Do backlinks matter for AI search?

Short answer: Yes, say the 3 experts here, though they treat links and mentions as close cousins. Ross Hudgens calls link authority "uniquely reliable" for AI visibility, and Casey Hill got 200+ subscribers from ChatGPT in a quarter through features in large newsletters. Benji Hyam adds that relevance matters: a mention from a site that doesn't shape answers in your space, even the New York Times, won't help.

What the experts say

Citations are very similar to links

Benji Hyam (Grow and Convert) · Nov 5, 2026
Links from irrelevant sites largely don't work, and Benji says AI mentions are the same: "Getting your brand mentioned in the New York Times doesn't mean your AI visibility is going to improve." He'd pair a page that targets the topic with a few mentions in the publications already shaping the answers.
→ Read Benji's post

Features in big newsletters brought 200+ ChatGPT subscribers

Casey Hill (DoWhatWorks) · Nov 4, 2026
This quarter Casey got 200+ new subscribers from ChatGPT, mostly through features in large outlets like Growth Unhinged, MKT1 and Marketing Ideas. What gets him in the door is data they can't find anywhere else, like DoWhatWorks's own site test data.
→ Read Casey's post

Link authority is uniquely reliable

Ross Hudgens (Siege Media) · Oct 26, 2026
"The more links we have, the more direct context LLMs have on the open web about who we are," Ross says. In Siege's study of 520 companies, credibility statements on the homepage lifted mid-authority brands but flattened out for high-authority ones, which he puts down to their reputation off-site.
→ Read Ross's post

SaaS Marketing Experts collates expert opinions from around the web. We have no affiliation with any of the experts cited here. If you're one of them, ask us to correct or remove your take.