[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-the-2026-website-s-guide-to-internal-link-building":3,"latest-blogs-home":133},{"message":4,"data":5},"Blogs retrieved successfully",{"blog":6,"latest_blogs":49},{"id":7,"author_id":8,"title":9,"slug":10,"content":11,"short_summary":12,"featured_image":13,"status":14,"meta_title":9,"meta_description":15,"canonical_url":16,"keywords":16,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":19,"published_at":20,"created_at":21,"updated_at":21,"deleted_at":16,"author":22,"categories":28},303,3,"The 2026 Website’s Guide to Internal Link Building","the-2026-website-s-guide-to-internal-link-building","\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>This post is an updated version of the\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-internal-link-building\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem> \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>internal links guide\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 back in 2022. While the information in the old guide remains valid, much has changed over the years. I recommend sticking to this new guide if you want the latest facts on internal link building.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Internal links are important in showing connections between webpages. They establish a connection and hierarchy by showing where the information starts and where visitors can go next. And while this has significant benefits to your audience, they also apply to search engines by helping them understand your website’s structure.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This means having a well-planned internal linking strategy is crucial to SEO success. But what is internal link building? Let’s take a closer look.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>What is Internal Link Building?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Internal link building involves placing hyperlinks from one page to another on a website’s pages, creating a flow of content within the domain. Using the href attribute, internal links can be coded into a page as:\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-068-hyperlink-html-generator-web-code-tools-webcodetools-20260325085635-AbnorAOL.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"text-align: center; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This hyperlink format uses descriptive keywords or phrases as anchor text, giving readers and search engines a clear indication of the target content. Strategic use of internal links helps build page authority and, ultimately, better search rankings.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">For example, if I want readers to lead them to the \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002F\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cu>NO-BS Marketplace homepage\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> from this blog post, the code would be something like this:\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-069-hyperlink-html-generator-web-code-tools-webcodetools-20260325085716-B2YYrviI.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">This does more than benefit visitors from a user experience standpoint. Because search engines can’t understand context as well as humans do, this line of code provides a path for crawler bots to analyze and index the content. It also lets them know that both the NO-BS homepage and this post are related to an extent.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Google states that the href attribute is the only way it can reliably read internal links. Even so, there are guidelines for that, which we’ll discuss later. (1)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Types of Internal Links\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The good thing about internal links lies in the versatility of their placement. You can place them anywhere on the page, provided that the link is relevant to the context for that part.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">That said, there are various types of internal links, and each one works differently. It pays to understand the distinct roles they play in enhancing site crawlability, user interaction, and engagement with your site.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Contextual Links\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Widely considered the most valuable of all types, contextual links can be found embedded into the body of a page (like the example earlier). Link building makes use of these links all the time, especially in\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(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>creating guest posts\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> or press releases.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">As the term suggests, these links add context for the reader. One high-quality contextual link is more than enough—compared to several low-quality ones—to boost the content’s chances of climbing up the rankings. For this, they need to satisfy three elements. (2)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The placement within the content is natural, not forced\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The linked page fits the context for the part of the content\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The reader is made aware of where they’ll go upon clicking the link\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">While not a hard and fast rule, professionals often suggest placing contextual links close to the beginning for readers to notice early. Aside from guest posts, they can also be used for resource content (e.g., guides) and even images. They can lead anywhere on your website, not necessarily following its architecture.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">These links may or may not be a ranking factor, as Google will refrain from disclosing such information to prevent inorganic link building. However, we know that contextual links are worth their weight in gold due to the algorithm favoring valuable and user-friendly content.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Structural Links\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">As opposed to contextual links, structural links follow the website’s structure. All internal links link from and to the homepage. In a way, they form the basis of how crawlers should navigate the domain and index its content efficiently.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">These links are placed outside the content body. Some examples include: (3)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Blog loop: \u003C\u002Fstrong>This feature in content management systems (CMS) allows a website to retrieve and display relevant blog posts. They’re often shown in a carousel system, enabling readers to choose which post to read next.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-071-google-explains-why-https-migration-may-negatively-impact-seo-wwwsearchenginejournalcom-20260325085912-4TejOOFS.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"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>A blog loop at the bottom of a Search Engine Journal article\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>Breadcrumbs: \u003C\u002Fstrong>True to their name, these links leave a trail (hence, “breadcrumbs”) that lets the user know exactly their location within the site. Clicking on each of the links enables them to return to the surface to explore further.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-072-link-bait-content-earn-backlinks-boost-seo-naturally-searchenginelandcom-20260325085947-EHbu2Zef.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"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>Breadcrumbs above the headline of a Search Engine Land article\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>Sidebar links: \u003C\u002Fstrong>These links are primarily used to help visitors get around the website or the page’s content (known as bookmarks). They can be found on either side of a page, whether on full display or as a pop-up menu.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-073-ai-content-wasnt-good-enough-now-it-is-ahrefscom-20260325090012-V2vyEMTU.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"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>Bookmarks that lead to different sections of an Ahrefs blog post\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Today’s CMS suites like WordPress are now designed to make the process of adding these links a breeze. In many cases, they may be generated as soon as a blog post is published.