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Updated: September 2026
Link building remains an important part of search engine optimization, but the strategies that work have changed considerably. Successful campaigns no longer focus on collecting the largest possible number of backlinks. They focus on earning credible, relevant references that help search engines, AI platforms, and potential customers recognize a business as a trusted resource.
Today, a strong link-building campaign can support traditional rankings, referral traffic, local visibility, brand recognition, and the likelihood of being discovered or cited in AI-generated search results.
What Is Link Building?
Link building is the process of earning hyperlinks from other websites to pages on your website. These links are commonly called backlinks or inbound links.
A backlink allows readers to move from another website to yours. It can also help search engines discover your content, understand its subject matter, and evaluate whether other trusted sources consider it useful.
However, links are not all equally valuable. A relevant editorial link from a respected industry publication, community organization, manufacturer, news outlet, or professional association may carry significantly more value than dozens of links placed on unrelated websites.
Modern link building also includes brand mentions. A publication may discuss a company, quote one of its experts, or reference its research without including a clickable link. These mentions can still increase awareness and help establish connections between a brand, its services, its location, and its area of expertise.
Why Do Links and Brand Mentions Matter in AI Search?
Traditional search engines use links as one of many signals for evaluating authority and relevance. AI-powered search adds another consideration: whether a business or source is consistently recognized across the web.
AI platforms may compare information from websites, articles, directories, reviews, business profiles, and other trusted sources before producing an answer. A backlink does not guarantee an AI citation. However, strong external references can make a company easier to discover, verify, and associate with a particular subject.
Learn more in our guide to how link building has changed in an AI-driven search world.
Effective Versus Risky Link-Building Methods
| Effective link-building methods | Risky or outdated methods |
|---|---|
| Editorial links from relevant websites | Buying large packages of guaranteed links |
| Original research, guides, tools and resources | Publishing thin content solely to insert a link |
| Local news, associations and community partnerships | Submitting to hundreds of low-quality directories |
| Selective guest contributions to reputable publications | Using mass guest-posting or private blog networks |
| Expert quotes and media interviews | Repeating keyword-heavy anchor text |
| Reclaiming legitimate broken backlinks | Hiding links in templates, footers or unrelated pages |
| Earning natural brand mentions | Exchanging links excessively or without relevance |
| Digital PR based on genuinely newsworthy information | Distributing repetitive, promotional press releases |
The right strategy prioritizes editorial standards, audience relevance, real business value, and long-term credibility.
1. Create Resources Worth Referencing
The strongest backlinks are earned because a page provides something another writer genuinely wants to share.
Useful linkable resources can include:
- Original surveys or industry data
- Detailed buying guides
- Cost and comparison guides
- Checklists and planning tools
- Case studies
- Frequently asked questions
- Original photographs and diagrams
- Local or industry-specific research
For our clients, practical resources frequently create the best opportunities. A roofing cost guide can support articles about home improvement budgeting. A wedding-planning resource can attract links from venues and vendors. A technical product comparison may be useful to manufacturers, dealers, trade publications, and prospective buyers.
Our agency insight is simple: content earns stronger links when it solves a specific problem better than the pages already available.
2. Use Digital PR to Create Newsworthy Opportunities
Digital PR combines public relations, content, and SEO to earn online coverage and authoritative references.
A business does not need to be a national brand to have a story. Potential topics include:
- A new location or expanded service area
- An important company anniversary
- Community involvement or charitable work
- A noteworthy completed project
- New original research
- An event, partnership, or sponsorship
- Expert commentary on a timely industry issue
- A product or service responding to a current need
We have seen client opportunities develop from community events, sponsorships, unique projects, seasonal expertise, business milestones, and industry education. These stories can generate links from local publications, event websites, partner organizations, trade resources, and community calendars.
A press release alone does not guarantee meaningful coverage. The story must be timely, relevant, and supported by targeted outreach.
3. Become a Trusted Expert Source
Journalists, bloggers, podcasters, and industry publishers regularly need qualified professionals who can explain complicated subjects or comment on current developments.
Businesses can earn valuable exposure by providing:
- Concise expert quotes
- Original observations
- Local perspective
- Real-world examples
- Data that supports a developing story
- Clear explanations of confusing industry topics
A contractor might explain why material prices are changing. An insurance professional could clarify a common coverage misconception. A gemologist could discuss why two diamonds with similar grades may look different in person.
When the contribution is helpful, the resulting story may include the expert’s name, company, credentials, and website. Even when no backlink is included, the brand mention can strengthen visibility and credibility.
The key is to offer real expertise—not a disguised sales pitch.
4. Build Local and Industry Relationships
Some of the most relevant links come from organizations already connected to your business.
These may include:
- Chambers of commerce
- Professional associations
- Manufacturers and authorized-dealer directories
- Local charities
- Event and sponsorship pages
- Vendors and business partners
- Schools and community organizations
- Reputable local directories
- Industry publications
For local businesses, these links can reinforce both geographic and service relevance. A link from a respected Connecticut organization may be more usef
ul to a Connecticut service company than a generic link from an unrelated national website.
Our team looks beyond a website’s authority score. We also ask whether the site reaches the right audience and whether the relationship makes sense in the real world.
5. Turn Brand Mentions Into Links
Businesses are sometimes mentioned online without receiving a clickable link. These references may appear in articles, event pages, interviews, vendor lists, social posts, or community websites.
Brand-monitoring and backlink-analysis tools can help locate these mentions. When a reputable website has already discussed the business, a courteous request to add a helpful link may succeed because the editorial relationship already exists.
