[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-how-link-building-affects-seo":3,"latest-blogs-home":119},{"message":4,"data":5},"Blogs retrieved successfully",{"blog":6,"latest_blogs":38},{"id":7,"author_id":8,"title":9,"slug":10,"content":11,"short_summary":12,"featured_image":13,"status":14,"meta_title":9,"meta_description":12,"canonical_url":15,"keywords":16,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":19,"published_at":20,"created_at":21,"updated_at":22,"deleted_at":23,"author":24,"categories":29},191,1,"How Link Building Affects SEO","how-link-building-affects-seo","\u003Cp>Have you ever been on a road trip, utterly lost, but then found your way through the signposts? Well, link building in SEO isn’t much different. It’s like laying down the right breadcrumbs or signposts in the digital labyrinth that leads the way to your website. In the online world, if you know how to create the right signposts, you can drive impressive amounts of traffic to your website.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>A few years back, I was working for a textbook publishing firm. Every week, I wrote in-depth articles, painstakingly researched trends in the educational sector, and curated the perfect images. Still, the blog remained unnoticed by its target audience. The effort was there, the quality was there, but the visibility? Not so much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>What turned the tables was the implementation of link building. I spent months developing a strategic link building campaign, building relationships with other blogs, guest posting, and actively participating in educational forums. Gradually, I started weaving a network of links that guided people to our blog.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>The change was phenomenal. In six months, our organic traffic increased by 120%. And that’s not all – the average session duration increased by 15%, and the bounce rate dropped by 23%. The blog had finally found its way onto the radars of educators and other members of the industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>So, how did link building turn a largely ignored blog into one of the fastest-growing players in its niche? Read on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>What is link building?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cimg class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8343\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-assets\u002F2023\u002F08\u002FLink2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" \u002F>\n\n\u003Cp>Link building refers to the act of obtaining hyperlinks from other websites to your own. These links are essentially votes of confidence from other websites. It’s a crucial aspect of any successful SEO strategy and something SEO writers like me have used frequently to boost a site’s online visibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Why is link building important for SEO? \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>SEO experts currently regard external linking as among the top factors for search optimisation. And \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog.hubspot.com\u002Fmarketing\u002Flink-building-stats\">more than 90%\u003C\u002Fa> of them believe that link building will remain vital in Google’s ranking criteria for the next several years. It may not be easy, but as I’ve found out, the benefits are worth the effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>How to do link building \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>Link building can be challenging, but with the right strategies, it can be significantly more manageable. Contrary to what many believe, link building isn’t a Herculean task meant only for SEO wizards. No, it’s a craft that can be mastered by anyone with the right guidance and a dash of patience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Types of links \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>As you embark on your SEO journey, you’ll undoubtedly encounter various types of backlinks, just as I did when devising my link building strategy. Below are these different types of links:\u003Cbr>\n\u003Col>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Backlinks: \u003C\u002Fstrong>These are links from other websites pointing to your site. Backlinks from high-authority websites are golden nuggets in SEO – they tell search engines your website is trustworthy and relevant.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Internal links: \u003C\u002Fstrong>These are links from one page on your website to another. They help in improving site navigation and distributing page authority throughout your website.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>External links: \u003C\u002Fstrong>These are links from your website to another website. They add value to your content by providing additional information and can enhance your site’s trustworthiness.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Nofollow links: \u003C\u002Fstrong>These are links that tell search engines not to follow them or pass any ‘link juice.’ They might not directly improve your rankings, but they contribute to a natural link profile and can bring in referral traffic.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\u003Cbr>\nGrasping the nature of these links is essential for creating a successful campaign.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Benefits of link building \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>Link building isn’t an easy process. Week after week, you’ll have to carry out detailed research, analysis, and execution of projects. But it’s more than just an SEO strategy. It’s a powerful tool that can give your site a lot of benefits, such as these:\u003Cbr>\n\u003Cul>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Improves SEO ranking: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites can significantly enhance your search engine ranking.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Attracts more visitors: \u003C\u002Fstrong>By securing links from other websites, you can expose your content to a new audience and attract more visitors.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Increases website traffic: \u003C\u002Fstrong>As your website ranks higher in search results, you’ll likely experience an increase in organic traffic.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Boosts brand awareness: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Link building can help establish your brand as an authority in your industry, leading to increased brand recognition and trust.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Improves customer loyalty: \u003C\u002Fstrong>When users find valuable content through links from other websites, they’re more likely to trust and return to your site.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cbr>\nLink building might seem daunting, requiring dedicated research and execution, but its benefits make it worthwhile. By investing in a robust link building strategy, you’re planting seeds for long-term growth and success for your site.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Strategies for link building \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>When it comes to link building, a well-defined strategy can make all the difference. And considering that about \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fblog.hubspot.com\u002Fmarketing\u002Flink-building-stats\">13%\u003C\u002Fa> of SEO experts believe link building is SEO’s most important tactic, getting the right strategy is crucial. But fear not – with the right techniques, which we’ll explore next, this challenge can turn into an opportunity for growth.\u003Cbr>\n\u003Cul>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Guest blogging: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Guest blogging is the most popular form of link building strategy. Crafting guest posts for respected websites within your niche can assist in obtaining valuable backlinks while introducing your content to fresh audiences.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Social media: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Sharing your content on social media platforms can attract more visitors and encourage others to link to your website.\u003Cimg class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-25394\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-assets\u002F2023\u002F08\u002FAdobeStock_292632949-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Forum posting: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Participating in relevant online forums and including links to your content in your signature or comments can help drive traffic and build backlinks.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Press releases: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Distributing press releases with links to your website can help you gain media coverage and backlinks from news websites.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Content marketing: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Creating high-quality, shareable content can naturally attract links from other websites.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cbr>\nIn a nutshell, the journey of link building becomes navigable and promising with the right strategies at hand. Adopting these practices can transform the challenge of link building into an opportunity for sustained growth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Examples of link building \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>One of the best ways to illustrate link building is through real-world examples. Here are a few scenarios that have worked well for me and others in the industry:\u003Cbr>\n\u003Cul>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Backlinks from high-authority websites \u003C\u002Fstrong>As an SEO content writer, I’ve seen the power of backlinks from high-authority websites. For instance, in my previous job, when a renowned educational blog reviewed one of our advanced mathematics textbooks and linked back to our product page, it resulted in a significant spike in our website traffic and a boost in our \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fmoz.com\u002Flearn\u002Fseo\u002Fdomain-authority\">domain authority.\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Inbound links from related websites \u003C\u002Fstrong>Relevance is key in link building. When a study-tips blog mentioned our publication on effective study habits and linked to our blog post, we attracted a targeted audience genuinely interested in our content. This not only increased our website’s overall engagement but also improved our standing in search engine results.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>External links from industry publications \u003C\u002Fstrong>Industry publications can offer valuable link building opportunities. We once contributed data from our educational research to an industry report published by an online education news portal. In appreciation, they included a link to our website in their report, reinforcing our position as a trusted authority in the educational publishing realm.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Nofollow links from social media profiles \u003C\u002Fstrong>While \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.webfx.com\u002Fblog\u002Fmarketing\u002Fwhat-is-a-nofollow-link\u002F\">nofollow links\u003C\u002Fa> don’t pass direct SEO value, they still play a role in a balanced link building strategy. By actively sharing our content on our social media profiles and including links back to our blog, we managed to catch the attention of other content creators and educators. As a result, several have referenced our work in their content, creating valuable ‘follow’ backlinks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>Each of these strategies presents a unique opportunity for link building. Remember, successful link building requires patience, persistence, and a focus on quality and relevance. Link building isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. Keep going, and over time, you’ll see your site’s authority and traffic grow.