To Find Lost backlinks :
• Let's start at the top.
• Find Lost Links with Site Explorer. Site Explorer > enter your domain > Backlinks > Lost....
• Find (and Reclaim) Links Pointing to 404 Pages. Are you an Ahrefs user? ...
• Find Stolen Content (Without An Attribution Link) People often steal content and remove/neglect the link back to the original source.
The most common reasons why websites lose links are:
• The link breaks, resulting in a 404.
• The content containing your backlink has been modified and your link has gone.
• The website underwent a redesign and many links were unpublished, including yours.
• The backlinking site is under new ownership, and has been redirected at the domain level, resulting in a lot of lost links.
To generate a list of lost linking domains using Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) :
• Login to GWT and navigate to the ‘Links’ tab (in the new interface).
• Navigate to the ‘Top Linking Sites’ report in the second-tier menu.
• Open the CSV up in Google Docs
• Wait 30 days (or use Backlink Recovery if you don’t want to wait)
• Come back to GWT and repeat steps 1 to 3 (download the same report again). By comparing these two reports, we will be able to identify the potentially lost backlinks over the past 30 days.
• Open the second CSV up in the original Google Docs spreadsheet, and copy all of the results in to a new sheet.
• Return to the first sheet (links from 30 days earlier), in column B add the following formula: =IF(VLOOKUP(‘A2’,’!Sheet2A:Z’,’TRUE’),”Active link”, “Lost link”)
• Copy the formula down the column so that it checks for every row.
• Filter out the rows with the value “Lost link” and copy them to their own spreadsheet.
Getting your lost links reinstated, this is known as backlink recovery.
Backlink recovery is the process of identifying former linking domains (websites that used to link to you but no longer do) and actively working to have those lost links reinstated.
Here are 4 steps to remove bad backlinks for your website:
• Identify your bad links (you'll find how exactly from this article).
• Search for the contact information of the website you have the link on.
• Contact the webmaster asking him to remove the link.
• Disavow the links and upload the file to Google.
10 Smart Ways to Earn or Build Backlinks to Your Website :
• The broken-link building method. ...
• Backlinks through infographics. ...
• The advantage of guest articles. ...
• Spy on your competitors. ...
• Build internal links. ...
• Promote your content. ...
• Write testimonials. ...
• Contact journalists and important bloggers.
• Donate.
• Get interviewed.