What Is Link Reclamation?

Link Reclamation scans competitor websites for broken outbound links (404 errors). When a site links to a dead page, you can contact the site owner and suggest your content as a replacement. This is one of the highest-conversion link building tactics because the site owner already wants a working link there.

URL: /pr/link-reclamation/

Available on: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise plans.

How It Works

Automated Scanning

ILLIXIS scans your competitors' backlink profiles weekly using the Backlinks API:

Identifies referring domains for each competitor
Checks for broken links (HTTP 404, 410, or timeout)
Scores each opportunity by domain authority, dofollow status, and content relevance
Surfaces actionable results on your Link Reclamation page

Opportunity Details

Each broken link opportunity shows:

Field	Description
Source URL	The page containing the broken link
Broken URL	The dead page it links to
Domain Authority	Authority score of the linking domain
Dofollow	Whether the link passes ranking signals
Quality Score	Combined score (0-100) based on all factors
Anchor Text	The text used in the broken link

Taking Action

For each opportunity:

Review the opportunity to confirm relevance
Click "Generate Outreach" to create a personalized email
Review and edit the draft (addresses the site owner, explains the broken link, suggests your content)
Send the email to the site contact
Track status (Pending, Contacted, Won, Lost)

Triggering Manual Scans

Click "Run Scan" on the Link Reclamation page to trigger an immediate scan. The scan runs in the background and typically completes in 1-2 minutes.

Best Practices

Do:

Focus on high domain authority opportunities (DA 30+) first
Ensure you have relevant content to suggest before reaching out
Personalize outreach drafts with specific details about the broken link
Follow up once if no response after 7 days

Don't:

Pitch irrelevant content (damages your reputation)
Mass-email without personalization
Contact the same site owner repeatedly for different broken links

Troubleshooting

Scan Shows No Results

Competitors may have very few broken inbound links
Try adding more competitors in Settings
Some niches simply have fewer broken link opportunities

Low Quality Scores

Low domain authority sites produce lower scores
Nofollow links score lower (they don't pass ranking signals)
Low content relevance reduces the score

Related Features

PR Intelligence Hub - Overview of all PR features
Brand Mentions - Another high-conversion outreach tactic
Media Intelligence - Competitor backlink gap analysis

Need help? Contact support or check the ILLIXIS Help Center.

Link Reclamation