--- title: "Link Reclamation" description: "The process of finding and recovering lost or broken backlinks that previously pointed to your site — including redirecting broken inbound links, converting unlinked brand mentions into links, and recovering links lost due to URL changes." url: "https://skribra.com/glossary/link-reclamation" type: "glossary-term" category: "Link Building" updated: "2026-06-09" --- # Link Reclamation **Definition.** The process of finding and recovering lost or broken backlinks that previously pointed to your site — including redirecting broken inbound links, converting unlinked brand mentions into links, and recovering links lost due to URL changes. **In short.** Link reclamation recovers backlinks you've already earned but aren't getting credit for. It's the highest-ROI link building activity because the work is already done — you just need to fix the connection. ## Key points - Link reclamation is more efficient than building new links because the editorial decision to link has already been made — you're fixing a technical problem, not persuading - Three main scenarios: broken inbound links (404 errors), unlinked brand mentions (your brand is cited but not linked), and changed URLs without redirects - Unlinked brand mentions are particularly valuable — the publisher already recognizes your brand; a simple email can convert a mention to a link - Regular link reclamation audits (quarterly) prevent accumulated losses from URL migrations and content deletions ## Finding Broken Inbound Links Broken inbound links — backlinks that point to 404 pages on your site — are the most common link reclamation opportunity[1]. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer's 'Best by Links' report filtered to '404 not found' status, or Google Search Console's 'Coverage' report cross-referenced with the 'Links' external links report. For each broken page with significant inbound links: (1) If the page was moved or renamed, implement a [301 redirect](https://skribra.com/glossary/301-redirect) from the old URL to the new one — the link equity transfers automatically. (2) If the content no longer exists, redirect to the most topically relevant active page. (3) Optionally, contact the linking webmaster to update the link to the current URL — this is especially worth doing for links from very high-[authority](https://skribra.com/glossary/domain-authority) sites where ensuring clean link equity flow matters. ## Reclaiming Unlinked Brand Mentions When someone mentions your brand, product name, or content title without linking to you, they've essentially given you a reference without the SEO credit[1][2]. Find unlinked mentions using: Google Alerts (set up alerts for your brand name, key product names, and founder names), Ahrefs Alerts (monitors for brand mentions without links), Mention.com, or Semrush's Brand Monitoring tool. When you find an unlinked mention, reach out to the author with a friendly email thanking them for the mention and politely asking if they'd consider adding a link — the editorial decision has already been made in your favor, so conversion rates are high (often 20-40%). Prioritize outreach to high-DA publications. Don't pursue unlinked mentions on low-quality sites — the link isn't worth the effort or the association. ## Preventing Link Loss The best link reclamation is proactive: preventing link loss before it happens[2]. Before changing any URL that has inbound links, check Ahrefs or Search Console for the link count — any page with meaningful inbound links must have a [301 redirect](https://skribra.com/glossary/301-redirect) implemented before or simultaneously with the URL change. When deleting content, redirect to the most relevant existing page or to a newly created page on the same topic. After any site migration or CMS change, immediately crawl with Screaming Frog and cross-reference with your Ahrefs backlink data to identify any missed redirects. Set up [Search Console](https://skribra.com/glossary/google-search-console) alerts for new 404 errors — a spike in 404s often indicates a URL structure change that broke existing links. Quarterly audits that check top inbound links against your site's current response codes catch issues before significant link equity is lost. ## Related terms - [Backlink](https://skribra.com/glossary/backlink): A hyperlink from one website pointing to a page on another website, used by search engines as a signal of authority and trust. - [Broken Link Building](https://skribra.com/glossary/broken-link-building): A link building tactic where you find dead links on other websites that point to non-existent pages, create or identify equivalent content on your site, then notify the webmaster and suggest your page as a replacement. - [Link Equity](https://skribra.com/glossary/link-equity): The SEO value and ranking power passed from one page to another through hyperlinks — sometimes called 'link juice' — determining how much of a linking page's authority is transferred to the pages it links to. - [301 Redirect](https://skribra.com/glossary/301-redirect): An HTTP status code that permanently redirects one URL to another, telling browsers and search engines that the original page has moved and passing the majority of its link equity to the new destination. ## Sources 1. [Ahrefs — Link Reclamation: How to Recover Lost Links](https://ahrefs.com/blog/link-reclamation/) 2. [Semrush — How to Get Backlinks (Including Link Reclamation)](https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-to-get-backlinks/) ## Machine-readable index - HTML version of this page: https://skribra.com/glossary/link-reclamation - Site index for agents: https://skribra.com/llms.txt - Sitemap: https://skribra.com/sitemap.xml - Public REST API: https://skribra.com/api/v1 - OpenAPI specification: https://skribra.com/openapi.json