The world of search engine optimization has changed a lot in recent years. In the past, many people thought of SEO as a collection of keywords, technical settings, and links. Today, the situation is much more complex. Google, AI-based search engines, and users themselves are increasingly paying attention to how reliable, useful, and authoritative a website is in its field.
In this environment, the role of backlinks has not disappeared. Rather, it has transformed.
Today, it's no longer a question of how many links point to your website. It's much more important where these links come from, in what content context they appear, how relevant they are to your business's topic, and whether they truly strengthen the credibility of your brand.
In modern SEO, a backlink is no longer a simple technical element. It is more of a trust signal. It shows that other sites, articles, portals or professional platforms consider your content, product or service worthy of reference. Professional SEO materials are increasingly emphasizing that it is not the quantity of backlinks that really matters, but the quality, relevance and authentic environment.
A well-structured backlink strategy is no longer just „link building”. It is more of a combination of digital PR, content marketing and SEO. The goal is not to artificially gain as many links as possible, but to have your business appear in as many relevant places as possible in a valuable, professional and trust-building context.
What is a backlink?
A backlink is a link from another website to your own website. In simpler terms, it's when an external site mentions your website and links to it with a clickable link.
For example, a home design magazine writes an article about premium living room designs and mentions a website that sells Chesterfield sofas in the article. This is a backlink.
From an SEO perspective, this is important because search engines can interpret the link as a kind of recommendation. If a reliable, relevant site links to you, it indicates that your content, product, or service may be worthy of attention.
However, it is important to note that not all backlinks are of equal value. A link from a professional article or relevant context can be worth much more than dozens of weak, irrelevant, or automatically generated links.
Why do backlinks still matter?
Backlinks remain important because they help search engines understand your website's role in a given topic. Having a website regularly linked to by other trusted sites can strengthen the professional weight of the site.
This doesn't mean that backlinks alone are enough to rank well. A poorly structured, slow, poor-content website won't perform well in the long run just because it gets a few links. But if your website is technically sound, offers good content, and is accompanied by relevant external links, it can be a real competitive advantage.
In a large analysis by Ahrefs, which looked at around 14 billion pages, it found that 96.551% of pages receive no organic traffic from Google at all. This shows that publishing content alone is not enough: you also need search demand, good optimization, appropriate search intent, and in many cases, external links.
Backlinks can help on three levels.
On the one hand, they can strengthen the authority of your website from an SEO perspective. On the other hand, they increase trust from a branding perspective, as your business appears on other sites, articles, and professional materials. Third, they can also bring direct traffic if the article is actually read and readers click through to your website.
The latter is especially important. A backlink is not only valuable if it is useful for Google. It is also valuable if it directs real interested people to your site.
The role of backlinks in the age of AI searches
With AI-based searches, answer engines, and summary systems, many people are asking: does it still make sense to deal with SEO and backlinks?
The answer is yes, but from a different perspective.
According to Google’s own documentation, basic SEO recommendations still apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. There is no specific „AI SEO trick” that alone guarantees visibility, and there are no specific technical requirements for AI features. The page must be indexable, technically accessible, useful, and compliant with Google’s search guidelines.
AI systems typically rely on sources that they perceive to be credible, consistent, and relevant. This can be influenced by content quality, brand awareness, structured information, the depth of expertise of the website, and whether other trusted sites link to the brand or content.
So a backlink is not a magic switch that automatically results in AI appearance. Rather, it is a trust signal among many. If your business appears in many relevant places, is included in professional articles, is referenced, quoted, mentioned, then it has a greater chance of becoming a well-known player in its topic.
Semrush’s 2025 AI Search Analysis looked at 1,000 domains and found that there was a strong positive correlation between Authority Score, which also reflects backlink quality, and appearance in AI-generated answers. The Pearson correlation in the study was 0.65 and the Spearman correlation was 0.57. This does not automatically imply a cause-and-effect relationship, but it is a good indication that pages with stronger online authority appear more often in AI answers.
Therefore, in modern SEO, it is no longer enough to think only in keywords. The question is more: if someone or a search engine is looking for reliable sources on a given topic, will your website, brand, or content be included in that circle?
