An article may link to an old page on your site or mention your business without a link. Link reclamation means checking that reference and, where useful, restoring a clear path for readers.
Imagine a Malaysian phone-repair shop that moved its battery-care guide to a new URL. A local article still links to the old address. Another article describes the guide but names the shop only in text. These are two different opportunities, and neither guarantees a new link or a ranking gain.
What Is Link Reclamation?
Link reclamation is reviewing references your site has already earned and correcting ones that no longer take readers to the intended resource. A broken backlink points from another site to a missing page on yours. An unlinked mention names your business or resource without a clickable link. The first is a backlink with a broken destination; the second is not a backlink. A publisher may also remove a once-live link entirely; verify that separately before calling it lost.
This differs from broken link building, where you find a dead link to someone else's resource and suggest your page as a replacement. For a broader review of incoming links, use our backlink audit guide.
Why Should You Repair Your Own Destination First?
If the phone-repair article promises a battery-care guide but sends readers to a 404, the shop can fix that without waiting for the publisher. Restore the old page if it still belongs on the site. If the guide truly moved, redirect the old URL to the closest matching live page and test the final result. A redirect to a generic homepage does not answer the article's promise.
Google recommends permanent server-side redirects, such as 301 or 308, for a permanent URL move and warns against sending many old URLs to an irrelevant single destination. Repairing your own URL also helps anyone who saved or shared it, not only one publication. Our redirect and status-code guide covers the technical choice.
How Do You Find Links and Mentions to Check?
Start with Google Search Console's Links report. Look at top-linked pages and the source URLs for important or retired destinations. Export recent links and a sample if the list is large. The report is not complete or necessarily current; Google may still show a link that has been removed. Use it as a lead, not a live inventory.
For unlinked mentions, search your exact business or distinctive resource name, for example "Business Name" -site:yourdomain.com. Open likely results instead of relying on snippets. A common name may refer to someone else, and an apparently unlinked mention may already contain a link elsewhere on the page. Keep a short working list with source URL, page title, date checked and what the article says.
How Do You Verify the Reference?
- Open the source page. Confirm that the mention or link is still visible and read the sentence around it.
- Follow the exact URL. Check whether it returns a 404 or 410, redirects to a relevant page, or only failed for a crawler temporarily. If a tool reports a lost link, confirm that the source page really removed it.
- Compare the promise with the destination. A link labelled “battery-care guide” should not land on a sales homepage.
For the phone shop, the old link needs a repair if the guide still exists. The unlinked article needs a different decision: does a link to the live guide help its readers verify or use the information? If the mention is merely a passing reference, leaving it alone can be sensible.
When Is It Worth Asking a Publisher to Update a Link?
After fixing your site, an optional note can tell the editor that an old link still points to a moved page. Give the exact source page and the working destination. You can also point out a factual error in a mention, with evidence. If an unlinked article uses your original guide or data and the live page helps readers check it, you may suggest that page once.
The publisher decides whether to edit the article, add a link, or do nothing. Do not demand a keyword-rich anchor, claim a link is owed, or send repeated requests. If the reference is sponsored, the publisher should disclose and qualify the paid link; see our link-attributes guide. Our brand mentions guide explains when a mention matters without a link.
How Do You Record the Outcome?
For each candidate, keep the source URL, old destination, repaired destination, live status, decision and review date. Mark whether you fixed a URL on your own site, a publisher changed a link, an unlinked mention stayed accurate, or no action was needed. Referral visits may be measurable; a ranking change cannot be assigned to one reclaimed link from this log alone.
Prioritise references to pages people still need. A working guide serves existing readers even if no publisher changes a link.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Broken Link in SEO?
It is a link whose destination is unavailable, often because the URL returns a 404 or 410. A live page with the wrong content is an outdated or mismatched reference; a timeout or crawler block needs another check.
What Is the Difference Between Link Reclamation and Broken Link Building?
Reclamation checks references to your own business or pages and repairs or clarifies them. Broken link building finds a dead link to another resource and offers your page as a possible replacement.
Do All Unlinked Mentions Need a Link?
No. A name in a relevant article can still help readers recognise you. Suggest a link only when a specific page helps them verify a claim or finish the task; the publisher decides.
Should I Ask for a Link Update After Adding a Redirect?
You may, especially if the source is important and the new URL is clearer for readers. First make the old URL lead to the correct live page. The editor may leave the existing link in place.