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cbr>\n\u003Cstrong>Tips for link building \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-25395\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-assets\u002F2023\u002F08\u002FAdobeStock_316839352-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" \u002F>\n\n\u003Cp>Link building goes beyond knowing its worth – it’s about using smart strategies to secure top-quality links. Did you know that over \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fahrefs.com\u002Fblog\u002Fsearch-traffic-study\u002F\">90% of online content\u003C\u002Fa> gets zero Google traffic? Often, this is due to a lack of quality backlinks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>This statistic highlights the critical need for savvy SEO link building tactics. In this section, we’ll unveil tips that can propel your content into the limelight, capturing the attention it deserves.\u003Cbr>\n\u003Cul>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Build links from high-quality websites: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Prioritise quality over quantity. Links from high-quality sites hold more SEO weight and boost your domain’s credibility.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Build links from relevant websites: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Relevance is key. Establish links from sites within your industry to target a genuinely interested audience, enhancing engagement and SEO rankings.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Build links from authoritative websites: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Authority matters. Earning backlinks from reputable websites can significantly uplift your online reputation and visibility.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Build links from natural sources: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Embrace authenticity. Links naturally acquired through high-quality content and genuine partnerships create a strong, organic link profile that search engines favour.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cbr>\nThese tips, which prioritise high-quality, relevant, authoritative sources and natural acquisition methods, aim to ensure your content isn’t part of the 90% that goes unnoticed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Myths about link building\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>There are many misconceptions about link building in the world of SEO. Here are a few common myths:\u003Cbr>\n\u003Cul>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>You need to buy links to rank well: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Purchasing links can actually harm your SEO performance, as search engines may penalise websites that engage in such practices.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>You need to build links from every website you can: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to link building. Focus on acquiring links from reputable, relevant websites.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n \t\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>You need to build links as quickly as possible: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Rapid link building can appear suspicious to search engines and may result in penalties. Instead, focus on building links naturally over time.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cbr>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cbr>\nUnderstanding the myths surrounding link building is crucial to avoid common pitfalls in your SEO strategy. Often, successful link building relies on quality, relevance, and a sustainable, organic approach. Always prioritise these over shortcuts and quick fixes for a robust, effective SEO strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Conclusion \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>Link building remains a powerful cornerstone of SEO strategy. It’s a dynamic and multifaceted process that requires time, effort, and strategic planning. However, the rewards are well worth it. Higher search engine rankings, increased traffic, elevated brand awareness, and improved customer loyalty are just a few of the fruits your site can reap from effective link building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\u003Cp>Just remember, focus on quality over quantity, relevancy over randomness, and organic over artificial links. Embrace the marathon of link building and watch your website grow and thrive.\u003C\u002Fp>","Have you ever been on a road trip, utterly lost, but then found your way through the signposts? Well, link building in SEO isn’t much different. It’s like laying down the right breadcrumbs or signpost...","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-assets\u002F2023\u002F08\u002FHow-Link-Building-Affects-SEO-01.jpg","published","https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-link-building-affects-seo\u002F","","blog",false,1747,"2023-08-08T00:33:19.000000Z","2025-10-26T11:10:29.000000Z","2025-10-31T09:45:55.000000Z",null,{"id":8,"name":25,"email":26,"about":16,"avatar":27,"created_at":28,"updated_at":28,"deleted_at":23},"Aaron Gray","support@nobsmarketplace.com","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-authors\u002F2024\u002F04\u002FAGray.png","2025-10-26T11:10:22.000000Z",[30,33],{"id":8,"name":31,"slug":17,"created_at":28,"updated_at":28,"deleted_at":23,"pivot":32},"Blogs",{"blog_id":7,"category_id":8},{"id":34,"name":35,"slug":36,"created_at":28,"updated_at":28,"deleted_at":23,"pivot":37},3,"SEO","seo",{"blog_id":7,"category_id":34},[39,57,89,106],{"id":40,"author_id":41,"title":42,"slug":43,"content":44,"short_summary":45,"featured_image":46,"status":14,"meta_title":42,"meta_description":47,"canonical_url":23,"keywords":23,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":48,"published_at":49,"created_at":50,"updated_at":50,"deleted_at":23,"author":51,"categories":56},329,9,"Chrome Skills Moves AI Visibility Into the Browser","chrome-skills-moves-ai-visibility-into-the-browser","\u003Ch1>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Chrome Skills Moves AI Visibility Into the Browser\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh1>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">On April 14, Google launched Skills in Chrome, a feature inside Gemini in Chrome that lets users save their most-used AI prompts and re-run them with one click. The rollout begins on Mac, Windows, and ChromeOS for Chrome users set to English-US, with saved Skills syncing across signed-in desktops. Hafsah Ismail, a Product Manager on Chrome, announced the feature on Google’s Keyword blog.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The news framing centers on productivity. Skills lets users save a prompt like “scan this for ingredient substitutions to make the recipe vegan” and re-run it across any recipe page without retyping. For anyone working on link building, digital PR, or AI visibility, the productivity framing misses the more consequential story. A new surface just opened where AI decides which pages get read, and the decision happens inside the browser after the user has already clicked through.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What Skills does, mechanically\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">A Skill has three parts: a saved prompt, a trigger, and an execution scope.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The saved prompt holds an instruction a user has already written in Gemini and decided to reuse. Skills can be saved from chat history with one click, and Gemini prompts users to save frequently-used prompts automatically. The trigger comes as a forward slash or plus sign inside the Gemini side panel, which opens a menu of saved Skills. The execution scope covers the active browser tab plus any additional tabs the user selects with the plus button.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">When a Skill runs, Gemini reads the content of the selected tabs, applies the prompt against that content, and returns a synthesized output inside the Gemini panel. The user does not need to scroll any of the underlying pages. The output can take the shape of a summary, a comparison, a rewritten version, a filtered extraction, or whatever the prompt instructs. For actions with consequences outside the browser like calendar events or email sends, Skills asks for confirmation, benefits from Chrome’s layered protections, and inherits the same safeguards Gemini in Chrome already applies to standard prompts.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Skills replace the 2025 Extensions architecture, which was limited to Google’s own properties like Gmail and Drive. Skills run on any website, which means a product comparison Skill works on independent e-commerce sites, a PDF summarization Skill works on any PDF opened in the browser, and a recipe transformation Skill works on independent food blogs. The universality matters for anyone producing web content, because any page a Skill can reach becomes content the AI layer can consume.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Google’s Skills Library at chrome:\u002F\u002Fskills\u002Fbrowse ships with prebuilt Skills across Learning, Research, Shopping, Writing, and Health & Wellness. Users can save any of these with one click, customize the underlying prompt, or build their own from scratch. The library functions as editorial infrastructure: Google is telling users what to automate first.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Underneath the user-facing mechanics, Skills integrates with Agent Mode in Gemini 3.1 Pro, which means a Skill can be called autonomously by an agent completing a multi-step goal. A user asking Gemini to “plan a weekend trip” might never click “run comparison Skill” directly; Agent Mode selects and runs Skills based on the broader goal. Content consumed by an autonomous agent never reaches the user’s eyes directly.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The attention economy inside the browser\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Traditional SEO works on a pipeline: user issues query, search engine returns pages, user clicks, user reads, user converts. AI Overviews already compressed that pipeline by answering queries before the click. Skills compresses what happens after the click.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">When a user runs a comparison Skill across five product tabs, each of those five pages gets fetched and parsed. The analytics system counts five page views, each of which contributed to the output the user ended up acting on, but the user read none of them, scrolled past no CTAs, saw no related content modules, and clicked no internal links. The pages did real work and got zero credit for the work they did.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The pattern has been building since AI Overviews rolled out last year. Impression-based measurement keeps registering activity, engagement-based measurement keeps showing it moving, and conversion-based measurement keeps producing flat results from pages that used to convert. The explanation comes down to the AI layer sitting between the page and the user on both sides of the click. Users interact with the layer, not the page, and metrics calibrated to page-level interaction register the absence without explaining it.