Broken link building is one of the most popular white-hat link-building techniques today. However, is it still effective? Or is it a relic from the past, regurgitated by SEOs and bloggers for cheap clicks?
In the earlier days of the internet, especially after Google’s Penguin update, broken link building emerged as one of the most time-efficient ways to build a lot of white-hat backlinks, without using bots or other forbidden methods. That doesn’t mean it is still the best option today, however.
In this article, we will talk about why broken link building, despite its massive popularity, might be worth taking a second look at. You might be better off focusing your efforts on other methods.
What is broken link building?
The idea behind broken link building is pretty simple. You find a site that’s linking to a 404 page or a website that’s down. Then, you reach out to them and suggest they link to you instead.
There are two ways of going about it. One is by finding a popular web page (with a lot of backlinks) that has gone offline or been updated without a proper redirect. Then, you reach out to all the sites linking to that page.
The other way of going about it is by using a tool to check a large site for dead links. Often, on such large sites, you will find a link or two that is dead.
Of course, you need to have a proper replacement for the dead link. If they’re linking to an article about the top 10 ways to fix a clogged toilet, you can’t suggest they link to an article about dog food. That’s why the first method is a bit more straightforward — just find a popular but dead link that is similar to a resource you already wrote.
If you use the second method, you’ll have to determine whether you have an article on your blog to suggest as an appropriate replacement for the dead link you found.
The problem with broken link building
There are a few problems with broken link building.
Think about it. Most high-quality bloggers will know a thing or two about SEO, and they’ll know how to properly redirect a page. If they take down a page or edit the URL, most will make sure to set up a proper redirect, so there will be no dead links pointing to it, and they don’t lose any traffic.
Since you don’t want to get backlinks from low-quality sites, you’ll want to reach out to high-quality blogs. The problem is that such high-quality blogs usually link out to other high-quality blogs, which are the ones that know how to set up redirects.
That’s why using broken link building as your main backlink strategy may prove ineffective. Relying on broken link building to land a lot of backlinks might not work anymore.
Is broken link building too competitive?
Broken link building is the second most popular link-building strategy. However, that might also mean it’s a bit too saturated. If you do manage to find a popular dead page that has a lot of backlinks pointing to it or a dead outbound link on a high-quality page, you might not have been quick enough.
For all you know, the webmaster or blogger already received dozens of emails pointing out that they have a dead link.
In addition, some bloggers may even get annoyed when they receive a dead link outreach email, and they may immediately delete it. They may get inundated with many such messages every day.
Many bloggers simply don’t care if they have a single dead link somewhere on their blog or are too focused on more important things. In addition, you’re essentially relying on their goodwill to link back to you, instead of just removing the link altogether or conducting a Google search to find a new link.
Does broken link building even work?
A recent case study from Ahrefs highlighted just how challenging broken link building is. They sent out 74 outreach emails, and only got one link in return. That’s a conversion rate of just 1.4 percent!
Even worse, all of those emails were sent to sites that were carefully selected and vetted — this wasn’t a mass-message cold campaign sent to thousands of sites at once. Not only that, but the one link they did get was from a blogger who was familiar with the guy running the outreach campaign and his blog.
To be fair, it is hard to draw any real conclusions from such a small case study. In addition, certain things may have contributed to the lack of success in that particular case, as Ahrefs themselves admit:
- They did not send any follow-ups and thus missed out on opportunities to convert.
- They targeted a broken link to Google’s mobile search optimization tool — but that tool still exists; the original link just wasn’t redirected.
- They even provided the updated Google link in the email first, and only inserted their alternative tool later, at the end of the email. Thus, some people just linked to the updated Google URL.
- They were working in the SEO and digital marketing niche — bloggers in that niche will be familiar with the broken link building method. They are the ones who are the most likely to be annoyed and the least likely to convert.
Examples of broken link building services
Here are some examples of broken link building services. Keep in mind that many link-building agencies don’t specifically offer “broken link building services” or mention that they use broken link building, even if they do use it to obtain some links.
- Posirank: Posirank provides fully managed SEO services, as well as guest posting and broken link services.
- SubmitEdge SEO: This agency provides all sorts of digital marketing services, such as broken link building and social media management.
- Ahrefs: While Ahrefs doesn’t offer broken link building services, it does have a tool that allows you to check for broken links on any site, which SEOs often use when doing broken link building.
Final thoughts
Broken link building’s effectiveness will vary from niche to niche. It will also depend on who you are reaching out to and how you are reaching out to them. However, there are other link-building methods that are a lot more effective and quicker to get results.
While broken link building might have been great when the internet was still a novelty and when people were searching for ways to get backlinks without violating Google’s new link scheme rules, it’s not as effective as it once was. It’s not the worst link-building method out there, but you still have to choose what you spend your time on carefully.
Overall, you’d be better off focusing on more efficient link-building strategies, such as guest post blogging and local directory citation building. You can get a lot of local citations, for example, quicker and with a lot less effort than with broken link building.
