It works. Sort of. But if you’re expecting a 50 percent success rate and backlinks falling into your lap like autumn leaves, you’re in for a disappointing afternoon.
The reality? You’ll be spending an hour or two per quality link, if you’re lucky. You’ll face a response rate of around 5%, and you’ll be dealing with editors who have seen this exact pitch 47 times this month.
So, why are we writing about it? Because, done right, with realistic expectations and a value-first approach, broken link building can still land you quality backlinks that actually move the needle. The key word being “can.”
This guide will show you how to do broken link building without wasting weeks chasing ghosts. We’ll go over what actually works, what doesn’t, and when you should probably just do something else instead.
What Is Broken Link Building?
Broken link building is just what it sounds like: You find broken links (usually 404 errors) on other websites, create content to replace what was missing, then reach out to suggest your page as a replacement.
The pitch is simple: “Hey, you’re linking to a dead page. Here’s something better.”
The basic process:
- Find pages with broken outbound links
- Check whether those links are worth replacing (spoiler: most aren’t)
- Create content that matches or improves on the dead resource
- Contact the site owner with your replacement
Sounds easy, right? Yes, in theory. But in practice, you’re competing with every other SEO who’s read the same blog post about this “underutilized” tactic.
Does Broken Link Building Actually Work in 2025?
Short answer: Yes, but not as well as it used to.
Here’s the thing: when broken link building was relatively new, response rates were decent because editors weren’t drowning in these requests. Now, your email is sitting in an inbox next to 12 other people suggesting their “helpful resource” for the same broken link.
Reality check from our campaigns:
- Expect around 5% response rate (and that’s with good outreach)
- Budget 1-2 hours per successful link placement
- Most broken links aren’t worth chasing
- Quality is more important than quantity
Compare this to other methods of link building we at Search Royals employ, like creating genuinely linkable content or doing strategic outreach for contextual backlinks, and you’ll see why broken link building comes lower on our list of priorities.
When it makes sense:
- You have time to invest up-front
- You’re targeting specific high-authority sites
- Your content really improved what was there
- You’re willing to personalize every single outreach email
When it doesn’t:
- You need the links, and you need them fast
- You’re working within a limited content budget
- You’re targeting dozens of sites at once
- You expect everybody to say yes
If you find yourself nodding along to the second of the two lists above, then you may want to check out our link building marketplace. Sometimes buying quality, vetted backlinks is simply more efficient than spending weeks on outreach with a 5% success rate.
How to Find Broken Link Building Opportunities (That Don’t Suck)
Most broken link building guides tell you to find every broken link in your niche. That’s terrible advice.
You don’t want every broken link; you want broken links worth fixing.
Strategy #1: Stalking Your Competitors’ Dead Pages
This is the most targeted approach. Find pages on competitors’ sites that used to exist, attracted backlinks, and now return 404 errors.
Here’s how it works:
- Open Ahrefs and insert your competitor’s domain
- Go to “Best by links” under “Pages”
- Add a filter for HTTP status 404
- Sort by referring domains
What you want to find: pages with at least 10-20 referring domains, coming from decent sites (DR 40+). Less than that might not be worth your time.
Why this works: You’re targeting links that already existed. The linking sites clearly thought the content was valuable enough to reference. Your job is to recreate something better.
Why this also kind of sucks: Your competitors’ broken pages are everyone else’s targets too. Those site owners have probably received multiple “helpful” emails already.
Pro tip: look for pages that died recently (in the last 6-12 months). The links are fresh, and linking sites haven’t had time to find alternatives or remove links altogether.
Strategy #2: Resource Pages with Broken Links
Resource pages are collections of curated links dealing with a specific topic. When one of those links breaks, you have an opening.