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">How the AI layer picks which source to trust\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">When a Skill runs across multiple tabs, Gemini has to decide how to weight content from each tab. Google has not published ranking signals for cross-tab synthesis, but the observable behavior suggests several inputs at work.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Page authority, as measured by the signals Google Search already uses, remains one input. A Skill running across three product pages from different merchants weights authoritative publishers differently from random blog posts. The quality signals that determine SERP placement influence which content the AI leans on when pages get synthesized.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Entity recognition matters independently. Gemini’s knowledge graph knows which brands, products, and authors are real entities. Content from recognized entities carries more weight than content from unrecognized ones. A brand that is not a known entity to Gemini starts from a disadvantage regardless of how well the page is written.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Recency matters for queries where up-to-date information determines the answer. A recently-updated product page with current specs beats an outdated one, and fresh editorial coverage beats coverage from three years ago when the topic has moved on.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Structured data gets read by the AI layer the same way it gets read by search crawlers. Product schema identifies specifications cleanly, Recipe schema identifies ingredients, FAQ schema identifies question-answer pairs. A page with well-implemented schema is easier to extract from than a page where all information sits inside unstructured prose.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">External validation comes into play when the AI has to choose between competing claims. A brand cited in authoritative publications, backed by reviews from credible sources, and linked to by industry media carries more weight than one without those signals. Gemini was trained on the open web, and the publications that signal authority to a search engine signal authority to a language model for the same underlying reasons.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What the Skills Library tells us about user intent\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The prebuilt Skills in the library point at specific high-intent user task categories, and each category maps to a content strategy question.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Learning Skills automate concept explanation, which rewards educational content structured cleanly enough for a model to extract a correct explanation rather than a confused one. Research Skills handle source comparison and fact-checking, favoring pages that cite primary sources and structure claims with explicit attribution. In Shopping, where users compare specs across multiple tabs, structured product data outperforms prose marketing copy. Writing Skills pull from source material to generate drafts, which means content written in a brand’s authentic voice has a narrow window to get quoted directly before the user receives a generated version. Health & Wellness Skills extract nutritional and medical information, a category where credibility signals and authoritative publication matter more than clever copy.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The Library also works as a product signal. Google is telling users, through the defaults it ships, that these categories are where AI automation will concentrate first. Content teams working in any of these categories should assume their pages will be accessed through Skills before they are accessed through traditional organic search within two or three product cycles.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Why link building and digital PR matter more, not less\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">A common reading of the AI-layer transition concludes that SEO is dead, links do not matter, and brands should give up on traditional tactics. The reading misses how language models actually decide which sources to trust.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Gemini, like every other major LLM, was trained on the open web and continues to rely on web data during inference through retrieval-augmented generation. The signals that determine what the web says about a brand (backlinks, mentions in reputable publications, editorial coverage) become the signals that determine what AI answers say about that brand. Every authoritative mention of a brand in a trusted publication adds weight to that brand’s entity recognition score in the underlying knowledge base.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-building\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Link building\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">, in the narrow sense of acquiring followed links on authoritative domains, still produces the same search visibility benefits it always has. It now also produces a second-order benefit: seeding the training and grounding data that AI answers draw from. Placements on indexable domains with strong editorial standards contribute to the pool of citations that Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude all lean on when asked to assemble an answer.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fdigital-pr\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Digital PR\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> does similar work at a different frequency. Earning coverage in a tier-one publication produces a citation that gets indexed, crawled, included in training updates, and retrieved by grounding systems during live queries. A single mention in the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, or a relevant industry trade publication has multi-year compounding value now in a way it did not when search was one product. The compounding happens because the citation gets reused across every AI layer that touches related queries, often for years after publication.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fguest-posting\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Guest posting\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> on reputable domains does a third thing: it seeds specific claims and framings into publications that models treat as source material. The content of a guest post becomes extractable material, not just a backlink. When a model summarizes a topic, the framings present in authoritative source pages influence the summary directly. Brands producing guest content on credible publications shape how AI systems describe their category, not just how AI systems rank their domain.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-insertion\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Link insertions\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> into existing authoritative content attach a brand to pages that have already earned trust, rather than waiting for new content to earn it. In an environment where AI layers weight established pages more heavily than fresh ones, inserting relevant brand references into pages that already rank and get cited compresses the time required to build visibility.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Content structure for pages that get parsed\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Even with strong external signals, the content on the page itself determines what a Skill extracts. A page cited by every major publication will still lose to a page with cleaner structure if the Skill is extracting specific facts rather than evaluating general authority.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Entity consistency across every page a brand owns does more work than it used to. An AI layer assembling an answer about a company needs to match information on the page to a known entity, and inconsistent naming conventions, varying author attributions, or missing structured data leaves room for misattribution. A page referring to the brand as “Acme Inc” in one place, “ACME” in another, and “Acme Corporation” in a third looks like three different entities to a model reading programmatically.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Claims placed near the top of a section with supporting detail below get extracted more cleanly than claims buried in paragraph three. The extraction behavior favors pages that follow journalistic inverted-pyramid structure: key fact first, elaboration after. Pages written with marketing-style build-up (background, context, setup, reveal) get summarized rather than quoted, because the model has to make a guess about which element was the key point.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Structured comparisons using tables get parsed as comparisons. The same information in prose gets summarized into a paragraph rather than presented as the side-by-side the user asked for. Product pages that use clean specification tables beat product pages describing features in marketing copy when a Shopping Skill is running.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Schema markup (Product, Recipe, Article, FAQ, HowTo, Review) does machine-readable work that prose cannot. A Shopping Skill extracting features from a product page with Product schema gets exact values. The same Skill on a page without Product schema has to parse the HTML and make best guesses, which means more information loss between the page and the output.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Internal linking with consistent anchor text signals topical authority to crawlers and, by extension, to the knowledge structures models build from web data. Generic anchor text like “learn more,” “click here,” or “this page” wastes that signal, while anchor text aligned with the target page’s topic reinforces the association between URL and topic in the model’s internal representation of the site.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What to measure when pages are inputs, not destinations\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Traditional page analytics degrade in an AI-layer world. Time on page shortens because users spend their time in the Gemini panel; bounce rate rises because users open tabs, run Skills, and close tabs without interacting with any on-page element; conversion rate flattens because users act on synthesized output rather than on the page CTA. The on-page metrics keep working the way they always did, while the on-page behavior the metrics are calibrated to has moved elsewhere.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">New measurement approaches track different signals. Brand-mention monitoring across AI answer engines (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) reveals whether a brand gets surfaced in generative responses. Citation tracking through checking which sources get linked from AI answer pages reveals which content assets earn their way into grounding data. Entity presence checking, which involves testing whether a brand returns correct information when queried directly in an LLM, reveals whether the brand has achieved entity status in the underlying model.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Traffic quality assessment now has to account for the portion of page views coming from AI layers fetching content on behalf of users. Bot detection systems may or may not classify these as bots, and the definitions are still unsettled. A high bounce rate from an AI referer may mean the page performed its function correctly inside an AI workflow, rather than the user disliking the page. The measurement stack needs new categories for traffic that is neither clearly human nor clearly automated in the traditional sense.