Link reclamation
White hat. Within Google’s guidelines. Safe to use. White, grey and black hat SEO compared
What is link reclamation?
Link reclamation is the process of recovering the value of backlinks you have lost or are wasting. That covers links to pages that now return 404, links removed when an article changed, links broken by a migration, and unlinked brand mentions. It is often the quickest form of link building, as the links once existed once.
Most reclamation is on your side. When a page that earned links is deleted or moved without a redirect, those links pass nothing. Adding a 301 redirect from the old URL to the most relevant live page recovers them without contacting anyone.
Why link reclamation matters for SEO
Sites lose links all the time through redesigns, URL changes, expired content and publishers editing old posts. Every lost link from a good site is equity you already earned and are now missing.
Reclamation is cheap compared with earning new links, and it is entirely within Google’s guidelines.
How to reclaim lost backlinks
- List your pages with backlinks that now return 404 or 410 errors, and redirect each to the closest relevant live page.
- After any migration, check that old URLs with links redirect in a single hop.
- Review lost backlinks each month. For valuable ones, check why: was the link removed, the page deleted or the URL changed?
- If a site linked to an old URL of yours, ask them to update it to the new one.
- If an article was updated and your link dropped, reach out with a reason it still helps readers.
Link reclamation FAQ
What is the fastest way to reclaim links?
Redirect your own broken URLs that still have backlinks. It needs no outreach and recovers the links once Google recrawls them.
Should I redirect every 404 to my homepage?
No. Redirect each URL to the most relevant page. Google may treat mass redirects to the homepage as soft 404s, and the links may not count.
Related SEO terms
Lost backlinks are links that used to point to your site but no longer do, because the link, page or target URL changed or was removed.
Broken link buildingWhite hat
Broken link building means finding broken links on other sites and suggesting your relevant page as the replacement. It is a white hat tactic.
Unlinked brand mentionsWhite hat
Unlinked brand mentions are places that name your brand, product or people without linking to you. Asking for a link is an easy white hat win.
A 301 redirect permanently sends visitors and search engines from one URL to another and tells Google the new URL should be indexed.
A 404 error is the HTTP status a server returns when a requested page does not exist. It is normal, but broken links to 404s are worth fixing.
Link equity, or link juice, is the ranking value a link passes from one page to another, based on the linking page’s authority and relevance.