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Navigation Links\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Sometimes called navigational links, these internal links are a type of structural link. But instead of helping navigate through articles and blog posts, they help visitors explore the website’s slew of pages. These include product and service pages, About Us pages, and even its sitemap (which can be helpful in SEO).\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Among the most common navigation links are:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Main menu links: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Located at the top of the page, main menu links lead visitors to specific areas of the website. While they commonly link to the second-tier pages, the addition of a drop-down menu enables linking to deeper ones.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-075-the-worlds-best-hospital-mayo-clinic-wwwmayoclinicorg-20260325090049-iMPHoJuQ.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"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>Mayo Clinic’s main navigation bar\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>Footer links: \u003C\u002Fstrong>This second set of links is found at the bottom of the page. Aside from the main menu links, they also house other, less-explored ones, such as the site’s Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, and links to social media accounts.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-077-web-page-footers-101-design-patterns-and-when-to-use-each-nn-g-wwwnngroupcom-20260325092328-fRpzeI8U.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"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>Footer links on the Nielsen Norman Group’s official website\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>Sidebar links: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Other websites have their main menu and other links placed inside a sidebar. As sidebars provide more space than topbars, websites can place plenty of links that lead to different areas of the website.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-078-kff-health-news-kffhealthnewsorg-20260325092421-t8zcjPVm.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>KFF Health News’s sidebar containing news summaries\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">When you put all these types together, that amounts to a boatload of internal links for just one website. All the more reason to plan how to get the most out of each one.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Benefits of a Good Strategy\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Adhering to best SEO internal linking practices brings numerous benefits to your website. They include the following:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Better User Experience\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">User experience is a ranking factor. After all, that’s what Google’s\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fweb.dev\u002Farticles\u002Fvitals#core-web-vitals\">\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>Core Web Vitals\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> are for.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Beyond that, a user-friendly website lets visitors complete their actions without hiccups. Proper placement of internal links enhances site navigation, from having a clear website structure to bridging the gap between pages in different areas. It’s better to click on a link that leads you directly than to press the Back button on your browser several times.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">A lack of optimized internal links increases the risk of visitors “bouncing” or visiting the site but leaving without taking further action. While Google has clarified that bounce rate is not a ranking factor, it can impact your site’s traffic. Additionally, it also affects your content’s chances of getting cited or mentioned in AI-generated summaries.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Enhances Crawl Depth\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Crawl depth refers to the number of clicks a crawler needs to reach the target page from the homepage. The magic number is no more than three. Any more, and the likelihood of crawlers reaching the deeper pages greatly diminishes.\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\u002Fpicture14-20260325092516-sU1TG57U.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">However, lowering crawl depth isn’t an option for websites with extensive architectures. For example, e-commerce sites may have highly niche product pages buried deep in the domain. Putting them closer to the surface may mess up the entire structure.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Internal links can do wonders for such sites. Breadcrumbs are a common design choice because they let users and crawlers know where the page sits relative to the whole site.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Improves Link Equity Distribution\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Links not only pass user and crawl traffic. They also pass authority.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The industry refers to this as\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fahrefs.com\u002Fseo\u002Fglossary\u002Flink-equity\">\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;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>link equity\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">, but professionals often call it “link juice.” As far as backlinks go, search engines recognize a page with a backlink from a reputable website as reliable because of the juice the former passes on.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">But internal links also pass on link juice, even if diluted. In this case, instead of an external link, the source of the juice is a page within a site that gets a lot of traffic (e.g., homepage). If it links to other pages, they’ll benefit from some equity.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Best Practices for Internal Link Building\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Follow Google’s Guidelines\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">As mentioned earlier, Google can only reliably process links coded using the href attribute. While it will attempt to parse non-href codes, they’re less likely to be crawled and indexed.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The anchor link should resemble a proper URL (e.g., \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"http:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fguest-posting\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">http:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fguest-posting\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">). There’s no limit on how long a URL should be in this case, but fewer than 2,000 characters is a widely accepted figure. This way, users can access the link despite using different web browsers. (4)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">As for anchor text, Google suggests against overly generic (e.g., “click here,” “read more”) or unnaturally long texts (e.g., “8 out of 10 patients trust chiropractors in Chicago”). In the latter’s case, experts recommend keeping it to no more than five words.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It also advises against bunching up multiple anchor texts next to each other. Instead, spread the texts out every single word or several words. (1)\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\u002Ffireshot-capture-079-the-ultimate-guide-to-internal-linking-for-seo-and-geo-yoast-yoastcom-20260325092537-x10qtSfR.png\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"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>This paragraph from a Yoast article separates two different internal links\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Placement Is Vital\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">No link has ever been placed just because. If there ever was one, then it shouldn’t exist.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">If you want to put internal links into your content, it’s important to understand what those links talk about. That determines where they’ll be located and what to write around them for a natural fit. Remember that internal links enhance user experience first and foremost, with SEO benefits a welcome bonus.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The right place for internal links depends on their type. Contextual links go within the body of the page’s content, but it’s important to know their context. Meanwhile, navigation and structural links are set outside the body.