Link building (netlinking): earning backlinks and mentions that count for Google and AI engines

Link building (netlinking) means earning links and mentions from other websites so that Google ranks your pages and generative AI engines cite them. This page is for the B2B marketing or SEO manager who has to decide whether links are the right lever, how many to aim for, which ones to choose, at what price and how to prove the effect.

It sets out the reference metric, the four-stage process and the costly mistakes, then points to the article that details each stage.

Why links still matter for Google

An inbound link acts as a recommendation signal: a third-party site points to you as a reference on a topic, and Google relies on that signal and its editorial context to understand the target page. The goal is to build lasting authority, not to stack links.

Competition plays out on few pages: 94–95% of pages have no backlinks at all (Backlinko, 2026). At the top of the rankings, the page in position 1 has 3.8 times more backlinks than positions 2 to 10 (Backlinko, 2026). A first link lifts you out of the pack; the gap widens at the top. You will find more benchmarks in our SEO statistics.

Netlinking, backlinking, link building: what are we talking about?

Three terms describe closely related things, and it is worth separating them before setting a goal:

• Backlinking: the outcome, i.e. getting inbound links (the "what").
• Link building: the English equivalent of netlinking, an active approach to earning links (outreach, partnerships, guest posts, digital PR).
• A netlinking strategy: the complete system that makes this sustainable (target pages, publishers, anchors, attributes, cadence, measurement).

What Google does with links

Google rewards links that are relevant, editorially integrated and from credible sources. The table sums up what it does with links, at the time of writing:

What about generative engines?

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews cite sources to build their answers; AI Overviews and AI Mode are available in France at the time of writing. For these answers, being named counts, with or without a link: 48% of AI citations come from community platforms (State of AI Search, 2025).

Naming is not linking: the brand mention carries the GEO signal, the link carries the SEO signal, and the two add up when they sit on a domain that AI engines cite. The details are in our article on links, mentions and citations in AI answers.

The reference metric: dofollow referring domains and TF/CF profile

To go beyond raw counts, the reference metric is the number of unique dofollow referring domains, rather than backlink volume or Domain Authority. One link from 50 different domains carries more weight than 50 links from a single domain, because source diversity strengthens the signal's credibility.

The following table sums up the useful metrics and how to read them:

The definition of each metric, a closer reading of the ratio and link formats are covered in our article on backlink definition and quality.

The trap of volume without trust

Accumulating links from weak sites pushes Citation Flow up and Trust Flow down: the profile grows and loses credibility, with a false sense of progress ("I have more links"). A competitor whose ratio falls below 0.55 has built volume without trust (directories, link farms, networks): do not try to match it.

The four-stage process: diagnosis, publishers, campaign, proof

A link building programme runs in four stages, in this order: you do not select a publisher before knowing which URL it must strengthen, and you conclude nothing without comparing each page before and after its links.

Diagnosis by URL: which page needs links?

The diagnosis is made page by page, not at domain level. A URL's link target is the median number of dofollow referring domains of the 10 organic results for its keyword: you measure the gap between that median and your page. Each URL then falls into one of the following five states:

• To strengthen: the content is done, links are the remaining lever.
• To defend: the page ranks above its link weight.
• Content first: the page has never worked, links can wait.
• Nothing to do: the page does not need additional links.
• Other page ranking: Google ranks another page of the domain for this keyword.

The full method (reading the top 10, prioritising URLs, budget, prohibited / acceptable / recommended grid) is in our article on backlink strategy.

Choosing publishers: where to place a link

A publisher is judged on what it brings to your profile, not on its listed price. The following table sets out the criteria that make a site worth a link from:

What a platform must display and guarantee before purchase (deduplicated catalogue, guarantee period, publisher constraints) is detailed in our guide to choosing a netlinking platform.

Campaign: topic, anchor and brief per publisher

A campaign brings together URLs to strengthen, selected publishers, an article topic per publisher and anchors per target URL. Each article starts from a brief that sets:

• the keyword and search intent;
• the topics and questions to cover;
• the expected semantic field;
• the publisher's constraints: length, number of client links, external links, free or imposed anchor, who writes.

Timing matters as much as volume: avoid sudden spikes, especially with a limited link history, and prefer a steady cadence. The full process, from brief to post-publication check, is in our article on the netlinking campaign.

Proof: what the links changed

The last stage checks that the links exist and measures what has moved on each strengthened page. Monitoring covers four families of indicators:

• link presence (live, lost, unverified) and its guarantee;
• the domain's Trust Flow and the anchor profile;
• keyword rankings for each strengthened page;
• ChatGPT citations gained or lost, question by question.

Each page is compared with itself, before its first link and today. This is temporal correlation, never causation. Profile inventory belongs to backlink analysis, reading gains and losses over time to backlink history.

Recognising a quality backlink: relevance, editorial context and red flags

Link quality is read from a set of signals rather than a single score. Four questions help you judge it:

• Is the source reliable? Trust Flow, editorial consistency, history and an indexed source page.
• Is the topic close? For a restaurant, a link from a food blog is more valuable than one from a DIY site.
• Is the link editorial? Placed in the body of an article, it carries more weight than in a footer or sidebar.
• Is the link stable? It stays live and the source page stays indexed over time.

Anchors: four types to balance

The anchor, the clickable text, helps engines understand the topic of the target page. There are four types: brand, partially optimised, exact-match and generic ("read more", URL). A healthy profile is dominated by brand anchors and keeps exact-match anchors for occasional, varied use; brand anchors also count for GEO.

