What is link reclamation?

It is the work of recovering links you already earned. You redirect dead pages that still have backlinks, fix links that point to wrong or old URLs, and ask sites that removed a link to restore it.

How do I find lost backlinks?

Use the broken backlinks and lost links reports in a backlink tool, and the list of 404 pages in Google Search Console.

Is link reclamation the same as claiming unlinked mentions?

No. Reclamation repairs links that exist or used to exist. Unlinked mentions are places where your brand is named but was never linked.

How often should I check for lost links?

After every migration or redesign, and on a regular schedule as part of backlink monitoring. Pages get edited and links disappear without notice.

Link reclamation: recover the links you already earned

Link reclamation recovers links you have already earned. Some point at pages you deleted. Some point at an old domain, a mistyped URL or the first hop of a redirect chain. Some were removed when the linking page was rewritten. Fixing these is cheaper than earning or buying anything new, and most of it needs nobody’s permission but your own.

The process and estimates on this page are practitioner knowledge unless a source is named.

Why it comes first

Every other tactic on this site costs more. In Editorial.link’s 2026 survey of 518 SEOs, the average acceptable price for a single high-quality link was $508.95. A reclaimed link costs $0 to $50, mostly in developer time, and the link has already passed whatever editorial test it needed to pass.

It is also R1. You are repairing your own site and asking people to restore links they once chose to give.

What gets lost and why

Problem	Typical cause	Fix
Link points at a 404	Page deleted, URL changed in a redesign	301 redirect to the closest equivalent page
Link points at an old domain	Rebrand or merger with no redirect	Redirect the old domain page by page
Link points at a wrong URL	Typo by the linking site	Redirect the mistyped URL, or ask for a correction
Link passes through a redirect chain	Several migrations stacked up	Point each old URL straight at the final page
Link was removed	Article rewritten or deleted	Ask why, and offer an updated resource

How to do it

Pull the reports. Use the broken backlinks and lost links reports in a backlink tool, and the 404 list in Google Search Console.
Fix what you control first. Add a 301 redirect from each dead URL to the closest equivalent page. This needs no outreach.
Choose the redirect target with care. Send each URL to the page that best matches what the old one covered. A link to a deleted guide belongs on its replacement, not on the home page.
Flatten redirect chains. Each old URL should reach the live page in one step.
Contact sites that removed a link. Ask what changed and offer a current page that fits.
Log it. Record the old URL, the new target and the date, so the next migration does not undo the work.

What results to expect

Redirect fixes are entirely in your hands. If the dead URL has links and you redirect it, the fix is done the same day.

Outreach for removed links is less certain. Guides claim recovery rates of 60 to 80 percent. That is a low-confidence figure with no dataset behind it that we could find, so treat it as optimistic.

Reclaiming image credits

A related job is asking for credit where your images, charts or logos are used without a link.

Run a reverse image search on your original images.
Filter to sites that use them without credit.
Send a friendly request for attribution. Do not open with a legal threat.
Offer an embed code for future use, with a plain branded anchor. Keyword anchors in embed codes are a pattern Google’s link spam policy names.

This suits publishers with original photography, data charts or product images.

Keep it from happening again

Links disappear all the time, and nobody tells you. Set up monitoring so you hear about a lost link within days. Our guide to tracking backlinks covers the tools and the routine.

Migrations and redesigns are where practitioners see the most links lost at once. Before any redesign or domain change, export every URL with backlinks and map each one to its new address.

Where it stops

Reclamation is capped by your history. A site that has earned 40 links can only recover some of those 40. Once the backlog is cleared, the monthly yield is small.

It also cannot bring back value from links Google has chosen to ignore. When Google’s March 2026 spam update rolled out, the company repeated that once spammy links are neutralised, their benefit is lost and cannot be regained. Reclamation is for genuine links that broke for technical reasons.

When not to use it

A site less than two years old, with few links and no migrations behind it, will find little to reclaim. Spend the time on partner links and linkable assets. If your brand is being written about but not linked, that is a separate job: see unlinked mentions. To use other sites’ dead links the same way, see broken link building.