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Limit the Number of Links\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">You may be tempted to add more internal links to boost your rankings and AI mentions. But I’ll let Google’s John Mueller from 2021 explain why you’d want to\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002Fwatch?v=px6UBLhWKBk&t=2350s\">\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>resist the urge\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>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>“If all pages are linked to all other pages on the website, where you essentially have a complete internal linking across every single page, then there’s no real structure there. It’s like this one giant mass of pages for this website, and they’re all interlinked, \u003C\u002Fem>\u003Cstrong>\u003Cem>\u003Cu>we can’t figure out which one is the most important one.\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cem>\u003Cu> \u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003Cstrong>\u003Cem>\u003Cu>We can’t figure out which ones of these are related to each other.\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cem> And in a case like that, having all of those internal links, that’s not really doing your site that much.”\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">And remember when I said that internal links pass link equity? With so many linked pages, it’s diluted to the point that one page’s equity is no higher or lower than the other. \u003Cem> \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Instead of worrying about a tangible limit, consider focusing on building a solid structure for your website. Only add contextual links when the context calls for them. Meanwhile, navigation and structural links are necessary to ensure a good user experience.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">On a related note, having only one internal link can be just as disadvantageous because it only gives crawlers one avenue to enter.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch3>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Find and Fix Errors\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh3>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Link errors may not look much, but they’re\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=\"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>link building opportunities\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">, nonetheless. You may be surprised at how many of these are just sitting there doing nothing or impacting inbound traffic and user sessions. Some examples include:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Broken links (404 error): \u003C\u002Fstrong>These links lead to a 404 error page, indicating a typo in the URL or that the page no longer exists. They can be resolved by correcting the typo, creating a new page, or changing the link to an existing page.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Orphan pages:\u003C\u002Fstrong> These pages are isolated from the rest of the website due to a lack of internal links. They can stand alone or be linked to other orphan pages. Placing internal links can connect them to the website structure.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Unoptimized redirects:\u003C\u002Fstrong> If you’ve made new versions of old pages recently, make sure the redirect is seamless. Going through the old page adds one unnecessary step that negatively impacts user experience.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">SEO tools like SEMrush can scour your website for these errors.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Don’t Underestimate Internal Links\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">When people talk about link building, the focus is typically on backlinks—and I don’t blame them. Quality backlinks are one of the strongest signals for online content to rank in search results. But they’re by no means the only factor.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">SEO is about taking every opportunity to rank higher, no matter how minor. Placing internal links and optimizing them can contribute to SEO success, even more when done properly.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\"> \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">References:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">1.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 7pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">      \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Link best practices for Google,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdevelopers.google.com\u002Fsearch\u002Fdocs\u002Fcrawling-indexing\u002Flinks-crawlable\">\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>https:\u002F\u002Fdevelopers.google.com\u002Fsearch\u002Fdocs\u002Fcrawling-indexing\u002Flinks-crawlable\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">2.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 7pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">      \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Are Contextual Links A Google Ranking Factor?” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.searchenginejournal.com\u002Franking-factors\u002Fcontextual-links\u002F\">\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>https:\u002F\u002Fwww.searchenginejournal.com\u002Franking-factors\u002Fcontextual-links\u002F\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">3.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 7pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">      \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Use Structural Internal Linking To Boost User Experience & Rankings,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fjonathanboshoff.com\u002Fstructural-internal-linking\u002F\">\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>https:\u002F\u002Fjonathanboshoff.com\u002Fstructural-internal-linking\u002F\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">4.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 7pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">      \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Length of URL in Browsers,” Source:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.geeksforgeeks.org\u002Fcomputer-networks\u002Fmaximum-length-of-a-url-in-different-browsers\u002F\">\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>https:\u002F\u002Fwww.geeksforgeeks.org\u002Fcomputer-networks\u002Fmaximum-length-of-a-url-in-different-browsers\u002F\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>","When we talk about link building, we often do so with external backlinks. However, internal links can be just as essential in boosting your content's chances of ranking high or even being mentioned in AI summaries. Learn tips and tricks in internal link building in this updated guide for today's websites.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fparveender-backlinks-7791415-1280-20260325085256-l2IRj9Qd.png","published","Learn the best ways to build internal links with this updated guide for SEO in 2026, from the basics of internal links to effective link building strategies.",null,"blog",false,2129,"2026-03-25T17:27:00.000000Z","2026-03-25T09:27:36.000000Z",{"id":8,"name":23,"email":24,"about":25,"avatar":26,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16},"Jonas Trinidad","jonas@nobsmarketplace.com","","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog-authors\u002F2023\u002F05\u002Fjonas-trinidad.jpg","2025-10-26T11:10:22.000000Z",[29,33,37,43],{"id":30,"name":31,"slug":17,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":32},1,"Blogs",{"blog_id":7,"category_id":30},{"id":8,"name":34,"slug":35,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":36},"SEO","seo",{"blog_id":7,"category_id":8},{"id":38,"name":39,"slug":40,"created_at":41,"updated_at":41,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":42},8,"Link Building","link-building","2025-10-26T11:10:26.000000Z",{"blog_id":7,"category_id":38},{"id":44,"name":45,"slug":46,"created_at":47,"updated_at":47,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":48},16,"Educative Content","educative-content","2026-02-10T11:18:29.000000Z",{"blog_id":7,"category_id":44},[50,68,89,107],{"id":51,"author_id":52,"title":53,"slug":54,"content":55,"short_summary":56,"featured_image":57,"status":14,"meta_title":53,"meta_description":58,"canonical_url":16,"keywords":16,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":59,"published_at":60,"created_at":61,"updated_at":61,"deleted_at":16,"author":62,"categories":67},326,9,"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":52,"name":63,"email":64,"about":16,"avatar":65,"created_at":66,"updated_at":16,"deleted_at":16},"Rasit Cakir","rasit@nobsmarketplace.com","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Frasit.webp","2026-01-26T11:10:22.000000Z",[],{"id":69,"author_id":52,"title":70,"slug":71,"content":72,"short_summary":73,"featured_image":74,"status":14,"meta_title":70,"meta_description":75,"canonical_url":16,"keywords":16,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":76,"published_at":77,"created_at":78,"updated_at":78,"deleted_at":16,"author":79,"categories":80},325,"Why Google Is Spending $185 Billion on AI Infrastructure","why-google-is-spending-185-billion-on-ai-infrastructure","\u003Ch1>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Why Google Is Spending $185 Billion on AI Infrastructure\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh1>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">There’s a version of SEO thinking that treats AI Overviews, AI Mode, and other AI-powered search features as experiments. Temporary. Something Google is testing, might scale back, might abandon if engagement metrics don’t hold. Under that assumption, the rational strategy is to wait. Keep doing what’s been working. See how things play out.