The Complete Guide to Broken Link Building

Broken link building is a tedious task, but it’s a necessary one to ensure optimal SEO performance. It can be done by novice marketers and professional SEO specialists alike, but it takes time and effort to achieve excellent results. In this article, we’ll be going through what a broken link is, what it means to carry out broken link building, what the benefits are of broken link building and how you can do it effectively.

What is a broken link?

A broken link, otherwise known as a dead link, refers to a link that leads to a nonexistent page. If a website visitor clicks on a broken link, an error message will be displayed. It often shows a code or a phrase that most marketers and website designers will recognise, which will give them the reason for the broken link. Some of the messages that appear when a broken link is clicked on can include the following:

• 404 Not Found – this is when the server cannot find the requested page. It’s a common message displayed when a broken link is clicked on, usually if the page has been deleted or the URL is wrong
• 410 Gone – more specific than 404 Not Found, it lets the users and the search engines know that the page is gone for good
• 500 Internal Server Error – this occurs when the server encounters an issue, preventing it from processing the request made. It can be caused by misconfigured server settings, software bugs, or general server overloads
• Redirect Loops – this happens when one URL redirects to another, but the second URL redirects back to the original URL, therefore creating a never-ending cycle. It can hurt SEO performance if left unaddressed
• DNS Errors – this can occur when the browser can’t resolve the domain name to an IP address, usually as a result of the domain name expiring or because of a fault with the DNS server
• Timeout Errors – this typically happens when the server takes too long to respond, usually due to a heavy server load, slow connection or improper server settings

What is broken link building?

Now that you’re aware of what a broken link is, you might be wondering what broken link building is and what it entails. Broken link building is an SEO strategy that takes time and effort. It requires patience and skill, and so it’s often done by an experienced SEO specialist. However, it doesn’t mean to say that you can’t give it a go as a novice marketer. But first, you need to understand what broken link building is. 

Here’s how it works:

• Broken links are identified on other websites
• Content is created or found that is relevant to the page or link that’s missing 
• A website owner is then informed about the broken link, offering their content as a suitable replacement
• When agreed, the broken link is updated with a link to your page, giving you a valuable backlink and an improvement in SEO

What are the benefits of broken link building?

There are many benefits to be had when it comes to broken link building. The good news is that you don’t need to be a seasoned SEO professional in order to achieve broken link building. The only thing it requires is some legwork, but worth the effort in the end, and for multiple reasons. Here are the benefits of broken link building that you might not have thought about:

• You get to earn new links to your website or blog – by looking for broken links, you’re actively seeking out fresh changes to gain high-quality backlinks. Every time a dead link is replaced, it boosts your site’s SEO
• You can inherit quality links that previously belonged to competitors – a link can be replaced that once pointed to a competitor. This can help to push the edge over onto your business and away from those you’re competing against 
• It can build new relationships & networking opportunities – talking with other website and blog owners is a great way of building connections and a rapport with others in the field. It might benefit you in the long run, as some may not ask for monetary payment, but rather they’ll publish your content on their site in exchange for the same thing when they call on you to publish their content on your website, meaning free link-building opportunities, which is always a good thing
• It improves the user experience (UX) – a dead link frustrates readers and website visitors. By fixing or replacing it, you’re making sure your readers can get to where they want to, when they want to

How to do broken link building

Now that you (hopefully) understand link building a little more, together with the importance of it, we’re going to be telling you how to find prospects and earn backlinks in order to pull off link building effectively. We’re going to be looking into: identifying pages with broken backlinks, examining link prospects, creating replacement pages and how to find outreach content.

Identify broken pages with backlinks

The very first step you should take when it comes to dealing with broken link building is to identify broken pages with backlinks. These incoming links indicate that the broken page held value in the past, which means that your prospects will be far more likely to link to your replacement content. 

Take the time to look more closely at link prospects

Finding prospects means identifying those that have the most valuable link-earning opportunities. A link prospect refers to another blog or website that can display your content for something else in return. Usually, a fee is asked for, but in some cases, you can get some free replacement if you agree to publish their content on your website or blog, should they need to call in a favour. Your content needs to be placed on quality websites, so you need to take your time and look closely at link prospects before committing. Here are some checks you should do:

• Check the link quality – prioritise valuable prospects by looking at who is referring the link. Are they reputable and legitimate? Do the links come from authoritative websites? Analyse it carefully before committing
• Examine the link reasons – why was the original content linked? Is the link typically on-theme? Which characteristics made the initial page link-worthy? Look at things in more detail before agreeing to submit your content to a website or blog

Create a replacement website page

Once some quality link prospects have been found, you should be sure to craft valuable, top-standard content that other website owners can confidently link to. This prevents them from linking to broken pages, which isn’t what you want. You can create a replacement website page easily by:

• Creating an outline – mirror the page that has the broken link, using it as a solid template for your new page
• Add linkable points – it’s important your new content is link-friendly. This attracts editorial citations
• Improve the on-page content – make it refined, add and update keywords and provide useful, valuable and relevant information that’s written in a way that’s grammatically correct and reads and flows well

Look for outreach contacts

Making sure that your content is being placed on popular, relevant websites is paramount to ensuring that the content gets as much exposure to the right people as possible. Part of this involves doing some research and making sure to acquire a list of outreach contacts. This provides you with an extensive network of other content creators who would be happy to share your content on their own sites. While some might ask for a payment, others will be happy to place it for free, provided you can do the same for them when the time comes. 

At Kumo, we’re proud to deliver comprehensive digital marketing services to clients throughout the UK. Based in the heart of Nottingham, our team specialises in SEO, PPC, content creation, and website design – tailored to boost your business and set you apart from the competition. Want to learn more? Get in touch with our friendly, professional team – we’re always here to help.