How to Do Broken Link Building With Free Tools (Small-Site Edition)

Broken link building means finding links on other sites that point to pages that no longer exist, creating a genuinely useful replacement, and letting the editor know so they can fix the dead link. You can do the whole process without a paid SEO subscription: search operators, a link checker, the Wayback Machine and a short, polite email. This guide walks through each step with the free tools that work, a template and a realistic picture of what to expect.

Published: 2026-10-16 · 7 min read · Satelo

How broken link building works (and why editors say yes)

Every site that links out slowly collects dead links. Pages get deleted, domains expire, blogs move without redirects. A reader who clicks one of those links lands on an error page, which makes the linking page look neglected.

Broken link building turns that problem into an opening. You find the dead link, you make sure you have a page that serves the same reader need, and you tell the editor: "this link is broken, here is a working alternative if it helps." The editor gets a free maintenance report; you get a chance at a relevant, editorially chosen link.

Two things make it legitimate rather than spammy. First, the editor decides; you never pay or trade for the link. Google's spam policies list buying links for ranking purposes and "link to me and I'll link to you" schemes as link spam, so keep your outreach free of both. Second, your replacement has to genuinely help the page's readers. If it does not, do not pitch it.

Step 1: Start with your own broken links (the easiest win)

Before you hunt on other sites, check whether other sites already link to pages on your site that now return a 404. Those links were earned once and are being wasted.

• Free tool: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify. Its Site Explorer shows who links to you and flags broken internal and external links, and Site Audit crawls your own pages.
• Google Search Console: the Pages report lists URLs Google sees as "Not found (404)". Cross-check those against your backlinks.
• Fix: restore the page, or add a permanent redirect to the closest relevant page. No outreach needed.

For a small site this can be the whole job for the first month, and it costs nothing but an afternoon. Our list of free Ahrefs alternatives covers other tools for checking your own backlinks.

Step 2: Find pages that link out a lot in your topic

Broken links hide on pages with many outbound links: resource lists, "further reading" sections, tool roundups, glossaries and older guides. Use Google's documented search operators (quotes, site:, minus) to find them:

• "your topic" "useful resources"
• "your topic" "further reading"
• "your topic" "recommended tools"
• "your topic" resources site:.edu or site:.org
• "your topic" "links" -jobs -shop to strip out noise

Google explains how the site: operator works if you want to search inside one domain. Resource pages are a strategy of their own; our guide to resource page link building goes deeper on finding and vetting them.

Collect 20 to 40 candidate pages in a spreadsheet before checking anything. Batch work is faster than hopping between search and checking.

Step 3: Check those pages for dead links

You do not need a paid crawler for a few dozen pages:

• Browser link-checker extensions highlight broken links on the page you are viewing. Run one on each candidate page.
• The free tier of a desktop SEO crawler can crawl a single page's outbound links and report status codes.
• Command line, if you are comfortable with it: curl -I https://example.com/old-page shows the status code.

Then confirm each hit before you act on it:

1. Open the link in a normal browser. Some sites block crawlers but work for people.
2. Look for a real 404 or 410, an expired domain, or a parked page full of ads. A slow page or a temporary 500 error is not a broken link.
3. Check whether the content simply moved. A quick search for the page title often finds the new URL; if so, tell the editor the new address and do not pitch your own page.

That last point matters. Pointing out a moved page with no pitch attached builds goodwill, and goodwill is what gets your next email opened.

Step 4: See what the dead page offered

Paste the dead URL into the Wayback Machine to see archived snapshots. You want to understand three things: what reader need the page served, why sites linked to it, and what it was missing.

Use the archive for understanding, not for copying. Republishing someone else's archived text is plagiarism and also a weak pitch, because the editor linked to the original author for a reason. Write your own page that serves the same need better: more current, clearer, with examples or data you can actually source.

The best opportunities are dead pages that many sites linked to. In Ahrefs Webmaster Tools you can only see backlinks for sites you verify, so for other people's dead pages, a practical free signal is simply how often the dead URL shows up on the resource pages you collected in Step 2.

Step 5: Vet the site before you write to it

Not every page with a broken link is worth a link from. Spend two minutes on each site:

• Is it a real site with real readers, a visible author and recent updates?
• Does it rank for anything, or is it a shell built to sell links? Our guide on how to spot PBN sites lists the warning signs.
• Is the topic close enough that a reader would genuinely follow a link to your page?

The checklist in our guide to checking a site before you buy or pitch covers this in detail.

Step 6: Write a short, helpful email

Lead with the help, keep the pitch to one line and make the editor's job easy. A template you can adapt:

Subject: Broken link on your [page topic] page

Hi [Name],

I was reading your [page title] and noticed the link to [description of resource] in the "[section name]" section goes to a page that no longer exists: [dead URL].

If you are looking for a replacement, I recently published [your page title], which covers [what it covers, in one line]: [your URL]. No worries if it is not a fit; I just wanted to flag the dead link.

Thanks for maintaining the list,
[Your name]

Use a real name, send from your own domain's address, and do not attach anything. One follow-up after a week or so is fine; more than that is pestering. For more variations, see our outreach email templates.

If an editor replies asking for payment to add your link, that is no longer broken link building. Paid placements are advertising and should carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", which Google's spam policies explicitly allow.

Step 7: Track everything in one sheet

A simple tracker keeps you from emailing the same person twice and shows which page types respond best. An illustrative layout:

The rows above are for illustration only.

Realistic expectations

Broken link building is slow, manual work. Many emails get no reply, and some editors fix the dead link without adding yours. That is normal. A few things improve your odds:

• Pitch only where your page is a genuinely close replacement.
• Prefer pages that are clearly maintained; neglected pages are full of broken links precisely because nobody reads the inbox.
• Write fewer, more personal emails rather than many generic ones.
• Count the goodwill. An editor you helped once is more open to your next idea.

Treat any link you win as a bonus on top of a page that should exist anyway. The page earns links over time; the outreach just makes sure the right people see it. For other no-budget tactics that combine well with this one, see our free link building strategies.

What to do next

1. Verify your site in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools and Search Console, and fix any broken pages that already have links pointing to them.
2. Build a list of 20 to 40 resource-style pages in your topic and check them for dead links.
3. Before you write to a site, run it through Satelo's free Quality Score check to see its open-data signals (domain age, Tranco rank, crawl footprint, page speed) in about 30 seconds, with the source behind each number. It is a quick way to skip shells and dead sites before you spend time on a personal email.

FAQ

What is broken link building?

It is a link building method where you find links on other websites that point to pages that no longer exist, create or identify a useful replacement on your site, and suggest it to the site owner so they can fix the dead link.

How do I find broken links on other websites for free?

Use Google search operators to find resource-style pages in your topic, then run a browser link-checker extension or the free tier of a desktop crawler on those pages. Confirm each result in a normal browser before contacting anyone.

Is broken link building still effective?

It can work when your replacement genuinely serves the same readers and the linking page is actively maintained. It is slow and many emails go unanswered, so treat it as one tactic among several rather than a main growth channel.

Can I copy the dead page's content from the Wayback Machine?

No. Use the archive to understand what the page offered and why people linked to it, then write your own, better resource. Republishing someone else's archived text is plagiarism and makes a weak pitch.

What should a broken link outreach email say?

Name the page, point to the exact dead link and where it sits, offer your replacement in one line, and make it clear there is no obligation. Keep it short, personal and send at most one follow-up.

Is it okay to pay a site to replace a broken link with mine?

Paying for a link for ranking purposes violates Google's spam policies. If a placement is paid, it is advertising and the link should carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".

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