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Google CEO Sundar Pichai made that assumption untenable in a recent conversation on the Cheeky Pint podcast with Stripe co-founder John Collison and investor Elad Gil. Not because of anything he said about product direction or AI capabilities, although he said plenty. Because of the numbers he shared about what Google is physically building underneath those products.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Google’s capital expenditure budget for 2026 sits between $175 and $185 billion. To put that figure in context, it’s more than double the company’s 2025 total. And Pichai made clear that the constraint on spending isn’t ambition or budget approval. The constraint is that the physical materials don’t exist in sufficient quantity to spend more.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>The Bottlenecks Are Physical, Not Strategic\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">When Collison asked Pichai to walk through the bottlenecks on AI infrastructure, the answer didn’t involve model architecture, product-market fit, or user adoption curves. Every constraint Pichai named was physical.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Wafer capacity. The number of silicon wafer starts available globally is a hard ceiling on how many AI chips can be manufactured. No amount of money changes how many wafers TSMC, Samsung, or Intel can produce in a given year. The fabrication plants take years to build and billions to fund, and the lead times are measured in years, not quarters.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Memory supply. AI models, particularly the large language models that power AI Overviews and Gemini, require enormous amounts of high-bandwidth memory. The global supply of HBM (high-bandwidth memory) chips is allocated years in advance, and demand from Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and others far exceeds what memory manufacturers can produce. Pichai described memory as one of the defining constraints of 2026.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Power and energy infrastructure. Data centers that run AI workloads consume significantly more electricity than traditional cloud computing facilities. Google needs new power capacity at a pace that outstrips what the existing grid and permitting process can deliver. Pichai mentioned permitting and the regulatory environment as a constraint, along with the sheer availability of power generation capacity.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Electricians. Pichai pointed out that Google can’t even find enough electricians to wire the facilities at the rate it wants to build them. The constraint ladder goes all the way down to the labor supply needed to physically connect power to servers.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">None of these bottlenecks are the kind that get solved by a product pivot or a strategy change. These are multi-year, multi-billion-dollar commitments to physical infrastructure that cannot be repurposed for anything other than AI workloads. When a company spends $185 billion in a single year building something, and the only reason it isn’t spending more is because the raw materials don’t exist yet, that tells you the direction is locked in.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>What the CapEx Budget Tells You About AI Search\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">AI Overviews went global in early 2026, powered by Google’s Gemini 3 model. AI Mode is live as a separate tab for users who want a more advanced experience, with successful features migrating to the main search page over time. Pichai described AI Mode as the “bleeding edge” and the main search experience as the destination for features that prove themselves.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">These products run on the exact infrastructure that the $185 billion budget is building. Every AI Overview served, every AI Mode query processed, every Gemini response generated requires GPU compute, high-bandwidth memory, and power. The infrastructure investment and the product direction are inseparable. Google isn’t building $185 billion worth of data centers and then deciding whether to use them for AI search. The product roadmap and the infrastructure buildout are the same plan.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Pichai reinforced this when he discussed the relationship between Search and Gemini. He said the two products will overlap in certain ways and profoundly diverge in others, and that Google is committed to running both. He described a future where information-seeking queries become agentic, where Search acts as an “agent manager” coordinating tasks rather than returning results. Every element of that vision requires more compute, more memory, and more power than current search infrastructure provides.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">The CapEx budget is the commitment in dollar terms. The physical bottlenecks are the commitment in material terms. Together, they make the trajectory unmistakable. AI-powered search features are not a test. They are what search is becoming, and the foundation being poured right now is designed to support nothing else.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Why the “Wait and See” SEO Strategy Is a Miscalculation\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">The assumption that AI search features might be temporary has been common in SEO circles since AI Overviews first appeared. The reasoning usually follows a pattern: Google has experimented with search features before and rolled them back. User behavior might not support AI-generated answers. Publishers might push back hard enough to force changes. The cost of serving AI responses at scale might prove prohibitive.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Pichai’s interview addressed that last concern directly. The cost is enormous, and Google is spending it anyway. The company isn’t debating whether AI search is economically viable. The company is constrained by the speed at which silicon can be fabricated and power plants can be permitted. The question of “will Google keep doing this” has been answered by $185 billion and a CEO who says the only thing stopping him from spending more is the laws of physics and the supply of skilled tradespeople.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">For SEO and content strategy, the “wait and see” position carries real risk. Every month spent optimizing exclusively for the traditional results page, without building the kind of brand recognition and topical authority that carries into AI-powered search surfaces, is a month of falling behind competitors who started adapting earlier.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">AI Overviews already appear on a significant percentage of search queries globally. They synthesize information from multiple sources and present it above the organic results. Click-through rates on traditional blue links decline when an AI Overview provides a satisfactory answer. As the models improve, the percentage of queries where the AI Overview is satisfactory will increase. As AI Mode features migrate to the main search experience, more query types will be served through AI-generated responses rather than ranked link lists.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">None of this requires speculation about what Google might do in the future. The products are live. The infrastructure to scale them is being built. The CEO described the direction on a public podcast. The investment is locked in at a scale that makes reversal economically irrational.