Broken link building – how to use this technique in SEO?

There are several ways to build a valuable database of links leading to a website. One of them, however, is broken link building. This technique takes advantage of broken links found on other sites and can significantly improve your website’s position in search results.

From this article you will learn:

• What is broken link building?
• Is broken link building effective?
• What does the broken link building process look like?
• What are the benefits of link building?

Broken link building – definition

Broken link building is a link buliding strategy, i.e. acquiring links to your website, based on identifying and using dead, or inactive, links. It involves finding links that lead to non-working sites and then contacting domain owners to offer to replace the broken links with links to your own site.

Broken link building is a link building technique that involves replacing broken links on a selected site with active links leading to your site.

The technique is based on the assumption that owners of sites with broken links will agree to the replacement because they want to avoid directing their users to non-functioning sites. As a result, both parties gain – your site new valuable links and the site owner an improvement in the quality of their web resource.

Effectiveness of broken link building

Many people wonder whether broken link building makes sense at all. Opinions are divided. On the one hand, one can come across a video, created by Authority Hacker specialist Mark Webster to be exact, in which he says that this tactic is pointless and not worth wasting time on. On the other hand, other specialists believe that broken link building allows them to achieve really high rankings and with little investment. In Aira’s annual report, it can be seen that broken link building is the fifth most used link building tactic^[1].

Broken link building is not an easy activity, and its effectiveness largely depends on how much time you are able to spend looking for broken links and then contacting the owners of the sites where they are located. If you understand the tactics thoroughly, take the time to look for broken links and optimise your website (so that it is attractive to others), broken link building will bring you really satisfactory results.

The broken link building process

The broken link building process requires your time and full commitment. Its first step is to find broken links, i.e. links that for some reason do not lead to a particular website. To find broken links, you can use SEO tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush.

Next, you need to contact the owner of the website in question and inform him of the links not working on his site. Suggest to him that in place of the inactive links, he can insert links, leading to your website. Before contacting the person of your choice and making such an offer, however, remember to optimise your content. Make sure it is valuable and thematically related to the page you want to link to your website. You will then increase the chances that the owner will agree to replace the non-working links with links to your site.

Benefits of broken link building

Broken link building is an effective way to acquire backlinks. The benefits of doing this are truly compelling. One of them is generating traffic to your website, but that’s not all. High quality links translate into credibility for your site and allow you to establish yourself as an expert in your industry.

Broken link building very often has a higher success rate than other popular link building tactics because it improves problem solving on a site. This strategy allows you to gain valuable backlinks by identifying and replacing non-functioning links on high authority sites.

By using this method effectively, you can not only increase the number of links leading to your own site, but also take over links that were previously pointing to your competitors’ sites. There is also the added benefit of inspiring you to create content that naturally attracts links. By finding and repairing broken links, you can therefore significantly improve your site’s visibility in search results and build a stronger online position.