The process:
- Use search operators to find resource pages in your niche:
- “keyword” + “helpful resources”
- “keyword” + “useful links”
- intitle:”resources” + “keyword”
- Run the page through a broken link checker, Ahrefs’ Site Explorer or even a free tool like Check My Links
- Identify which broken links match your content capabilities
Why this works: Owners of resource pages care about maintaining quality. A dead link makes them look bad, so they are usually willing to update it.
Why this is a pain: Most resource pages are either abandoned, nobody’s maintaining them, or already picked clean by other SEOs. You check 20 pages to find 2 opportunities.
Strategy #3: Topic-Based Dead Content Discovery
Instead of competitor-specific, go broader and find any content about your topic that has gone dead.
Using Ahrefs Content Explorer:
- Search for your topic keywords
- Filter by “404 not found” in the HTTP code
- Sort by referring domains
- Add date filters to include 2-3+ year-old content or older
Look for two kinds of dead content:
Newsworthy articles: These attracted links because they covered something timely, but the original site either removed it or shut down entirely. Think press releases, event coverage, or industry announcements.
Small, fact-based articles: Small guides or statistics pages that other sites linked to due to specific data points. These are gold because you can re-create them at relatively lightning speed, and the linking context is clear.
Screen out the junk:
- Ignore dead pages that have less than 5 referring domains
- Skip pages where all referring domains are spam. You can tell this pretty quickly by DR
- Topics that you cannot improve on realistically should be avoided
Look, I’ll be honest: This strategy takes some time. You’ll spend an afternoon sifting through dead pages, and maybe 10% will be worth pursuing. Those 10%, though, might get you links from sites you’d never get through regular outreach.
What Makes a Broken Link Opportunity Actually Worth It?
Before you get excited about any broken link, run it through this filter:
Quality checklist:
- At least 10+ referring domains
- Linking sites are DR 40+ (adjust according to your niche)
- The linking sites are topically relevant
- You can create something better than was there, realistically speaking
- The broken page topic is aligned with your content strategy
If it doesn’t check most of these boxes, move on. Your time is too valuable to chase low-quality opportunities.
Crafting Replacement Content That Actually Gets Links
This is where most people go wrong: they create barely-adequate content and then expect editors to jump at the opportunity.
Would you replace a link on your site with something mediocre? Neither will they.
The Simple Way: Direct Replacement
If the broken page was a straightforward resource, a guide, checklist, statistics page, create an improved version of precisely that.
Use the Wayback Machine to see the original content. Do not simply copy what is there. Ask yourself:
- What’s obsolete here?
- What’s missing?
- How can I make this 10x more useful?
Example: If the dead page was “15 SEO Tools for Small Businesses” from 2019, create “20 SEO Tools for Small Businesses in 2025”, with current pricing, feature comparisons, and actual use cases.
Actually make it better. Not just longer, nobody needs 5,000 words when 1,500 will do, but more useful.
The Trickier Way: Comprehensive Improvement
Sometimes the broken content was part of a larger topic. Instead of creating a like-for-like replacement, build something more comprehensive that naturally encompasses what was lost.
Example: The dead page was about “link building outreach templates.” Instead of just templates, you create a full guide to link building outreach that includes templates, personalization strategies, follow-up timing, and response rate benchmarks.
This works well when multiple broken pages about similar topics all point back to related content. Your comprehensive resource can replace several dead links at once.
Bake in Linkable Points
Whatever you create, give people specific reasons to link to it beyond “it exists.”
Linkable elements:
- Original research or data
- Expert opinions: quotes, interviews
- Free tools or templates
- Visual resources: infographics, flowcharts
- Specific frameworks or methodologies
Think about it from the linking site’s perspective: why would their audience care about clicking through to your content? If you can’t clearly answer that, then your content isn’t link-worthy yet.
And please, don’t create content just for broken link building. Make it something you’d publish anyway, as part of your broader content strategy. Otherwise, you’re building an SEO Frankenstein: pieces of content stitched together for tactics rather than value.
The Outreach Process (Where Most People Lose)
You found a great opportunity. You crafted killer content. Now comes the part where 95% of people will ignore your email.
