Recovering Lost Sales: A Broken Link & Niche Edit Strategy
Client: An e-commerce store selling “camping gear.”
Challenges We Faced
The client was in a niche where products constantly go out of stock or discontinued, creating “link rot”:
Competitor Shutdown
A major competitor (a camping blog/shop) had recently shut down, leaving thousands of dead links.
Missed Traffic
High-intent users were clicking these dead links on forums and blogs and hitting 404 pages.
Low Authority
Our client’s DR was 25, struggling to compete with REI.
Need for Speed
They needed to capture this traffic before another competitor did.
No Recovery Plan
The team had no clear process to find broken links fast and replace them before competitors acted.
Turn Dead Links Into Sales
“Did a competitor shut down? Our Broken Link Replacement service captures their lost backlinks and traffic for you.”
Our Approach – How We Solved These Challenges
Competitor Link Research (404s)
We used Ahrefs to find all the broken backlinks pointing to the defunct competitor’s “tent” and “sleeping bag” guides.
Broken Link Replacement
This was our primary niche edit link building strategy. We reached out to 500+ webmasters: “I see you’re linking to [Dead Site]. It’s gone, but we have an in-stock product/guide here…”
Recreating Dead Content
For some high-value broken links, we created “Skyscraper” content on our client’s site to serve as a perfect 1:1 replacement.
Link Placement & Monitoring
We secured 75+ niche edits (link replacements) on high-authority outdoor blogs.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) | 25 | 45 | +17 points |
| New Backlinks (from 404 recovery) | 0 | 75+ | +75 links |
| Referral Traffic (from hobby blogs) | <100/mo | 2,500/mo | +2,400% |
Free Broken Link Analysis
“Not sure where the broken links are? Book a Free 404 Audit and let our niche edit backlink services team find them!”
Advice for Marketers & Brand Owners
- Broken links are the easiest niche edits to get. Webmasters want to fix their broken links.
- Monitor your competitors. When a rival shuts down or changes their URL structure, it’s a massive opportunity for broken link replacement.
- Offer a relevant replacement. Don’t just ask for a link; offer a better resource.
Extra Factors That Made It Work
- The “helpful” nature of the outreach (fixing a broken link) led to a very high conversion rate (15%).
- The links came from highly relevant “hobbyist” sites, which passed massive topical authority.
- This strategy was extremely cost-effective compared to buying sponsored posts.