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The direction of travel\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Chrome still routes a large share of web traffic, and every new AI feature inside it moves reading further away from the page. Atlas from OpenAI, Comet from Perplexity, Dia from The Browser Company, and the other AI-native browsers will each add their own version of cross-tab execution, and they will converge on similar user behaviors because the underlying product logic is the same: users want AI to handle the reading, and the browser is the place where that happens.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Content strategy built around the assumption that users scroll, read, and click is building for a shrinking share of traffic. Content strategy built around the assumption that AI layers will extract, synthesize, and cite is building for the share that is growing. The practical work is recognizing that the same pages often need to perform in both environments, and that the signals supporting performance in the AI layer (authority, structure, entity consistency, machine-readable data) are not in tension with the signals supporting performance for human readers. Clean structure, entity consistency, and authoritative coverage help both audiences equally.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Attention is moving from the page to the AI layer, and the movement does not read as a temporary product behavior Google might roll back. It matches the direction of every adjacent product Google has released in the past two years, and it matches the independent product decisions made by every browser competitor.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Link building and digital PR retain their value because they produce signals the AI layer reads the same way search engines read them, content structure retains its value because well-structured pages get parsed more cleanly, and entity consistency gains value as models need to know who a brand is before they cite it. The tactics that hold up are the ones that earn an authoritative place in the pool of content AI layers treat as trustworthy, and the pages that hold up are the ones that survive the scrutiny of both human readers and programmatic extraction.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Skills represents one implementation of that pattern. Others will follow, and the pattern will keep showing up in different products through the rest of the decade. The audience for your page now includes models, and the practical work is making sure the page serves both audiences without compromising either.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","Google launched Skills in Chrome on April 14, letting users save Gemini prompts and run them across multiple tabs with one click. The browser becomes a new surface for AI visibility, with implications for link building, digital PR, and how content gets cited by AI.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fchrome-skills-ai-visibility-20260416082905-mE5furCU.png","Google's Skills in Chrome lets users save AI prompts and run them across multiple tabs. Implications for AI visibility, link building, and SEO.",2593,"2026-04-16T08:21:24.000000Z","2026-04-16T08:30:17.000000Z",{"id":41,"name":52,"email":53,"about":23,"avatar":54,"created_at":55,"updated_at":23,"deleted_at":23},"Rasit Cakir","rasit@nobsmarketplace.com","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Frasit.webp","2026-01-26T11:10:22.000000Z",[],{"id":58,"author_id":34,"title":59,"slug":60,"content":61,"short_summary":62,"featured_image":63,"status":14,"meta_title":59,"meta_description":64,"canonical_url":23,"keywords":23,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":65,"published_at":66,"created_at":67,"updated_at":67,"deleted_at":23,"author":68,"categories":72},327,"Black Hat Link Building Will STILL Destroy Your SEO","black-hat-link-building-guide-2026","\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>This is an update to an old post on the negative effects of \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-black-hat-link-building-will-destroy-your-seo\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>black hat SEO\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem> published in 2022. Not a lot has changed since then—black hat SEO is still bad and not worth it. Nevertheless, four years is plenty of time for new insights to emerge, especially regarding AI.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The term \u003Cem>black hat \u003C\u002Fem>refers to a villain\u003Cem> \u003C\u002Fem>in fiction and real life, though it began with the former. It dates back to the early 1900s, when Western TV shows and movies had the villain wear a black hat and the hero a white hat. There was rarely an in-universe explanation to this; it’s just so the audience could tell who the good and bad guys were.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Later, the tradition found its way into the real world—in this case, SEO. It’s unclear why the industry adopted it, but if I have to guess, it somewhat fit its “Wild West” image back then. \u003Cem>Black hat SEO \u003C\u002Fem>is basically SEO that goes against established guidelines like \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdevelopers.google.com\u002Fsearch\u002Fdocs\u002Fessentials\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>Google Search Essentials\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">. It won’t land a website owner behind bars, but it can lead to serious penalties.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">And with AI all but fully integrated into search engines, it’s time we update our list of black hat SEO techniques and why they should be avoided.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It Can’t Be \u003Cem>That \u003C\u002Fem>Bad, Right?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Sure. If you don’t mind your website being forgotten.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Any business, whether fully digital or with a brick-and-mortar office, knows that visibility is crucial in online marketing. Its content may be superb and its image reliable, but neither of these matters if people can’t see it. That’s why penalties involve:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Ranking Drops\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Ranking drops are so commonplace that it should be noted that \u003Cem>not all drops are penalties\u003C\u002Fem>. In some cases, they may have been caused by regular updates or technical issues with the website. When the cause is attributed to a violation, though, Google will inform you via the Search Console (except for automatic penalties, which have to be tracked by analytics).\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F1568123421penalties-20260415062613-b3oc1dBH.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"text-align: center; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Source: Serpstat\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Losing your hard-earned ranking in search results is disheartening. Not only will site traffic plummet like a rock, but recovering from the penalty won’t be as quick as you might think. As such, websites should waste no time fixing the issue and submitting a Reconsideration Request to Google (the latter only applies to manual penalties).\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Disappearing From Results\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The more serious violations suffer a worse penalty: \u003Cem>deindexing. \u003C\u002Fem>It means Google removed the website and all its pages from the search results, and users can’t search them even if they enter the exact terms. Essentially, the website doesn’t exist.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It’s unclear as to what reasons a website can be taken off the search results. That said, a likely example is publishing prohibited and restricted content, such as:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Spreading misinformation and misleading content\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Hate speech on the grounds of gender, race, etc.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Sexually explicit content, such as pornography\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Content that encourages dangerous behavior\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Inciting activities that threaten people’s safety\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It’s possible for common violations like unnatural links and thin content to be punishable by deindexing. To that end, they have to be really egregious to warrant this penalty.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">GBP Suspension or Removal\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">If your website gets a penalty, your Google Business Profile (GBP) might also be at risk of a “soft” or “hard” penalty. A soft penalty involves removing your ability to edit the details in your business’s GBP, whereas a hard penalty means outright removing the entire profile.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fthread-418424475-15979086341755889868-20260415062646-c7ZSjg2n.png\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Source: Google\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Google may \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fsupport.google.com\u002Fbusiness\u002Fcommunity-guide\u002F418424475\u002Fguide-to-handling-google-business-profile-suspensions?hl=en\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>penalize a business’s GBP\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> if it:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Misleads customers by pretending to be a different business\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Uses a mailing address that isn’t staffed by its employees\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Can’t be verified through normal means (for sensitive lines of work)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Is found to be engaging in spam or other suspicious activities\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Unlike SEO violations, Google doesn’t disclose GBP ones. It only prompts users to take a look at their profile and edit any information that got them penalized.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Bad User Experience\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Black hat SEO is less concerned with improving user experience and more concerned with proliferating backlinks. And this is despite SEO experts repeatedly stating that the quantity approach no longer works.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Would they read a page written like this?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F5-2-20260415062734-N27EZP76.jpg\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">I sure don’t need to be reminded that I’m reading an article about Hindi motivational blogs (despite not being Hindi myself) one too many times. Not to mention that Google frowns on this practice because it adds little to no value.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">But perhaps Google may not even need to lift a finger. Bad user experience leads to fewer visitors because nothing puts them off more than a page that doesn’t have the information they seek. This reduction in traffic can have serious implications for your website’s ranking.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">So, What Should I Avoid Doing?\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Short answer: \u003Cem>Don’t be lazy.