How to build backlinks using the broken link building technique

Executive overview

Guest posting is inefficient — you create content and give it away. Broken link building lets you earn backlinks from high-authority sites while keeping your content on your own domain.

Find broken outbound links on target sites, recreate the missing content, then pitch site owners to swap their dead link for yours. One piece of content can unlock links from dozens of sites simultaneously.

The core insight: a single dead URL linked to by 27+ sites is 27 outreach opportunities from one article.

Finding broken links on target sites

• Open Ahrefs Site Explorer and enter the target domain (e.g. Copyblogger.com)
• Run the broken links report to surface all outbound links returning 404 errors
• Filter to DoFollow links — these pointed to quality content worth recreating
• Review the broken URL slugs to infer what the original content covered

Recovering the original content

• Paste the dead URL into archive.org to find historical snapshots
• Read the archived version to understand scope, format, and angle
• Use this as a brief — recreate it on your own site, ideally better than the original

Multiplying outreach from one piece of content

• Take the dead URL and run it through Site Explorer as a backlink search
• Check the referring domains report to see every site still linking to the dead page
• Reach out to all referring sites, not just the original target
• Realistic conversion: 5 of 27 sites updating the link is a strong result

Scaling the process

• Return to the target site's broken links report and repeat with the next opportunity
• A single domain like Copyblogger can surface 740+ broken link candidates
• Any niche will have sites with broken outbound links — the opportunity is broad