The biggest misconception: it's not the number of links that matters
One of the biggest mistakes in the old link building mindset was that it measured success in numbers.
„20 backlinks per month.”
„100 catalog links.”
„Quick link building at a low price.”
These approaches are now not only outdated, but in many cases also risky.
Search engines are much more advanced at interpreting links than they used to be. They look not only at whether a link exists, but also at where it fits in, what page it comes from, what context it is in, and whether it seems natural.
In an Ahrefs analysis of 1 million US search results pages, the number of referring domains and the number of backlinks showed a Spearman correlation of 0.255 and 0.248, respectively, with Google rankings. These are not extremely high values, so links are not the only ranking factor, but the analysis found that in general, better link metrics were associated with better rankings, especially for more competitive searches.
In practice, this means that a single well-written, relevant PR article on a professional or thematic portal with real readership can be worth more than twenty low-quality links from pages that no one reads.
So the good strategy is not this:
„Let’s get as many links as possible.”
But this:
„Let's build an online presence that positions your business as a relevant, trustworthy, and professionally credible source.”
This is the difference between simple link building and real digital PR.
What makes a backlink good?
The value of a backlink is determined by several factors. It is not enough to just look at whether a given portal has a high SEO index. The real value always comes from the context.
1. Thematic relevance
The most important aspect is relevance.
If a website selling leather sofas is linked to by a home improvement, premium furniture or design site, that is a natural and valuable link. If the same link appears on a completely generic, low-quality site with a mix of all sorts of topics, it is less strong.
It makes more sense for both Google and the user if the link appears in a professional context.
For example, for a page about Chesterfield sofas, these might be relevant topics:
home furnishings, living room furnishings, premium furniture, genuine leather furniture, classic English style, design, interior design, home renovation.
A link coming from such an environment is more natural and authentic than a generic coupon or mixed news page appearance.
2. Reliable source
A good backlink comes from a site that itself seems trustworthy.
This can be checked based on several aspects:
Does the site have real organic traffic?
Will your articles appear in Google?
Is it updated regularly?
Does it have any real edited content?
Doesn't it consist of only paid articles?
Are there any spammy topics on it?
Does each article link to too many external sites?
Many people choose a website based solely on DA, DR, or other SEO metrics. These can be a good starting point, but they are not enough on their own. Even a high-value website can be a poor choice if it is filled with irrelevant, low-quality advertising content.
3. Good context
A backlink is strongest when it appears in a natural sentence and in a relevant context.
Weak solution:
„Click here for more information.”
Better solution:
„"One of the most well-known pieces of classic English interiors is the Chesterfield sofa, which with its deep-buttoned design and genuine leather surface can be a timeless choice for premium living rooms."”
The second example is not forced, not mechanical, and the reader can understand why the link is included.
A good PR article doesn't look like it was written just to have a link in it. It should provide value on its own.
4. Natural anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable text behind the link.
In the past, many people tried to manipulate the link profile with precise keywords. For example, all links pointed to the same phrase: „chesterfield sofa”, „cheap laptop”, „dentist Budapest”, „fence manufacturing”.
This may seem unnatural today.
A healthy link profile includes a mix of anchor texts:
brand name, website name, service name, partial keyword, natural part of sentence, URL, or more general terms.
For example, a natural anchor for a premium leather sofa page might be:
Chesterfield sofa, genuine leather sofa, classic leather sofa, premium leather furniture, business name, website name, or even a natural part of a sentence.
The point is: not all links should be the same. Naturalness is more important today than over-optimization.
What kind of backlink can be dangerous?
Not all links are helpful. There are backlinks that provide no value and can even be harmful in the long run.
For example, bulk-bought, irrelevant link packages can be risky. The same goes for weak directory sites, spam blogs, auto-generated sites, PBN networks, or portals where every article apparently exists only because of paid link placement.
Google’s spam policy specifically considers links that are primarily intended to manipulate search rankings to be problematic. These include low-quality directory links, weak content created to manipulate link signals, and paid links for ranking purposes. Google says that paid or sponsored links are not prohibited per se, but they must be appropriately marked, such as with the rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow” attribute.
