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Nov 21, 2024
How To Revive Dead Links for Better SEO
Analyzing your portfolio of existing backlinks can be more important than getting new ones.
Especially if you own an established website that has been around for at least 3 to 5 years.
In this article, we will show you how to manage your backlinks and implement an often neglected process that will increase your traffic in the long run.
Learn how to fix your broken links and find new opportunities to get traffic from highly-reputable sources!
What Is Link Rot?
Dozens of studies have found that almost 30% of website links fall prey to link rot in less than 5 years.
Links tend to break, texts and videos get moved to another platform, and countless websites simply go under.
If you have a relatively young web project, you don’t need to worry about broken links unless you tend to make typos.
But if you have been around for a while, you should pay close attention to your link portfolio.
Fix Your Links First
User experience is paramount. If your website has amassed enough broken links to repel even the die-hard fans of your content, it may be too late to fix it.
Don’t neglect your link structure if you don’t want to frustrate your audience.
Dead links not only lower the trust in your business, but they also get you penalized in the search results due to a higher bounce rate. You don’t have to search for broken links manually. Use popular SEO tools to find them.
a. Dealing With Internal Links
Check your important pages and make sure that they load properly. If some of the pages get broken due to a technical issue, you can fix them without having to update the links.
Always keep an eye on the parts of your website that you frequently link to. Refresh the content to keep it relevant.
- Look for typos in your links. This happens more often than most people realize, especially if you create content in a rush.
- Enable redirects. If you have hundreds of content-rich pages with a lot of links that haven’t been updated for a long time, you don’t have to fix them manually. You can use a 301 redirect to point your visitors to the correct location. It also works when you have moved your entire website or a part of it to a different URL.
- Purge irrelevant links. Some content becomes outdated and useless. It’s better to remove pages and links that don’t contribute to user experience and overall website performance.
b. Dealing With External Links
Dealing with external links is more difficult because you don’t have complete control over them. In addition, they can be much harder to find.
- Use a different link. If you have found a broken external link, you can switch it to another one pointing to a similar piece of content. Get in touch with the website owner and ask them to either fix the page, or create a redirect to update content. If they refuse to do so, find a similar authority website in your niche and link to it.
- Get rid of the link. If the information is outdated or no longer relevant for some other reasons, simply remove the link. Having no link is better than having a dead one that will hurt your Google rankings.
Using Dead Links To Boost Your Traffic
You can leverage dead backlinks to improve your Page Rank and organic traffic. To do that you need to find external links that point to your now-defunct pages. If you have access to those websites or directories, you can update the links manually. Otherwise, contact the webmaster to fix broken backlinks or use redirects on your website.
Another smart tactic is to analyze authority websites in your niche for broken links and missing content. If you find such links, you can create high-quality substitute content, upload it to your website and then offer to link to it.
If you are persistent, you will find a few webmasters willing to do just that, since your solution will benefit you both.
How To Maximize Your Outreach Efforts:
- Don’t limit yourself to e-mail. Use social media, messengers, and other ways to contact webmasters.
- Research other websites first. Don’t just push your link to a webmaster. Make an honest effort to help by showing that you have read their website and are willing to provide value to their audience.
- Show that you have authority in the niche. Webmasters are rarely willing to work with no-name bloggers. If you have created content for other popular sites, don’t be shy to mention it.
- Focus on creating value. If you have found multiple broken links, offer your content and provide links to other suitable replacements.
- Start with resource pages and listicles that display dozens of links.
- Commit to the process. 3 to 5% is an exceptional conversion rate. You will need to contact hundreds of website owners before you start seeing results.
Managing your backlinks can be overwhelming at times but it is well worth it. Backlink research will also help you create better quality content and improve your networking skills.
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Mashum Mollah is the feature writer of SEM and an SEO Analyst at iDream Agency. Over the last 3 years, He has successfully developed and implemented online marketing, SEO, and conversion campaigns for 50+ businesses of all sizes. He is the co-founder of SMM.
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