Modernizing Link Building for 2027: What to Keep, What to Bury

Link building is not becoming irrelevant, but the criteria for worthwhile links are becoming harder to reduce to a single score. A webinar hosted by Search Engine Journal argues that teams should put topical relevance, audience fit and genuinely useful assets ahead of domain authority and domain rating targets.

The October 21, 2026 session, The Link Building Graveyard: What To Bury & What Still Wins, featured Michael Johnson of Resolve and was hosted by Loren Baker. Search Engine Journal’s webinar page confirms the event’s date, speakers and focus. Its recap presents a practical distinction between link acquisition that can build durable visibility and tactics that create little value beyond a reportable metric.

For SEO teams also thinking about AI search visibility, the central lesson is useful: off-page work should help establish a brand’s relevance within the publications, topics and audiences where it deserves to be discovered. A link alone does not guarantee an AI citation or recommendation. But credible, contextually relevant coverage can strengthen the body of accessible evidence around a business, its expertise and its offerings.

Why domain metrics are a weak primary filter

Domain Authority and Domain Rating can be useful third-party indicators for comparing prospects, but they are not Google ranking signals. The webinar recap emphasizes that these scores can be inflated and should not become the deciding factor in outreach or purchasing decisions.

That matters because a high-scoring domain may have little topical relationship to a brand or no meaningful audience overlap. Conversely, a smaller specialist publication, trade resource or respected community may offer a more relevant editorial context.

A better prospecting assessment asks questions such as:

• Is the publication materially related to the topic, industry or audience?
• Would a reader find the referenced resource useful in that specific article?
• Does the site show editorial standards and a real audience?
• Is the coverage likely to clarify what the brand knows, does or offers?

This approach does not mean metrics have no role. It means they should be supporting inputs, rather than a proxy for relevance, editorial quality or business impact.

Tactics to keep: contribution, resources and expertise

The webinar recap identifies several approaches that remain viable when the outreach is tailored and the underlying value is real.

Guest contributions can work when a company has genuine expertise to share and the proposed subject fits the publisher’s readers. The goal is not to distribute generic articles with an inserted link. It is to contribute an original, useful perspective that an editor would reasonably want to publish.

Broken-link and resource outreach can also be constructive. Here, the opportunity is strongest when a publisher has a genuinely outdated or unavailable resource and the suggested replacement closely matches the reader’s original need. A mismatch between the broken resource and the replacement is still poor outreach, even if it earns a link.

Expert commentary is another route to earned mentions and links. Journalists, editors and specialist publishers need credible sources who can explain a subject clearly. Building relationships before a request arrives can be more sustainable than sending broad, reactive pitches at scale.

The common thread is editorial fit. Each tactic starts with a publisher or reader need, not with the need to add another referring domain.

Asset-led outreach gives people a reason to cite you

The recap also stresses asset-led outreach. Rather than asking publishers to link to a standard commercial page, teams can create resources that make a citation useful: original research, proprietary data, interactive tools or other material that helps people answer a question.

This is relevant to both traditional search and generative discovery. Search engines and AI systems need material they can crawl, interpret and potentially surface. A distinctive asset can provide a clearer reason for an independent site to mention a brand, while also creating content that explains the brand’s expertise in a substantive way.

That does not mean every organization needs a large annual research project. The asset must be proportionate to the topic and verifiable in its own right. A tool or data resource that lacks a real user purpose will not become valuable merely because it is labeled linkable.

Unlinked mentions are an opportunity, not an entitlement

An existing brand mention can indicate that a publisher already sees the company as relevant. The webinar recap recommends reviewing such mentions and requesting a link when one would add context or help the reader reach a cited resource.

That qualification is important. A publisher is not obliged to link simply because it named a business. A request is strongest when it identifies a specific page that supports the statement, expands on the topic or gives readers a practical next step.

For example, a reference to a company’s research may reasonably link to the research. A passing mention in an opinion piece may not need any link at all. Treating every unlinked mention as a conversion target risks weakening publisher relationships.

What to bury: manipulative scale and generic requests

The session warns against private blog networks and generic roundup requests. These approaches can prioritize volume and superficial authority signals over editorial value, relevance and audience benefit.

The practical issue is broader than any one tactic. Outreach that is interchangeable, poorly targeted or designed to manufacture a pattern of links is unlikely to build a credible long-term presence. It can also consume time that would be better spent improving useful content, building source relationships or developing assets with a clear purpose.

A practical 90-day reset for off-page work

The webinar recap outlines a 90-day plan centered on auditing spend, creating assets and executing outreach. Teams can adapt that sequence without assuming it is a universal formula.

Days 1 to 30: audit current activity

Review current vendors, placements, outreach lists and reporting. Identify where decisions rely mainly on third-party scores, where placements lack topical fit and which existing content has enough substance to support outreach. Examine referral relevance and business outcomes alongside link counts where those measurements are available.

Days 31 to 60: develop a cite-worthy asset

Choose a topic where the organization can contribute something useful and defensible. This could be original research, a data-driven resource, an interactive tool or a focused expert guide. Build the asset around a real information need, then ensure its claims, methodology and ownership are clear.

Days 61 to 90: conduct focused outreach

Prioritize publishers, journalists and resources whose readers would benefit from the asset or expertise. Personalize the pitch around the recipient’s context. Separately review unlinked mentions, but pursue only requests that improve the reader experience.

The framework is less about completing a fixed checklist than changing the standard of proof. Before pursuing a placement, teams should be able to explain why the publication, audience and cited material belong together.

GEO Search Leads can help teams assess whether their website presents clear, accessible evidence of expertise and identifies areas for stronger generative-search readiness. If your link-building reset is also prompting a review of the content and entity signals behind your outreach, create a GEO Search Leads account to begin identifying practical optimization opportunities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are DA and DR Google ranking factors?

No. Domain Authority and Domain Rating are third-party metrics, not Google ranking signals. They may be useful comparison inputs, but they do not establish whether a placement is relevant, editorially valuable or likely to reach the right audience.

Can relevant backlinks improve AI search visibility?

A relevant backlink does not guarantee that an AI product will cite or recommend a brand. However, credible coverage and useful cited resources can contribute to the wider set of information that helps establish a brand’s topical relevance and expertise.

What is asset-led outreach?

Asset-led outreach promotes a resource with independent value, such as original research, data or an interactive tool, rather than simply requesting links to a commercial page. The asset should solve a real reader need and be suitable for the publisher’s context.

Should every unlinked brand mention be turned into a link?

No. Pursue an unlinked mention when a link would add useful context, support a claim or help readers access a relevant resource. A passing reference may not need a link, and indiscriminate requests can be unhelpful.

Conclusion

The webinar’s recommendations are practitioner guidance, not a broad empirical study, so they should not be treated as a universal ranking formula. Still, the strategic direction is clear: stronger off-page SEO depends less on acquiring links that look impressive in a dashboard and more on earning relevant references that are useful to real audiences. That is a sound foundation for search visibility and for the evidence-led web presence AI systems can draw upon.