Link building is an essential aspect of search engine optimization (SEO), helping improve your website’s ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs). However, sometimes, you may discover that valuable backlinks pointing to your site have been lost. This can happen due to various reasons, such as website updates, changes in URL structure, or incorrect linking. But fear not! There’s a strategy called link reclamation that can help you recover those lost backlinks and give your SEO efforts a significant boost.
Link reclamation involves identifying and reclaiming the links that were previously pointing to your site but are no longer active or pointing to a non-existent page. These lost backlinks can still have a positive impact on your SEO if you manage to recover them. Here are some effective techniques to reclaim lost backlinks:
1. Identify Broken Links: Start by identifying the broken links pointing to your website. You can use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Moz’s Link Explorer to discover these broken or lost backlinks. They will provide you with a list of URLs that are linking to non-existent pages or generating error responses.
2. Determine Link Intent: After identifying the broken links, it’s crucial to understand why those websites linked to your site in the first place. Evaluate the context, relevance, and quality of each lost backlink. This understanding is crucial when reaching out to the website owners or webmasters for link reclamation.
3. Reach out to Website Owners: Contact the website owners or webmasters who are linking to your site with broken or non-existent URLs. Be polite and professional in your outreach, explaining the issue and providing the correct URL or page to link to. You can offer them the updated content or suggest alternative linking options.
4. Redirect Broken URLs: If you have changed the URL structure on your website, it’s essential to redirect the old URLs to the new ones. Implement 301 redirects to ensure that the authority and link equity from the lost backlinks flow to the correct pages on your site. This not only helps in link reclamation but also ensures a smoother user experience.
5. Update Backlink Anchor Texts: In some cases, the anchor texts of your lost backlinks may be outdated or not optimized for SEO. While reaching out to website owners, you can suggest updating the anchor texts to improve relevancy and visibility on search engines. This adds value to both parties and increases the chances of successful link reclamation.
6. Monitor Reclaimed Backlinks: Once you’ve reclaimed the lost backlinks, it’s important to monitor them regularly. Keep an eye on the referring domains to ensure they are still linking to your website correctly. Tools like Ahrefs or Majestic can help you track these backlinks and analyze their impact on your overall SEO strategy.
By implementing these link reclamation techniques, you can regain lost backlinks and maximize your SEO efforts. Remember, link building is an ongoing process, and it’s essential to stay vigilant in monitoring and maintaining your link profile.