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, good link building takes time. The quick and easy ways you may have seen or heard might involve black hat practices that can get your website in hot water. As such, resist the temptation to do the following:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Private Blog Networks\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">NO-BS Marketplace (at least, its predecessor business) used to create and manage private blog networks (PBNs) for its backlinks. Because getting a backlink from reputable websites takes time and isn’t guaranteed, PBNs work by having your own network of blogs and sites. Suddenly, you have a source of backlinks that you can control and distribute.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">With Google’s crackdown on low-quality content and link schemes, the company stopped doing PBNs. They’re now punishable for a range of violations, from the exchange of goods for backlinks to expired domain abuse.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Despite being prohibited, many businesses continue to rely on PBNs for their SEO. And the worst part is that you can still get in trouble, even if you didn’t know that the backlink came from a PBN site. The algorithm won’t discriminate.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">If you come across a potential source of backlinks, it pays to get a closer look first. I’m not just talking about the quality of the published content (though it’s a major factor), but also other signals that visitors aren’t usually visible. Google’s detection system also uses these to identify PBNs, but some of these are accessible to the public.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>High DA\u002FDR, Low UR\u002FPA: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Depending on which SEO analytics tool you use, you can spot a PBN if there’s a huge gap between their domain-level and page-level ratings. A low page-level rating means the site hasn’t uploaded quality content for a while.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F13-2-20260415062916-3gV4RrTN.jpg\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Same owner: \u003C\u002Fstrong>You can look up a website’s ownership by checking its WHOIS (later, RDAP) data via the \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Flookup.icann.org\u002Fen\u002Flookup\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>ICANN Lookup tool\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">. Multiple websites registered to one owner or group are typically a sign of a PBN. Don’t expect to rely on it all the time, though, as data privacy laws allow owners to redact their WHOIS\u002FRDAP information.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F14-1-20260415062939-ITGadrgO.jpg\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>This UK-based website has its data protected under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Same IP address: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Some PBNs operate out of a single location, represented by the sites having the same IP address. Again, you can confirm this using online tools like\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdnschecker.org\u002Fdomain-ip-lookup.php\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>DNS Checker\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> and\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.nslookup.io\u002Fwebsite-to-ip-lookup\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"http:\u002F\u002FNSLookup.io\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>NSLookup.io\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Link Cloaking\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Link cloaking pulls off a “bait and switch” by running two different versions of one website. One version is designed for crawlers, while another is made for human users. Below is an example from BMW’s cloaking attempt back in 2006, which got its German site deindexed.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fbmw-example1-20260415063009-nBlSDvvY.png\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Version for crawlers. Source: \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.mattcutts.com\u002Fblog\u002Framping-up-on-international-webspam\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>Matt Cutts\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">According to Matt Cutts, formerly of Google, as soon as the site detects a human visitor, it would initiate a JavaScript redirect to lead them to a more user-friendly website.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002Fbmw-example2-20260415063030-gINVlWrQ.png\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp style=\"text-align: center;\">\u003Cbr>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>Version for humans. Source: Matt Cutts\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">To Google, this is outright deception. Regardless of intentions, your website should show the same content to crawlers and visitors alike. In fact, this cautionary tale teaches us to always make content for humans, not search engines.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Poorly Made Content (Especially AI Slop)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">I’ve talked about the importance of quality content so many times that you probably don’t need another in-depth discussion. If you aren’t confident in your writing skills, there’s the option of hiring \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fguest-posting\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>guest posting\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> experts.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">In the old post, we discussed the various reasons content can be flagged as low quality. Some of these include spinning, too many distracting ads, and the author having a less savory reputation. That’s still the case today, but there was one thing that it didn’t cover.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">I’m talking about AI-generated content.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Google’s stance is that it doesn’t penalize AI content, arguing that the technology can be helpful when used correctly. Additionally, AI content is subject to the same guidelines as human-made content and penalized all the same.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">But if Google won’t ban AI content, a growing number of publishers certainly will. They’ll likely have an extra step or two to weed out AI-generated submissions through checking tools or even chatbots. While that carries the risk of falsely flagging human-made ones, they may prefer not to leave everything to chance.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">And let’s face it, people still want a human talking to them through the article.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Link Spam\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This one goes without saying. And just like PBN links, you can also get in trouble for having links from link schemes without noticing. In fact, the industry has a term for the deliberate process of sending bad links to websites, known as \u003Cem>negative SEO\u003C\u002Fem>.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">We’ve established that PBNs are a type of link spam, but there are others.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Link exchange: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Any link acquired by exchanging goods (e.g., money, goods) goes against Google’s guidelines. However, links coded as “nofollow” or “sponsored” are safe from being penalized.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Forum and comment spam links:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Online forums that don’t regulate link spam on users’ posts are prone to such links. While Google generally discounts these links, you shouldn’t be putting them in the first place.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Hidden links:\u003C\u002Fstrong> These links are camouflaged within the website by various means. Examples include placing them off-screen, changing the font color to blend with the background or whitespace, and using a small character as anchor text.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Reciprocal link spam:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Giving a link in return for a backlink isn’t prohibited. It only becomes a violation when you go around asking for links from dozens of sites. As for the threshold, \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fahrefs.com\u002Fblog\u002Fbad-links\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>Ahrefs said 30\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> is a reasonable number.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Automated backlinks:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Automation can help with a lot of things in link building, but generating links isn’t one of them. Google won’t hesitate to penalize your content if it contains automated links because they can be used for spam.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.25em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Black Hat Redirects\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Domains can last for up to 10 years before they need to be registered again. If the owner lets the registration expire, the website becomes like this.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cfigure data-type=\"image\" data-align=\"left\" style=\"display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;\">\u003Cimg class=\"max-w-full h-auto rounded-lg\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Fblog-images\u002F20-20260415063112-7DjAmeN6.jpg\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This means that the domain is up for grabs. The original owner can still get it back, but they need to move fast because plenty of others are eyeing it too. These include website owners who use expired domains for black hat 301 redirect link building.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Despite the original website no longer being there, all the link equity it saved remains. This saves black hats the trouble of having to build a website’s authority from scratch, which is why they grab as many of these as possible. The problem with this is that it deceives users into thinking that the new website is part of the old one.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Google saw this as a big enough problem and acted decisively. One of its core updates in 2024 featured penalties for what’s called \u003Cem>expired domain abuse\u003C\u002Fem>. Long story short, if you manage an online bike store, don’t buy a domain that used to belong to a federal agency. And for Google’s sake, don’t cram low-effort or unrelated content into it.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Not Worth It\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Black hat link building may be easier and deliver results faster. However, they’re never worth the effort because search engine algorithms have become better at weeding out these practices. Even if the black hat manages to stay undetected, it’ll dissuade users from visiting or returning for reasons we just went over.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Save yourself the trouble. Build links by the rules.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fp>","Despite having rules in place, some websites continue to rely on prohibited SEO techniques. This approach, known as black-hat link building, undermines the quality of search and leads to penalties as serious as getting removed from search results. Learn how black hat link building is done and why you should avoid doing it at all costs.