This strategy is becoming more important as businesses monitor visibility across traditional and AI-powered search results. Monitoring should include:
- Linked brand mentions
- Unlinked brand mentions
- Executive or employee names
- Products and proprietary services
- AI citations and recommendations
- Incorrect or outdated company information
Not every mention requires a link. Sometimes correcting inaccurate information or reinforcing the proper connection between the brand and its services is equally valuable.
6. Reclaim Lost and Broken Backlinks
Websites change over time. Pages are deleted, URLs are reorganized, and useful backlinks can begin sending visitors to 404 pages.
A backlink audit can identify links that once pointed to a working page but no longer reach the intended content. Depending on the situation, the solution may be to:
- Restore a valuable deleted resource
- Add a 301 redirect to the closest replacement page
- Ask the referring website to update its link
- Correct internal links pointing to an outdated URL
- Consolidate overlapping pages while preserving earned authority
Reclaiming an existing backlink is often more efficient than earning a completely new one because another website has already chosen to reference the content.
Technical maintenance is part of link building. A valuable backlink cannot help readers if it leads to a broken page.
7. Conduct Strategic Outreach and Competitor Research
Competitor backlink research can reveal publications, associations, resource pages, and industry websites that may also be relevant to your company.
The goal is not to copy every competitor link. Instead, we evaluate:
- Why the competitor earned the link
- Whether the source is legitimate and relevant
- What information the referring page needed
- Whether our client can provide something more useful
- Which important sources are missing from the client’s backlink profile
Outreach should be personalized and built around value. Rather than asking someone to “link to our website,” offer a useful resource, expert contribution, current statistic, original image, replacement for a broken source, or meaningful partnership.
Selective guest posting can still have a role when the publication has genuine readers and strong editorial standards. Mass-produced guest posts created only to manipulate rankings should be avoided.
What Does a Professional Link-Building Campaign Include?
Effective link building requires more than sending outreach emails. A professional campaign should include:
- A backlink profile and risk assessment
- Competitor and industry research
- Identification of realistic link opportunities
- Creation or improvement of link-worthy content
- Personalized outreach and relationship building
- Digital PR and expert-source development
- Monitoring of new, lost, broken, and suspicious links
- Tracking of referral traffic, rankings, brand mentions, and AI visibility
At Keyword Performance, we evaluate links as part of a complete SEO strategy. Our goal is not simply to increase a number in a backlink report. We want to build relevant authority that supports rankings, qualified traffic, brand trust, and visibility wherever customers search.
Read more about what SEO looks like in 2026 and why modern SEO must account for traditional results, AI-generated answers, and brand mentions.
- Look for Unlinked Brand Mentions
A simple strategy is searching for brands that mention you but haven’t linked to your website or social media profiles. Digital agencies can use a brand monitoring tool to keep track of social media mentions. You can also find mentions by doing a Google search. If you find unlinked brand mentions, reach out to the site’s owners and ask them to link to your preferred website page.
- Reclaim Broken Backlinks
If you have previously invested in link building, either independently or with a professional agency, look for any broken links that used to point to your website. Backlink audit tools can be beneficial with these strategies. Once you find broken links, figure out why they are broken. Have you updated your website? Has the referral domain made changes that resulted in a broken link? Reach out to the website owner and ask them to update the broken link. Since they don’t want to have broken links on their site, they will thank you for reaching out. You can even offer updated content as an opportunity to reach new visitors.
- Become a Guest on Interviews and Podcasts
Video and audio content is much more popular today. Like guest posting, participating in online interviews and podcasts is a great link-building strategy. These platforms allow you to reach a new audience, increase brand awareness, and earn backlinks.The goal of all businesses should be to establish themselves as an expert in their industry. Online interviews and podcasts are a great way to do this. Plus, they’re usually posted on websites, YouTube, and other social media platforms with brand mentions, bios, descriptions, and backlinks. Although this method may be more time-consuming, and you’ll need to pitch yourself as an expert, this strategy brings significant results. By pitching to the right websites and podcasts, you can create a snowball effect that requests your appearance on several other sites, building your backlink profile even further. - Take Advantage of Digital PR
Well, we certainly didn’t save the most straightforward strategy for last. Digital PR is an incredibly valuable link-building strategy but is also the most complex. Digital PR uses positive news stories to highlight your brand, founders, and products and services in the media. Finding success in digital PR undoubtedly requires professional help.Press releases can be written about various topics. Maybe you’re hosting a significant event or developing a new product. Your digital marketing agency can identify many press release topics related to your brand. They also have the resources and connections to collaborate with media websites and journalists that put out content in your market.Some of these strategies come with an additional cost. For example, some sites may require you to pay for a subscription before posting, or it might be best to post to a site that requires payment for PR. All press releases should include backlinks to the most relevant webpage on your site. Once you build quality relationships with journalists and other media professionals, you can establish long-term results from this strategy.
Build Authority Without Risky Shortcuts
Link building still delivers value in 2026–2027, but quality, relevance, and credibility matter more than ever. Sustainable results come from useful content, authentic expertise, strategic relationships, digital PR, and careful outreach—not shortcuts or guaranteed link packages.
Keyword Performance has more than 20 years of experience developing ethical SEO and link-building strategies for local, regional, and national businesses.
Contact Keyword Performance to learn how a custom link-building strategy can strengthen your website’s authority and prepare your business for both traditional and AI-powered search.
