Ok, so here’s what’s happening—trusted mentions are quietly becoming one of the biggest signals in AI-driven search. For years, backlinks ruled SEO. Everyone was chasing those hyperlinks from high-authority sites. But now, with AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity pulling answers from huge amounts of text, it’s not just about the link—it’s about whether your brand is mentioned in credible places.

In fact, AI systems tend to summarize information from multiple sources, and they don’t always need an actual hyperlink to recognize authority. That means if your business is cited in industry blogs, news articles, or expert roundups—even without a backlink—it still boosts your visibility inside AI-generated answers.

This shift makes sense. Links can be manipulated, bought, or traded.

Mentions, on the other hand, usually come from genuine discussions, media coverage, or word-of-mouth content. And search engines, along with AI tools, are starting to value those signals more because they’re harder to fake.

Now, the practical side of this is pretty straightforward:

Businesses should aim to be part of the conversation wherever their audience hangs out. That could be podcasts, interviews, social threads, or industry publications. Each time your brand gets referenced in a trustworthy context, it builds credibility in a way that AI can pick up on.

It also ties back to reputation. AI assistants are cautious about recommending sources that look spammy. So, if your mentions come from reliable outlets, you’re more likely to be included in the answers people see. That means PR, relationships, and brand trust are becoming just as important as technical SEO tweaks.

So yeah, backlinks aren’t dead—but mentions are, in a way, stealing some of the spotlight. And businesses that figure this out early will stay visible in both Google’s search results and the answers AI tools deliver.