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Ffirmbee-seo-793031-1280-20260415055325-x5pujICf.jpg","In this updated guide, we go over the many black hat link building methods and their serious implications to a website’s search visibility.",1925,"2026-04-15T14:32:00.000000Z","2026-04-15T06:32:51.000000Z",{"id":34,"name":69,"email":70,"about":16,"avatar":71,"created_at":28,"updated_at":28,"deleted_at":23},"Jonas Trinidad","jonas@nobsmarketplace.com","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-authors\u002F2023\u002F05\u002Fjonas-trinidad.jpg",[73,75,77,83],{"id":8,"name":31,"slug":17,"created_at":28,"updated_at":28,"deleted_at":23,"pivot":74},{"blog_id":58,"category_id":8},{"id":34,"name":35,"slug":36,"created_at":28,"updated_at":28,"deleted_at":23,"pivot":76},{"blog_id":58,"category_id":34},{"id":78,"name":79,"slug":80,"created_at":81,"updated_at":81,"deleted_at":23,"pivot":82},8,"Link Building","link-building","2025-10-26T11:10:26.000000Z",{"blog_id":58,"category_id":78},{"id":84,"name":85,"slug":86,"created_at":87,"updated_at":87,"deleted_at":23,"pivot":88},16,"Educative Content","educative-content","2026-02-10T11:18:29.000000Z",{"blog_id":58,"category_id":84},{"id":90,"author_id":41,"title":91,"slug":92,"content":93,"short_summary":94,"featured_image":95,"status":14,"meta_title":96,"meta_description":97,"canonical_url":23,"keywords":23,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":98,"published_at":99,"created_at":100,"updated_at":101,"deleted_at":23,"author":102,"categories":103},328,"Canonicalization Best Practices","canonicalization-seo-best-practices","\u003Ch1>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Canonicalization for SEO: How to Make Sure Google Indexes the Right Version of Your Pages\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh1>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Every website has more duplicate content than its owner realizes. A page accessible with and without a trailing slash. HTTP and HTTPS versions of the same URL. Parameter variations from filters, tracking codes, or session IDs. Mobile and desktop versions serving identical content. The same blog post reachable through multiple category paths.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">None of these are unusual. Most websites generate duplicate URLs as a natural byproduct of how content management systems, server configurations, and site architecture work. The question isn’t whether your site has duplicates. The question is whether you’ve told Google which version of each page to treat as the real one.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">That process is called canonicalization, and Google’s John Mueller just reinforced how Google thinks about it in a Reddit thread that deserves a closer look.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What Mueller Said on Reddit\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">A user on r\u002Fbigseo posted a question about having multiple URLs pointing to the same content after a theme and URL structure change. The old \u002Frecipe\u002Factualrecipe paths still worked alongside the new site.com\u002Factualrecipe versions, and the site owner was worried about Google penalizing them for the duplicates.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Mueller’s response was direct. Having multiple URLs for the same content is fine. Google can handle it. There’s no penalty or ranking demotion for duplicate URLs, and nearly every site on the web has some version of this problem. But, as Mueller put it, “you’re making it harder on yourself” because Google will pick one version to keep, and it might not be the version you’d prefer.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">He described technical SEO as “basically search engine whispering, being consistent with hints, and monitoring to see that they get picked up.” That framing is useful because it captures exactly what canonicalization is: giving Google consistent signals about which URL is the definitive version, then checking whether Google followed those signals.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">In a follow-up reply, Mueller went deeper into why Google sometimes picks the wrong canonical. The reasons include exact duplicates where everything is identical, partial matches where a large portion overlaps, thin pages where there isn’t enough unique content for Google to differentiate, and URL pattern matching where Google infers duplication based on how URLs are structured across the site. He also noted that Google uses the mobile rendered version of a page for canonicalization decisions, which means if Googlebot sees a bot-challenge page or an error page instead of your actual content, it might treat the page as a duplicate of something else entirely.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Canonicalization, Explained\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">When multiple URLs serve the same or substantially similar content, canonicalization is how you tell search engines which one to treat as the definitive version. The “canonical” URL is the one you want indexed, ranked, and shown in search results. All other versions are duplicates that should consolidate their signals (backlinks, ranking authority, crawl attention) into the canonical.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The concept exists because search engines treat every unique URL as a potentially unique page. If the same blog post is accessible at site.com\u002Fblog\u002Fpost, site.com\u002Fblog\u002Fpost\u002F, site.com\u002Fblog\u002Fpost?ref=twitter, and site.com\u002Fblog\u002Fpost?utm_source=newsletter, Google sees four URLs. Without canonicalization signals, Google has to decide on its own which one to index. Sometimes it picks the one you’d want. Sometimes it doesn’t.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The SEO Consequences of Getting It Wrong\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The consequences of poor canonicalization aren’t dramatic in the way a manual penalty or a site hack would be. They’re quieter, more diffuse, and easier to overlook.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">When external sites link to your content, they might link to different URL variations. Some might link to the HTTP version, others to HTTPS. Some include trailing slashes, others don’t. Some include tracking parameters. If those URLs aren’t properly canonicalized, the backlink authority you’ve earned through \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-building\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">link building\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">, \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fguest-posting\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">guest posting\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">, and \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fdigital-pr\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">digital PR\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> gets split across multiple URLs instead of consolidating into one. The links exist. The equity is real. But it’s scattered across URL variations instead of flowing to the page you’re trying to rank.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Crawl budget takes a hit too. Google allocates a finite number of crawls to each site. Every time Googlebot spends a crawl on a duplicate URL, it’s a crawl that didn’t go to a unique page. For small sites, this rarely matters. For large sites with thousands of pages, especially e-commerce sites with faceted navigation generating thousands of parameter-based URL variations, crawl budget waste can prevent important pages from being discovered and indexed.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Then there’s the problem Mueller described on Reddit: Google picking the wrong URL. If Google indexes a version you didn’t intend, users might land on a URL with tracking parameters in the address bar, or on an HTTP version that triggers a security warning, or on a URL structure that doesn’t match your site navigation. The content is the same, but the experience and the analytics data are compromised.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The Available Methods\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Google doesn’t rely on a single signal to determine which URL is canonical. Multiple methods exist, each carries a different weight, and using them together sends the strongest signal.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Rel=canonical tag.\u003C\u002Fstrong> The most common and widely used method. You place a link element in the HTML head of every page that specifies which URL is the canonical version. The tag looks like: link rel=“canonical” href=“\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fyoursite.com\u002Fpreferred-url”\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">https:\u002F\u002Fyoursite.com\u002Fpreferred-url”\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">. This tag goes on every version of the page, including the canonical URL itself (called a self-referencing canonical). Self-referencing canonicals are considered a best practice because they explicitly confirm to Google that the URL it’s crawling is the intended version, eliminating any ambiguity.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>301 redirects.\u003C\u002Fstrong> When you permanently change a URL, a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one is the strongest canonicalization signal available. Unlike the rel=canonical tag, which is a hint that Google can choose to follow or ignore, a 301 redirect physically sends both users and crawlers to the new URL. Use 301 redirects when an old URL should never be accessed independently again, like after a URL restructure or a site migration. The Reddit user who changed their URL structure from \u002Frecipe\u002Factualrecipe to \u002Factualrecipe should have 301 redirected the old paths to the new ones rather than leaving both accessible.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Sitemap signals.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Your XML sitemap should only include canonical URLs. If a page has multiple URL variations, only the preferred version should appear in the sitemap. Google treats sitemap inclusion as a signal (not a directive) about which URLs you consider important. A sitemap that includes non-canonical URLs sends a mixed signal that can work against your other canonicalization efforts.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Internal linking consistency.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Every internal link on your site should point to the canonical version of the target page. If your canonical URL is site.com\u002Fblog\u002Fpost but your navigation links to site.com\u002Fblog\u002Fpost\u002F with a trailing slash, you’re sending inconsistent signals. Audit your internal links to ensure they all reference the exact canonical URL, including protocol (https), www or non-www preference, and trailing slash convention.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>HTTPS as default.\u003C\u002Fstrong> If your site supports both HTTP and HTTPS (it shouldn’t, but many still do), ensure that all HTTP URLs 301 redirect to their HTTPS equivalents. HTTPS is a ranking signal, and having both versions accessible creates unnecessary duplicates. Most hosting providers and CDNs make this a one-click configuration.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Parameter handling.\u003C\u002Fstrong> URL parameters from tracking codes, filters, sorts, and session IDs generate some of the most prolific duplicate content. For tracking parameters like UTM codes, the canonical tag should always point to the clean URL without the parameters. For functional parameters like filters and sorts on e-commerce category pages, you can use the canonical tag to point back to the unfiltered category page, or use Google Search Console’s URL parameter tool (if still available for your property) to tell Google how to handle specific parameter types.