Link reclamation is an effective SEO technique exploited by digital marketers and website owners to regain lost or broken links thereby boosting their website’s ranking. It provides an edge in the competitive digital market and is as fundamental as creating original backlinks. Let’s delve into the idea of link reclamation and uncover its significance in augmenting your website’s SEO.
What is link reclamation?
Link reclamation is an SEO strategy that involves identifying and recovering lost or broken backlinks – the links that once directed users to your website but no longer do due to various reasons. The main goal is to regain the lost SEO value from these links to enhance website's visibility in search engine results.
This strategy resolves around three key concepts: reestablishing lost links, fixing broken links, and transforming unlinked brand mentions into linked ones. Just like any valuable asset, links can be lost over time as a result of removed content or altered URLs. Therefore, proactive commitment to recover such links can have significant SEO benefits, amplifying your website’s ranking potential.
Why is link reclamation important?
Firstly, link reclamation is an essential SEO tool to recapture ‘link juice’ or link equity, the ranking power a backlink transfers to a website. Lost or broken links represent missed opportunities for link equity and consequently, a lower search engine ranking. By helping to restore these lost links, link reclamation indirectly boosts a website’s SERP placement.
Secondly, brand mentions without a link to your website are like invisible assets. The process of converting unlinked mentions into active backlinks can propel your brand visibility and authority. This not only amplifies the website’s credibility but it also gives it a significant ranking boost.
Finally, by gaining control over how users and search engines perceive your website, link reclamation opens up avenues for more organic, valuable traffic. It manages to catch the attention of users who are already familiar with your brand, which can lead to improved engagement and conversion rates.
Types of link reclamation
The practice of link reclamation can be broadly categorized into three types:
- Broken link reclamation focuses on identifying and fixing links that lead to 404 errors. These may occur due to changes made to a webpage’s URL or because of typos in the link. By using various tools, one can identify such errors, reach out to the website owner, and request them to correct the link.
- Lost link reclamation is the process of identifying links that a website has lost over a specific period. These could be because web pages hosting these links have been deleted or because the links were removed. In such cases, you can reach out to the person in control of the hosting website and request link re-integration.
- Unlinked brand mention reclamation focuses on finding mentions of your brand that do not include a link back to your website. With the help of online conversation monitoring tools, you can reach out for link credit for every mention of your brand.
Examples of link reclamation
The practice of link reclamation can be demonstrated through a few concrete examples.
Broken link reclamation
Suppose an internal blog in your website links to another article in your blog. But over time, the URL of the second article changes, resulting in a broken link in the first blog. By finding and altering such broken links, you’d be reclaiming links that would otherwise be lost.
Lost link reclamation
You have been quoted in a popular article with a link directed to your website, driving considerable traffic. Later, if the author of the quoting article decides to remove the link, it would lead to loss of link equity for your website. By politely requesting the author to restore the link, you’d be working towards lost link reclamation.
Unlinked brand mention reclamation
Consider a scenario where an influencer mentions your brand on their Facebook post but fails to link it to your website. By identifying such unlinked mentions and reverting to them with a polite request to include a link, you’d successfully be doing unlinked brand mention reclamation.
Handy tips about link reclamation
Understanding and implementing link reclamation can unlock surprising potential for your website’s SEO. Here are some proven best practices to make your link reclamation journey more efficient:
Regularly monitor your backlinks
Diligent monitoring of your backlinks helps you spot lost or broken links promptly, thereby enabling you to act quickly before it affects your website’s SEO rating.
Utilize SEO tools
SEO tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, MOZ, and Google Search Console among others, can be incredibly useful in tracking missing or broken links. Using these tools regularly could help you streamline your link reclamation process.
Maintain a polite tone while approaching for link reinstatement
Remember, link reclamation is also about forging relationships. So be polite when you reach out for link reinstatement. An aggressive tone could hamper your chances of getting your link back.
Conclusion
Link reclamation is a valuable SEO strategy that can massively contribute to enhancing your digital footprint. By monitoring and reclaiming your lost and broken links or transforming unlinked mentions, you not just power up your SEO but also improve your website’s visibility on SERPs.
The process of link reclamation, although not without its challenges, is a necessary measure to ensure that your website remains competitive in the digital landscape. Broken link reclamation, lost link reclamation, and unlinked brand mention reclamation are three types of the same, each focusing on a unique area of link optimization.
Bearing the significance in mind and applying the handy tips shared in this article, you can tap into the potential that link reclamation holds for your website. It’s as much about improving your website’s SEO as it’s about maintaining healthy rapport with those linking to your website. So go ahead, take the step, and reclaim your lost links. Your website deserves to be found!
Frequently Asked Questions
What tools can help me with link reclamation?
Several SEO tools are available to help with link reclamation. Some of the top ones include SEMRush, Ahrefs, MOZ, and Google Search Console. These tools provide comprehensive link analysis, enabling you to identify lost or broken links and track backlinks.
What steps can I take towards successful link reclamation?
You can start by constantly monitoring your backlinks and identifying any lost or broken links. Once identified, reach out to the person in control of the broken or lost link and politely ask them to fix it. Also, always be on the lookout for unlinked brand mentions and ask for link credits for these.
How can link reclamation improve my website’s SEO?
Link reclamation helps regain the SEO value from lost or broken backlinks, which can enhance your website’s visibility in search engine results. It also allows converting unlinked mentions into active backlinks, improving your brand visibility and authority. This process ultimately drives more organic, high-value traffic to your website.