Broken Backlink Checker: 404 Link Reclamation + 301 Redirect Map

The cheapest backlinks are the ones you already earned. After a redesign, migration or content cleanup, other sites keep linking to URLs that now return 404, and that link equity is wasted. This Actor takes your backlink export, checks every linked-to URL on your site live, matches each broken one to the best live replacement page, and gives you a ready 301 redirect map ranked by referring domains.

Site crawlers and broken link checkers only follow your internal links, so they miss pages that nothing on your site links to anymore but other sites still do. This starts from the backlinks instead.

What it finds

Issue	Meaning	What you get
NOT_FOUND_404 / GONE_410	Linked-to page is gone	301 to the closest live page
REDIRECT_TO_BROKEN	An old redirect now ends in a 404	301 straight to a live page
SOFT_404	Returns 200 but shows "not found" (or the site's error page)	301 + "make your error page return 404"
REDIRECT_TO_HOMEPAGE	Deep URL redirected to / (Google treats it as a soft 404)	301 to a relevant page instead
REDIRECT_CHAIN	2+ hops before the final page	One-hop 301 to the final page
TEMPORARY_REDIRECT	302/307 instead of 301	Make it a 301
SERVER_ERROR	5xx	Flagged: fix the server, never redirect

How replacements are matched

Live candidates come from your XML sitemap (index sitemaps, Yoast, Rank Math and WordPress core sitemaps are followed) plus the links on your homepage. Each broken URL is scored against every candidate on slug words, slug similarity and same section, plus the old page title and anchor text when your export has them. The top candidates are fetched to confirm they are live and to compare titles. Matches get HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW confidence; LOW lines are written commented out as # REVIEW. It never suggests the homepage.

Input

• Your site, e.g. https://example.com.
• A backlink export, pasted or as a public CSV link (up to 5, combined):
  • Google Search Console: Links > Top linked pages (External) > Export. Free.
  • Ahrefs: Best by links or Backlinks export (UTF-16 tab files work as is).
  • Semrush: Indexed pages or Backlinks export. Moz and Majestic exports also work.
  • No export? List the linked-to URLs instead.
• Optional: sitemap URL, max URLs (default 100, max 500), min referring domains, delay.

Output

• Dataset: one row per linked-to URL, broken ones first: url, referringDomains, issue, httpStatus, hops, redirectTo, confidence, matchWhy, alternatives, topLinkingPages, anchors.
• Key-value store: REPORT (client-ready Markdown), REDIRECTS_HTACCESS (Apache/LiteSpeed, including query-string URLs), REDIRECTS_NGINX, REDIRECT_MAP_CSV (imports into the WordPress Redirection plugin, Rank Math or Yoast), SUMMARY.

Pricing

$0.03 per site analyzed (pay per event), for up to 500 linked-to URLs in one run. Empty input, an invalid site, an export with no URLs on your site, or an unreachable site are not charged.

Polite and safe

Identifies itself as CygnixBacklinkReclaim, obeys robots.txt (URLs it may not fetch are reported as skipped), waits between requests (default 1 s). Only checks the site you enter. No logins, no paid APIs, no access to your Search Console or SEO tool accounts.

FAQ

Do I need Ahrefs or Semrush? No. The free Search Console "Top linked pages" export is enough.

How is this different from a broken link checker? Broken link checkers crawl your internal links. This checks the URLs that other sites link to, ranked by referring domains, and writes the redirects.

Does it verify my backlinks still exist? No. Referring-domain counts come from your export. It checks your site's target URLs and finds replacements.

Can I run it for client sites? Yes, one site per run; agencies can schedule it monthly after each backlink export.

Also available as an AI agent skill on Agensi (Backlink Reclamation Finder). Agency white-label audits: https://skills.cygnixlabs.com/pricing. Support: info@cygnixlabs.com. Made by Cygnix Labs.