{"id":1573,"date":"2021-08-18T23:43:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T23:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marketerscenter.com\/blog\/?page_id=1573"},"modified":"2024-02-26T22:41:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T22:41:30","slug":"broken-link-building","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marketerscenter.com\/blog\/broken-link-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Broken Link Building a Waste of Time?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broken link building is one of the most popular white-hat link-building<\/a> techniques today. However, is it still effective? Or is it a relic from the past, regurgitated by SEOs and bloggers for cheap clicks?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the earlier days of the internet, especially after Google\u2019s <\/span>Penguin update<\/span><\/a>, 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\u2019t mean it is still the best option today, however.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Business<\/a><\/p>\n

What is broken link building?<\/h2>\n

The idea behind broken link building is pretty simple. You find a site that\u2019s linking to a 404 page or a website that\u2019s down. Then, you reach out to them and suggest they link to you instead<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, you need to have a proper replacement for the dead link. If they\u2019re linking to an article about the top 10 ways to fix a clogged toilet, you can\u2019t suggest they link to an article about dog food. That\u2019s why the first method is a bit more straightforward \u2014 just find a popular but dead link that is similar to a resource you already wrote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem with broken link building<\/h2>\n

There are a few problems with broken link building.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about it. Most high-quality bloggers will know a thing or two about SEO, and they\u2019ll 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\u2019t lose any traffic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since you don\u2019t want to get backlinks from low-quality sites, you\u2019ll 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is broken link building too competitive?<\/h2>\n

Broken link building is the <\/span>second most popular<\/span><\/a> link-building strategy. However, that might also mean it\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For all you know, the webmaster or blogger already received dozens of emails pointing out that they have a dead link.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many bloggers simply don\u2019t care if they have a single dead link somewhere on their blog or are too focused on more important things. In addition, you\u2019re 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Does broken link building even work?<\/h2>\n

A recent <\/span>case study<\/span><\/a> from Ahrefs highlighted just how challenging broken link building is. They sent out 74 outreach emails, and only got one link in return. That\u2019s a conversion rate of just 1.4 percent!<\/span><\/p>\n

Even worse, all of those emails were sent to sites that were carefully selected and vetted \u2014 this wasn\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n