Characteristics of dangerous links:
they come from irrelevant topics,
are on weak or spammy sites,
they use over-optimized anchor text,
they come from articles with the same template,
there is no real reading behind them,
the given page sells too many external links,
articles are not indexed properly,
Completely unrelated topics appear side by side on the portal.
For example, if a premium furniture brand appears on a page where advertising articles on gambling, crypto, medicine, dieting, and auto parts also appear on the same day, it does not necessarily strengthen the credibility of the brand.
A bad environment can also harm your brand. It's not just about SEO, but also about the company your business name appears in.
PR article or link building? Not the same thing
Many people confuse paid PR articles with link building. However, there is an important difference between the two.
The goal of bad link building is simple: to have a link somewhere.
The purpose of a good PR article is much more than this:
build your brand,
help with search engine optimization,
provide value to the reader,
place your business in a professional context,
drive relevant visitors to your website,
strengthen trust.
A paid article is good if it exists for more than just the link. It should be meaningful even if the reader doesn't click through. It should contain useful information, good explanation, market context, education, or inspiration.
For example, for a business selling leather sofas, a weak PR article might look like this:
„"Our company offers quality sofas at a good price. Check out our range."”
This smells like advertising, is flat and provides little value.
A better approach:
„"When furnishing the living room, many people choose a sofa based on short-term trends, even though a premium leather sofa can define the atmosphere of the home for decades. The Chesterfield shape has remained timeless because it is both classic, characterful and can fit well into modern interiors."”
This is no longer a simple advertisement, but rather provides context. The reader gets a thought, and the brand appears in a more authentic role.
Why is brand mention important, not just a clickable link?
Brand mentions are also becoming increasingly important in the modern search environment. That is, those instances when a business, product, or brand is mentioned on the internet, even without a clickable link.
This is especially important for AI searches. Ahrefs’ AI Overview analysis of 75,000 brands found that brand web mentions were the strongest predictor of brand presence in Google AI Overviews. These had a Spearman correlation of 0.664, while branded anchors had a correlation of 0.527, brand search volume had a correlation of 0.392, and referring domains had a correlation of 0.295. The same research also found that brands in the top 25% with the most web mentions could earn up to 10 times more AI Overview mentions than brands in the next quartile.
This is a very important lesson. The SEO of the future is not just about links, but also about how present your brand is on the internet, in what context it is talked about, and how connected your name is to your own field.
Therefore, PR articles are not just about whether they have backlinks. It's also important that the article builds your brand naturally, mentions your business, connects it to a topic, and presents you as an authentic player.
How to choose a good portal for a PR article?
Choosing the right portal is key. The cheapest look isn't always the best, and the most well-known site doesn't always provide the best SEO value.
It is worth examining several aspects together.
Topics
The first question: is the site related to your topic?
For a home decoration business, a smaller but thematically precise design blog may be a better choice than a larger PR site with completely mixed content.
Organic traffic
It is important to check whether the site has traffic from search engines. If no one can find a portal in Google and no one reads its articles, then its SEO and branding value is limited.
Indexing
A PR article can only work from an SEO perspective if it is indexed by Google. It is worth checking whether the portal's previous articles appear in the search engine.
Content quality
It doesn't matter what kind of articles surround your appearance. If the site has quality, edited, real content, that's a good sign. If every article is cliché, advertising-like, and full of outbound links, that's a weak environment.
Outbound link ratio
If an article links to 8-10 different companies, it dilutes the value. In a good PR article, the link is natural, justified, and not overcrowded.
Brand safety
It is important to consider the topics your business will appear alongside. It doesn't matter to a premium brand whether it is placed in a sophisticated, relevant content environment or on a cheap, mixed-media advertising site.
Value for money
More expensive looks aren't always better, but too cheap is usually suspect. The key to making a good decision isn't the price itself, but what you get for it: relevance, traffic, indexing, brand equity, and SEO impact.
Backlink strategy for Hungarian SMEs
A Hungarian small or medium-sized business generally does not need an aggressive, large-scale link building campaign. A consistent, sustainable strategy is much more valuable.
It has four main pillars.
1. First you need to fix your own website
Many people make the mistake of trying to build external links to a website that is not even in order internally.
If your site is slow, difficult to use, has a poor mobile experience, has bad category pages, incomplete text, and no clear call to action points, then backlinks won't do any good either.