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Where Most Sites Get It Wrong\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Even sites with canonical tags in place frequently make mistakes that undermine the signal.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Canonicalizing to non-existent or broken URLs.\u003C\u002Fstrong> If the URL in your canonical tag returns a 404 or redirects elsewhere, Google will ignore the tag entirely and make its own canonicalization decision. Audit your canonical tags to ensure every referenced URL is live and accessible.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Conflicting signals.\u003C\u002Fstrong> A canonical tag pointing to URL A while the sitemap includes URL B and internal links point to URL C creates confusion. Google has to choose between conflicting hints, and it might not choose the one you intended. Consistency across all signals is what makes canonicalization work.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Canonicalizing dissimilar content.\u003C\u002Fstrong> The canonical tag is designed for pages with identical or near-identical content. Using it to point from one genuinely different page to another (for example, canonicalizing all product color variations to a single product page when each color has unique content) can cause Google to ignore the tag or drop the individual pages from the index entirely.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Missing self-referencing canonicals.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Every indexable page on your site should have a canonical tag, even if the page has no known duplicates. A self-referencing canonical protects against future duplication (like someone sharing a URL with added parameters) and eliminates ambiguity for search engines.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cstrong>Ignoring the rendered page.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Mueller’s Reddit reply highlighted that Google uses the rendered version of a page for content comparison, not just the raw HTML. If your site uses a JavaScript framework that renders content client-side, make sure Googlebot can render the page properly. A page that shows a loading spinner or a bot-challenge interstitial to Googlebot might get treated as a near-empty page and canonicalized away to a completely different URL.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Auditing Your Setup\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Google Search Console is the first place to check. Under Indexing, then Pages, look for status categories like “Duplicate without user-selected canonical,” “Duplicate, Google chose a different canonical than user,” and “Alternate page with proper canonical tag.” These tell you whether Google is following your canonical signals or overriding them.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">If Google chose a different canonical than the one you specified, look at what’s different between the two versions. Check whether your internal links, sitemap, and redirects all point to the version you intended. Strengthen the signals on your preferred URL through consistent internal linking, sitemap inclusion, and backlink acquisition to the canonical version.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Crawling tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or Ahrefs’ Site Audit can identify pages with missing canonical tags, pages where the canonical tag points to a different URL, and pages with conflicting signals between canonical tags, sitemaps, and internal links. Running a crawl audit quarterly is sufficient for most sites. Large e-commerce or publishing sites with heavy parameter usage may need monthly reviews.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Mueller’s “Search Engine Whispering” and the Bigger Point\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Mueller’s framing of technical SEO as “search engine whispering” is an honest description of how canonicalization works in practice. The canonical tag is a hint, not a directive. 301 redirects are stronger, but even those can be overridden in certain circumstances. Sitemap inclusion is a signal, not a guarantee. Internal link consistency is influential, but Google can still make its own decisions.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The goal isn’t to force Google to do anything. The goal is to make every available signal point in the same direction so that Google’s own canonicalization decision aligns with yours. When all signals are consistent, Google almost always follows them. When signals conflict, Google guesses, and as Mueller acknowledged, the guess isn’t always correct.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">For anyone investing in \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-insertion\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">link insertion\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> or earning backlinks through editorial placements, canonicalization has a direct impact on ROI. A backlink pointing to a non-canonical URL still passes some authority, but that authority may not consolidate into the URL you’re trying to rank. Ensuring that the URLs you promote, share, and earn links to are the canonical versions means the link equity you’ve built flows where you intend it to.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Mueller confirmed that no penalty exists for duplicate URLs. But the absence of a penalty doesn’t mean the absence of consequences. Lost control over which URL gets indexed, diluted backlink authority, and wasted crawl budget are all consequences of poor canonicalization, even if Google doesn’t call any of them a penalty.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The fix is consistent signaling: canonical tags on every page, self-referencing canonicals on pages without known duplicates, 301 redirects for permanently retired URLs, clean sitemaps, consistent internal links, and regular audits to confirm that Google is following the signals you’ve set. None of it is complicated. All of it requires the kind of ongoing attention that Mueller described as search engine whispering. Canonicalization is one of the most important things to get right, and one of the easiest to neglect until something goes wrong.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","Google’s John Mueller confirmed on Reddit that duplicate URLs don’t trigger penalties but make it harder to control which version Google indexes. A full guide to canonicalization covering methods, common mistakes, and how to audit your setup.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fcanonicalization-seo-20260415141704-1SQGjNNG.png","Canonicalization for SEO: Best Practices and Common Mistakes","Google’s John Mueller just clarified how duplicate URLs are handled. No penalty, but you lose control. A full guide to getting canonicalization right.",2018,"2026-04-15T14:06:10.000000Z","2026-04-15T14:17:15.000000Z","2026-04-15T14:17:35.000000Z",{"id":41,"name":52,"email":53,"about":23,"avatar":54,"created_at":55,"updated_at":23,"deleted_at":23},[104],{"id":34,"name":35,"slug":36,"created_at":28,"updated_at":28,"deleted_at":23,"pivot":105},{"blog_id":90,"category_id":34},{"id":107,"author_id":41,"title":108,"slug":109,"content":110,"short_summary":111,"featured_image":112,"status":14,"meta_title":108,"meta_description":113,"canonical_url":23,"keywords":23,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":114,"published_at":115,"created_at":116,"updated_at":116,"deleted_at":23,"author":117,"categories":118},326,"Why Optimizing for Google Results Page Isn't Enough Anymore","why-optimizing-for-google-results-page-isnt-enough-anymore","\u003Ch1>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Why Optimizing for Google Results Page Isn't Enough Anymore\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh1>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">For over two decades, optimizing for Google meant optimizing for one thing. A single search experience. A query goes in, a ranked list of results comes out. The specifics evolved over the years, knowledge panels, featured snippets, local packs, but the fundamental structure stayed the same. One input box. One results page. One set of ranking signals to understand and optimize around.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">That era is ending, and Google’s CEO said so explicitly.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">In a recent conversation on the Cheeky Pint podcast with Stripe co-founder John Collison and investor Elad Gil, Sundar Pichai described a future where Google operates multiple search surfaces simultaneously, each with different capabilities, different user behaviors, and different relationships with content on the web. He used a specific phrase that deserves attention from anyone working in SEO or \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-building\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">link building\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">: Search and Gemini will “overlap in certain ways” and “profoundly diverge in certain ways.” Google is committed to running both.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">That single sentence reframes how content strategy and organic visibility need to work going forward.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The Surfaces and How They Differ\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Google currently operates several distinct surfaces where users interact with AI-powered search:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Traditional Search is the classic results page. A query returns a ranked list of organic results, ads, and various SERP features. For most queries, AI Overviews now appear above the organic results, synthesizing information from multiple sources into a generated summary. The organic links still exist below, but the AI Overview answers many queries before the user scrolls to them.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">AI Mode is a separate tab within Google Search that offers a more conversational, AI-native experience. Users can ask complex questions, run deep research queries, and engage in multi-turn conversations. Pichai described AI Mode as the “bleeding edge,” a space where Google tests more advanced features before deciding whether to migrate them into the main search experience. Features that prove successful in AI Mode flow into AI Overviews and the traditional results page over time.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Gemini is Google’s standalone AI assistant, accessible through its own interface at \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fgemini.google.com\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">gemini.google.com\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> and through integrations across Google’s product suite. Gemini handles tasks that go beyond information retrieval: writing, coding, analysis, planning, image generation. Pichai positioned Gemini as a product that will increasingly diverge from Search, serving structurally different user needs even as the two share underlying model technology.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Each of these surfaces serves different types of intent, attracts different user behaviors, and relates to web content in different ways. A user on traditional Search might click through to a website. A user in AI Mode might get a synthesized answer and never visit an external page. A user in Gemini might not be searching at all in the traditional sense but could still encounter brand references in the model’s responses.