lost backlinks
Also called: lost links
Lost backlinks are inbound links that used to point to your site but no longer count, because the linking page was deleted, redirected, noindexed, or edited to drop the link. They quietly shrink your backlink profile and the authority signals that search and AI answer engines rely on.
Why links go missing
Ahrefs groups lost-link reasons into two buckets: problems with the linking page and problems with the link itself. Page-level losses include Not found (the page now 404s), 301/302 redirect, Noindex, Not canonical anymore, and Crawl errors. Link-level losses include Link removed (the page is live but no longer links to you) and Broken redirect. A tool can also mark a link Dropped when it purges that page from its index for quality reasons.
Not every lost link is a real loss. A crawler re-checks pages on its own schedule, so a backlink can read as “lost” for a few days while the source is temporarily down or being re-indexed, then reappear. Treat the report as a triage queue, not an alarm.
Example: a roundup that linked to you gets rebuilt on a new URL, and the old URL 301s to the linking site’s homepage. Your deep link is gone. A short note to the author, or reclaiming your own broken target URL with a redirect, often puts it back.
Reclamation is usually cheaper than net-new outreach, because the other site already chose to link to you once. Ahrefs recommends filtering the lost report to your strongest referring domains first, confirming the link is genuinely gone, then deciding whether it is worth chasing. Redirects and canonical changes are often intentional and not worth pursuing; a removed link on a high-value page usually is.
How it affects your traffic
Every lost backlink removes a slice of the authority that helped a page rank, and a slow drip of losses can explain a ranking slide that on-page tweaks will not fix. Because the same authority signals feed the AI answer engines deciding which sources to cite, an eroding link profile costs visibility in both classic search and AI results. Our Link Building work includes reading your lost-link report and reclaiming the links worth recovering, which typically returns authority faster and cheaper than chasing brand-new placements.
Get Link Building that moves the needle
We turn terms like this into ranked pages and qualified pipeline. Start with a free Initial SEO Strategy.