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>What Permanent AI Search Means for Link Building and Content\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">If AI-powered search is permanent, then the way content gets discovered and consumed is permanently changing too. The implications for \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=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">link building\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\"> and content strategy are concrete.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">AI Overviews pull information from multiple sources and synthesize it into a single response. The sources that get pulled tend to be authoritative, well-established, and topically relevant. Building backlinks from high-authority sites 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=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">guest posting\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\"> 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=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">digital PR\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\"> contributes to exactly the kind of authority profile that AI systems draw from when generating responses. The mechanism is different from traditional rankings, but the underlying work, earning trust signals across the web, is the same.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Content that earns \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=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">link insertions\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\"> on relevant, authoritative pages builds the kind of topical association that AI models use to determine which brands to reference in generated answers. A backlink from a respected industry publication doesn’t just pass PageRank in an AI-powered search environment. It reinforces the association between a brand and a topic inside the models that power AI Overviews, Gemini, and whatever comes next.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">The difference is in what the output of that work looks like. In traditional search, the output is a ranking position and click-through traffic. In AI-powered search, the output increasingly includes whether a brand gets mentioned in an AI-generated answer, whether the agent includes it when executing a task, and whether the model associates the brand with the topic strongly enough to surface it at all.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Both outputs depend on the same foundational investment: consistent, authoritative presence across the web. The brands that have been building that presence are positioned for both models. The brands that have been optimizing narrowly for keyword rankings on a traditional results page have prepared for only one version of search, and it’s the version being actively replaced.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>The Timeline Is Compressed\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">Pichai made a point during the interview about planning horizons. He said that trying to think ten years ahead is paralyzing, but thinking one year ahead on the current AI development curve is both productive and exciting. He referenced 2027 as a potential inflection point for agentic workflows expanding beyond engineering use cases into mainstream applications.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">The infrastructure timeline supports a compressed planning horizon. Data centers being built in 2026 will come online in 2027 and 2028. The memory and compute capacity they provide will power the next generation of AI search features. The products that infrastructure supports are already in development, and some are already live.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">For anyone allocating SEO and content budgets, the planning window isn’t “when will AI search become important.” AI search is already important. The planning window is “how much of my strategy accounts for it.” Given what Pichai shared about the scale of investment and the physical permanence of the infrastructure being built, the answer should be an increasing proportion over time, starting now.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Cambria, serif;\">The $185 billion isn’t a signal to panic. It’s a signal to stop treating AI search as something that might go away. The concrete is being poured. The chips are being fabricated. The power plants are being permitted. And the CEO of Google is on a podcast explaining that the only reason the number isn’t higher is because the planet can’t produce the materials fast enough.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\">\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","Google is spending up to $185 billion in capital expenditure this year on AI infrastructure. The bottlenecks are physical: memory chips, wafer capacity, power, electricians. For SEO, the signal is clear. AI Overviews and AI Mode are permanent features, not experiments to wait out.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fgoogle-185b-ai-infrastructure-20260413082856-baIK1bLY.png","Google’s 2026 CapEx tops $185 billion, constrained by physics, not ambition. AI Overviews and AI Mode are permanent. SEO strategy should reflect that.",1614,"2026-04-13T08:13:11.000000Z","2026-04-13T08:29:02.000000Z",{"id":52,"name":63,"email":64,"about":16,"avatar":65,"created_at":66,"updated_at":16,"deleted_at":16},[81,83],{"id":8,"name":34,"slug":35,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":82},{"blog_id":69,"category_id":8},{"id":84,"name":85,"slug":86,"created_at":87,"updated_at":87,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":88},23,"AI","ai","2026-03-10T11:18:29.000000Z",{"blog_id":69,"category_id":84},{"id":90,"author_id":52,"title":91,"slug":92,"content":93,"short_summary":94,"featured_image":95,"status":14,"meta_title":96,"meta_description":97,"canonical_url":16,"keywords":16,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":98,"published_at":99,"created_at":100,"updated_at":100,"deleted_at":16,"author":101,"categories":102},324,"Rankings Won’t Matter If AI Agents Don’t Know Your Brand Exists","ai-agents-brand-entity-recognition-seo","\u003Ch1>Rankings Won’t Matter If AI Agents Don’t Know Your Brand Exists\u003C\u002Fh1>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Google CEO Sundar Pichai sat down with Stripe co-founder John Collison and investor Elad Gil on the Cheeky Pint podcast earlier this month. The conversation ran over an hour and covered Google’s AI history, infrastructure spending, compute bottlenecks, and where Search is headed. One theme ran through everything Pichai described: Search is moving from returning results to executing tasks, and in that model, the question isn’t where you rank. The question is whether the AI agent knows your brand exists at all.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai used the phrase “agent manager” to describe what Search is becoming. Not a search engine. Not an answer engine. A system that coordinates tasks on a user’s behalf, running multiple threads simultaneously. In that world, the brands that maintain visibility are the ones AI systems already associate with specific topics, services, and areas of expertise. That association, entity recognition, is becoming the most important asset in organic search strategy. Understanding why requires looking at what Pichai actually said and what it means for how discovery works going forward.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>What Pichai Actually Said About the Future of Search\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>When asked what the future of Search looks like, whether it remains a product, a distribution mechanism, or one of many ways people interact with the world, Pichai described something fundamentally different from the search engine that exists today.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>He said that information-seeking queries, the kind of searches that currently return a list of ranked results, will become agentic. Instead of typing a question and getting links, users will initiate tasks. Instead of searching for trip options, Search will plan the trip. Instead of returning results, Search will coordinate actions across multiple services simultaneously.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai used the phrase “agent manager” to describe what Search becomes in this model. Not a search engine. Not an answer engine. A system that manages concurrent tasks on a user’s behalf, with multiple threads running at once. He compared it to how he already uses internal Google tools, where agents perform work in parallel and the user oversees the output rather than doing each step manually.