, widely taught tactic in the early 2010s. No single person is credited with inventing it, but practitioners such as Garrett French of Citation Labs published detailed guides and collected resources on it in 2011 and 2012 [2] [3].
1998: link rot is already a known problem
Writing about dead links long predates the link building tactic. French's 2011 collection of broken link building resources included Jakob Nielsen's 1998 piece "Fighting Linkrot" alongside newer process guides [2].
2011 to 2012: the process is written down
In August 2011, Citation Labs published its list of broken link building resources [2]. In March 2012, French published a large-scale process with tools for each step, along with the conversion rates he expected [3].
2022: still a mainstream tactic
Ahrefs' 2022 guide cited Aira's State of Link Building survey of more than 250 link builders, which ranked broken link building the fifth most widely used tactic [4]. The same guide acknowledged debate in the industry about whether the effort pays off [4].
2024: the scale of link rot is measured
Pew Research Center's May 2024 report put hard numbers on how much of the web decays, including broken links on news, government and Wikipedia pages [1].
What is a good success rate for broken link building?
No industry-wide success rate for broken link building has been published. The best-known figure comes from one practitioner: Garrett French wrote in 2012 that he expected about a 2% conversion rate at scale and was pleased with 5%, with one small campaign reaching 15% [3]. He contrasted that with another practitioner's reported 8% to 12%, which came from a less scaled approach [3].
Treat any quoted rate with care. Rates depend on how well the replacement matches the dead page, how relevant the sites are, and whether outreach is personal or bulk. Ahrefs' guide makes no claim about typical reply rates and says plainly that broken link building is not easy [4].
What is the difference between broken link building and link reclamation?
Broken link building fixes dead links on other sites that point to someone else's missing page, while link reclamation recovers links that point to your own site. In link reclamation, the broken target is yours: a page you deleted or moved without a redirect, or a mention of your brand without a link. The fix is usually a 301 redirect or a short request to the linking site.
The difference matters for effort. Link reclamation needs no new content and the site owner already chose to reference you, so it is usually the faster win and should come first.
How is broken link building different from the skyscraper technique?
Broken link building pitches a replacement for a link that no longer works, while the skyscraper technique pitches a better page to replace a link that still works. The skyscraper technique asks a site owner to swap a working link for yours because your page is more complete. Broken link building asks them to fix something broken, which is an easier request to say yes to.
The two can combine: when a dead page had many links, the replacement page often has to be better than the original to win them.
| Method | The existing link | Your pitch |
|---|---|---|
| Broken link building | Points to a dead page | "Your link is broken; here is a working alternative" |
| Link reclamation | Points to your own dead or missing page | "Please update the link to our new URL" |
| Skyscraper technique | Points to a working page | "Here is a more complete version" |
| Resource page link building | No link yet | "Please consider adding this to your list" |
Is broken link building white hat?
Broken link building is within Google's guidelines when the site owner adds the link because it helps their readers. Google encourages sites to link out, saying that external links can help establish trustworthiness [5]. The method crosses a line when money changes hands for the replacement: buying links for ranking purposes is link spam under Google's spam policies unless the link is marked sponsored or nofollow [6].
When should you use broken link building?
Use broken link building when your topic has dead pages that were widely linked and you have, or can build, a page that genuinely replaces them. It suits resource-heavy niches (guides, checklists, tools, statistics, government and education topics) where people link to reference material.
Skip broken link building when the dead page has only a few weak links, when your replacement would be a loose match, or when the linking pages themselves are abandoned. An unmaintained page will not be updated, however good the email.