Broken link building: a real campaign with conversion rates revealed

Executive overview

Most link building advice is theoretical. This walks through a real broken link building campaign in the aromatherapy niche — exact prospecting steps, outreach emails, and final results.

Find a dead page with backlinks, recreate the content, then ask the linkers to swap the dead URL for yours.

The campaign sent 52 emails and earned 15 links — a 28.8% overall conversion rate. Two small changes more than doubled early results.

Finding broken pages worth targeting

• In Ahrefs Site Explorer, search a competitor domain and open the Best by Links report
• Filter by HTTP 404 to see dead pages; sort by referring domains descending
• If unsure which competitors to target, use the Competing Domains report on your own domain
• Prioritise dead pages where you already have (or can create) matching content
• Click the caret beside a dead URL to check the page on archive.org before committing

Qualifying link prospects

• Export the backlinks report for the dead page; filter to dofollow links only
• Sort by traffic descending to surface the highest-quality prospects first
• Weed out forums, Blogspot posts, and irrelevant pages manually
• Scan anchor text to understand why sites linked — these are the key points your replacement article must cover
• Remove any URL that isn't a genuine editorial opportunity

Building and targeting the replacement content

• Brief your writer using the key points surfaced from anchor text and archived content
• Matching the original article's angle and depth makes your pitch far more credible
• Adding third-party credibility signals (e.g. peer review by a specialist) strengthens the pitch
• The campaign targeted one primary dead page; the result was a number 1 organic ranking for the target keyword

Outreach: email structure

• Address the recipient by first name; use natural, conversational language
• Open by connecting with something specific about them or their site
• Name the exact post where the broken link appears and the dead URL
• Give them the option to remove or replace — not just replace
• Pitch your replacement resource without being pushy; one clear link with a brief reason why it's credible
• Close with a small gesture of genuine value (share, feedback offer)

The two changes that doubled conversion rates

• Add a screenshot showing exactly where the broken link appears on their page
• Send one follow-up to non-responders after a reasonable interval — offer additional value rather than chasing
• First batch (no screenshot, no follow-up): 32 emails → 6 links (18.75%)
• Second batch (screenshot + follow-up): 20 emails → 9 links (45%)
• Combined: 52 emails → 15 links (28.8%)

Scaling and outsourcing

• Contact research (names, emails) can be outsourced for $0.03–$0.10 per contact via Upwork or Mechanical Turk
• Mass outreach tools — BuzzStream, Mailshake, Pitchbox — support personalisation via merge tags
• Keep link prospecting and email responses in-house until you find someone with the right judgement
• Poor-quality content will burn through good prospects; ensure content is genuinely strong before sending