If you want to get free traffic from both Google and AI Search, then you need to get backlinks to your website.
Yep, they’re not just an SEO thing…
AI Search also uses them to rank and understand the best content to share when someone searches.
The thing is, there’s so many different link building techniques out there to choose from, so which should you use?
Well, they all work to some degree, but here’s my 4 favourites that work in 2026. Three of which also build brand authority which is another AI search ranking factor.
Better still?
You can do all of these on your own without needing to hire an agency or build a team!
So let’s get into it…
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Method #1. Being a source for journalists
This one is kind of meh, but it’s such a low effort that I recommend it for everyone. You can literally do it in 5 minutes while the kettle boils.
Here’s how it works:
Journalists always want expert or unique sources for their content. So they post on specific websites like Connectively, Qwoted, Featured, and Helpab2breporter, saying what their story is about and what sources they are looking for:
All you need to do is check these requests and then answer them.
If they pick you, you’ll get a backlink usually to the home page of your website.
Easy right?
Home page links won’t increase the rankings of a specific article but it will raise your domain rating which will then help every page on your site ranking a little higher.
It can definitely be a bit hit and miss and you might not find something for a few days, but its just a 5 minute task to check and reply.
Do these links affect AI search traffic?
Well it depends.
If you can get quoted for something you’re known for that’s your expertise then yes. But if it’s a random link because you talked about a passion project or interest then no.
For example
I’ve had links from business sections talking about marketing. But I’ve also been featured and got a link to chat about my weight loss journey. Both links help my site but only the one will affect AI search when it comes to my customers finding me.
The good news is the next 3 methods all affect both AI and regular SEO channels.
Method #2. Be a podcast guest
This is such an underground method but it’s my absolute favourite. Most linkbuilding methods only have an impact on your organic traffic, but this one just has so many benefits:
- It’s super low effort
- You get powerful backlinks
- As well as traffic and sales
- And it affects AI Search!
I mean… not bad right?
All you need to do is pitch podcasts and get on as a guest.
How?
Well the trick is to pitch them on topics that align with what you do, while also being something you know their audience will love.
That way you can chat about it and reference content during the episode. This will get people to click across, but it also means they’ll link to it in their show notes.
Some of these shows are DR85+ links. Not only that, they’ll often republish the episode to multiple podcast platforms, also meaning you get a link from all of them.
Not bad for 30 minutes chatting with someone like you would do a customer right?
I can’t state enough just how well this works.
When my website was brand new, I did this same technique and took my site from DR0 to DR 50 in just 90 days.
Now if you don’t know, domain rank is a score of how powerful a website is in SEO, and it goes from 0-100.
Most sites never even get as high as DR 50 and if they do, it can take them years. But I did it in 3 months. I pitched 80 podcasts and got on around 65 of them.
It drove so much traffic and sales also, I had no idea this would happen (or at least I wasn’t thinking about it at the time). I just went on them for the links and to share my expertise, but I ended up making over $100k in client work!
Absolutely insane ROI for 30 minutes on each show.
If I was stuck for time and could only do one linkbuilding method, then this is the one. It’s great for solopreneurs because you get the maximum amount of impact for the least amount of time investment.
If you want to learn how to do this for yourself, check out my course here.
Method #3. Write guest posts on other people's blogs
This one seems counter productive seeing as you’re writing content for other people right?
Add in the fact that it takes time and effort, and most people skip this but don’t. Instead, I recommend adding this into your link building efforts once you have your core content on your own blog that can help people sell, and you have systems in place to help convert them into leads.
(If you’re not sure how to convert readers into customers, check out my method that converts anywhere from 15-83% of readers into email subscribers).
Anyway, more on the technique itself.
Guest posting is definitely more effort than getting podcast links, but you don’t need to be chatting on camera, and you still get a definite link which is great.
What do I mean by this?
Well, a lot of the other link building methods are more outreach based where you reach out to people and then hope that those people link to you.
Seems seem but the reality is that a lot of them can’t be arsed nowadays to add the link, which is why I love this method because it’s proactive.
If you put in the work you always get the link, rather than sending hundreds of emails with nothing to show for it.
Add in the fact that these are easier to do if you know how to write with AI as an assistant, and you can get them done much faster.
However, that doesn’t mean that you just tell AI the topic and churn out a one click piece of junk. Guest posts need to be high quality if you want to be accepted and to build a name for yourself.
As for sites to pitch, obviously you’re better off finding sites that have your audience. That being said, if you just want powerful links then I have 2 recommendations:
- Web development agencies i.e people who build websites for customers, and
- Web hosting companies
Both of these usually have insanely high domain ranks, so a link from them can be as powerful as maybe 100 hundred links from smaller sites. They tend to have much easier application processes so you can get accepted.
Also, this is another method that can help with branded search so that you rank in AI, so definitely worth doing, especially if you go hard on this and do it properly.
However, there is one more method I want to share with you…
Method #4. Write data backed guides
OK this one is the highest amount of effort and they don’t always pay off. But when they do, it’s absolutely insane because they can get hundreds, sometimes thousands of links to your website with just one article.
Here’s how it works
Basically you need to write an article that covers major data points that journalists and blogs in your industry would be interested in.
For example
Let’s say that I’m an email marketing platform like Mailchimp.
I could write something about the open rates of email marketing, how effective it is, how much money you can make per email etc, and back that up with data:
It can be data you’ve curated across the internet that no one else has found and drawn insights from, or better still, you have access to that unique data.
Either through your own tool or by simply running a questionnaire to my audience and customers.
Super simple right, but those kinds of blogs love these stats because they are interesting to write stories around or prove a point.
Over 12,000 links to a single article!
These guides build absolutely huge brand authority, trust, and expertise and also help you stand out as an industry leader. (They’re also great for building AI Search authority).
However, they do take a lot of work to put together and create.
That’s why if you’re thinking of doing these as a solopreneur, I would recommend doing these last and maybe just one per quarter to test it out.
But if you can get them up and running, they can skyrocket your domain rating.
So what's the best way to get backlinks?
Well like I said up top, each of these 4 these methods can work for you, you just need to know how to do them properly.
If you’re stuck for time and want links, traffic and sales, I HIGHLY recommend podcast linkbuilding. It’s so good its crazy.