Links

Link reclamation

mention-to-link · broken-link reclamation

Definition

Link reclamation is outreach that turns an existing mention or a dead inbound URL into a live hyperlink. The story already ran. You are asking for an edit, not a new assignment. Two common queues: unlinked mentions, and broken backlinks that 404 after a site migration.

This is quieter work than a campaign launch and often cheaper per referring domain. The reporter already decided you belonged in the piece. The ask is housekeeping.

How it works

Export mentions and lost links. Drop anything paid, anything nofollow-by-policy (most social, many government PDFs), and anything where the writer clearly refused a link. Write a short note that quotes the line, supplies the exact URL, and explains what the reader gets (methods, dataset, current product page). One URL. No media kit.

Example: after a CMS move, 37 inbound paths 404. Twenty-three still have a matching live page. Twelve of those publishers still have a working editor email. Eight ignore the note. Three fix the href in a week. One says the CMS will not let them edit a 2021 article. Reclaimed domains = 3. The remaining 404s stay on a redirect map so future crawlers resolve without another email. That redirect work is not reclamation; it is owned-site hygiene that makes reclamation less necessary next time.

For unlinked mentions, timing matters. A story that shipped yesterday is easier to amend than a story that shipped during the last presidential cycle. Do not bundle a product pitch into the reclamation note.

How it differs

Digital PR campaigns create new coverage. Reclamation repairs coverage you already have. Broken-backlink finding is the audit. Reclamation is the ask. Buying a replacement link from a marketplace when the original editor says no is a different, and usually worse, decision.

Common errors

Mail-merging “loved your article” into 400 leftover mentions. Sending a homepage URL when the paragraph is about a study. Reclaiming sponsored posts. Redirecting every old URL to the homepage and then asking publishers to “update the link” to a page that no longer matches the anchor.

Sources