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LINK BUILDING

The only 6 link types AI engines actually trust

Reddit, Wikipedia, G2 and three more. Where citations really come from, with data.

JBJosh BernsteinManaging Partner · JUN 3, 2026 · 6 MIN READ

AI engines weight a narrow set of sources far more heavily than the long tail of backlinks.

Across our citation data, six source types do most of the work: community (Reddit), reference (Wikipedia), reviews (G2), plus authoritative news, industry associations, and primary research. Corroboration on these lifts citation rank fast.

Classic link building still matters for rankings, but for GEO the goal shifts from volume to being present, credibly, on the specific sources engines already cite.

KEY TAKEAWAYAudit your presence on the six trusted source types before chasing more links. That is where AI citations really come from.

See where you are cited today

A free snapshot audit of your rankings and AI citations before we ever talk.

JB
Josh BernsteinMANAGING PARTNER, SOMETHING INC.

Josh leads work at the intersection of SEO and generative engines at Something Inc., helping B2B brands get ranked and cited across every major AI engine.

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LINK BUILDINGLink Building Services: What You Are Actually BuyingLink building services is an 8,700 search a month commercial term at keyword difficulty 8, and the eight organic results holding the first page have a median URL Rating of 6. The category that sells links does not rank on them. That gap explains more about what you are buying than any agency pitch deck will: a wholesale placement market clearing at $112 a link, a stated willingness to pay of $509, and a new off-site signal that correlates with AI visibility more strongly than backlinks do. Here is how to read the price, the deliverable and the proof before you sign anything.TYLER TRUFFI · 12 MINLINK BUILDINGLink Building For AI Search Is A Domain-Level BetTwo thirds of ChatGPT's top cited pages sit on DR 81+ domains with a median DR of 90, while two thirds of those same pages have a URL Rating under 10. Meanwhile 53% of link builders aim at DR 40 to 60 and point the link at the page they want ranked. A fresh Stacker dataset shows the low-authority tier does earn citations, but only on some engines. Link building for AI search is a bet on the domain, and most programmes are placing it on the page.JOSH BERNSTEIN · 11 MINLINK BUILDINGLinks are a gate, not a dialAhrefs put backlinks at 0.218 against AI Overview visibility across 75,000 brands. Semrush put authority at 0.65 against AI mentions across 1,000 domains. Everyone quotes one number at the other, and almost nobody quotes the third one: Semrush's own figure drops to 0.23 once you ask about share of voice instead of presence. Links buy you into the candidate set. They stop paying after that, and the follow attribute you negotiate hardest for tests as statistically neutral.JOSH BERNSTEIN · 11 MIN
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