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>When asked whether the traditional search box will still exist in ten years, Pichai avoided a direct answer but said something revealing. He said the form factor of devices will change, that input and output methods will change radically, and that trying to predict ten years out is paralyzing. Instead, he said the curve of AI progress is so steep that thinking one year ahead is more productive, and more exciting, than trying to envision five years out.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>He also addressed the relationship between Search and Gemini, Google’s standalone AI model. He said the two will overlap in some areas and profoundly diverge in others, and that Google is committed to running both. AI Mode in Search serves as the bleeding edge, and features that prove successful there migrate to the main search experience over time. The implication is that AI Overviews and AI Mode are not experiments. They are staging grounds for the next version of Search.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>What “Agent Manager” Means in Practice\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>To understand what Pichai is describing, it helps to think about how Search works today and what changes when it becomes agentic.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Today, a user types a query. Google returns a ranked list of results, increasingly topped by an AI Overview that summarizes information from multiple sources. The user clicks a result or reads the overview. The interaction is essentially one question, one response, one session.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>In an agentic model, the interaction looks completely different. A user describes what they want to accomplish rather than what they want to know. Search doesn’t return results. It initiates a process. It might contact multiple services, compare options, negotiate parameters, and execute a decision, all within the search interface, all without the user visiting a single external website.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai referenced 2027 as a potential inflection point for when agentic workflows expand beyond engineering and developer use cases into mainstream commercial applications. That timeline aligns with what most infrastructure observers expect for broad deployment of long-horizon AI agents.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The practical example is straightforward. Today, someone searching for a weekend trip to Lisbon gets a list of blog posts, hotel booking sites, and flight comparison tools. In an agentic model, Search takes the intent, the budget, the dates, the user’s preferences, and books the trip. The blog posts, the hotel sites, and the comparison tools are still data sources, but the user never visits them. Search consumed their information and acted on it.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>Why This Matters for Organic Search Strategy\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The entire architecture of SEO is built on a foundational assumption: that Google Search exists to connect users with websites. Every ranking factor, every backlink, every piece of optimized content operates within that framework. Users search. Google returns links. Users click. Websites get traffic.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai’s description of the future doesn’t include that loop.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>That doesn’t mean websites stop existing or that SEO becomes irrelevant overnight. Google still needs sources. AI Overviews and agentic processes still need data to synthesize, services to connect to, and information to act on. But the role of a website in that ecosystem changes from a destination to a data source. The user doesn’t visit you. The agent consumes your content and uses it as an input.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>For \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-building\">\u003Cspan>link building\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan> 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>digital PR\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan>, the implications ripple outward. Backlinks have always been a signal of authority and trust. When Search operated as a referral mechanism, links mattered because they influenced which results users saw and clicked. In an agentic model, authority signals still matter, possibly more than ever, because the agent needs to decide which sources to trust when executing tasks. But the downstream value of the link changes. A backlink that used to drive referral traffic and pass ranking authority might still pass authority, but the referral traffic component diminishes if the agent is doing the visiting on the user’s behalf.\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>Guest posting\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan> and contributed content face a similar recalibration. Publishing an article on a respected industry site has traditionally served dual purposes: earning a link for SEO value and putting a brand in front of that publication’s audience. If the audience increasingly gets their answers through agentic search without visiting the publication, the second purpose weakens. The SEO value of the link may persist, but the brand exposure depends on whether the agent surfaces the brand name in its output, which is a question of entity recognition, not traditional ranking.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>Entity Recognition Becomes the Core Asset\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>In a search environment where agents synthesize information and execute tasks without sending users to websites, the brands that maintain visibility are the ones the agent knows about and trusts. That knowledge comes from entity recognition, the ability of AI systems to associate a brand name with specific topics, services, and areas of expertise.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Entity recognition gets built through exactly the kind of work that has always supported strong SEO: consistent publishing on authoritative sites, editorial coverage that mentions the brand in context, topical relevance reinforced across multiple sources, and structured data that helps AI systems understand what a company does and where it operates.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The difference is that in a traditional search model, all of that work eventually translated into rankings, and rankings translated into clicks. In an agentic model, the translation step changes. The work still matters, but its output is whether the agent includes your brand when executing a task, not whether you appear on page one of a results list.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Companies that have invested in building strong entity association through consistent \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Flink-insertion\">\u003Cspan>link insertion\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan>, editorial mentions, and topical authority across the web are better positioned for an agentic search environment than companies that have optimized primarily for keyword rankings. Keyword rankings assume a results page. Entity recognition works regardless of the interface.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>What Pichai Didn’t Address\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai’s interview was notable for what it left out. He didn’t discuss how publishers will be compensated when their content is consumed by agents without generating traffic. He didn’t address how advertising works in an agentic model where users don’t see search results pages. He didn’t explain how smaller businesses, the ones that don’t have the brand recognition to be known to AI agents, will get discovered in a world without clickable results.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>These are not minor gaps. Google’s advertising business generated over $113 billion in a single quarter in late last year. That business depends on users seeing and clicking ads in search results. An agentic model that executes tasks without showing results pages disrupts the revenue model that funds everything Google does.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai did say that commercial information will still have value, and that AI will help figure out the best way to integrate it. But the specifics remain undefined. For businesses that depend on organic search traffic for revenue, the absence of a clear answer about how discovery and monetization work in an agentic model is the most important thing Pichai didn’t say.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>The Timeline Question\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>How quickly this transition happens is the most practical question for anyone making SEO and content investments today.