Before external SEO, it is worth reviewing:
technical SEO errors,
indexing problems,
title and meta descriptions,
internal linking,
category and service pages,
product pages,
speed,
mobile usability,
conversion elements,
forms,
CTA buttons,
elements of trust,
references,
pictures and videos.
A good backlink is like sending someone into a store. If the store is organized, compelling, and easy to navigate, they are more likely to become a buyer or prospect. If they are greeted by chaos, the recommendation was in vain.
2. Build your own professional content
A backlink strategy doesn't work well without your own content.
Your website should have articles, guides, category pages, and educational materials that are worth linking to. If there is no valuable content, external links will most likely only point to the home page or a product page. This is not always a problem, but it does limit your options.
A good blog or knowledge base can help you establish yourself as an expert.
For example:
an online store selling laptops can write an article about which used business laptop to choose for work,
a steel structure manufacturing company can write about what to look for before building a hall,
an apartment can write about local activities and travel tips,
a furniture company might write about skin care, interior trends, and purchasing considerations.
These articles not only work in Google, but also provide sales support. A well-written professional article can help convince an uncertain prospect.
3. Build external PR exposures
If your own website is in order and you have good content, it's worth building external appearances.
You don't need a lot at once. In many cases, one well-chosen PR article per month is worth more than several weak appearances.
External articles can be about:
educational,
professional,
trend-based,
problem solver,
comparative,
inspirational,
related to local current affairs,
helping with purchasing decisions.
The goal isn't to sell every article directly. The goal is to have your business appear as an expert in more and more relevant places.
4. Repurpose content on social media and video
PR articles and blog posts don't stop there. You can continue the same topic on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or LinkedIn.
A well-written article can:
short video,
post series,
infographic,
newsletter,
common question,
advertising creative,
sales pitch,
landing page text.
This is important because modern SEO is no longer an isolated channel. Content works well when it supports your brand across multiple platforms.
Example: backlink and PR strategy for a Chesterfield sofa website
Let's take a specific example. For a website selling Chesterfield sofas, leather sofas, or premium furniture, the backlink strategy wouldn't be about getting links from just anywhere.
The goal here is to strengthen the premium, timeless, classic and quality position.
My blog post topics
It is worth building content on your own website that helps with purchasing decisions.
For example:
What is a Chesterfield sofa and what makes it special?
Genuine leather or textile leather: which one should you choose?
How to fit a Chesterfield sofa into a modern living room?
How much does a quality leather sofa cost?
How to care for a real leather sofa?
What color would you choose for a classic leather sofa?
Why is a deep-button sofa a timeless choice?
Classic English style in Hungarian homes.
These articles are not only useful for SEO keywords. They answer questions from interested parties, reduce uncertainty, and strengthen your image as an expert.
External PR article topics
External appearances don't necessarily have to be direct product advertising. It's better if the article covers a broader topic and is naturally related to the brand.
For example:
Why are classic shapes making a comeback in modern living rooms?
A timeless piece of premium living rooms: the leather sofa.
Genuine leather furniture: luxury or long-term investment?
Interior design trends: characterful furniture in minimalist spaces.
How do you choose a sofa if you're not planning on using it for a few years?
Chesterfield style: classic elegance in modern homes.
These topics are more natural than a straight „buy a sofa from us” type article. They provide value to the reader while placing your business in a relevant professional context.
Where should the links point?
You don't always have to link to the main page. The destination page of the link depends on what the article is about.
You can link to:
to the main page,
Chesterfield category page,
to a specific product page,
leather sofa set on the side,
for your own blog post,
contact or request for quote page.
For example, if the article is about how to choose a premium leather sofa, it would be more natural to link to a leather sofa category page or an educational blog article than to the main page.
How do you measure the results of your backlink strategy?
The success of a backlink strategy should not only be measured in the number of links.
„How many links did we get?” is a poor metric in itself. What’s more important is the impact those links have on visibility, traffic, and business results.
It's worth watching:
the number of new referring domains,
the quality of the links,
the relevance of the linking pages,
indexing of articles,
organic traffic to landing pages,
the change in position of important keywords,
Google Search Console impressions,
referral traffic,
the increase in brand searches,
the number of requests for proposals,
the conversion rate.
