Link recovery: What is it? How to Recover Lost Backlinks in 2024

Want to know how to perform link recovery on your website? So keep reading this guide.

Backlinks are important for two BIG reasons:

• They help you generate more search traffic
• They improve your website’s EAT signals (expertise, authority and trustworthiness)

But… link building has become extremely difficult. So, if you are looking for a better way to earn links, link scraping is for you.

Table of contents ☰

What is link scraping?

Link recovery is the process of finding broken or lost links and recovering them.

It is the practice of reclaiming previously earned links. These links can be lost for many reasons, such as:

• Website owner removes link from linking page
• The linking page no longer exists (404 error)
• The page is redirected (301)
• The page is no longer indexed in Google

Link recovery vs. unlinked brand mentions

Link retrieval and unlinked brand mentions are closely related, but they are NOT the same thing.

Link Recovery = Recovery of lost links.

Unlinked Brand Mention = A mention of your brand on a website without a link to your website.

The main difference between link recovery and claiming unrelated brand mentions is that link recovery is about recovering lost links while claiming unrelated brand mentions is about turning unrelated brand mentions into backlinks.

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How to find (and recover) lost backlinks? Step by step guide

Here is a step-by-step tutorial to find and recover your lost links in 2024. 

Step 1: Identify lost links

The best way to find lost backlinks on your website is to use backlink analysis tools like Semrush.

Semrush offers a proprietary tool called the Backlink Audit Tool, which crawls your entire site to identify lost backlinks from your site.

This is what it looks like 

Once you click on the “Show Results” button, you will find all the lost links. 

Once you click on the “Lost” button, it will show you all the referring domains that have removed links from your site.

As you can see, you can set the Link attribute to Follow to discover all the dofollow links you have lost.

You will also find the sources of backlinks with the referring domains, as well as the authority score of these domains. Authority Score (AS) measures domain reputation.

You can also view your site's backlink analysis report to see your website's daily performance over the last 90 days.

Generally, Semrush is a great tool for finding lost links from ANY domain.

Are there other FREE tools to find lost links from your website?

Yes, you can also use a free backlink checker like Ubersuggest to find lost links for free.

Simply create a free account with Google to use the Ubersuggest backlink analysis tool for free.

Here is what it looks like:

As you can see above, you can easily discover new and lost referring domains of any website. Unlike Semrush, Ubersuggest will only show you lost domains from the last month.

Quick note: It's ALMOST impossible to manually track ALL the links on your website (including lost links). This is why you MUST need a link analysis tool to easily keep an eye on your site's backlink profile.

Step 2: Prioritize Lost Links

Not all lost links are created equal. There are dofollow links and then there are nofollow links.

There are links from authority websites and links from spammy sites. This is why you need to prioritize lost links to save more time on link recovery.

Here are some factors you can consider to prioritize your lost links. 

• Domain Authority (DA) of the linking website: Always give TOP priority to backlinks from websites with high DA (preferably above 50), as these links carry more weight in search engines. Using tools like Semrush, Ahrefs or Moz, you can easily find the DA of any domain.
• Relevance of the linking website: if you find links from two similar DA sites, prioritize links from websites VERY relevant to your niche. These links are more valuable because they indicate that your content is authoritative in your niche.
• Context of the lost link: be sure to evaluate the CONTEXT in which the link was initially placed. If the link was placed in high-quality, high-ranking content, it is worth pursuing.
• Quality of the lost link: Finally, identify the quality of the link itself (dofollow vs nofollow). Dofollow links are 100 times better than nofollow links.

Step 3: Contact Website Owners

Personalize your email outreach messages. 

Don't send generic emails. Instead, take the time to write a personalized email to each website owner. 

Here's an example of an email outreach pitch for link recovery. You can use it or modify it as you see fit.

Subject: Thank you for mentioning [Your brand name]!

Hi [Website Owner Name],

I'm writing to you today because I noticed that you mentioned our website, [Your Website Name], in your recent article, [Article Title]. Thanks for the shout out!