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai’s comments suggest the transition is already underway. AI Overviews are live globally. AI Mode is available as a separate tab for users who want the more advanced experience, with successful features migrating to the main search page over time. The underlying models are improving on a curve steep enough that Pichai said thinking more than a year ahead is less productive than just riding the current trajectory.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>At the same time, Pichai acknowledged that the full agentic vision is not here yet. He referenced 2027 as a potential inflection point for non-engineering use cases. The infrastructure constraints are real. Google is spending $175 to $185 billion in capital expenditures in 2026 and still can’t build fast enough because memory chips, wafer capacity, and power infrastructure are the binding constraints, not money.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>That means there’s a window, but the window has a visible end. The traditional search model isn’t going to disappear in the next twelve months, but the signals about where it’s heading are no longer ambiguous. The CEO of Google described the future of search as a task execution system and didn’t mention websites. That’s about as clear a signal as you can get.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan>What to Do With This Information\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The practical response is not to abandon SEO or stop building links. The foundational work of earning authority, building brand recognition, and establishing topical relevance across the web is the same work that positions a brand for visibility in an agentic search environment.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>The adjustment is in how you measure success and where you direct effort. Traffic from organic search will likely decline over time as agentic features absorb more query types. But brand mentions in AI generated outputs, entity recognition across AI systems, and the authority signals that come from appearing on respected third party sites will become more important, not less.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Building a strong backlink profile through quality editorial placements is still valuable, and may become more valuable, because those placements contribute to the entity recognition that determines whether an agent includes your brand when executing a task. The measurement just needs to expand beyond rankings and traffic to include brand visibility in AI outputs.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan>Pichai gave a one-year planning horizon as the most productive timeframe for decision-making. That’s a reasonable framework. Invest in the foundational work that serves both the current search model and the emerging agentic model, and reassess as the product evolves. The worst position to be in is having built nothing that AI systems recognize when the transition completes.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","Google CEO Sundar Pichai described Search evolving into an agent manager that executes tasks instead of returning results. In that model, rankings become secondary to whether AI systems recognize your brand. Entity recognition is emerging as the asset that determines visibility.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fai-agents-brand-entity-20260412124615-GC3yN6yJ.png","Rankings Won’t Matter If AI Agents Don’t Know Your Brand","Google’s CEO described Search becoming an agent that completes tasks, not returns links. Entity recognition is replacing rankings as the core SEO asset.",1886,"2026-04-12T12:42:17.000000Z","2026-04-12T12:46:21.000000Z",{"id":52,"name":63,"email":64,"about":16,"avatar":65,"created_at":66,"updated_at":16,"deleted_at":16},[103,105],{"id":84,"name":85,"slug":86,"created_at":87,"updated_at":87,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":104},{"blog_id":90,"category_id":84},{"id":8,"name":34,"slug":35,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":106},{"blog_id":90,"category_id":8},{"id":108,"author_id":8,"title":109,"slug":110,"content":111,"short_summary":112,"featured_image":113,"status":14,"meta_title":109,"meta_description":114,"canonical_url":16,"keywords":16,"blog_type":17,"is_featured":18,"word_count":115,"published_at":116,"created_at":117,"updated_at":118,"deleted_at":16,"author":119,"categories":120},321,"Planning on Outsourcing Link Building? Read This First","outsourcing-link-building","\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>This post is an update to our guide on\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-to-outsource-link-building\">\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem> \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>outsourcing link building\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>, which was published back in 2024. While that guide still holds water today, we’ve made this one more streamlined to make it easier to understand.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">As an SEO service, we often stress how crucial proper link building is in promoting brands and businesses. It might sound like you need to build your own link building capability in-house, but that isn’t always possible. In more cases than you may think, businesses don’t have the expertise, tools, or time to do it themselves.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">That’s where the likes of NO-BS Marketplace come in. We do SEO so you don’t have to.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">But before you start looking for an outside professional, you need to know a couple of key things. If you aren’t careful with your choice of link building service, your business can be blamed for the service’s mistakes. And as we’ve established countless times already, the Big G won’t show mercy for anyone who tries fooling it.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">To Outsource or Not to Outsource\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">You can take the steps here in any order, but the first step will always be to ask yourself:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>“Do I even need to\u003C\u002Fem>\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=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem> \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>\u003Cu>outsource link building\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>?”\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It’s like that adage that says, “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” As much as we want an answer set in stone, businesses—like their owners and staff—vary. Even two startups in the same industry that offer the same products and services can differ in their digital marketing needs.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">To answer this question, you’ll need to ask yourself several more questions. Fortunately, this cheat sheet can help guide you to a sound decision.\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\u002Fpicture21-20260408054958-KS8PzSnW.png\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cem>*Based on U.S. data from ZipRecruiter. Actual salary may vary.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Asking yourself these questions is also an exercise in tempering expectations. Outsourcing link building to professionals may be less costly, but don’t expect them to be on the same wavelength or even share the same work culture as your company. Collaboration doesn’t need any of those, only the willingness to work together amid both parties’ differences.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Shortlisting Your Candidates\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">If you’re convinced that outsourcing link building is ideal, the next step is to scour the Web for candidates. There’s a lot to choose from, given that most SEO agencies (like yours truly) aren’t restricted to offering their services to their home countries or regions.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">A while back, I discussed the things an SEO firm shouldn’t do to avoid being\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fnobsmarketplace.com\u002Fblog\u002Fa-guide-on-how-to-avoid-your-agency-being-branded-a-scam\">\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>called a scam\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">. While I wrote that for SEO firms, it’s also a useful guide for businesses looking for one. For a brief recap, steer clear of agencies that:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Guarantee good results: \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cem>There are no guarantees in SEO. \u003C\u002Fem>Anyone who claims with confidence that they can get your website to the top of search results for dirt cheap doesn’t know what they’re talking about—or worse.