--- title: "Do backlinks still matter for AI search in 2026? · Avouch" description: "Do backlinks still matter for AI search? See what Google says, what the research measures and how to judge link work beyond a rising count." url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/do-backlinks-still-matter-for-ai-search markdown_url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights/do-backlinks-still-matter-for-ai-search.md --- # Do backlinks still matter for AI search in 2026? A bigger link count is a poor reason to spend more on your marketing. **Steen Stones** · Reviewed 8 Oct 2026 Yes. A backlink, a link from another website to yours, can help Google find a page and assess its relevance. But a rising link count does not show that AI will recommend your company. Ahrefs found only weak relationships between backlink measures and AI brand mentions. What links can tell you about search and AI Swipe across to read all columns. | Question | What the evidence supports | Limit | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [Can links help Google find a page?](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable) | Google uses links for discovery and relevance. | An important page should also be linked from elsewhere on your own site. | | [Does a larger backlink total prove AI visibility?](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/) | Ahrefs found very weak relationships with AI brand mentions in its sample. | The study is correlational and selected established domains. | | [Did a citation help someone get picked?](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-decides-who-ai-recommends) | Avouch separately judges whether a citation decided the pick, informed the answer or did nothing visible. | A link count does not supply that judgement. | ## What can a backlink actually help with? Links help Google find pages and work out how relevant they are. Clear link text also tells readers what to expect when they click through. Google's AI search still needs to find the page. Before a page can support an AI Overview or AI Mode answer, it must be in Google's index and eligible for a text preview. The index is Google's store of pages. Its AI features may run several related searches to build an answer. That gives useful SEO work a continuing role. It does not tell you whether gaining a particular link will earn an AI recommendation. ## Why does a higher link count not settle the question? Ahrefs looked at mentions of 75,000 brands in ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews. Backlink measures had only a weak relationship with those mentions. The study compared brands; it did not test what happened when a company gained a new link. The study only included sites above set levels of website strength and search demand. So it tells us less about a new company with little online history. A weak relationship with AI mentions also does not wipe out the value of links for Google Search. Ahrefs content marketer Louise Linehan puts the problem with chasing a higher count plainly. > it isn't enough to build tons of links for volume's sake. Louise Linehan, Ahrefs Brand visibility research [Read original from Louise Linehan, Ahrefs (opens in a new tab)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/) ## What makes link work worth doing? Give people something worth linking to. Google recommends useful, distinctive content that other people choose to reference. The link text should describe the destination and make sense on both pages. Check your own site before chasing links elsewhere. Google says every important page should have a link from another page on the site. Put those links where they help the reader understand the subject. Be wary of a proposal built around buying links to manipulate rankings. Google warns that unnatural link schemes can do more harm than good. Where a link is paid for, Google says it should carry a sponsored or nofollow label in the website code. ## How should you judge the result? Read what the AI answer says about the company. In our review of 6,517 answers on 4 August 2026, we judged whether a source decided the pick, informed the answer or did nothing visible. Another model then challenged each verdict that said a source decided the pick. That helps us examine an answer. It does not test what a new backlink causes. Check whether the page appeared as a source, then whether the answer used it to recommend the company. Check what happens on your site too. Google recommends tracking conversions, the actions visitors take, alongside search traffic. Those results belong in the review of the work; a higher link count alone is a poor measure of what you bought. ## Are link building agencies becoming pointless? Google still uses links. What this research questions is whether collecting more of them is enough. Ahrefs warns that improving a measure does not automatically improve AI visibility. Ask what the work should achieve and how you will check it. Earning a relevant reference to a useful page fits Google's advice. Raising a count through unnatural links runs into its warning about link schemes. ## Read next AI search optimisation: what it is and what works [Read the guide ](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-search-optimisation) ## Common questions ### Should I stop earning backlinks? No. Google still uses links to find and assess pages. Keep creating material worth referencing, and judge the work by more than the number of links collected. ### Will more backlinks make ChatGPT recommend my company? The evidence does not establish that. Ahrefs found very weak relationships between backlink metrics and brand mentions, and warns that changing a metric does not automatically improve AI visibility. ### Do links within my own site matter? Yes. Google recommends that each important page has a link from another page on the same site. Descriptive link text also helps readers and Google understand the destination. ## Sources 1. [developers.google.com, SEO Link Best Practices for Google, Google Search Central, Documentation, Google for Developers (opens in a new tab)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable), checked 8 October 2026 2. [ahrefs.com, Top Brand Visibility Factors in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews (75k Brands Studied) (opens in a new tab)](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/), checked 8 October 2026 3. [developers.google.com, AI Features and Your Website, Google Search Central, Documentation, Google for Developers (opens in a new tab)](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features), checked 8 October 2026 4. [developers.google.com, FAQ: Site Position in Google Search, Google Search Central, Support, Google for Developers (opens in a new tab)](https://developers.google.com/search/help/site-position-in-search-faq), checked 8 October 2026 5. [avouchedfor.com, What actually decides who AI recommends · Avouch (opens in a new tab)](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-decides-who-ai-recommends), checked 8 October 2026 AI can't recommend what it doesn't know. [Check if AI recommends you](https://avouchedfor.com/assessment) Start free. No commitment.