Link Building
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Backlinks itself no, but the mentions of high-authority sites, yes.

Backlinks may not directly affect AI search results like ChatGPT, as AI models primarily rely on the vast datasets they are trained on. However, high-quality backlinks can improve a website's authority and overall search ranking, indirectly increasing the likelihood of being referenced by AI-powered platforms, especially when they cite reliable and authoritative sources.

I believe they do, in a very similar way to how they do for traditional SEO. Traditionally, backlinks equal trust and authority and, as such, directly influence ranking in SERPs. AI search results base their selection on content relevance, authority, and structured data. So, if your content has quality backlinks, it's more likely to be considered trustworthy and authoritative by AI systems.

I believe regular brand mentions, links, and citations help with appearing in AI search results, not just backlinks themselves. It's more about a site being referenced regularly across the web.

I believe mentions do help appear in AI search results, so if the mention comes with a link, that's great, as this will help show up in AI search results like GPT Search or any other AI that uses active search on the internet.

Backlinks as such, not really, but as part of a co-citation and branded strategy yes, if the backlinks are on websites typically used as sources by LLM. Then, because of RAG, backlinks improve the visibility/ranking on Search Engines, hence the possibilities of being used as source increase.

It depends: backlinks = authority = relevance toward AI search.

Of being found by AI bots (so it's important but not sufficient factor).

There's potential as long as the neural networks at the kernels of LLMs improve citations matching.

I think it is more about the brand's textual association with the topic vs. the link itself.

Backlinks as mentions, not backlinks as pagerank.

Somewhat as it also uses search results to pull information, but it's not a big part of it, especially if deep research is used, then it just becomes a smaller part of the results AI provides.

As it is mixed, brand through traditional PR also helps with AI search results and combined with backlinks for SEO purposes.

It would all depend on the ROI. I wouldn't spend more than a few hundred dollars for informational posts that typically only bring traffic and no leads. But if the data showcases the potential for high rewards, even more than $1000 would be justified.

We consider an investment of around $500 to $1,500 per backlink, depending on the authority and relevance of the publication or site we are targeting. This range reflects the value of securing a backlink from reputable sources like major media outlets, niche publications, or industry-specific platforms.

We calculate 10-15 hours of work to acquire one high authority link. That, based on average DPR salaries in the US + overhead, comes out to $50/1h work, we could say that to acquire one link will cost in the range of $1k.

It's difficult as a PR campaign of $3-5,000 often ends up with multiple links. So I'll average it and say $1,000.

$1,000, but needs to be in a competitive field.

If it's to a very important page, I'd consider paying $500-1000.

Depends on the statistics of the referring domain, the research that goes into the content, and what value the content carries outside of link building.

There are so many different factors and kinds of links, it's hard to just give a value. But people are known to pay $500 to $1500 for high quality outreach earned links.

$500 - $700 depending on how hard it is to get the link from the site, if the target page is a blog post/product page or brand mention, the DR range, site traffic, and relevancy.

Depends on your goals. For some, it might be as low as a few hundred dollars or more. For others, it could easily get into five figures.

The minimum link-building budget required to compete in highly competitive niches like finance typically starts at $10,000–$30,000 per month, with smaller efforts beginning around $5,000/month and top-tier strategies exceeding $100,000/month, depending on the quality and scale of backlinks needed.

In Sweden: +$4000, but generally much higher the bigger the market/country.

$10,000 to $25,000 depending on niches. We used to spend $150K+/ month when I was at Kucoin.

In law firm and contractor space for a big city, at least $5k, going upward towards $10k+.

For clients in highly competitive niches, we allocate 50% of budget per month for link building. Tricky question to answer without more context.

10,000-20,000$ depending on how competitive the niche.

Depends on the country but generally at least $5k/month.

$25,000 per month (depends on industry).

Hard to say. Easily 5-figures per month.

We don't have a specific budget allocation for link building. Most of our budgets go into content production for our clients. Although we always strongly advise investing in link building, getting budget approved isn't the easiest (our clients value our content production skills more so than other adjacent SEO practices). If I had to make a guesstimate, it would be around 0-5% of SEO budgets.

40/50%, but this depends on the industry. If an industry is a lot more competitive, we will allocate more of the budget to link building.

It is a separate budget from “SEO”, because I consider link building (I prefer to call it “amplification” because it is not only about links) a very tied but separate discipline than SEO, and for that reason it should be executed by people/agencies who/that do only that job.

Depends on the project, sometimes as much as 90%, sometimes 0%. On average, it's about half of it.

30-40% depending on the client.

70% to link building when we include content produciton into it.

Very dependant on client again! Some 0% some 40%+.

80% (depends on the scope and phase of the project).

iGaming, online betting, finance - anything that is highly competitive in Google.

iGaming 100%, I've worked in the field before, and companies in that niche are comfortable spending $50K a link.

Payday Loans & Gambling, because not many sites want to link to them.

Online Betting -- HANDS DOWN. They're also the ones that do a lot of shady tactics like affiliate links without "nofollow / sponsored," yet Google does NOT seem to pick up on this because they're temporary. They drive equity up until the "game" and then they're replaced with the "next game's" links.

I would say the SEO niche, the SAAS niche, the payday loans, and the pharma. Gambling would 100% have the biggest, most online SEO casinos run on a churn and burn model, I've heard link budgets in the 20,000$ a month range.