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The Bleeding Edge Pipeline\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Pichai’s description of AI Mode as the “bleeding edge” is the most strategically important detail from the interview for anyone making SEO decisions today. He explained that AI Mode is where Google experiments with advanced features, and that features which work well there migrate to the main search page. In his own words from a separate interview, AI Mode offers the bleeding edge experience, and things that work keep overflowing into AI Overviews and the main experience.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The implication is direct. Whatever is happening in AI Mode right now is a preview of what the main search experience will look like in the near future. Studying how AI Mode handles queries, which sources it draws from, how it presents information, and how it handles commercial intent gives a preview of how traditional Search will behave once those features migrate.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">AI Mode already supports deep research queries, multi-turn conversations, and agentic features like AI-powered shopping. Pichai described a trajectory where information-seeking queries become agentic in Search, where users complete tasks and have “many threads running” simultaneously. These capabilities will move from AI Mode to the main experience as they mature.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The pipeline runs in one direction. Features don’t migrate from main Search into AI Mode. They flow from the experimental surface to the mainstream one. For SEO strategists, that means AI Mode isn’t a niche product to monitor casually. It’s the R&D lab for the primary search experience.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">What Multiple Surfaces Mean for Content Strategy\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">When Google was one product, content strategy could be relatively focused. Research keywords. Optimize pages. Build backlinks. Monitor rankings on the single results page that everyone saw. The variations were minor, mobile versus desktop layout, local versus non-local results, but the core experience was unified.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Multiple surfaces with different behaviors create a different challenge. Content needs to be discoverable and useful across experiences that don’t all consume it the same way.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">On traditional Search with AI Overviews, the goal is twofold: appearing in the AI-generated summary at the top and maintaining strong organic positions below it. Content that gets cited in AI Overviews tends to come from authoritative, well-structured sources that provide clear, comprehensive answers to specific questions. The signals that determine which sources get cited in AI Overviews may overlap with traditional ranking factors, but they aren’t identical. Topical authority, content structure, and source credibility carry additional weight when a model is deciding which information to synthesize.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">In AI Mode, the interaction is more conversational and exploratory. Users ask follow-up questions, refine their intent across multiple turns, and engage with more complex queries than they would in a traditional search box. Content that performs well in this environment tends to have depth, nuance, and genuine expertise rather than surface-level keyword coverage. AI Mode is designed to handle the kinds of questions that a simple results page struggles with, and the content it surfaces reflects that ambition.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">In Gemini, content functions as a knowledge input rather than a destination. Users interacting with Gemini may never see a URL or click a link. The brand value in Gemini comes from whether the model associates a company or a service with a specific topic strongly enough to reference it in conversation. That association gets built through consistent presence across authoritative sources on the web, the same way entity recognition works across all AI systems.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The Link Building Dimension\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">For anyone building backlinks through \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fguest-posting\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">guest posting\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">, \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fdigital-pr\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">digital PR\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">, or \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-insertion\">\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">link insertion\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">, the fragmentation of search into multiple surfaces changes how the value of a link should be evaluated.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">In a single-surface world, a backlink had a relatively predictable impact. It passed authority, influenced rankings, and sometimes drove direct referral traffic. The value could be measured in ranking positions gained and traffic received.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">In a multi-surface world, a backlink from an authoritative industry publication does several things at once. It contributes to traditional ranking signals for the organic results page. It builds the kind of topical authority that makes a source more likely to be cited in AI Overviews. It reinforces entity association in the models that power AI Mode and Gemini. And it places a brand in the editorial context of a respected publication, which matters for the trust assessments that AI systems make when deciding which sources to draw from.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The link does more work across more surfaces than it did when Search was one product. But measuring that work requires looking beyond rankings and referral traffic to include AI Overview citations, brand mentions in AI-generated responses, and entity association strength.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Sites that have earned consistent coverage across high-quality publications are already positioned well for a multi-surface environment, even if they built that coverage with traditional SEO in mind. The authority signals they’ve accumulated don’t just apply to one results page anymore. They apply across every surface where Google’s models decide which sources to trust.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Why “Wait for Clarity” Is Risky\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">A reasonable response to the fragmentation of search might be to wait for Google to settle on a stable product architecture before adjusting strategy. The problem with that approach is that Pichai’s comments suggest the architecture is intentionally fluid. AI Mode is explicitly designed as a testing ground, with features flowing into the main experience on an ongoing basis. Gemini is evolving separately, with its own trajectory. The overlap and divergence between products will continue to develop.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">There’s no stable end state to wait for. The surfaces will keep evolving, features will keep migrating, and the behaviors of each product will keep changing as the underlying models improve. Google is spending $175 to $185 billion in capital expenditure this year specifically to power this evolution at a faster rate.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">Building a content and link building strategy that accounts for multiple surfaces doesn’t require predicting exactly what each surface will look like in two years. It requires investing in the foundational assets that carry value across all of them: topical authority, brand recognition, editorial presence on credible sites, and content with genuine depth and expertise. Those assets matter on the traditional results page, in AI Overviews, in AI Mode, and in Gemini. They mattered yesterday, they matter today, and based on everything Pichai described, they’ll matter more as search continues to fragment.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">The brands that will be visible across Google’s expanding product surface aren’t the ones that optimized perfectly for one results page. They’re the ones that built broad, credible authority that AI systems recognize regardless of which interface delivers the answer.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","Google CEO Sundar Pichai described Search and Gemini as products that will overlap in some ways and profoundly diverge in others. AI Mode serves as the testing ground, with successful features migrating to the main experience. SEO strategies built for a single search surface are already incomplete.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fgoogle-multi-surface-seo-20260414130301-Nu0QNdd7.png","Pichai confirmed Search and Gemini will overlap and diverge. AI Mode feeds features into main search. Strategy built for one surface is falling behind.",1507,"2026-04-14T12:55:38.000000Z","2026-04-14T13:03:48.000000Z",{"id":41,"name":52,"email":53,"about":23,"avatar":54,"created_at":55,"updated_at":23,"deleted_at":23},[],[120,132,150],{"id":121,"author_id":41,"title":122,"slug":123,"featured_image":124,"published_at":125,"short_summary":126,"word_count":127,"author":128,"categories":129},322,"90 Zero-Day Exploits in One Year: Why Cybersecurity Is Now an SEO Problem","zero-day-exploits-seo-impact","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fcybersecurity-seo-zero-day-20260408164627-b07CR0wh.png","2026-04-08T16:22:47.000000Z","Google’s latest threat intelligence report tracked 90 zero-day exploits, with enterprise software as the top target. Paired with Sundar Pichai’s warning that AI will break most existing software, this post explains what zero-days are, who is exploiting them, and why breaches destroy SEO performance.",2298,{"id":41,"name":52,"avatar":54,"email":53},[130],{"id":34,"name":35,"pivot":131},{"blog_id":121,"category_id":34},{"id":133,"author_id":34,"title":134,"slug":135,"featured_image":136,"published_at":137,"short_summary":138,"word_count":139,"author":140,"categories":141},320,"Benefits of Link Building You Probably Don’t Know: A Revisit","benefits-of-link-building-1","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fparveender-backlinks-7791412-1280-20260408050806-Kh2bsBoF.png","2026-04-08T13:13:00.000000Z","If you think that link building is only good for boosting your website's ranking in search results, think again. The benefits of this core component of SEO go beyond the search engine, which is why it's still widely employed. Learn the lesser-known benefits of link building in this updated guide.",1082,{"id":34,"name":69,"avatar":71,"email":70},[142,144,146,148],{"id":8,"name":31,"pivot":143},{"blog_id":133,"category_id":8},{"id":34,"name":35,"pivot":145},{"blog_id":133,"category_id":34},{"id":78,"name":79,"pivot":147},{"blog_id":133,"category_id":78},{"id":84,"name":85,"pivot":149},{"blog_id":133,"category_id":84},{"id":151,"author_id":41,"title":152,"slug":153,"featured_image":154,"published_at":155,"short_summary":156,"word_count":157,"author":158,"categories":159},316,"AI Visibility in 2026: What Actually Gets Brands Cited by LLMs","ai-visibility-2026-what-gets-brands-cited","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fimage-apr-2-2026-09-48-17-am-20260402074850-MmACyW63.png","2026-04-02T07:37:11.000000Z","How LLM tools cite brands? Answer is a bit complex, but digital PR and high authority seem to lead the way",1345,{"id":41,"name":52,"avatar":54,"email":53},[160],{"id":161,"name":162,"pivot":163},23,"AI",{"blog_id":151,"category_id":161}]