Most SEOs think that Broken Link Building is a new concept, when in fact, it has been around for quite some time. Experts see it as a method that will last for years because the Internet has an endless supply of broken links. We have already discussed this technique in our previous blogs “Broken Link Building – Definition, Need, Importance, and Benefits” and “How to Implement Broken Link Building Successfully“. Having talked about all these, it is only right to discuss the 8 Best broken link building tools. Before we share our list with you, let’s once again go through the process of this white hat link building technique.

How It Works

The method begins by searching for broken links online. Once these links are found, the SEO reaches out to the site owner to tell them that the links are broken. As an exchange to the favor, the owner either includes the SEO’s links to his/her site or any other link that is relevant to the broken anchor text and the page content.

One of the things that an SEO must keep in mind when it comes to Broken Link Building is that it should be scaled. The success rate is not as impressive as that of email outreach, and by that we mean you’ll only receive an average of five to ten links for every one hundred private messages or emails that you send. To be efficient and effective when it comes to Broken Link Building, you need to have the following tools:

Xenu Link Sleuth

This Broken Link Building tool is perfect for those who want to find broken links at scale. It gives SEOs access to links from one hundred pages, all of which can be checked simultaneously. There’s no need to jump from one page to another just to find broken links because all of that can be done via the “Check URL List” under the “File” menu option. The number of links returned depends on the settings. Lower levels bring in specific links while higher settings return links plus the pages they’re linked to. Working links are listed as green in the results while the red ones have some sort of error and are non-working. The list can also be exported as spreadsheets so it’s much easier to browse through all of them.

Link Prospector by Citation Labs

Built in 2012, this Broken Link Building Tool has the capacity to look for and return a huge number of sites that are potential partners. The interface is simple, clean, and easy to understand. It also has an “Excluded Domains” feature to easily disregard irrelevant URLs from being included in the search results. Links are sorted by Link Target Score in the report that takes approximately thirty minutes to run. The pages hosting the terms can also be seen in the results and this is something that SEOs can use to their advantage because they can see how the sites are promoting or using the content. Data can also be exported as an Excel file which can be downloaded via Buzzstream, or saved directly to the computer.

Followerwonk

Most site owners these days are also active on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Followerwonk is a Broken Link Building Tool that can help SEOs see the location and tweet frequency of their followers. This tool also enables them to look for influencers who are part of their niche. The report also shows them the net gains, daily losses in followers, and the performance of their competitors. Now how can this tool be used for Broken Link Building? The answer would be through prospecting. SEOs can find influencers that they can partner with, enabling them to create a relationship that goes beyond the links and codes of the worldwide web.

BuzzStream

This tool makes it easy for SEOs to identify sites they can explore partnerships with, manage communications and link opportunities, identify contact information of site owners, manage link opportunities, monitor achieved backlinks, and send out link requests. The information of the websites shown in the results can easily be categorized in the dashboard, which makes the process of looking for the contact information of the site owners more efficient. BuzzStream also creates a catalog of link requests sent for easy archiving.

Check My Links

This is actually a Chrome extension that can be used to quickly check if a page has broken links. Once installed, its icon (a tiny checkmark) will appear beside the address bar. When clicked, it will scan all of the links that are on the page. Broken links will be highlighted in red, with an error (404) indicator beside it. One downside to this tool is that you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page just to see the broken links.

Linkchecker

This Firefox extension can browse broken links in web documents and websites. It can also be used for a quick scan of broken links in the page. This Firefox extension highlights the good links in green and the bad ones in red. Aside from Broken Link Building, this tool can also be used to prevent link rot.

Domain Hunter Plus

Those who are having problems with Check My Links can use Domain Hunter Plus as an alternative. It also has an icon that scans all of the links on the page when clicked. What sets it apart from Check My Links is that it doesn’t just look for broken links. It also evaluates if the domain of the broken link is available for registration, and how many links are pointing to the domain. If a domain is available for registration, SEOs can have it registered and redirect all of the links in any way they want. The only problem with this extension is that it’s a hit or miss so it’s still best to confirm if the links are indeed broken.

Broken Link Finder Tool

This tool shows the number of links in a page and the exact URL of the links that are not working. It also shows opportunities that keywords have, so SEOs can gauge which ones are worth pursuing and which ones should be disposed of. Another thing that’s good about the Broken Link Finder Tool is that it allows SEOs to reserve possible partnerships with sites so competitors won’t be able to access them, depending on the number of credits they have.