What is link reclamation?
Link reclamation is getting back the links you should already have. Three things are usually being reclaimed. Lost links: a site that used to link to you removed or changed the page. Broken links: the link exists but points at a URL on your site that no longer resolves, usually because of a redesign or a moved page. Unlinked mentions: a site names your brand, your work or your people without linking at all.
It is the cheapest link building there is. The hard part, convincing someone to reference you, has already happened. All that remains is asking them to fix a link, or fixing it yourself with a redirect. Most sites more than a few years old have months of this work waiting, and almost none of them have started it.
Why it matters
Why link reclamation matters
Because sites leak links constantly. Every redesign that changes URLs, every page that gets retired, every partner who rebuilds their site strips value from a profile that took years to build. A site with a long history often has more equity pointing at dead pages than most competitors have in total. Recovering it moves rankings faster than any outreach campaign, because the authority already exists and only needs reconnecting.
Unlinked mentions are the other quiet opportunity. Press, partner announcements and industry roundups often name a company without linking. Each one is a link the author already half-wrote.
In practice
How link reclamation works in practice
- 01
Start with the broken links, because you can fix them alone. Export every external link pointing at your domain from a backlink tool and Search Console, filter for URLs that return a 404, and redirect each one to the closest live equivalent with a 301. Do this before every redesign too, by mapping old URLs to new ones so links never break in the first place.
- 02
Then the outreach. Set up alerts for your brand name, your product names and your senior people. When a mention appears without a link, email the author with a short, polite note and the URL you would like them to use. For lost links, check whether the page was removed or simply edited, and ask whether the reference can be restored. Keep a log of what you asked for and what came back; the response rate is far higher than cold outreach, because the author already chose to mention you.
Watch out
What people get wrong about link reclamation
Skipping it. Most teams chase new links while old ones rot in the background. The other mistake is redirecting every dead URL to the homepage, which Google treats much like a 404 and which wastes the specific relevance of the original link. Redirect to the closest matching page.
Finally, people over-ask. A mention on a site that does not link out as policy is not going to change for you, and a second email will not help. Take the mention, note it, and move on.