The finance industry consistently allocates some of the highest budgets for link building due to the competitive nature of the sector. This includes areas such as banking, investment, insurance, fintech, and personal finance, where high-authority backlinks are essential for building trust. Given the strict regulations and the need for credibility, finance brands often invest heavily in digital PR and other high-quality outreach campaigns to secure authoritative links from reputable sources.

Anything that needs EEAT or that needs social proof, so luxury brands, high end services, finance, health.

Any highly competitive industry with high SEO investment. iGaming, gambling, finance, law, insurance etc.

While I don’t work in these niches, industries like casino, loans, and legal services must probably invest heavily in link building due to high competition, strict ad regulations, and the high value of organic traffic.

From past experience, it's personal finance - including loans, mortgages, car insurance, house insurance etc.

I would have to say betting. I do not work in betting or any other industry that demanding. I have SaaS, AI and eCommerce clients.

There is no one tactic for two reasons. First of all, it depends on the company. For companies with a strong, recognizable brand, data-based reports on industry trends can be an amazing source of links, especially when backed up with some PR. On the other hand, a small e-commerce company might want to give away free products for reviews or giveaways. The second reason is that the different tactics are interlinked - you need to have good assets/content to make PR efforts successful.

It depends on the scale of the site. I work on one client in particular that has in excess of 1M backlinks. For them, broken link curation is more effective than anything else. But, for a small site, guest posting, niche edits, and digital PR might be more effective.

Mention in the listicles.

Sponsored articles (in real media, legit outlets with traffic, journalists, news etc.).

Links from sites that are considered the competitive and are ranking for the same keywords that you either want to rank for our already rank for.

Community Building Reddit & Social media.

A mix of the above varied to the clients link-building expectations and also budget.

Creating good content that people want to link to, e.g doing surveys, whitepapers and studies.

Digital PR isn’t just for big brands. It’s a growth lever any company (especially SaaS) can pull. By turning product data into original insights, companies earn high-authority links, press coverage, and thought leadership. DevSkiller’s Future Skills Report is a perfect example: real user data turned into a media magnet. These reports don’t just build awareness. They boost trust and topical authority. If you’ve got usage data, survey results, or internal benchmarks, you’ve already got everything you need to make it happen.

Both; It's good to have a general sense of what's working.. but also find other new opportunities to win.

I'd say mix of both: in local we need to get the niche directories, then you go further and try to identify more unique placement opportunities that the competitor doesn't have. Landing more big media sites. Landing data-driven studies. We focus more on our own tactics rather than getting the exact links competitor has.

Mirroring competitors' authoritative backlinks provides a foundational advantage, but curating your own unique, authoritative links will provide the biggest authority gap between you and your competitors. Having five backlinks from 5 authority sites provides much more of an advantage than five authority links from the same site. It demonstrates broad expertise and amplifies your signal. Ultimately, backlink quantity, when coupled with quality, drives measurable SEO impact. Of course, that's easier said than done and is a good reason SEO is and always will be a long-term strategy.

Stop focusing exclusively on backlinks and start focusing on brand mentions - linked or unlinked - in relevant publications. Your competitors could be getting links in wildly irrelevant publications - that doesn't bode well for your site's reputation and authority to follow suit.

70% catch up / replicate successful competitors, 30% try to do different things.

Balanced approach: The best competitor's backlinks + new backlink opps.

A hybrid of the two works best: exploit and explore. Go after the sites that link to competitors, and also the sites that link to the sites that rank for keywords we target.

I replicate DR. If it's easy enough to replicate actual links, I will,l but strong effort doesn't go into it. As long as the "average" DR is generally the same, we are headed in the right direction.

Combining competitor insights with unique link opportunities gives the best results in terms of quantity and link diversity.

Replicate their best links while diversifying yourself from the competitors using strong placements via HARO and Digital PR

Entirely depends on the state of the current backlink profile. If your competitors are securing links on websites that are relevant to your industry, then you would naturally look to secure the same links anyway.

Mix of both, you can innovate and at the same time "Steal Like an Artist".

Begin with the first to find key link opportunities, but then differentiate.

For me, PBNs and guest posts on low-quality sites are essentially the same thing these days, so it’s surprising to see them so high in the data. Helpful Content Update wiped out the traffic from most of them, so it’s only a matter of time before Google comes for them with an algorithm update. 

The other that stands out here in the data is mass press release distribution. This is a tactic that I’ve seen some prominent digital PR voices rave about on LinkedIn, but when you actually examine the data, it doesn’t work. The smaller, more targeted campaigns cut through the noise and keep tactics like digital PR effective.

The problem with all these methods is not only that they are risky, but also the opportunity cost. Even if some of them might be somewhat effective (at least in the short term), you're wasting time, money, and energy that you should be spending on a genuinely good link-building strategy.

Depends on the niche, and it can be a risk to rely on one strategy, so I'd diversify.

All can work if done properly, but they're all not worth the risk IMHO.

Those backlink tactics, while tempting, violate Google's guidelines and are considered manipulative. Instead, focus on creating expert-level content that naturally attracts relevant, high-quality links. Authentic expertise and valuable contributions are the most effective, sustainable SEO strategies. However, it's worth noting that forum comments, press releases, and directory submissions can be valuable if used responsibly. To avoid penalties, ensure relevance and genuine contribution, rather than mass, automated link insertion. Focus on quality and context, not just quantity.

None of the above, I haven't seen success with none of them, even after testing on test websites I don't care for to see the effect.

Paid for guest posts generally shady but still work well.