With a staggering 90.63% of online content receiving no traffic from Google, ensuring your website ranks prominently on search engine results pages becomes increasingly vital. This necessitates the development of a robust SEO strategy and the continuous scrutiny and upkeep of all facets of your website.
Among the critical elements to monitor, your links take center stage, warranting the practice of link reclamation. But what precisely does this entail? Continue reading to delve into the intricacies of reclaiming and rectifying broken links.
What Is Link Reclamation?
In its simplest form, link reclamation involves identifying online content containing incorrect or broken backlinks and rectifying them.
These broken links were once high-quality backlinks but have since become nonfunctional, failing to redirect to the intended destination on the anchor text. Such broken or “dead” links typically arise when the linked website removes pages or alters URLs during redesign.
Since quality backlinks play a pivotal role in enhancing SEO through various means, malfunctioning, and nonfunctional backlinks can significantly hinder SEO endeavors.
Link reclamation not only aids in building a compelling link profile but also allows you to restore link value by establishing connections with relevant and reputable pages that align with Google crawlers’ expectations. Furthermore, it enhances the user experience by preventing visitors from encountering frustrating broken outbound links.
In essence, link reclamation contributes to enhancing your website’s authority. Ensuring that all your backlinks remain up-to-date is a crucial step in maximizing the effectiveness of your SEO initiatives.
Claiming Unlinked Mentions vs. Link Reclamation
Link reclamation focuses on repairing broken links, whereas claiming unlinked mentions involves generating new backlinks to incorporate into your content. These fresh backlinks encompass online mentions and references to your brand that you still need to link to.
They represent an opportunity to leverage new links that may not have existed when you initially created the page. These backlinks have never been previously utilized on your page; they are unique and directly pertinent to your company.
So, how does the process of finding and reclaiming lost links work?
First, it’s essential to identify broken internal links on your website. One approach involves manually clicking through your site and inspecting each link for potential issues. However, this method could be more efficient and prone to errors.
Instead of the laborious manual approach, you can streamline the process by logging into Google Analytics. Navigate to the “behavior” tab, then select “site content,” and choose “all pages.” Specify the timeframe you wish to assess, encompassing the period since your last link reclamation effort.
This action will yield a comprehensive list of all broken links found on your evaluated pages, facilitating their identification and modification. You can employ the same method to identify broken backlinks, as Google Analytics identifies lost outbound links and highlights internal linking issues.
Once you’ve identified all the broken links on your website, both inbound and outbound, you can take corrective measures by removing the nonfunctional links and substituting them with operational internal links and high-quality backlinks. This proactive approach helps prevent redirection errors and ensures a seamless and satisfying user experience on your page.
While these tasks may appear daunting, partnering with a leading SEO service provider ensures that all broken links are noticed. This guarantees the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of your SEO strategy.
Images serve as one of the primary sources of backlinks on many websites, as users often click on images that redirect them to other pages. However, this also means that ideas can lead to numerous broken backlinks on the site.
Since these broken links are not associated with anchor text within a blog post, identifying and reclaiming them requires alternative methods. Two highly effective tools for this purpose are TinEye and Google Images.
Here’s how to go about it: Visit either of these platforms and upload the images from your website that have associated links. These tools will generate a list of matching images found on various websites across the internet. Your goal is to ensure that your website appears in these results.
If your site is listed among the results, you’re in good shape! However, if it’s not, you’ll need to take action. In most cases, it’s advisable to reach out to the owner of the site hosting the broken link. When contacting them, please provide a link that they can attach to your image, fostering a collaborative effort to rectify the broken backlink.
Tools for Link Reclamation
As mentioned earlier, Google Analytics is a valuable tool for pinpointing broken backlinks and initiating reclamation efforts. The Google Search Console is an excellent complement to this free tool, providing seamless integration. This console empowers you to generate insightful reports that gauge traffic and performance, receive notifications when Google detects issues with your site, such as broken links, and gain deeper insights into how Google perceives your page.
The URL inspection tool is truly remarkable as it furnishes an extensive array of intricate insights into your website’s crawl and indexing status. Given that this data is sourced directly from the Google index, it constitutes an invaluable resource.
Moreover, you can leverage premium tools such as Ahrefs and LinkTRAX® to pinpoint and address link-building concerns. These specialized platforms excel at identifying dysfunctional links and elucidating how they detrimentally affect your rankings. They boast robust monitoring, analysis, and tracking capabilities, promptly notifying you of any issues.
How Link Reclamation Is the Best Way to Save SEO Rankings
Why is link reclamation considered one of the most crucial methods for preserving your SERP rankings? There are numerous compelling reasons:
- Enhanced Site Authority: It boosts your website’s authority in the eyes of both Google crawlers and human visitors.
- Regained Link Value: You recapture lost link value, bolstering your rankings.
- Improved Link Profile: This results in a more favorable link profile, which appeals to indexing bots.
- Cleaner Website: You achieve a cleaner and more streamlined website by rectifying broken links.
- Cost-Effective Value Building: Link reclamation offers a straightforward and cost-effective means of value building.
In essence, there are myriad compelling rationales for reclaiming lost links, underscoring the importance of executing this process effectively.
Boost Your SEO Game Today
Link reclamation may present its share of challenges, but it is undeniably crucial for preserving your high rankings on search engine results pages. Ensure you equip yourself with the necessary tools for identifying and reclaiming broken links.
Even better, consider collaborating with a seasoned SEO expert with the expertise and proficiency to execute link reclamation swiftly and effectively. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any lingering inquiries or wish to delve deeper into how we can assist in safeguarding your SEO rankings.
