Hey — Amit here,
Before I point you to a couple of pieces you might find useful, I want to clear up something that’s creating a lot of anxiety right now, and you’ve probably seen all over your socials, when it comes to SEO.
There’s a growing narrative that AI tools are replacing Google - and that traditional SEO is therefore becoming less relevant.
I come bearing good news (bad news for the scaremongere’ though): The data we have so far doesn’t support that.
Here’s one of those pieces of data. A large-scale clickstream study by Semrush looked at 260 billion rows of data to understand how Google usage changes after people adopt ChatGPT.
Here’s what they observed:
No statistically significant decline in Google Search usage
A slight increase in average Google usage after ChatGPT adoption
The same pattern held across new users, long-term users, and control groups
People using ChatGPT as a search assistant then run MORE Google searches
In other words:
AI tools appear to expand search behavior - not replace it.
That context matters, because it means visibility in Google still plays a central role in how people discover and validate information.
With that in mind, here are two pieces that best reflect how I think about link building and off-page SEO today:
1) The Best Link Building Services: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next: https://thelinksguy.com/best-link-building-services/ - A clear breakdown of what tends to create durable authority - and what often fails over time.
2) The Role of Niche-Relevant Links in the Post-AI SEO Era
https://thelinksguy.com/niche-relevant-backlinks/
Why relevance and context continue to matter as search expands across more surfaces.
If you only read one, start with the first.
Cheers,
Amit