Link building glossary

Broken link building (BLB)

Broken link building is a link building method that finds links on other websites pointing to pages that no longer exist, then offers the site owner a working page to link to. The publisher fixes a dead link for its readers, and the replacement page earns a link if it covers the same topic well.

Reviewed by Gareth Hoyle, Managing Director
Last reviewed 31 October 2026

Why are there so many broken links?

Web pages disappear faster than the links to them. In a study published on 17 May 2024, Pew Research Center found that 23% of news webpages and 21% of government webpages contained at least one broken link, and that 54% of Wikipedia pages had at least one reference link pointing to a page that no longer exists. It also found that 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer accessible a decade later.

How does broken link building work?

The method depends on finding dead pages that many relevant sites still link to.

Use a backlink tool to find pages in your niche that return 404 errors but still have many referring domains
Check what the dead page covered, using an archived copy where one exists
Publish or update a page that covers the same ground with current information
Contact the sites still linking to the dead URL, naming the exact broken link and the replacement
Record replies and check which links go live

When does it work?

It works when the replacement is a genuine like-for-like fix, so the publisher's readers get what the original link promised. It fails when the pitch is generic or the replacement is a sales page. If a site asks for payment to swap the link, the result is a paid link and Google's spam policies require it to be marked sponsored or nofollow.

Example

A UK charity closes its guide to energy grants for older homeowners, and 60 council and community sites still link to it. An insulation installer publishes an up-to-date guide covering the same grants and eligibility rules, then emails each site with the dead URL and the new page.