SEO Term Definition
Link Reclamation
Link reclamation is the process of finding and restoring lost backlinks — such as broken links to your site, unlinked brand mentions, or links pointing to pages that no longer exist — to recover lost link equity.
Reviewed by Alexander Yarovenko · Updated: 2026-07-03
What is Link Reclamation?
Link reclamation is the practice of identifying and recovering backlinks that are lost or not yet realised. It is one of the highest-ROI link building activities because you are rebuilding links you already earned, rather than competing for new ones from scratch. Three main types:
- Broken backlink reclamation — external sites link to a URL on your site that no longer exists (404). You either 301-redirect the broken URL to the best matching live page, or contact the linker and ask them to update the link.
- Unlinked brand mention reclamation — sites mention your brand name (or product) in text but don't link to you. Contact them and request a link be added.
- Outdated link reclamation — links point to an old URL that redirects to the current page via a redirect chain. Ask linkers to update to the canonical URL to avoid link equity loss through redirect chains.
How to Find Reclamation Opportunities
- Broken backlinks: Ahrefs → "Broken Backlinks" report → filter by link type (dofollow) and DR of linking domain; or GSC → Coverage → 404 errors cross-referenced with backlinks
- Unlinked mentions: Google Alerts for brand name; Ahrefs Content Explorer → brand name as query → filter for pages not linking to you; Mention.com
- Redirect chain links: Ahrefs → "Best by Links" → filter for URLs with HTTP/301 status
Outreach for Link Reclamation
Link reclamation outreach typically has a higher response rate than cold outreach because:
- The recipient already showed intent to reference you (they mentioned your brand)
- For broken links, you're actually helping them fix a user experience issue on their site
- You're not asking for a favour from scratch — you're completing an already-started connection