What Is Link Reclamation and How Do I Perform It? #
Link reclamation is an important process in SEO that involves identifying and recovering lost or unlinked mentions of your brand or website across the internet. By reclaiming these links, you can improve your site’s authority and rankings. This guide will walk you through what link reclamation is, why it matters, and how to perform it effectively.
What Is Link Reclamation? #
Link reclamation refers to the process of recovering backlinks that you’ve lost or discovering mentions of your brand or content that don’t include a link back to your website. These links and mentions may include:
- Broken links that once pointed to your site.
- Unlinked brand mentions across blogs, articles, or social media.
- Links that have been removed without your knowledge.
Reclaiming these links helps boost your SEO by improving the link profile of your site, contributing to higher search rankings.
Why Is Link Reclamation Important? #
Link reclamation is an essential part of a comprehensive SEO strategy. Here’s why it matters:
1. Improve Search Engine Rankings #
Backlinks are a critical factor in determining search engine rankings. By recovering lost backlinks or adding links to unlinked brand mentions, you can improve your website’s authority and visibility in search engines.
2. Restore Lost Link Equity #
When a backlink is lost or removed, you lose the SEO benefits that link provided. Reclaiming these links allows you to restore valuable link equity.
3. Increase Traffic #
Reclaimed backlinks can also increase referral traffic to your website. When a mention of your brand or website is linked, it drives users to your content, potentially boosting traffic.
How to Perform Link Reclamation #
Link reclamation can be performed through a few systematic steps. Here’s how you can do it:
1. Identify Broken or Lost Links #
Start by identifying broken or lost links pointing to your site. You can use the following tools to find them:
- Google Search Console: This tool helps you identify crawl errors and broken links on your site.
- Ahrefs: Ahrefs provides a comprehensive backlink audit tool that can show you lost links.
- SEMrush: SEMrush offers backlink analysis tools that can track backlinks and identify lost ones.
- Broken Link Checker: Use this tool to find broken links on external websites that pointed to your content.
Once you identify the broken links, reach out to the site owners to request that they update the link.
2. Monitor Unlinked Mentions #
Unlinked brand mentions can be just as valuable as backlinks. To identify them, use the following tools:
- Google Alerts: Set up alerts for your brand name or important keywords. This will notify you whenever your brand is mentioned online.
- Mention: Mention tracks your brand’s online presence and provides detailed reports of unlinked mentions.
- BuzzSumo: This tool helps track brand mentions and finds opportunities for link reclamation.
Once you find these unlinked mentions, reach out to the website owners and politely ask them to add a link to your site. Provide them with the relevant URL to make it easy for them to link.
3. Check Your Own Content for Link Losses #
Sometimes, internal changes to your website (such as page redirects or URL changes) can lead to lost links. Use tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider to identify any links that may have been lost internally and perform redirects to restore them.
4. Reclaim Brand Mentions from Social Media #
Social media is a goldmine for brand mentions. Check platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for posts where your brand is mentioned but not linked. Reach out to those users and kindly ask them to include a link to your website in their posts.
Best Practices for Link Reclamation #
While performing link reclamation, keep these best practices in mind to maximize your results:
1. Be Polite and Professional #
When reaching out to website owners or authors for link reclamation, always maintain a professional and polite tone. A friendly request is more likely to be well-received.
2. Personalize Your Outreach #
Avoid using generic templates for link reclamation requests. Personalizing your outreach will show the recipient that you’ve taken the time to understand their content, which increases the chances of a positive response.
3. Track Your Efforts #
Keep track of all the link reclamation requests you’ve made. Use a spreadsheet or a CRM tool to manage your outreach efforts, responses, and any links you successfully reclaim.
4. Be Patient #
Link reclamation takes time. Not all website owners will respond immediately, and some may not respond at all. Stay patient and keep following up periodically.
Conclusion #
Link reclamation is a valuable and often underutilized strategy to improve your website’s SEO. By identifying and recovering lost links and obtaining links from unlinked brand mentions, you can enhance your website’s authority, increase referral traffic, and boost search engine rankings.
If you need help with link reclamation or want to improve your SEO strategy, email Ikonik Digital at [email protected]. We can assist you with reclaiming lost links and building a strong backlink profile to support your business growth.
By focusing on link reclamation, you can maximize the SEO value of your website and ensure your content reaches a wider audience. Implementing this strategy will help you build a stronger digital presence and improve your search engine performance.
Glenford Scott is the Founder & Director of Ikonik Digital, a performance-driven marketing agency helping brands scale with strategy, storytelling, and smart execution.
With years of experience driving results across industries, from hospitality to education — Glenford specializes in turning clicks into customers and ideas into revenue.
