Link Decay
The gradual loss of link value over time as source pages get deleted, sites shut down, or content gets rewritten and the link quietly disappears.
Analogy Mental model
Food past its date. The restaurant a friend recommended last year may have closed by now, and the recommendation stops being useful without anyone announcing it.
In practice What you actually do
Set a recurring review of lost backlinks, sorted by the value of the source you lost. For each one, decide whether to ask the publisher to restore it, whether the page moved and needs your redirect pointed at the new location, or whether the opportunity is simply gone.
Where people get burned Pitfalls
Losing five to ten percent of links a year is normal wear rather than a crisis. What matters is whether new acquisition outpaces the erosion; standing still means falling behind by default.
This entry was written in English from the Chinese original, not machine-translated. Read the Chinese version →