Link building: is it getting harder? An honest answer
Link building has become harder in some ways and easier in others. We assess honestly what no longer works and what a small team should do now.
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Yes, link building has become harder in some respects. In others it has become easier. The difference lies in how you work. If you rely on mass outreach and shopping for metrics, life is harder than it used to be. If you build a few relevant placements around a genuine story, you are in a good position.
This is an assessment from an editorial point of view, not a measurement. We therefore quote no percentages and no studies. We describe what often shows up in practice and draw conclusions about what a small team with a limited budget should do now.
There is no promise about rankings here. No link and no mention guarantees a position. What you can do is improve the conditions under which your brand is found, linked and cited.
What has become harder in link building
Editorial teams filter more strictly. A guest post with three SEO paragraphs and an anchor that looks like a search term quickly ends up in the bin. There are not fewer publications. Inboxes are fuller, and many pitches read the same. Standing out is the real hurdle.
The rules for paid placements are clear. Google's spam policies require paid links to be marked with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". This has been the case for years. Anyone who still places paid links covertly is taking a deliberate risk. The technical reference on DoFollow, nofollow, UGC and sponsored explains what the attributes mean in detail.
Diagnosis takes longer. Core updates, industry shifts and changes in the search results overlap. When traffic falls, bosses or clients expect a single cause. There is rarely one. That makes the work more demanding, even if an individual link is no harder to get.
What has become easier
Good pitches stand out more. When many messages sound interchangeable, a clear angle gets noticed. An online shop for outdoor equipment that offers its own observation from day-to-day business is more interesting to a specialist editor than the tenth guide proposal. Written in a human voice, concrete and useful to the medium's readers: that remains rare.
Research is faster. Link intersect analyses, Search Console and per-domain metrics can be pulled together in hours. A media catalogue with filters for niche, format and price saves weeks of spreadsheet work.
Mentions have more routes to impact. Chat assistants and AI overviews in Google Search cite sources. In practice, brands that appear consistently in topically relevant media often seem more likely to show up. This is only partly established, so treat it as a hypothesis that you monitor. The article How AI search decides which links to trust looks at how AI search selects sources.
Which old tactics no longer hold up
Part of the "link building is dead" rhetoric is product marketing. The basic idea lives on: a relevant, credible source talks about your brand. But some methods no longer work.
| Old tactic | Why it falls short today | Better |
|---|---|---|
| Mass outreach with a template | Editors spot serial emails immediately | A few personal requests with your own angle |
| Choosing only by Domain Rank | The metric says nothing about topical fit | Relevance and readership first, metrics as a check |
| Exact-match money keywords as anchors | Looks contrived | Brand name, topic or neutral wording |
| Guest articles without original content | No value for the publication | Your own data, experience or case studies |
| Paid links without labelling | Breaches Google's guidelines and advertising law | Clear labelling, value through reach and context |
The last point is unambiguous. Paid placements must be labelled. Anyone who avoids this risks more than they gain.
What a small team should do now
A small team does not win through volume. It wins through selection and repetition. This order has proved its worth:
- Set one story per quarter. This can be your own analysis, an observation from everyday customer work or a clear position on an industry topic. Without a story, there is no reason to mention you.
- Collect ten to twenty relevant publications. Sort by topical fit and readership. Check metrics such as organic traffic, spam score and referring domains as a plausibility check, not as a selection criterion.
- Approach them personally. Explain why the topic matters to exactly these readers. One email with a concrete reference beats ten serial emails.
- Mix formats. Editorial mentions, labelled sponsored posts, guest articles and press releases serve different purposes. Plan them deliberately.
- Unify your brand presence. Same spelling, same core message, same company description. This helps readers, editors and AI systems to identify you.
- Monitor the impact. Look at mentions, searches that include your brand name, visitors from the articles, and whether and where your brand is named in AI answers. Give it at least one quarter.
For selection, the marketplace catalogue helps, with filters for media type, format, niche and maximum price. If you already have a press release or an article, the content assistant suggests suitable channels with reasons.
The value of a mention without a DoFollow link
Many teams judge placements only by the link attribute. That is too narrow. Whether a link is DoFollow, nofollow or sponsored is decided by the publisher according to its editorial guidelines. For a labelled post, nofollow or sponsored is normal and correct.
Such a placement still has value. Readers get to know your brand, click, search for you later and share the article. A topically fitting publication gives your brand context. And a mention in the text, even without a link, can appear in sources that assistants draw on. That is not guaranteed.
The article Editorial links: authority through editorial mentions explains what separates an editorial link from an advertorial. The strategic side, meaning what AI search changes about link building and what stays the same, is covered in Link building in the age of AI search.
Bottom line: harder for the easy route
Link building has become harder for the easy route and more promising for the careful one. If you have little time and budget, do not buy more placements, buy better ones. Choose publications that fit your topic, give every article a genuine story and label paid content properly. After a quarter, measure what it achieved, then carry on with the formats that worked.
Frequently asked questions
Will AI search make link building obsolete?
As things stand, there is no reliable evidence for that. AI overviews and chat assistants cite sources, and many of them are established publications. Mentions and links in relevant media therefore remain a sensible building block, alongside good content of your own.
Is link building still worthwhile for small businesses?
Yes, if you are targeted about it. A few topically relevant placements with a clear message are more realistic and more useful for a small team than large outreach waves. Allow for the fact that impact often only shows after weeks or months.
Do I have to label paid placements?
Yes. Paid placements must be recognisable as advertising. For links, Google's spam policies require rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Concealment is risky and goes against fair cooperation with publications.
How do I recognise a suitable publication?
Look first at topical fit and readership. Then check metrics such as organic traffic, keywords, referring domains and spam score. A high Domain Rank alone says little about whether your brand is well placed there.