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Key Takeaways Link building is now about trust. The focus has shifted from chasing backlinks to earning trust through mentions, visibility and authority.
Success now depends on being featured in curated lists, shaping perception through digital PR, earning positive third-party reviews and being mentioned in trusted communities and forums.
You don’t need to flood the internet with links — you need a holistic approach where your brand is consistently mentioned in the right contexts.
Backlinks used to be the lifeblood of SEO. Marketers were obsessed with dofollow versus nofollow, fighting to secure every possible link. But in 2025, that debate feels like yesterday’s playbook. What really moves the needle today isn’t just the link itself — it’s the signal behind it.
When your brand is named in articles, reviews, listicles and forums, that mention carries weight. Search engines, AI systems and online communities all read it as trust. And trust, not technicalities, is what drives visibility now.
According to Spacebar Collective, the average AI search visitor is 4.4 times as valuable as a traditional organic search visitor, based on conversion rates.
This is why the smartest marketers are adapting link building into something bigger: brand building. Instead of chasing naked backlinks, they’re focused on getting their brand featured in third-party spaces, media outlets and real conversations. It’s not about stacking links anymore. It’s about shaping the story.
Related: How to Build Credibility and Trust With Effective Content Creation
Short history of link building
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