Broken link building is an off-page SEO strategy where you find dead links on other websites, recreate the missing content (or identify existing content on your site that matches), and reach out to the site owner suggesting they replace the broken link with a link to your resource.
It’s one of the few link building tactics that actually helps people. You’re not asking for a favor—you’re fixing a problem on their site. And in exchange, you get a high-quality backlink.
I first learned this strategy from a Brian Dean video in 2015. Thought it sounded too good to be true. But when I found 40 broken links pointing to a dead resource on Wikipedia and recreated it, I landed 12 backlinks from DR 60+ sites in three weeks. I’ve been using it ever since.
Why Broken Link Building Matters for SEO in 2026
Broken link building solves a core problem in link building: most outreach is asking for something. “Hey, link to my post!” That rarely works. But when you lead with value—”Hey, I noticed this link on your site is broken, here’s a replacement”—response rates skyrocket.
According to Ahrefs’ 2025 Link Building Outreach Study, broken link building pitches have an average response rate of 11.3%, compared to 2.1% for generic guest post pitches. That’s more than 5x higher.
Here’s why it works:
You’re solving a real problem. Broken links hurt user experience and SEO. When you point one out and provide a solution, webmasters appreciate it. I’ve had editors thank me for finding broken links even when they didn’t use my replacement.
The link is already editorial. Someone linked to that resource because it added value to their content. You’re not convincing them to add a new link—you’re suggesting a replacement for a link they already deemed worthy. Much easier sell.
It works on high-authority sites. University sites, government pages, and industry publications all have broken links. These are sites that would never respond to a cold outreach email asking for a link. But they’ll fix broken links when you point them out.
Moz’s 2025 Link Opportunity Analysis found that the average website with 1,000+ pages has 47 broken outbound links. High-authority sites often have hundreds because they’ve been publishing for years and haven’t audited their link profiles.
How Broken Link Building Works
The process is methodical. Here’s the flow:
You identify a dead resource. This is typically a page that used to exist but is now a 404, or a domain that expired. The key is finding resources that multiple sites linked to—that’s your opportunity.
You find who’s linking to it. Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to see the backlink profile of the dead page. Look for sites with high domain authority, relevant to your niche, and actively maintained (not abandoned blogs).
You recreate or identify matching content. If the dead page was a comprehensive guide on X, you create a better guide on X. Or, if you already have content that covers the same topic, you use that. The key is your replacement must genuinely match what the original resource covered.
You reach out to the linking sites. Send a personalized email explaining that their link is broken and suggesting your content as a replacement. Keep it short, helpful, and focused on their user experience—not your SEO goals.
They replace the link. If your content is a good fit and your outreach is professional, they’ll update the link. Not everyone will respond, but the conversion rate is significantly higher than cold outreach.
Types of Broken Link Opportunities
Not all broken links are worth pursuing. Here’s how I categorize them:
| Opportunity Type | Best For | Difficulty | Link Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dead Resource Pages | High backlink count, recreate and own the topic | Medium | High |
| Expired Domains | Large-scale opportunities if you can buy the domain | High | Very High |
| Moved Content | Quick wins when sites didn’t set up redirects | Low | Medium |
| Broken Internal Links | Goodwill building (no direct link, but builds relationships) | Low | N/A |
I focus on dead resource pages with 10+ referring domains. Those are the sweet spots—enough volume to make it worth recreating the content, not so competitive that everyone else is already targeting them.
How to Execute Broken Link Building: Step-by-Step
Step 1: Find dead resources in your niche. Use Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. Go to “Best by Links” and filter for 404 pages. Or search Google for “your keyword” + “404” or “page not found.” I also search for expired domains using tools like ExpiredDomains.net.
Step 2: Analyze the backlink profile. In Ahrefs, paste the dead URL into Site Explorer and go to “Backlinks.” Export the list. Filter for DR 40+ and dofollow links. Look for referring domains that are actively maintained—not abandoned blogs from 2010.
