At BrightonSEO, Our Co-Founder - Harshal Shah Shares How Link building Has Changed

For anyone who’s been in the online business and marketing for a while, it’s easy to see: SEO isn’t what it used to be. 

Once upon a time, it was all about stuffing in the right keywords, getting as many backlinks as possible, and waiting for Google to reward you with that golden first-page ranking. Fast forward to today — thanks to SearchGPT, AI overviews, and an SEO landscape that feels more like a moving target — the game has changed.

At Brighton SEO London, our Co-Founder, Mr. Harshal Shah – Who’s also the driving force behind Elsner, EcomVA, MyAppGurus, Link Publishers, and the learning platform ELDI – broke it down in simple terms.  It’s no longer about just building links. It’s about building a brand that commands attention.

What was link building like in the early days?

Back in the early 2000s, link building was a numbers game. You could post in forums, slap your site onto directories, leave random comments on blogs, and magically climb up Google’s rankings. Our own journey at Link Publishers saw us managing a 250-person team doing just that. And it worked like a charm.

But that world is long gone.

Today, simply throwing links at your site will not work. Google’s smarter now. SearchGPT’s even smarter. Search engines aren’t just looking for any links; they’re looking for credibility, authority, and genuine brand trust.

• Old SEO = 100 backlinks from anywhere
• New SEO = 10 backlinks from the right, trusted places + a strong brand reputation across the web

SEO today: Why is brand authority so important?

Gary Illyes from Google recently said that backlinks aren’t even in the “Top 3” ranking factors anymore. That doesn’t mean they don’t matter. It means that backlinks are just a part of the picture, not the whole canvas.

And the biggest piece of the canvas today? Brand Authority.

When users ask questions through AI-driven searches like SearchGPT, the algorithms pull data from everywhere: websites, blog articles, Reddit conversations, review platforms like Clutch, and even public records. They form a “picture” of your brand based on what they find.

That means it’s not just about where your links live – it’s about what those links say about you. It’s about having your name, your company, and your reputation mentioned and praised across the web.

Why is it harder to get noticed online now?

Look at Google’s search results today. They’re packed with images, videos, free listings, social media snippets, and now AI-driven summaries.

Organic rankings have to fight against a lot more noise. The competition isn’t just the businesses in your field anymore. It’s the entire internet trying to crowd into that first-page real estate.

At the same time, AI overviews offer citation opportunities. If you get mentioned in quality sources, you still have a shot at showing up prominently, even without a traditional click. That makes getting the right mentions in the right places more critical than ever.

“Algorithms might change, platforms will evolve, but brand credibility and brand authority will remain forever.” – Harshal Shah, CEO of Elsner Technologies at BrightonSEO London 2025

It’s no longer about just building links. It’s about building a brand that commands attention.

How can you build real authority?

So, how do you future-proof your SEO in this messy, exciting, challenging landscape?

Here’s what’s working:

1. Create content that answers real questions

When people type into GPT-driven tools, they’re asking questions, not just searching keywords.

For example,

• “What’s the best CRM for small businesses?”
• “How to fix a leaking tap?”

We recommend structuring your blogs, landing pages, and articles around actual questions people ask. This way, you’re already aligned with how SearchGPT and similar engines fetch data. Build topic clusters, answer common questions, and make your site the go-to hub for solid information.

At Elsner Technologies, we’ve adapted our content approach to be topic-led instead of keyword-stuffed. It’s paid off in better visibility and higher engagement.

2. Get niche-specific backlinks

Random backlinks from unrelated sites? Might as well not bother.

Today, it’s all about relevance. If you’re selling crypto software, you need backlinks from finance, blockchain, or tech-related sites — not from someone’s abandoned knitting blog.

3. Authority first: Who is speaking?

Google’s algorithms don’t just look at what’s being said; they also look at who is saying it.

Take Lily Ray, for example. Her deep credibility as an SEO expert got her a blog post ranking on Google and surfacing on AI results within just seven hours of posting. That’s not just good writing — that’s years of building trust and a strong personal brand.

Building a credible author profile, showing expertise in your niche, and actively participating on platforms like LinkedIn and Reddit are no longer optional. They’re musts.

4. Ignite unlinked brand conversations

Sometimes, it’s not even about getting a hyperlink. It’s about getting your brand name mentioned organically across forums, blogs, and industry news sites.

Reddit is a goldmine for this. Users trust Reddit threads, and now, so does Google. When real conversations happen about your brand on these platforms, AI picks it up and adds it to your reputation bank.

Our team at Elsner Technologies works with clients to quietly spark these brand mentions, creating natural, user-driven conversations that build credibility over time.

A real example of why brand authority beats everything

Take Roblox.

With millions of backlinks, a huge brand footprint, and countless user-driven conversations happening daily, they dominate SEO rankings. Even though 90% of their backlinks come from domains with a DA below 30, their brand carries them.

It’s not just the “power” of the links. It’s the unstoppable force of brand presence.

You could build the best site in the world today, but without consistent brand conversation, PR pushes, and smart backlink building, you’d still find it near impossible to topple giants like that.

We’ve created a smart platform to find the right backlinks to help you build brand authority!

Building backlinks the old way — sending hundreds of emails, waiting for replies, negotiating prices — takes way too much time.

That’s why we built a smarter, faster platform at Link Publishers.

We started by collecting over 100,000+ real websites – All vetted and categorised properly by topics like health, finance, shopping, technology, and more.

Then, we added SearchGPT-based smart tagging to the system.

Every site is now tagged with 20 to 25 relevant topics, making it super easy to match your business with the best websites automatically.

Here’s how it works:

• You upload your site or tell us what you need.
• Our system checks the tags.
• It instantly finds websites that are the right fit for your industry.

And if we don’t have the perfect site yet?

We’ve also integrated automation tools like Hunter.io, Gumloop, Apollo, Lemlist, and Rispona to reach out and bring new sites into our database.

This way, you can:

• Search by category, country, or Domain Authority (DA)
• Add sites to your cart
• Submit your article
• See your backlinks live within 2–3 days

Fast, simple, and no need for endless manual work.

Practical steps moving forward

• Think about topics and questions, not just keywords.
• Focus on building a name, not just building links.
• Show up consistently where your audience hangs out — Reddit, LinkedIn, niche forums.
• Invest in PR activities that create chatter around your brand.

At Elsner Technologies, we have been on this ride for nearly two decades. We’ve built websites, mobile apps, custom business platforms, SaaS products, and, yes, millions of backlinks for clients across industries. But today, our focus — for us and our clients — is clear: build a brand that can’t be ignored.

From Link Building to Brand Building!

The old-school days of SEO are gone. We’re not chasing just domain authority anymore. We’re chasing credibility, reputation, and trust. Search algorithms will keep evolving. Platforms will keep surprising us. But brand authority? That stays. That wins. And that’s exactly what we help you build at Elsner Technologies and across all our sister companies.

Let’s build brands, not just backlinks.