Comments on: 5 Creative Broken Link Building Strategies

By: Jane Fox

Jane Fox — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 05:46:39 +0000

Thanks for this helpful strategies Jon. I tried it and really work for me. Another good web developing strategy that help me lot.

By: Gregory Ciotti

Gregory Ciotti — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:05:55 +0000

I’m damn glad I came down to the comments, thanks for your insights Neil, that was great.

By: Marie Haynes

Marie Haynes — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:07:48 +0000

I can’t tell you how excited I was to find this in my inbox today:

“Hi Marie:
Thank you very much for alerting us to the broken link.
I’ve added your blog to our blog roll.”

Now I’m hooked.

By: Jon Cooper

Jon Cooper — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:03:12 +0000

Nick, you’re awesome. Thanks so much for those comments – I would have said something along those lines if you didn’t!

Marie, on your 2nd question – you can always keep searching to find relevant, broken content that gets linked to (you’ll never hit a wall), so keep on keeping on. If you still feel like you’re just getting stuck finding real estate websites linking out to content you won’t find on your site, consider making a section on your site dedicated to miscellaneous content. If that’s what it takes to get the link, then do it!

By: Jon Cooper

Jon Cooper — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:58:55 +0000

I remember you saying this (I think on John Doherty’s gmail outreach post you mentioned this in your real life email template). I’ve started to do this, and I’m really liking the results. This would definitely make #6 on the list!

Thanks Ross for the comment, really glad you took the chance to stop by

By: Jon Cooper

Jon Cooper — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:56:41 +0000

Good choice Nick! Now I have to step up my game even more now that you’re subscribed

By: Nick LeRoy

Nick LeRoy — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:59:15 +0000

Also… “how on earth do you ask for a link to your site without sounding like you’re using them?”

Don’t ask them. If your resource is valuable and you can get them to visit it and agree they will be more then happy to link to it. This is NOT a technique in which you should be focusing on anchor text etc.

By: Nick LeRoy

Nick LeRoy — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:55:47 +0000

Marie – you put too much effort into your e-mails. I typically send out an e-mail asking if this is the appropriate e-mail to report broken links which open ups the line of communication. Then you follow up after they respond with the broken links and you simply suggest an alternative source for some of the broken ones they will be removing. Don’t make your e-mails lengthy or request anything. Look at my post for a real life broken link building e-mail example. http://nickleroy.com/broken-link-building-in-action-real-email-examples-inside

Hope you don’t mind me dropping the link Jon but I think it can help validate this post even more.

By: Marie Haynes

Marie Haynes — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:45:38 +0000

I’m finding it really addictive checking websites for broken links. It’s like playing a slot machine when you find a good site and BOOM it has 5 broken links! But I’ve yet to have anyone link back to me. (Granted, I’ve only written about 10 emails, so perhaps it is a numbers thing). Here is my general approach:

“Hi ____,

I was checking out your website and I noticed that you have a number of broken links. The following links give me a 404 error when I click on them…..[insert links].

Just thought you should know. [Insert something personal or something about their site design, etc.]
”

And here’s where I always feel awkward…how on earth do you ask for a link to your site without sounding like you’re using them?

“By the way, if you’re looking for another good real estate site to link to, we would greatly appreciate the link at http://www.example.com”
“Would you be interested in trading links with our site? I think it would benefit both of us?” <—I'd rather not get a recip, but it's better than nothing.

How on earth do you guys ask for links?

A second question: I really like the idea of finding broken links that used to point to an important resource and then reproducing that resource and offering your site as a replacement link. But, how do you find these types of pages? For real estate link building, I have mostly found broken links that go to say, a lawyer's page or a home inspector's page. I can't really replace that info.

What types of search queries would you use to find pages that link to content so that I can create the content on my site and offer then my site as an alternative to their broken link?

Sorry for such a long question! I know some of the incredible brains that read (and write) this blog can help me!

By: Ross Hudgens

Ross Hudgens — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:35:07 +0000

I like recommending a secondary resource also in my vertical, so it lowers commercial intent to the webmaster. Using your tip in conjunction, you can also make this second resource a link to a site with your link already hosted – that way you can maximize linkjuice flow back to your site.