Broken Backlinks 101: How to find and Is Broken Backlinks a Good Backlink Strategy

I shouldn’t be telling you what backlinks are because you already know it. In case you’re getting started, please read these guides:

• Effective backlinks types
• Google on guest posting

Now for those who are familiar with backlinks, here’s a question: “What are broken backlinks?”

This is a detailed guide for all those who want to learn about broken backlinks. I will walk you through what broken backlinks are, how to identify them, and whether broken backlinks are a good link-building strategy.

What are broken backlinks?

A backlink is when you add your website’s link on an external website. Similarly, a backlink is broken when the other website deletes your article or removes your backlink.

For example, someone included a backlink to our “white label link building services” in an article. The article was related to services specifically targeting “New York.”

So, they removed our backlink because we provide our backlink services worldwide, not just in “New York.”

But broken backlinks can occur for several reasons. Some common reasons are:

1. A backlink becomes dead due to website maintenance or a technical issue.
2. Sometimes a website deletes the page where your backlink existed.
3. A webmaster intentionally removes your backlink from their post.
4. The entire website no longer exists.
5. You were supposed to pay for your backlink but didn’t, so your live link was removed.

Similarly, there are many other reasons for a broken backlink.

Are broken backlinks bad for your website?

Definitely, yes. A backlink is supposed to pass PageRank or link equity from another website to yours.

When the link is broken, it means it isn’t passing that same link juice. However, broken backlinks aren’t always bad.

Here’s why:

A lot of times, a spammy website lists your website and many others. These backlinks aren’t passing any value.

Google is already ignoring such links, so often these websites become inactive, leaving all the links broken.

In such cases, you should be thankful for the process!

But the real authoritative backlinks you build via quality guest posts or other white-hat tactics should stay active.

This is because you put so much effort into acquiring them. And if they are dead, it means it will impact your organic progress.

In case you’re struggling to build quality backlinks, do to reputepost.com and find high quality websites for backlinks.

How to find broken backlinks?

Finding a broken backlink is actually a lot easier than you think. But to find broken backlinks, you need a tool that can help you do this.

I personally use Ahrefs and Screaming Frog for finding broken backlinks. Since Ahrefs is extremely expensive, you should look for other alternatives.

What to do after you find backlinks that are removed?

At Repute Post, we recommend SEOs do a backlink audit every month. This helps them find potential issues, including broken backlinks.

If you find that some of your backlinks have been removed, you can contact the webmaster and ask for their feedback.

Sometimes, webmasters do this intentionally, while other times it is unintentional.

Here’s an email draft you can use:

Hi (website name/author),

I hope you’re doing great, just like your website. You know I’ve always been a fan of your website and the content you publish.

I was doing a backlink audit and found that my backlink on this post (URL) has been removed. I just wanted to know if it’s due to a technical issue, maintenance, or something else.

I would love to see my link active again. In case you need any assistance, feel free to let me know.

Regards,

(Your name)

This is one of the simplest yet most effective email drafts you can use to contact webmasters and ask them to reactivate your backlinks.

What is the broken backlink strategy?

SEO is all about patience and hard work. It takes months for SEO specialists to bring in their first 100 organic visitors!

It’s ironic how much false and basic information is available on the internet regarding SEO and link building.

If you search on Google or YouTube for the "most popular backlink strategy," you’ll see everyone including broken backlinks in it!

This is because much of the content comes from content writers or creators who lack hands-on experience.

Broken backlink strategies don’t work anymore. Here’s why:

1. It has an extremely low success rate.
2. You have to put in so much effort to find backlinks in your niche, only to have webmasters either ghost you or ask for money.
3. A lot of times, webmasters will fix broken backlinks without adding your link.
4. SEO plugins and tools help webmasters fix this automatically.

For these reasons, no experienced SEO specialist would recommend using this method to build backlinks.

If this were 2014, it was a good tactic back then—but it takes way more time to land some quality backlinks.

This is one of the main reasons why SEOs are more interested in niche edits services.

First, it takes little to no time to build curated backlinks.

Second, the cost is so little compared to the time and effort one has to put in.

Even though the success rate is extremely low, it can still help you build high authority backlinks.

And if you managed to get an editorial link using this tactic, it doesn't matter how much effort you put in first place.

Wrapping up

Broken backlinks in SEO are a big concern for SEO specialists and webmasters. You should keep an eye on the backlinks you’ve built in the past and check which of them have been removed. If a website is losing a large number of backlinks, it means its organic progress will become more difficult in the near future. Stay up to date with your website and everything associated with it.