Link Reclamation: Recover the Backlinks You've Already Earned (With Templates)

Link reclamation is the process of finding links and mentions you've already earned but aren't getting full value from, and fixing them. That means turning unlinked brand mentions into links, redirecting your own 404 pages that still have backlinks, getting credit for images others use, repairing links broken by moved pages and site migrations, and recovering links that were removed or changed.

It's usually the fastest link building you can do. The other site has already decided you're worth mentioning or linking to; you're asking for a small correction, not a new favor. And a good part of reclamation, such as redirects and migrations, doesn't need anyone else's permission at all.

This guide covers each type of reclaimable link, how to find them, how to fix them, email templates for the ones that need outreach, how to prioritize, and a monthly routine. If you're looking for links to other sites' dead pages, that's broken link building, a related but separate tactic.

What is link reclamation?

Links leak in a few predictable ways:

• People mention you without linking. Writers name brands, products and people all the time, but don't always link.
• You move or delete pages. Every redesign, CMS change, URL cleanup or content prune risks sending existing backlinks to a 404.
• Other sites change. Posts get updated, links get removed, followed links get switched to nofollow, whole sites get redesigned.
• Your assets travel without you. Images, charts and data get copied and reused without credit.

None of these require new content or new relationships to fix. That's why reclamation is the first thing worth doing on any site with some history, before you spend money or time on new links.

The six types of reclaimable links

Unlinked brand mentions

An unlinked mention is anywhere your brand, product, founder or proprietary data is named without a link. They're often the warmest prospects you'll ever have: the writer already knows you, already chose to write about you, and usually just didn't think to link.

How to find them

"Your Brand" -site:yourdomain.com
"Your Brand" -site:yourdomain.com -site:facebook.com -site:x.com -site:linkedin.com
"Product Name" -site:yourdomain.com
"Founder Name" "Your Brand" -site:yourdomain.com
"Your Brand" OR "YourBrand" OR "Your-Brand" -site:yourdomain.com
"Your Brand" intitle:review -site:yourdomain.com
"Your Brand" (survey OR study OR data) -site:yourdomain.com
"yourdomain.com" -site:yourdomain.com

The last search is underrated: it finds pages that typed out your domain as text without making it a link. Then set up alerts for your brand name, product names, key people and common misspellings, so new mentions come to you instead of you searching for them. Digital PR campaigns generate a lot of these; our digital PR guide covers tracking coverage.

Which mentions are worth chasing

• Editorial and recent. An article or review published in the last few months, on a site that's maintained, is the best target. Old news archives often have policies against editing published articles.
• Positive or neutral. Asking for a link from a negative review rarely goes well. Respond to the criticism instead, if at all.
• Relevant. A mention in your niche, or in a business or local publication, is worth more than one on an unrelated scraper.
• Not already linked elsewhere on the page. If the article links to you once and mentions you five times, you're done.

Subject: Thank you for the mention in "[article title]"

Hi [Name],

Thanks for mentioning [Brand] in "[article title]" ([URL]). We
really appreciated [specific thing they said].

One small request: would you be open to linking the mention to
[the most relevant URL, e.g. the product or data page]? It would
help readers who want to [what they'd do there].

Either way, thanks again for including us.

[Your name]
[Role], [Brand]

Point the link request at the most useful page for the reader, which is often not your homepage. If they mentioned your survey, link the survey results; if they mentioned a product, link the product. And accept the anchor they choose. Branded anchors from mentions are exactly the kind that keep your anchor text profile natural.

Backlinks pointing to your 404s

This is the quickest reclamation of all, because you fix it on your own site. When a page that had backlinks is deleted or moved without a redirect, every one of those links now lands on an error page and the value they carried is largely wasted.

How to find them

1. 1

   Check Search Console

   In the Pages (indexing) report, open “Not found (404)” and export the URLs. These are URLs Google has tried to crawl and found missing, often because something links to them.
2. 2

   Filter your backlinks by status

   In a third-party backlink tool, list your site's pages by referring domains and filter for HTTP status 404 or 410. Our guide on how to check backlinks covers where to find this data.
3. 3

   Check your server logs or analytics

   Hits to 404 URLs with an external referrer show you broken links that are actually sending visitors.
4. 4

   Confirm each URL

   Load the URL and confirm it returns a real 404, not a temporary error or a soft 404 page that returns 200.

What to do with each one

Plan redirects in a simple map before you implement them, so you can check the logic and spot chains. Server syntax varies by platform; our broken link building guide shows Apache and Nginx examples, and most CMSs and hosts have a redirect manager.

old_url,                          new_url,                      referring_domains, reason
/blog/grooming-tips-2021,         /blog/dog-grooming-guide,     14,                updated version
/products/old-harness,            /products/no-pull-harness,    6,                 replacement product
/resources/crate-size-chart.pdf,  /guides/crate-size-chart,     9,                 PDF moved to HTML
/blog/puppy-traning-schedule,     /blog/puppy-training-schedule,2,                 typo in inbound link

After the redirects are live, check them. Our indexability checker shows each URL's status code and redirect chain, and confirms the destination page can be indexed.

