TL;DR Summary:
Backlinks Still Matter: A Semrush study of 1,000 domains shows backlinks still shape whether AI systems cite your site, not just whether Google ranks it, so they now affect visibility in both search and AI answers.Quality Beats Quantity: High-authority, trustworthy links carry the most weight, while nofollow links can still contribute to your credibility record, which means one strong citation can matter more than many weak ones.Avoid Spam Risks: Google’s link spam policies still apply, so paid follow links, link exchanges, automated link building, and keyword stuffing can hurt visibility across both organic search and AI-generated results.Do backlinks still matter now that AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity answer questions directly? A new Semrush study of 1,000 domains confirms they do, and the finding matters right now because it shows backlinks shape whether AI systems cite your site, not only whether Google ranks it. If you build backlinks with this in mind, you position your site for visibility in two places at once.
What Backlinks Do for Your Credibility Record
A backlink is a link from another website pointing to yours. Think of your backlinks as building a credibility record rather than a single ranking trick. Google has used this record for decades through its PageRank system, which measures how much authority a page holds and passes to pages it links to. Pages ranking for competitive terms like “iphone reviews” often carry hundreds of backlinks, and their domains hold millions. AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity now draw on the same record when deciding which sources to cite. A link from a respected publication carries weight with a search crawler and with an AI system checking your site’s trustworthiness. That means keeping a close eye on where your links come from, and how trustworthy they look, is no longer just a defensive habit, it directly affects how visible you are across both search and AI answers.
The Semrush Study on Backlinks and AI Visibility
Semrush studied 1,000 domains and found that high-quality backlinks meaningfully improve visibility in AI-generated answers. The study also found that nofollow links, which carry a tag telling search engines not to treat the link as an endorsement, perform nearly as well as follow links for AI visibility. This tells you AI systems read your whole backlink profile rather than checking each link’s attributes one by one. Google has said the same thing about its own ranking: nofollow tags work as hints, not strict rules. So a comment link or a paid placement marked nofollow can still add to your credibility record, even though it won’t carry the same weight as an editorial link from a trusted publisher.
Why One Strong Backlink Can Outweigh Dozens of Weak Ones
A single citation from a high-authority source can raise your chances of appearing in an AI-generated answer more than dozens of links from low-authority sites. This is why digital PR and original data campaigns pay off. The marketing agency Yard published a report in 2022 on celebrity CO2 emissions from private jet use. That single report has earned about 2,800 links from more than 1,100 different websites. One well-placed, well-researched asset can do more for your backlink profile than months of small-scale outreach.
What Still Puts Your Backlinks at Risk
Google’s link spam policies still apply, and breaking them risks a penalty that hurts your visibility across both organic search and AI experiences. Avoid paying for follow links, joining link exchanges, using automated link building tools, or stuffing anchor text with exact keyword phrases. Google flags these patterns and can penalize sites that use them at scale. If you’ve built links this way before, review your backlink profile and remove anything that looks manipulative. To put this into practice, tools like Backlink Checker can help you monitor your link profile continuously, flag risky or spammy links before they trigger penalties, and surface the high-authority citations that matter most for both search rankings and AI visibility.
Watch your backlink profile as a whole, not link by link. The Semrush data makes clear that AI systems weigh your overall credibility record, so focus on earning a smaller number of high-authority links rather than chasing volume. That approach protects your visibility in Google search and in AI-generated answers at the same time.
