Broken link building is one of the most effective — and most underused — link building strategies in SEO. The concept is simple: find broken links on other websites, create content that replaces the dead resource, then reach out to suggest your link as a replacement. Everyone wins: the site owner fixes a broken link, and you earn a backlink.

Why broken link building works

Most link building tactics are inherently selfish — you're asking someone to link to you for your benefit. Broken link building flips this dynamic:

You're providing value first — you're helping someone fix a problem on their site.
No one likes broken links — site owners are motivated to fix them because they hurt UX and SEO.
High response rates — outreach emails that lead with "I found a broken link on your page" get 2-3x higher response rates than cold link requests.
Quality over quantity — you're targeting specific, relevant pages, which means the links you earn are contextually strong.

Step-by-step broken link building process

Step 1: Find resource pages in your niche

Resource pages — curated lists of links on a topic — are the best targets for broken link building because they contain many outgoing links, and some of those links are almost certainly broken.

Use these Google search operators to find resource pages:

"your keyword" + "resources"
"your keyword" + "useful links"
"your keyword" + "recommended sites"
"your keyword" + inurl:resources

Step 2: Scan for broken links

Once you've found resource pages, scan them for broken outgoing links. You can use Broken Link Scan to quickly check any page — just enter the URL and our crawler will identify every dead link, including the exact HTTP status code and the anchor text used.

Look for broken links that point to content similar to what you offer. These are your replacement opportunities.

Step 3: Create replacement content

Before reaching out, make sure you have content that genuinely replaces what the broken link used to point to. Use the Wayback Machine to see what the original page contained, then create something equal or better.

Your replacement content should:

Cover the same topic as the dead page
Be at least as comprehensive (ideally more so)
Be published and indexed before you start outreach
Genuinely deserve to be linked — don't create thin content just for link building

Step 4: Outreach

Send a concise email to the site owner or webmaster. Here's a template that works:

Subject: Broken link on [Page Title]

Hi [Name],

I was reading your [resource page/article] about [topic] and noticed that the link to [anchor text] is broken — it returns a 404 error.

I recently published a guide on [topic] that covers similar ground: [your URL]

Might be a good replacement if you're updating the page. Either way, wanted to flag the broken link!

Cheers,
[Your name]

Key principles for effective outreach:

Lead with the broken link — show you're being helpful, not just pitching.
Be specific — mention the exact broken link and where it appears.
Make it easy — include your replacement URL so they can fix it in one click.
Don't be pushy — one follow-up email is fine. More than that hurts your reputation.

Step 5: Scale with automation

Once you've proven the process works manually, scale it:

Build a list of 50-100 resource pages in your niche.
Batch-scan them all for broken links.
Map broken links to existing content on your site (or content you can create).
Personalize outreach emails using a tool like Lemlist or Mailshake.
Track your success rate and iterate on your email template.

Expected results

Typical broken link building campaigns see:

10-15% success rate on outreach (compared to 1-3% for cold link requests)
High-quality links — resource pages typically have strong domain authority
Sustainable pipeline — new links break every day, creating ongoing opportunities

At 100 outreach emails with a 10% success rate, that's 10 new backlinks — which for most sites is a meaningful boost in domain authority.

Common mistakes to avoid

Suggesting irrelevant content — your replacement must actually match what the broken link pointed to.
Mass-emailing without personalization — generic emails get ignored.
Targeting low-quality sites — focus on sites with real traffic and authority.
Not having great content ready — the best outreach fails if your content doesn't deserve the link.

Get started

Broken link building is one of the few SEO strategies that's genuinely win-win. Start by scanning a few resource pages in your niche — you'll be surprised how many broken links you find. Each one is a potential backlink waiting to happen.

Broken Link Building: Turn Dead Links Into Backlinks (SEO Strategy)