For example, if a PR article doesn't immediately increase traffic, it can still be valuable. The article may get indexed, strengthen your link profile, support an important category page, and take months to have an impact.
SEO often doesn't bring instant results. It's more like a trust system that's constantly being built. The more good content, good links, and good user experience you have connected, the stronger your site's performance will be.
What monthly schedule works?
A realistic, sustainable SME strategy doesn't necessarily require a lot of content. Rather, it requires consistency.
A good monthly basic model might be:
a personal professional blog article,
an external PR article or professional appearance,
two short videos or social content,
sharing articles on social media,
basic SEO monitoring,
tracking important keywords,
backlink profile check.
It is worth making a deeper analysis every quarter:
which article brought traffic,
which appearance indexed well,
which landing page has strengthened,
which keywords are making progress,
where the conversion is weak,
what new topics should be covered in content,
What portals are worth trying?.
This approach is much more stable than campaign-style, sudden link building. Both search engines and users appreciate a natural, ongoing presence more.
Why is it not enough to just think about Google rankings today?
SEO used to be about how high your website ranks for a given keyword. This is still important today, but it no longer gives the full picture.
Search results pages have been transformed. Featured answers, map results, image results, video boxes, AI Overviews, and many other search elements have been introduced. As a result, users often get answers or more information on the results page before they even click through to a website.
Semrush’s 2025 AI Overview analysis examined over 10 million keywords and found that the AI Overviews impression rate was 6.49% in January 2025, rising to 24.61% in July, and then settling at 15.69% in November. This clearly shows that AI-powered search elements are rapidly and dynamically shaping the search market.
Therefore, the goal of a modern SEO strategy is not just to get your website „in the right place.” The goal is to make your brand appear authentically across multiple search and information environments: in organic results, PR articles, professional mentions, social media, video content, and, if possible, AI responses.
Common mistakes when building backlinks
Many businesses make the same mistakes when building backlinks.
One of the most common is that they choose a portal based only on SEO indicators. A high DA or DR alone is not a guarantee of anything. You also need to look at real traffic, content quality, and topics.
Another mistake is always linking to the same page. If all backlinks point to the main page, it does not utilize the full potential of the website. Important category pages, service pages, and blog articles can also be strengthened.
Over-optimized anchor text is also a common problem. If every link comes with the exact same keyword, it can be unnatural.
It is also a mistake if the PR article is just an advertisement. Such content does not build trust. A good article does not only tell the reader that a business exists, but also helps the reader understand a problem, decision or opportunity.
Often, the problem is that your own website is not prepared to receive traffic. If there is no proper request for a quote option, a poor mobile experience, and a lack of trust elements, the attention you have gained is easily lost.
The biggest mistake, however, is to treat backlink building separately from your overall marketing strategy. Backlinks are not a stand-alone gimmick. They work well when they are linked to your content, branding, social media, and sales goals.
A good backlink is about building trust, not manipulation.
In modern SEO, the role of backlinks is not to game the system. Rather, a good backlink is a sign that your business has become a visible, referable, and professionally understood player in its own market.
Therefore, instead of building backlinks, you should think about building online credibility.
This requires a well-structured website, useful content, relevant appearance, consistent communication and regular measurement.
The goal is not to have your link appear in as many places as possible. The goal is to be seen as a trusted source in as many relevant places as possible.
This is what can result in the long run not only in better Google rankings, but also in a stronger brand, more interested people, and a more stable online presence.
Would you like to strengthen your website's online credibility?
Backlinks, PR articles, and SEO content work best when you treat them not as separate elements, but as part of a well-thought-out online strategy.
If you want your website to not only gain more visitors, but also be more credible, persuasive, and competitive in Google and AI-based search environments, it's worth first accurately assessing your current situation.
During an SEO audit we review:
what is the state of your website in terms of technical and content,
what keywords you currently have visibility for,
where are the biggest content and conversion gaps,
What is the quality of your backlink profile?,
what kind of PR article and content strategy can help you grow,
which pages are worth strengthening first.
The goal is not to build unnecessary links, but to create an online presence that strengthens your brand in the long term, improves your search engine visibility, and brings in more real leads.