I was impressed by your comprehensive coverage of [Topic].

I also noticed that you linked to our [Brand Website] in the article. However, I noticed that the link is currently broken. 

For your convenience, I have included the updated link below:

[Resource link updated]

I have also provided a summary of the contents of the resource for your reference:

[Content Summary]

If you have any questions or need additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am always happy to help you.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope to have some news soon.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

As you can see above, the email pitch mentioned above is simple, powerful and engaging.

Here are some quick tips for writing personalized emails to find lost links.

• Personalize the subject line. The subject line of your outreach email is important. Keep it short and simple. Address the website owner by name and mention the lost link in the subject line. For example: “Hello [Name], can you help me restore a lost link? »
• Make sure to use the website owner's name for personalization. This just shows that you've taken the time to find out who owns their website and aren't sending a generic email.
• Keep your email brief. Most website owners are busy, so get going quickly. Explain why you are contacting and what you are asking.
• Finally, reread your email carefully before sending it. Don't make grammatical errors in your outreach emails. Use Grammarly for grammatical correction.

Here's a very detailed glossary of SEO terms If you want to learn the basics of SEO.

Step 4: Follow-up

Following up with other bloggers to recover lost links is the MOST IMPORTANT step in link recovery.

Patience is the key.

Remember that link recovery can be a lengthy process. For what? You need to identify lost links, contact blog owners, and do some additional actions to get those links back.

But it's worth it in the long run. Every RELEVANT backlink that points to your website is worth GOLD!

So don't give up so easily. Keep fighting, because restoring all your lost links will take some time.

Here is an example follow-up email for link recovery;

Subject: Followed by [Name of your website]!

Hi [Website Owner Name],

I hope this email finds you well.

I am writing to follow up on my previous email regarding the broken link to [Your Website Name] in your article, “[Article Title]”.

I am writing to kindly remind you of the importance of updating the link in order to provide a better experience for your website users.

In case you missed my initial email, here is the updated link: [Link updated]

Please let me know if you have any questions or need further assistance. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

So this is it. Send the follow-up email after a week or two for best results.

The benefits of link recovery for SEO

Do you really need to worry about your lost links?

Short answer: YES!

Google gives a lot of weight to websites with quality and relevant links. So if you have already earned a backlink and lost it somehow, it is always better to get that link back.

Here are some of the main benefits of link scraping. 

• Best backlinks profile: When you find and recover lost links, you regain valuable backlinks previously pointing to your website. This ultimately helps in having a healthy backlink profile.
• Increase in referral traffic: When you fix lost links, you actually get an additional source of referral traffic from the linked website. Whenever visitors click on these backlinks, they will be directed to your website, which will ultimately help you increase traffic to your website.
• It's profitable : we spend A LOT on link building. It takes a lot of time and money to build quality links. Fortunately, recovering your lost links is the simplest yet most affordable way to get links.
• Best authority: Search engines like Google place a lot of importance on external backlinks. Recovering lost backlinks can also improve your website reputation. When your website is mentioned on other websites, it sends positive signals to search engines.
• Improved keyword rankings: when you lose backlinks for a web page, you are actually losing valuable link equity which can hurt your keyword rankings. When you find these links, you can improve your website's keyword ranking in search results.

Here is a HUGE list of SEO tips and tricks which you can implement to generate more search traffic.

Overall, link scraping is a relatively cost-effective link building strategy compared to other methods such as guest blogs, buying links, marketing influence, etc.

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Earned Links FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions about link recovery. 

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Final Thoughts on Lost Backlinks

Link recovery is a strategy for SEO powerful that can help you improve your rankings, increase referral traffic and overall links.

Instead of spending more time and money on building more links, it is always better to keep an eye on your lost links. This is the easiest way to recover your earned links.

So, what do you think about link recovery? Did you find this guide helpful? Do you have any questions ? Let us know in the comments.