Broken Link Building
We find broken outbound links on high-authority pages in your niche, build (or match) replacement content on your site, and email the editor offering the fix. White-hat by design - you're providing genuine value by pointing out a broken link, and the editor's incentive to fix it is high.
Broken link building is one of the few link-building tactics that genuinely benefits the publisher. Editors don't want broken links on their pages - they hurt user experience, increase bounce rates, and signal page neglect. When you email an editor with "hey, the link to X on your page about Y is broken - here's a working alternative I wrote" you're solving a problem they want solved.
Our process is meticulous: we crawl high-authority pages in your niche, surface every 404'd outbound link, score the broken targets by topical relevance, and build a content piece on your site that genuinely matches what the original link offered. Then we email the editor, with the broken link cited specifically and our replacement offered as the fix.
The honest reality of broken link building is that response rates are 10-20% - meaning we need to identify and pitch many broken links to land each placement. That's why this is a campaign service, not a one-off. The flip side: the placements that close are durable, editorially earned, and almost never devalued.
From your brief to a live, indexed link
Anchors planned, authority compounding
Safe anchor distribution
Exact-match stays in safe bands - branded and partial carry the weight, so the campaign math holds at month six instead of tripping a filter.
- Branded40%
- Partial match28%
- Topical phrase15%
- Naked URL10%
- Exact match7%
Built to compound
Clean links don’t spike and fade - they accrue. A representative shape of organic authority across a 12-month engagement.
Relative organic authority · months 1-12
Is this the right fit?
We are deliberate about who we take on - it is how the quality bar holds.
- Sites with strong topical content already published
- Niches with established publishers and resource-heavy content
- B2B SaaS, DTC ecommerce, and content-heavy sites
- Brands willing to commit 60-90 days for a proper campaign
- Sites with thin content that can't credibly replace anything
- Buyers expecting placements in week 1
- Niches without active publishers (very specialized B2B can struggle)
- Anyone unwilling to write or commission the replacement content
See exactly what shipped
Every placement lands in a shared workspace with the host, DR, traffic, the anchor used, and indexing status - plus a 12-month replacement watch.
Live placements plus the underlying campaign data so you can see exactly which prospects converted and why.
- Broken-link prospect inventory with host DR, traffic, and relevance scoring
- Replacement content briefs (or full content drafts in higher tiers)
- Pitch history with response status per prospect
- Live placement inventory with anchor and surrounding context
- Placement durability tracking at 90/180/365-day intervals
What's included
Every engagement ships with these as standard.
Broken-link prospecting
We crawl publishers in your niche to surface broken outbound links. Each prospect is scored on host quality (DR, organic traffic), topical fit, and likelihood of editor response.
Replacement content development
For each promising broken target, we either match it to existing content on your site or - in higher tiers - draft replacement content that fills the same niche the original link served.
Editor outreach and pitching
Pitches are written individually, citing the specific broken link, the URL it sat on, and the proposed fix. No mail-merge templates. Follow-ups happen at day 7 and day 14.
Placement and anchor management
When an editor agrees to fix the link, we coordinate the swap and verify the placement. Anchor text is negotiated based on what the original link used and what fits the surrounding context.
Campaign reporting
Per-prospect status, response rates, placement counts, anchor distribution, and longitudinal placement durability - all tracked through campaign closeout.
How a campaign runs
- 01
Niche crawl and prospecting
Crawl high-authority pages in your niche. Identify all broken outbound links. Score each by DR, traffic, topical relevance, and editor response likelihood.
- 02
Replacement strategy
Match prospects to existing content or scope replacement content. Brief or write replacement assets that genuinely serve what the original link offered.
- 03
Outreach campaign
Personalized pitches per prospect, citing specific broken links and offering specific replacements. Two follow-ups per prospect.
- 04
Placement coordination
When editors agree, coordinate the link swap, verify the placement, and track anchor and surrounding context.
- 05
Reporting and durability
Monthly campaign reports plus 90-day, 180-day, and 365-day placement durability checks.
Pricing
Transparent packages. No retainers you can't exit, no mystery line items.
Targeting 5-8 broken-link placements per month.
- 200+ prospect crawl per cycle
- Personalized outreach to top 50 prospects
- Existing-content matching only (no new content drafts)
- 5-8 placements expected per month
- Standard campaign reporting
Targeting 12-18 placements with replacement content drafted.
- 400+ prospect crawl per cycle
- Personalized outreach to top 120 prospects
- Up to 4 replacement content briefs per month
- 12-18 placements expected per month
- Monthly campaign analytics + durability tracking
- Anchor distribution management
High-volume program with full replacement content production.
- 800+ prospect crawl per cycle
- Personalized outreach to top 300 prospects
- Up to 8 fully-drafted replacement assets per month
- 25-40 placements expected per month
- Dedicated campaign strategist
- Real-time campaign dashboard
- Quarterly strategy reviews
Broken Link Building - answered
Broken link building is the practice of finding broken outbound links on relevant pages, building or matching replacement content on your site, and emailing the editor offering the fix. The editor benefits (a problem solved), and you earn an editorial backlink.
It works because the editor's interests align with yours. They want broken links fixed - broken links hurt UX and signal page neglect. You're offering a working alternative for content they themselves once chose to link to. Pitch acceptance rates are 10-20% versus 1-3% for cold guest post pitches.
Skyscraper builds an upgraded version of content that already ranks and pitches every site linking to it. Broken link building targets dead links specifically - meaning the original link no longer works. Skyscraper has higher leverage when it works; broken link has higher per-pitch conversion.
Either: (a) we match the broken target to existing content you already have, or (b) in Growth/Premium tiers, we draft replacement content for you. The Starter tier is matching-only; if no existing content fits, that prospect gets dropped.
Editorial dofollow links inside the body of high-authority pages, with anchor text typically matching what the original link used (often partial-match or branded). These are some of the highest-quality links in any link-building tactic.
Plan for a 60-90 day initial campaign. Weeks 1-2 are prospecting and content prep; weeks 3-8 are outreach and placement; weeks 9-12 are follow-up and reporting. Ongoing campaigns scale from there.
Niches with active publishers and editorial standards (B2B SaaS, marketing, finance, health) respond at 12-20%. Niches with thin publisher ecosystems (very specialized B2B, regional services) respond at 5-10%. We baseline this in the audit and set realistic targets per niche.
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