Study of 100 industries: relevant backlinks are the #1 AI search ranking factor
VeryWellVersed · x · 2026-10-14
benwills published a 10,000-word analysis with 40+ charts across 100 industries, 16 LLMs, and ChatGPT's web interface. Key finding: backlinks from contextually relevant pages correlate most strongly with AI rankings, holding across all 21,600 comparisons including Google AI Overviews. Volume matters too: GPT-6 Astra's #1 recommendations had a median of 2,124 relevant backlinks vs 25 at #50.
Related event: Study: Relevant Contextual Links Top Factor for AI Search Rankings(2 posts)→
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