If you’ve been paying attention to the search landscape lately, you’ve probably asked the question:
Is link building still worth it, or has it become an outdated SEO tactic?
It’s a fair question. With AI-generated answers and large language models (LLMs) changing how people search, it’s easy to assume that backlinks are losing their punch.
But here’s the thing: while the mechanics of search are evolving, the signals of trust are not.
And links? Still one of the strongest trust signals out there.
Let’s unpack why link building still matters and how it’s adapting in an AI-first world.
LLMs Don’t Rank Pages, They Select Snippets
In traditional SEO, links were a major ranking factor. Google’s algorithm relied on them to measure authority, relevance, and trustworthiness. That’s still true, but now, with LLMs like ChatGPT and AI Overviews generating full answers in search, it feels like links don’t matter as much.
But that’s a surface-level read.
LLMs don’t crawl the web on their own (at least not yet). They either:
- Pull from pre-trained data (e.g., ChatGPT up to a certain cut-off), or
- Use real-time retrieval to access and summarize pages from a search engine.
In both cases, LLMs rely heavily on the content and context of high-authority pages to form their answers.
And what helps signal authority and relevance to these systems?
Links.
Backlinks: Trust Signals in a Noisy Web
Backlinks have always functioned as a kind of vote. A site linking to your page is essentially saying, “Hey, this is worth checking out.”
That hasn’t changed.
Even LLMs, smart as they are, need ways to determine what’s credible and what’s noise. That’s where backlinks still shine:
- They help retrieval systems prioritize which pages to surface
- They indirectly influence which brands and voices get cited in AI responses
- They provide machine-readable discoverability signals
If you’re trying to show up in AI-generated answers, links still help establish your content as retrievable, quotable, and trusted.
As SEO expert Kenichi Suzuki recently pointed out: “To get your content to appear in AI Overview, just stick to solid SEO fundamentals.”
The Shift: From Ranking Pages to Shaping Answers
In the past, link building was all about “moving the needle” in rankings. Now, it’s about getting included in the answer, and that’s a subtle but powerful shift.
We’re seeing Google and others move toward answer-based experiences. The 10 blue links aren’t dead, but they’re increasingly hidden below summaries, carousels, and AI snippets.
This means visibility doesn’t just come from where you rank. It comes from how often your content is cited, quoted, or surfaced by generative models.
According to Google's documentation, high-quality backlinks are still a factor in their evaluation of helpful, trustworthy content—especially in the context of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT).
What Link Building Looks Like in the AI Era
To be clear, we’re not talking about spamming blog comments or chasing low-quality guest posts anymore.
Modern link building is about:
- Digital PR: Earning links through news coverage, thought leadership, or expert commentary.
- Topical authority: Building clusters of useful, interlinked content that signals depth.
- Relationship-driven outreach: Connecting with real publications, not directories or PBNs.
In short, link building is evolving just as SEO itself is. It’s less about chasing domain authority scores and more about earning visibility through credibility.
For example, if a trusted media outlet picks up your content, that mention might not just boost your rankings. It might also become part of the training data or live retrieval results that LLMs use to generate answers.
So… Is Link Building Still Relevant?
Yes. But not because it helps you “rank higher” in the same old way.
It’s relevant because:
- Links still signal authority to LLMs and search engines
- They help your content get discovered and retrieved
- They increase your brand’s chances of being cited in AI-generated results
Now, it’s more about visibility than rankings. The more visibility your brand has, the more likely it is to be cited.
One May 2025 study even found that while total site clicks were down 4.8%, homepage clicks increased by 10.7%. Researchers believed this was due to branded exposure from LLMs—proof that links (and visibility) still lead to opportunity.
A separate 2024 study also showed that appearing in an AI overview sometimes required as few as 13 referring domains—something even smaller brands can achieve with a focused effort.
TL;DR
- LLMs pull content from trusted sources—and backlinks help prove that trust.
- Today’s link building is less about rankings and more about inclusion in AI-driven answers.
- Building real authority through high-quality relationships and coverage gives your brand visibility where it matters.
Link building isn’t dead. It’s just grown up.