Image credits

If you publish original photos, charts, infographics, illustrations or product shots, other sites will use them. Many don't credit the source, often because the image reached them second-hand. Each of those is a link opportunity with a built-in reason to say yes.

1. 1

   List your most reusable images

   Original charts and data visuals, infographics, distinctive photos, diagrams and product images. Stock photos aren't yours to reclaim.
2. 2

   Run reverse image searches

   Use a reverse image search engine on each image. Check several, since they index different parts of the web. Note every page using the image.
3. 3

   Filter the results

   Skip scraper sites, image aggregators and social posts. Keep real articles on maintained sites, especially in your niche.
4. 4

   Check for a credit

   Look for a link or a text credit near the image or at the end of the article. A text credit without a link is a simple fix.
5. 5

   Send a friendly credit request

   Thank them for using it, and ask for a credit link. Save formal copyright steps for clear, commercial misuse where a polite request has failed.

Subject: Glad our [chart/photo] was useful for "[article title]"

Hi [Name],

I noticed you used our [description of image] in "[article
title]" ([URL]). Glad it was useful for your readers.

We ask that anyone using it includes a credit link to the
original source, so readers can find the full [data / guide]:

Image: [Brand] ([URL of the original page])

Would you be able to add that under the image? Thanks so much.

[Your name]
[Role], [Brand]

Moved pages and site migrations

Migrations are where sites lose the most links in one go. Changing domain, moving from HTTP to HTTPS, switching CMS or restructuring URLs can break or weaken thousands of backlinks if redirects are missing or messy.

What to check

• Every old URL with backlinks redirects. Export your top-linked pages from before the migration (from a backlink tool or an old crawl) and test each old URL.
• Redirects go straight to the final URL. Chains such as old HTTP URL to HTTPS to new slug to trailing-slash version add delay, and crawlers may stop following long chains. Collapse each chain into a single hop.
• No loops or redirects to 404s. Both lose the link entirely.
• Redirects are permanent. Use 301 (or 308) for permanent moves, not 302 temporary redirects, unless the move really is temporary.
• Old domains stay renewed. If you changed domain, keep the old one registered and redirecting for years. If it lapses, someone else can buy it along with your backlinks.
• Internal links are updated. Your own links should point at final URLs, not rely on redirects. Our guide to internal linking covers auditing them.

Redirects preserve most of a link's value, but for your most important backlinks it's worth asking the linking site to update to the new URL directly. It removes the dependency on redirects that might break in a future migration.

Subject: Updated link for [Brand] in "[article title]"

Hi [Name],

Thanks for linking to us in "[article title]" ([URL]).

We've moved [the page / our site] to a new address:
Old: [old URL]
New: [new URL]

The old link still redirects, but if you're ever editing the
post, updating it would make sure it keeps working long term.

Thanks again,
[Your name]

Lost and changed links

Links you earned can disappear. Posts get rewritten, editors prune outbound links, sites get redesigned, and sometimes a followed link is switched to nofollow. You'll only notice if you're watching.

• Keep a list of your important backlinks. The ones from relevant, authoritative pages that you'd genuinely miss.
• Re-check them periodically. Confirm the link is still there, still points to the right URL, is still followed and the page is still indexable. Our backlink checker reports all of that for a single page in seconds.
• Work out why it went. If the article was updated and your page no longer fits, update your page or offer a better fit. If the whole page is gone, it may be a broken link building opportunity for someone else's replacement, including yours.

Subject: Quick question about "[article title]"

Hi [Name],

A while back you kindly linked to our [resource] in "[article
title]" ([URL]). I noticed the link isn't there after your recent
update, which is completely your call.

If it was removed because [the page was outdated / moved], we've
since [updated it / moved it here]: [URL]. Happy to suggest
something else if a different resource fits the new version
better.

Thanks for considering it,
[Your name]

Accept a no gracefully. Editors are entitled to change their own pages, and a polite exchange keeps the door open for future links. You can generate variations of all of these emails with our outreach email generator.

How to prioritize reclamation work

On an established site, the list gets long. Work through it in order of value per minute: fixes you control first, then the warm outreach with the biggest upside.

Within each bucket, sort by relevance first and authority second. A mention on a small, highly relevant niche blog can be worth more than one on a large general site. If you need to score a long list of domains quickly, our website authority checker handles them in bulk.

A monthly link reclamation routine

Reclamation works best as a habit rather than a one-off project. Once the backlog is cleared, this takes an hour or two a month for most sites.

If your reclamation work turns up suspicious links rather than lost ones, such as spammy sites linking with odd anchors, see our backlink audit guide. Most of those are ignored by Google and need no action.