Link Building
Link reclamation
Link reclamation is the corrective process of restoring a legitimate prior or expected link relationship that was lost, broken, misdirected or omitted.
What it means
A valid basis can be an owned URL move, a broken earned reference, missing Attribution for reused work or an agreed partner update. The process verifies the source, relationship and equivalent destination before changing redirects, owned links or requesting a publisher correction. It is not permission to demand links for every Unlinked mention.
Why it matters
Requiring prior basis and destination equivalence keeps remediation useful to readers and prevents ordinary Outreach or manipulative acquisition from being reported as maintenance.
Example
A university article still links to a company's retired research URL; the company restores an exact report path with a permanent redirect, then sends the editor the evidence rather than asking for an unrelated commercial landing-page link.
Common mistakes
Do not claim ownership of independent editorial choices, redirect to non-equivalent pages, automate publisher demands, use fabricated prior links, turn mentions into compulsory links, conceal compensation, skip relationship qualification or promise recovered rankings.
How AYSA handles this
Signals reviewed
historical link, source owner, destination owner, relationship evidence, resolved chain, replacement equivalence, commercial relationship
Problem AYSA can identify
AYSA can identify lost owned paths, broken earned references, missing attribution and proposed replacements that do not match the original resource.
Recommendation prepared
The workflow prepares the least invasive repair supported by relationship and destination evidence.
Approval preview
The reviewer sees historical proof, source control, candidate destination, equivalence comparison and any proposed publisher message.
Execution
AYSA can apply approved owned redirects and link corrections; external publisher contact or edits remain separately authorized.
Verification
A recrawl confirms owned repairs and later records any independent publisher change without claiming causation.
Limits
Publishers retain editorial control, historical evidence can be incomplete and no restored link guarantees search performance.
Sources and further reading
- Google Search Central — Redirects and Google Search — Official search documentation
- Google Search Central — Link best practices — Official search documentation
- Google Search Central — Spam policies for Google web search — Official search policy
Written by Marius Dosinescu. Reviewed by AYSA SEO Editorial Team · 2026-07-28 00:00:00.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
Is converting every unlinked mention into a backlink link reclamation?
No. Reclamation requires a legitimate prior or expected relationship; otherwise it is an editorial outreach request.
Should a lost link redirect to the homepage?
Only if the homepage is genuinely equivalent, which is uncommon; otherwise restore or identify the specific resource.
SEO execution campaign
Less SEO work. More organic growth.
AYSA monitors your website, finds opportunities, prepares the work, asks for approval and executes accepted changes so you can grow without living in SEO tools.