Welcome to outreach.
Finding the Right Contact
Before you write a word, make sure you’re emailing someone who can actually make changes to the site.
Where to look:
- Author byline (if it’s a blog posting)
- “Contact” or “About” pages
- LinkedIn (search: site:linkedin.com + website name + editor/content/marketing)
- Hunter.io or alternative email finding tools
Red flags you’re emailing the wrong person:
- Generic emails like info@, contact@, hello@ rarely get acted upon
- Marketing@ usually goes to someone who doesn’t touch content
- CEOs of big companies don’t care about your broken link
Target the editors, content managers, or actual authors of that page. These are individuals who have the authority, as well as the motivation, to fix broken links.
Writing Outreach That Doesn’t Suck
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most outreach templates you find online are garbage. They’re generic, obviously automated, and scream “I’m doing this for SEO.”
Your email needs three things:
- Proof you actually visited their site
- Clear value for them (not you)
- An easy yes
Subject lines that work:
- “Broken link on [specific page title]”
- “Quick heads up about [topic] page”
- “Found an issue on your [topic] resource”
Keep it simple. Don’t try to be clever. Your goal is to get opened, not win a creativity award.
Email Structure:
Hi [First Name],
I was doing some research on [topic], and I found your [specific page title]. Really helpful, especially the part concerning [specific detail that shows you actually read it].
While I was there, I noticed one of your links (to [broken URL description]) isn’t working anymore. It’s returning a 404.
I actually recently published a guide on [topic] that covers similar ground: [your URL]
Feel free to use it as a replacement if you think it’s a good fit. No worries if not, just wanted to let you know either way about the broken link.
[Your name]
What makes this work:
- Leads with value, the broken link heads-up
- Shows you actually read their material
- Makes your link suggestion secondary, not primary
- Gives them an easy out
The key part there is “no worries if not”. It takes the pressure off, and makes you appear less salesy. Ironically, this can actually improve response rates.
Personalization at Scale (The Honest Version)
Can you personalize 50 outreach emails perfectly? No. Should you try? Also no.
Here’s the realistic approach:
- Tier 1 sites (DR 70+, highly relevant): Full custom outreach, 5-10 minutes per email
- Tier 2 sites (DR 50-70, relevant): Semi-custom, template-based, 2-3 minutes per email
- Tier 3 sites (below DR 50): Question whether they’re worth contacting
On Tier 1 sites, actually read their content. Reference something specific; perhaps mention a recent article they published. Show you’re a human who values their work.
Tier 2, on the other hand, is a template with the opening line and specific page reference changed. It represents the bare minimum in personalization.
And honestly? If you are thinking of Tier 3 sites, your time is probably better spent on other link building strategies that don’t require this much manual effort.
The Follow-up That Most People Never Do
Send one follow-up. Maybe two if the site is incredibly valuable. Then move on.
Wait 5-7 days after your initial email, then:
Hi [Name],
Just wanted to follow up on my email about the broken link on your [page].
I know you’re busy, and if this isn’t a priority or doesn’t fit, no problem at all. Just wanted to make sure it didn’t get buried.
[Your name]
That’s it. No three-part follow-up sequence. No “just checking in again.” You’re not chasing a sales lead; you’re offering to help fix something.
If they don’t respond after two e-mails, then they’re either not interested, they don’t maintain the site, or your email went to spam. None of those problems are solved by email number three.
Common Mistakes That Waste Your Time
OK, now let’s talk about what not to do, because I’ve seen people burn weeks on broken link building and get nothing to show for it.
Assuming everyone will link to you: This is the biggest misconception. You’re offering a replacement link, not a guaranteed link. Sometimes, even if your content is empirically better, site owners may opt to remove the broken link entirely rather than replace it. That’s just reality.
