- Link reclamation recovers links you have already earned or nearly earned.
- It is the highest-converting tactic because the hard part has already happened.
- It covers unlinked mentions, lost links, broken links to you, and attribution.
- Some reclamation needs only a redirect on your own site, no outreach.
- Make it an ongoing habit, especially after digital PR campaigns.
Link reclamation is the work of recovering links you have earned or nearly earned: turning unlinked mentions of your brand into links, winning back links that were removed, and fixing links that point to dead pages on your site. It is the highest-converting tactic in link building precisely because the hard part, someone deciding you are worth mentioning, has already happened.
That is why reclamation should usually come before cold outreach. The people you contact already know you, already wrote about you, or already linked to you once. The ask is small and reasonable, so the conversion rate is far higher than pitching a stranger from scratch.
What link reclamation covers
It is a family of related opportunities rather than one tactic.
Unlinked brand mentions are the biggest source: places that name you without linking, where a quick note often earns the link. Lost links are ones you had and lost, to a page edit, redesign, or removal, which are sometimes recoverable with a polite query. Broken links to you are external links pointing at pages that now return a 404, which you can often fix from your own side. Image and data attribution covers people using your visuals or statistics without crediting the source. And changed URLs are links to pages that moved without a redirect.
Why it is the easiest win
Every other tactic has to create demand for a link. Reclamation only has to capture demand that already exists. A journalist who mentioned your study clearly found it useful, so asking them to link the source is a natural follow-up, not a cold favour. That existing relationship or recognition is what makes these among the most reliable links to earn, and they are usually relevant by nature, which is the most important quality in a link worth earning.
How to find the opportunities
Start with brand monitoring to catch mentions of your name, products, and key people, then filter for the ones that do not link. Use a backlink audit to spot lost links by comparing your profile over time. Find broken links to your site through Search Console and crawl reports, which surface external links hitting 404s. And search for your distinctive data points or image filenames to catch uncredited use. The goal each time is a short, specific list you can act on.
Fixing your own side first
Some reclamation needs no outreach at all. When an external link points to a page you have moved or deleted, a redirect from the old URL to the right live page recovers that link value instantly, without emailing anyone. It is worth auditing for these regularly, because site changes quietly break inbound links over time, and the overlap with broken link building means the same crawl can serve both.
The outreach
Keep it warm and easy. Thank the person for the mention, point out that a link to the source would help their readers, and make the exact URL effortless to add. For attribution cases, a friendly request to credit the original is usually enough. Because the ask is reasonable and the relationship already exists, these emails convert well, and they sit naturally alongside the other ways to earn backlinks in a healthy mix. Make it an ongoing habit rather than a one-off, since mentions accumulate continuously, especially after a digital PR campaign.
Send us your site and we will reply with the unlinked mentions and lost links worth reclaiming.
Frequently asked questions
What is link reclamation?
It is recovering links you have earned or nearly earned: turning unlinked brand mentions into links, winning back removed links, and fixing external links that point to dead pages on your site.
Why is link reclamation so effective?
Because the hard part has already happened. The people you contact already mentioned or linked to you, so the ask is small and reasonable, and conversion rates are far higher than cold outreach to strangers.
How do I find unlinked brand mentions?
Use brand monitoring to track mentions of your name, products, and key people, then filter for those that do not link. Searching for your distinctive data points or image filenames also surfaces uncredited use.
Can I reclaim links without outreach?
Sometimes. When an external link points to a page you moved or deleted, adding a redirect from the old URL to the right live page recovers that link value instantly, with no email required.
