<b>17% of acquired links disappear within 12 months — half of those in the first 90 days</b>

<b>17% of acquired links disappear within 12 months — half of those in the first 90 days</b>

Links aren't permanent assets; they decay. Tracking 5,200 placements post-publication (15-month window):

Survival drops fastest early — by day 90, ~8% are already gone (page deleted, content rewritten, link stripped). Attrition then slows to a steady ~1% per month, reaching 17% lost by month 12.

Paid placements on thin or churn-heavy sites decay nearly twice as fast as editorial links on established publishers.

What it means: a 'built 100 links' number is really ~83 live links a year later.

<b>Re-audit link liveness quarterly and budget a 17% annual replacement rate.</b>