Targeting quantity over quality: Sending 100 mediocre outreach emails will get you worse results compared to 20 highly personalized emails to the right sites. This isn’t a numbers game; it’s a relationship game.
Creating content after you find the opportunity: Big mistake. That is creating reactive content, perhaps not aligned with your actual content strategy. Create the best content first, then find broken link opportunities where it fits.
Using spammy outreach tools: Yes, there are tools that automate broken link building outreach. Most of them make you look like every other SEO spammer. If you’re going to automate, at least make the initial email personal.
Context of link: Just because a site linked out to a dead page doesn’t mean your page fits. Check why they linked. Was it for a specific quote? A data point? A tool? If your content doesn’t serve that same purpose, your pitch will fail.
Forgetting business karma: If you want people to link to your content, offer value first. That might mean actually fixing the broken link issue even if they don’t use your page. It might mean suggesting another resource that fits better. Building goodwill matters more than one backlink.
Tools You’ll Actually Need
You can’t do broken link building with Google and hope. Here’s the realistic toolkit:
Essential:
- Ahrefs (or SEMrush, Moz): This is for finding broken pages and backlink data. No free alternative comes close.
- Wayback Machine: To see what the broken content originally looked like. Free and invaluable.
- Hunter.io or Snov.io: Find contact emails. The free tier usually works for small campaigns.
Helpful but optional:
- Check My Links (Chrome extension): Quickly scan resource pages for broken links
- Pitchbox or similar: If you do this at scale and want to manage outreach better
- Google Sheets: To track opportunities, outreach status, and success rates
That’s really it. You don’t need 15 tools. You need one good link analysis tool, a way to find emails, and a tracking system.
Want to skip the investment in tools altogether? Our link building marketplace gives you access to quality backlinks with no research, outreach, or tool subscriptions involved. Sometimes, the smartest play is recognizing when DIY just isn’t worth it.
Is Broken Link Building Right for You?
Here’s the decision framework:
Do broken link building if:
- You have more than 10 hours a month to devote to it
- You’re targeting specific high-authority sites within your niche
- You already have strong content or you can create it
- You’re comfortable with a 5% success rate
- You prioritize relationship-building over immediate gains
Skip it if:
- You need results in the next 30 days
- You’re trying to scale link building quickly
- Your content creation bandwidth is limited
- You hate outreach, seriously, if you hate it, you won’t be good at it
- You’d rather be creating linkable assets
The honest truth? For most businesses, broken link building is a supplementary tactic, not a core strategy. It’s something you do when you’ve already got your foundational link building in place and you’re looking for incremental gains.
What to Do Instead (Or In Addition)
Broken link building is one tool in the toolbox. Here are tactics that often deliver better ROI:
Create truly link-worthy content: Instead of going out and looking for broken links, create something worthy such that people will link back to you organically. Original research, comprehensive guides, free tools, whatever fits your brand.
Digital PR and outreach: Target journalists and bloggers with stories, data, or expert insights. Response rates are often higher than broken link building.
Strategic partnerships: Build relationships with complementary businesses in your space. Guest posts, co-marketing, resource sharing, all faster than broken link building.
Marketplace approach: Sometimes, the math simply works out better to invest in vetted, quality backlinks rather than investing weeks in outreach for uncertain returns.
At Search Royals, we use all of the above, depending on client goals, timeline, and resources. Broken link building has its place, but it’s rarely the hero of the story.
Final Thoughts
Broken link building works, but not as the hype suggests.
It’s slow, requires quality content, and you’ll face rejection more often than success. But when you land a link from a high-authority site in your niche? It was probably worth those two hours.
The key is going in with realistic expectations. This isn’t a shortcut. It’s not a hack. It’s just another way to earn links by providing value, fixing something broken and offering something better.
If that sounds like your kind of grind, go for it. If not, there’s no shame in focusing your energy on tactics that better match your resources and timeline.
And if you prefer to skip the grind and get directly into quality backlinks? We have you covered.