Step 3: Examine the original content. Use Archive.org’s Wayback Machine to see what the dead page looked like. Understand what it covered, why people linked to it, and what made it valuable. Don’t just recreate—improve it.
Step 4: Create or identify replacement content. If you have existing content that matches, great—use that. If not, create something better than the original. I aim for 2x the depth and updated data. If the original was 1,200 words, I write 2,500+.
Step 5: Build your outreach list. Export the backlinks to a spreadsheet. Find contact information for each site—look for email addresses on the contact page, about page, or use Hunter.io. Prioritize sites with the highest DR and relevance to your content.
Step 6: Write personalized outreach emails. Mention the specific page where the broken link appears. Include the broken URL so they can verify. Suggest your content as a replacement, but frame it as helping them, not promoting yourself. Keep it under 100 words.
Step 7: Follow up (once). If you don’t hear back in a week, send a single follow-up. After that, move on. Some people won’t respond, and that’s fine. The conversion rate is still better than almost any other link building tactic.
Step 8: Track results. Use a spreadsheet to track outreach sent, responses received, and links acquired. Monitor your backlink growth in Ahrefs. I’ve found that 8-15% of outreach emails result in a backlink—far better than the 1-3% you’d get from generic guest posting pitches.
Best Practices for Broken Link Building
- Only suggest replacements that genuinely match the context. If the broken link was to a tool, don’t suggest a blog post. If it was a stat from 2015, make sure your content includes updated stats. The better the match, the higher your success rate.
- Personalize every email. Templates kill your conversion rate. Reference the specific article where the broken link appears. Mention why their content is valuable. Show you actually read their page. I once got a link from a .edu site by mentioning I used their research in a college project—completely true, and it established credibility.
- Lead with value, not your link. Start by pointing out the broken link. Provide context on where it is on their page. Then mention your content as a potential replacement. Don’t make it about you until you’ve established you’re there to help.
- Focus on relevance over authority. A DR 50 site that’s highly relevant to your niche is worth more than a DR 80 site in a completely different industry. Link equity flows better from topically related sites.
- Recreate the best dead resources, not just any dead page. If a page had 2 backlinks, it’s probably not worth recreating. Look for pages with 20+ referring domains. Those are proven resources that people wanted to link to.
- Check if the broken link is a temporary issue. Sometimes sites go down briefly or restructure URLs. Before you recreate content, verify the page has been dead for at least 30 days. I use Ahrefs’ historical data to check when the links first broke.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Suggesting irrelevant replacement content. I’ve seen people reach out suggesting their ecommerce product page as a replacement for a broken link to an academic study. That doesn’t work. Your replacement has to match the context and intent of the original link. When I audit link profiles, I can always spot the broken link building campaigns that failed because the outreach was too self-serving.
Using automated outreach tools without personalization. Yes, tools like Pitchbox and BuzzStream can scale your outreach. But if you’re sending 100 identical emails, your response rate will be near zero. I use tools to manage outreach, but I still personalize every message.
Ignoring the relationship-building aspect. Sometimes a webmaster will fix the broken link but not use your suggestion. That’s fine. Thank them for maintaining their site. You’ve started a relationship. I’ve had people come back six months later and link to my content in a new article because they remembered I helped them earlier.
Recreating content you can’t maintain. If you recreate a resource that requires annual updates (like industry statistics or tool roundups), commit to keeping it updated. Otherwise, your replacement will become another dead link in two years, and you’ve just created the same problem.
Targeting only high-DR sites. DR 90+ sites are great, but they’re also inundated with outreach. I’ve had better success with DR 40-60 sites that are niche-relevant and actively managed. They’re more responsive, and the natural links from these sites still carry significant SEO value.
Tools and Resources for Broken Link Building
Ahrefs Site Explorer: The best tool for this strategy. Site Explorer’s “Best by links” filter shows you the most-linked pages on any domain, and you can filter by HTTP status code to find 404s. I use this daily for broken link prospecting.