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Abuse cold emailing:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Cold emailing by itself isn’t unethical. But when you get a lot of such emails to the point of flooding your inbox, that’s a sign to cross out that firm. They’re less likely to be serious about delivering good results.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">\u003Cstrong>Lack transparency:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Given that much of SEO is technical, agencies are obligated to explain the process to clients in a language they can understand. Hiding behind alibis like “SEO is too technical” only gives people reason for suspicion.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Once you’ve trimmed out the unwanted fat, gauge the remaining candidates based on their approach to link building. By now, you should be aware that link building is undergoing a major change driven by the rise of AI. While old practices such as guest posting will still be relevant for now, a good link builder must always look forward.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">To that end, ask them: “How do you create linkable assets?”\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">We’re not talking about mere guest articles here. We’re talking about infographics, original research, online tools, and even content with coined terms. Essentially, content that’ll get people to share or, better yet, journalists to write a story about them.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Asking for Guarantees\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">“Wait, didn’t you just say that there are no guarantees in SEO?”\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Yes, I did. We’re not asking for that here, though, but guarantees of \u003Cem>deliverables.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Even if there’s no way to reliably get the exact results you need, you still want to achieve minimums. For that, talk about the specifics of your link building campaign with the link builder of your choice. Don’t worry if you have no idea about the exact minimums; finding those out is the agency’s job.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Near the end of your meeting, make sure to request a copy of a\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003Ca target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"text-primary-blue-600 hover:underline\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Falexberman.com\u002Fwhat-is-statement-of-work\">\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>Statement of Work (SOW)\u003C\u002Fu>\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">. According to marketing expert Alex Berman, an SOW should ideally be provided within 24 hours while the details of the meeting are still fresh. He also stated that it must contain all seven of the following sections, complete with specifics:\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The campaign’s overview and objectives\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">The agency’s scope 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;\">Expected deliverables (e.g., documents)\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">A timeline of relevant tasks\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Payment information and terms\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Conditions for acceptance and revisions\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Work not included in the agency’s scope\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Don’t hesitate to raise any concerns with the SOW. If changes are necessary, the agency should inform you of their pros and cons via email. In fact, receiving written confirmation for revisions is crucial for transparency. The last thing you want to happen is to be blamed for content violations you yourself didn’t commit.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Keep a copy of the SOW (as well as other contract documents) and all your back-and-forth with the link building service.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Constant Monitoring\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">It takes a while for link building to yield noticeable results. Nevertheless, it pays to keep a close eye on the numbers to see if your decision to outsource is bearing fruit.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Measuring success in link building is made easy thanks to SEO analytics platforms, which integrate all you need in one interface. Of the dozens available, many in the SEO industry consider the Big Three to be Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush. But because they also have some of the priciest plans, having at least one of these should be enough.\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\u002Fpicture22-20260408055105-WrYqPDM3.png\" data-align=\"left\">\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">But for all their wide range of features, they largely track metrics using third-party data. If you want search data straight from Google, Google Search Console (GSC) is the only tool that lets you do that. To ensure accuracy, I recommend using GSC (it’s free) on top of your chosen Big Three platform for comparing data.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">If money is really tight, you can opt for the lesser-known tools. However, keep in mind that many of these aren’t as feature-rich as the Big Three. That said, they’re good as a stopgap until you can afford more advanced analytics.\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 1.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">You’re Now Ready to Outsource\u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Congratulations on getting this far! Now you’re ready to leave link building to professionals who won’t leave you hanging when push comes to shove. Or if you decide to do it yourself, that’s fine too.  \u003C\u002Fspan>\u003C\u002Fp>","Not all businesses have the resources or time to build their own link building capability, instead hiring a professional service to do it for them. Even so, it pays to do due diligence when searching for the ideal agency or firm. Here are some valuable tips on outsourcing your link building needs.","https:\u002F\u002Fwebsite-cdn.nobsmarketplace.com\u002Fuploads\u002Ffeatured-images\u002Fparveender-seo-6271942-1280-20260408053112-O8If6TIX.png","Link building isn’t easy, which is why businesses get professionals to do it for them. But if you’re planning to do so, read this guide first.",1100,"2026-04-09T10:32:00.000000Z","2026-04-08T05:52:33.000000Z","2026-04-09T02:32:48.000000Z",{"id":8,"name":23,"email":24,"about":25,"avatar":26,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16},[121,123,125,127],{"id":30,"name":31,"slug":17,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":122},{"blog_id":108,"category_id":30},{"id":8,"name":34,"slug":35,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":124},{"blog_id":108,"category_id":8},{"id":38,"name":39,"slug":40,"created_at":41,"updated_at":41,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":126},{"blog_id":108,"category_id":38},{"id":128,"name":129,"slug":130,"created_at":131,"updated_at":131,"deleted_at":16,"pivot":132},7,"Guides","guide","2025-10-26T11:10:25.000000Z",{"blog_id":108,"category_id":128},[134,146,164],{"id":135,"author_id":52,"title":136,"slug":137,"featured_image":138,"published_at":139,"short_summary":140,"word_count":141,"author":142,"categories":143},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":52,"name":63,"avatar":65,"email":64},[144],{"id":8,"name":34,"pivot":145},{"blog_id":135,"category_id":8},{"id":147,"author_id":8,"title":148,"slug":149,"featured_image":150,"published_at":151,"short_summary":152,"word_count":153,"author":154,"categories":155},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":8,"name":23,"avatar":26,"email":24},[156,158,160,162],{"id":30,"name":31,"pivot":157},{"blog_id":147,"category_id":30},{"id":8,"name":34,"pivot":159},{"blog_id":147,"category_id":8},{"id":38,"name":39,"pivot":161},{"blog_id":147,"category_id":38},{"id":44,"name":45,"pivot":163},{"blog_id":147,"category_id":44},{"id":165,"author_id":52,"title":166,"slug":167,"featured_image":168,"published_at":169,"short_summary":170,"word_count":171,"author":172,"categories":173},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":52,"name":63,"avatar":65,"email":64},[174],{"id":84,"name":85,"pivot":175},{"blog_id":165,"category_id":84}]