How to get backlinks: methods, limitations and operational best practice

To understand how to get backlinks, combine earned methods, which rely on citeable content, with driven methods, which rely on outreach and partnerships, whilst keeping a steady pace. The table compares the main routes:

The formats that attract links without asking for them (data study, barometer, tool, glossary) are detailed in our article on link baiting.

Buying a link: declare it

Paid models exist: sponsored articles, insertions, partnerships. A paid link is declared with the sponsored attribute; it remains a hint for Google, and the brand mention counts for generative engines. Choose on price per Trust Flow point, never on a pack: the full framework is in our article on buying backlinks.

Connecting content and acquisition: strengthening the right pages

Links do not replace content: they amplify pages that already satisfy intent. Without useful pages, even a strong external profile produces unstable or disappointing gains.

Choosing which pages to strengthen

Prioritise pages that play a clear role in your conversion journey:

• service pages and product pages;
• categories;
• pillar guides and resources;
• the homepage, mainly for brand and awareness links.

Avoid concentrating effort on the homepage if your internal pages carry the main intents. An effective link delivers an authority signal and genuinely interested referral traffic: connect target pages and conversions in your dashboards.

Preparing the page before pushing links

Internal linking redistributes value received by your most cited pages to your strategic pages. Before pushing links to a URL, check that it returns a 200 status, has no redirect chains, and uses a consistent canonical.

The costly mistakes

The signals of a risky profile rarely combine by chance. These five mistakes cost the most, in budget and in visibility:

• Entering a link scheme: undeclared purchases, mass reciprocal exchanges, site networks, automated links.
• Over-optimising anchors: the same exact-match anchor repeated, on weak or off-topic sources.
• Chasing volume without trust: directories, link farms, sitewide links, thin or generated pages.
• Declaring a link wrongly: a paid link without sponsored, or a "dofollow" attribute added to the code even though it does not exist.
• Acquiring in bursts: a sudden spike of links with no editorial justification, on a limited history.

A link is dofollow when it carries no attribute: rel="dofollow" does not exist. The Search Console disavow tool is reserved for manual actions or for schemes you created yourself. Correct use of attributes is detailed in our article on dofollow, nofollow, sponsored and ugc links.

Tools and providers: who to run link building with

A link building tool must connect link metrics, campaign management and the measurement of their effects, on rankings as well as AI citations. The choice between an all-round SEO suite, a specialist tool and an integrated platform is covered in our comparison of netlinking tools.

A service is judged on three points, whether it comes from a consultant, an agency or a platform:

• What you buy: publishers named before purchase, not a pack.
• What you control: anchors, attributes and who writes.
• What you measure: page-oriented reporting rather than a number of links.

Be wary of "PR9" links and "risk-free" promises. The details are in our guide to choosing a netlinking service provider.

Depending on your situation

Your starting point decides the first action. Here is where to begin:

• You have never audited your links: carry out a complete, one-off review with a link building audit.
• You are starting from your own data only: external links, anchor texts and referring sites are shown in Google Search Console.
• Your pages receive links but authority flows poorly: work on internal linking before acquiring new links.
• You want to be cited by ChatGPT or AI Overviews: links only do part of the job, see our approach to Generative Engine Optimization.

To follow this process in one place, the Incremys Offsite media module establishes, at the time of writing, the diagnosis by URL in five states from the top 10 median. It offers a catalogue of publishers with Trust Flow, topics, traffic over 24 months and GEO performance, organises the campaign (topics, anchors, briefs) and tracks link presence, rankings and ChatGPT citations gained or lost in its reporting.

FAQ: common questions about link strategy and SEO/GEO performance

What is netlinking?

Netlinking, or link building, means earning links and mentions from other websites to rank better in Google and be cited by generative engines. It covers choosing the pages to strengthen, the publishers and the anchors, as well as measurement. The backlink is the outcome; link building is the method.

How many backlinks do you need to rank?

There is no universal number: a URL's target is the median number of dofollow referring domains among the top 10 results for its keyword. You count unique domains, not links. The gap between that median and your page shows how much effort is required.

Is a nofollow link of any use?

Yes: since March 2020, Google has treated nofollow as a hint rather than a directive, and the link can bring referral traffic. It does not count among dofollow referring domains, but a nofollow mention on a domain cited by AI engines can count for GEO. A natural profile mixes both types of link.

Can you buy backlinks?

Yes, provided you declare them: a paid or partnership link carries the sponsored attribute. It remains a hint for Google, and the brand mention counts for generative engines. An undeclared purchase falls within the link schemes targeted by Google's spam policies.

Do backlinks count for ChatGPT and AI Overviews?

These engines cite sources and name brands, with or without a link: what matters is being named on domains they cite. The link carries the SEO signal, the mention the GEO signal, and the two add up. You then track citations gained or lost, question by question.

How do you know if a backlink is good quality?

A quality backlink comes from a reliable, topically close and indexed domain, and sits in the body of editorial content. Check the domain's Trust Flow, ideally above yours, its Trust Flow / Citation Flow ratio, shared topics, traffic trend and whether it already links to you.

How long before you see an effect?

No timeframe applies to every page: the effect depends on competition, the page and the publishers. Good practice is to compare each strengthened page with itself, before its first link and today, on its rankings and AI citations. This tracking establishes a correlation over time, never causation.

What should you do if a link disappears after publication?

First identify the cause: removal, redesign, de-indexation or URL change. If the site is legitimate, contact the publisher to reinstate the link or point it to an updated URL. Links bought through the Incremys platform come with a 24-month guarantee: their presence is checked and reporting shows whether the guarantee is active or expired.