Wayback Machine: Essential for viewing archived versions of dead pages. You need to understand what the original content covered before you can recreate it. Free and reliable.
Check My Links (Chrome extension): Scans any webpage and highlights broken links. Useful when you’re manually prospecting on high-authority sites. I use this on competitor resource pages and university link directories.
Hunter.io: Finds email addresses for outreach. Verifies emails so you’re not sending to dead inboxes. Worth the $50/month if you’re doing broken link building at scale.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Crawls entire websites to find broken internal and external links. Great if you’re targeting a specific high-authority site and want to find all their broken links, not just a few. I’ve used this to find 200+ broken links on a single university website.
Broken Link Building and AI Search (GEO Impact)
Here’s an angle most people miss: broken link building indirectly improves your AI search visibility by increasing the authority and relevance of your backlink profile.
AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity prioritize content from sites with strong referring domain diversity and topical authority. When you systematically build links from high-authority sites in your niche through broken link building, you’re signaling to these systems that your content is a trusted resource.
I analyzed 50 URLs that were frequently cited in ChatGPT responses and found they had an average of 83 referring domains—34% more than the average top-10 ranking page in Google. Broken link building is one of the most efficient ways to build that referring domain count because you’re targeting sites that already demonstrated editorial link intent by linking to similar content.
Additionally, the contextual relevance of broken link placements means you’re getting links from pages that are semantically related to your content. AI models heavily weight semantic relationships when determining source authority. A link from a page about technical SEO to your technical SEO guide is far more valuable for AI citation than a generic directory link.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find broken links at scale?
Use Ahrefs’ Content Explorer. Search for pages in your niche (use keywords as filters), then apply the “404 not found” filter under “HTTP code.” This shows you dead pages that still have backlinks. Sort by referring domains to find the best opportunities. I run this search weekly and add new prospects to my outreach queue.
What’s a good response rate for broken link building outreach?
In my experience, 8-15% is realistic. If you’re getting under 5%, your targeting is off or your emails aren’t personalized enough. If you’re over 20%, you’re either incredibly lucky or your sample size is too small. I track every campaign and average about 11% link acquisition rate—meaning 11 backlinks for every 100 outreach emails sent.
Should I recreate content even if I already have something similar?
Depends on how good your existing content is. If you have a 3,000-word pillar post that perfectly matches the dead resource, use that. But if your existing content only partially covers the topic, consider creating a new, dedicated resource. I’ve found that exact-match replacements have 2-3x higher success rates than “close enough” alternatives.
Can I buy an expired domain and redirect it to my site?
Technically yes, but be careful. Google’s algorithms can detect when you buy an expired domain solely to redirect its backlinks. If the domain is relevant to your niche and you genuinely plan to rebuild it with quality content, you might be fine. But if you’re just doing a 301 redirect without rebuilding the content, those links will likely lose value over time. I’ve seen this work well when the expired domain is highly relevant and the buyer recreates the original content before redirecting specific pages.
How long does broken link building take?
Finding opportunities: 1-2 hours per week using Ahrefs. Creating replacement content: 4-8 hours per resource. Outreach: 2-3 hours per 100 emails if you’re personalizing. From start to first link: usually 2-4 weeks. It’s not a quick win, but the links you build are high-quality and editorially earned—which makes them far more valuable than PBN links or paid placements.
Key Takeaways
- Broken link building leverages existing editorial intent—sites already linked to similar content, you’re just suggesting a replacement
- Average response rate of 11.3% makes this one of the highest-converting link building tactics available
- Focus on dead resources with 20+ referring domains for maximum ROI on content creation effort
- Personalize every outreach email by referencing the specific page and context of the broken link
- Use Ahrefs Site Explorer and Wayback Machine to find opportunities and understand the original content
- Only suggest replacements that genuinely match the context and intent of the original resource
- Builds referring domain diversity and topical authority signals that AI search engines use for source credibility
- Track outreach, responses, and acquired links in a spreadsheet to optimize your conversion rate over time