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Link Building

Link Reclamation

Glossary  |  2 mins

Read the next term in our glossary

Link Scheme

Link reclamation is the process of finding and reclaiming lost or broken links on a website. These links can be internal, linking to pages within the same website, or external, linking to other websites. The goal of link reclamation is to identify and fix any broken links, which can negatively impact a website’s search engine rankings and user experience.

One common way to reclaim lost links is by conducting a link audit. This involves using tools such as Google Search Console or Ahrefs to identify broken links on a website. Once these links have been identified, the website owner can then take steps to fix or redirect them. For example, if a page has been removed or moved, a 301 redirect can be implemented to redirect users to the new location of the page.

Link reclamation can also involve reaching out to other websites that are linking to your website but are now linking to a broken page. By reaching out and requesting that they update their link to the correct page, you can reclaim these lost links.

Another important aspect of link reclamation is monitoring your website for new broken links. This can be done by regularly checking for 404 error pages or by using a tool that will notify you of any broken links. By regularly monitoring your website for broken links, you can quickly address any issues and ensure that your website’s search engine rankings and user experience are not negatively impacted.

Link Reclamation Email Template

If you have broken backlinks pointing to your site, and you’re looking to reclaim them by reaching out to the referring domain owner, here’s a simple template you can use to try and repair these missing links:

Hi [Website Owner],

I hope you’re well. I am reaching out to you because I came across a broken link on your website while browsing. The link in question is [insert broken link URL].

I understand the importance of providing a positive user experience and I believe that fixing this broken link will benefit both our websites. I noticed that the link is supposed to lead to my website [insert your website URL] and I would be grateful if you could update it to the correct URL [insert correct URL].

If you need any help with repairing the link or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Kind regards,
[Your Name]

Link reclamation is just one effective way to repair a neglected backlink profile and start achieving higher organic rankings.

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Link Reclamation FAQs

How to find lost backlinks?

To find lost backlinks, you can use tools such as Ahrefs, Majestic, or Google Search Console to check your website’s backlink profile. These tools allow you to see which websites are linking to your pages and can help identify any broken or missing links.

How to claim brand mentions as links?

To claim brand mentions as links, you should reach out to the website or page where your brand is mentioned and request that they add a link to your website. This can be done simply by emailing the website owner, or using tools such as Ahrefs or Buzzsumo to find mentions of your brand online and then reach out to the website or page through the relevant platform.

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Other useful terms

SEO

Your Money or Your Life (YMYL)

Glossary  |  3 mins

Your Money or Your Life (YMYL), as the name sounds, describes the most important and sensitive topics online. YMYL topics are broad, but generally involve information that could significantly influence consumer's health, financial situation, safety or wellbeing. There are many such topics that could influence these areas, though are most commonly found on websites that provide advice on subjects such as medicine, finance and current events. Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines include E-E-A-T, a method for evaluators to judge whether a page is providing reliable information that consumers can trust, which is never more important with YMYL topics. Google states that evaluators need to use judgement as to whether a page qualifies as YMYL, and if so, these pages need to be demonstrating the highest levels of E-E-A-T. Both E-E-A-T and YMYL are not directly SEO ranking factors, however they do influence the factors that are considered. For instance good quality content will likely attract high quality backlinks, naturally reference many of the most important concepts and keywords in context - whilst hugely influencing time on page and click through rates.

E-E-A-T for YMYL SEO is important to stop the spread of misinformation to:

  • The reader of the page
  • Those affected by the reader of the page
  • Exponential spread of those affected by those who were affected by the reader of the page

Example YMYL topics

  • Side effects of certain prescription drugs
  • Safety advice for natural disasters
  • Self Assessment submission dates

Tips for creating YMYL content

    • Create high quality, people first content that answers questions, provides advices and satisfies the reader’s queries.
 
    • Provide author bio information, as well as complete transparency as to where any information for the content was sourced, with references. Ensure your website has a well populated About page, with all certifications and qualifications of authors clearly displayed.
 
    • Link out to credible sources when citing statistics or relevant opinions within the content.
 
  • Encourage similarly high quality publications within the industry or niche to cite your work as a source, via a backlink. This will help to build topical relevance for your page, as well as building the authority of the author to speak on the subject.
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SEO

E-E-A-T

Glossary  |  3 mins

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness E-E-A-T is an updated acronym, building on Google’s 2014 update to their Search Quality Rater Guidelines ‘E-A-T’. The handbook now features the additional trust factor ‘Experience’, as of the December 2022 update, which helps Google to measure the success of its algorithm updates and search results. Google is adamant that while E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor it does want to serve results that display websites with strong E-E-A-T. In conjunction with SEO, E-E-A-T is a major focus for websites aiming to improve trust, engage customers and lead to an improved conversion rate.

E-E-A-T Timeline:

Mar 2013: Search Quality Rating Guidelines Introduced Mar 2014: E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) added to the guidelines Dec 2022: Updated to E-E-A-T, with the additional ‘E’ for ‘Experience’

Experience

Good quality content should demonstrate an expert level of understanding with subject matter, proving that insights are authentic and ‘tried and tested’. Adding ‘Experience’ to the E-A-T guidelines is a signal that consumers of the content can trust its authenticity.

Expertise

Expertise differs from experience, though there is some overlap. While experience shows a real life understanding of the subject matter, expertise demonstrates a professional connection, through credentials, qualifications and a deep level of knowledge that qualifies authors to provide reliable information.

Authoritativeness

Authoritativeness, like expertise and experience, derives from the same place of being qualified to provide reliable information on a subject matter. Unlike the previous two, however, authoritativeness is reputation based, leveraging the power of industry peers to support your credibility as a trusted source of information. In this sense, authoritativeness is sourced by backlinks and citations from other credible, reliable sources of similar information.

Trustworthiness

In essence, Trustworthiness is the combination of the above and in essence, the most important factor of the E-E-A-T guideline - especially in subjects considered to be YMYL. Raters must consider the content as a whole, the look and feel of the website where the content lives, and the author who created it. Being clear, upfront and honest about who wrote it, its sources and any other factors that may encourage a transaction of conversion from users.
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Authority Metrics

Majestic Link Graph

Glossary  |  2 mins

Majestic Link Graph was introduced in 2020, giving link builders and SEOs a new way to visualise the immediate map of links surrounding a website or URL. By the very nature of the internet, links and link networks are everywhere. Many of them are benign, as Majestic state, such as footer links within corporate subsidiaries or a single website translated into many languages. However, some networks are not so innocent and are designed to manipulate search rankings. These are known as private blog networks (PBNs), and fall under the black hat tactics that white hat link builders avoid at all costs. Due to their malicious intent, PBNs are not always easy to spot and are designed to appeal to marketers for commercial gain. The Link Graph, therefore is a highly useful tool for marketers to quickly get a real time analysis of the top 50 websites that point to a domain or URL. It considers the four tiers stipulated by Majestic (1-4), collecting the top links within each and then calculates which are linking to each other. Whilst the tool is insightful and accurate to a degree, it does not consider all network possibilities, and Majestic provides no guarantee that it is all encompassing. It does however provide an instant insight into the top external links (or lack thereof) that surrounds a website or URL - which in conjunction with other authority metrics can be a vital component in the decision making for link acquisition. The static image provided by the Link Graph is made up of red dots and dark lines - where the dots are websites or URLs, and the dark lines are the links that connect them. The size of the red dot depicts the Trust Flow of the referring domain, while the lighter dots and lines show links that are farther away from the domain in question.
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