Link building in 2026: what still works for SEO and GEO in Belgium

For years, link building was the most mechanical part of SEO: buy or swap links, watch the numbers go up. That era is over, and AI engines have finished the job. When ChatGPT, Copilot or Perplexity recommend a company, they draw on what other sites say about it: directories, press, reviews, forums, partners.

The question is no longer "how many links?" but "who talks about us, and where?" This article explains why links and third-party mentions still matter in 2026 for SEO and for GEO, what works in Belgium, what Google forbids, how to measure the results and what budget to plan.

An article from our SEO cluster. Authority has two halves: what you say, covered in our article on semantic search and entities for Google and AI engines, and what others say about you, which is the subject here.

In short

• Links are still part of Google's core ranking systems, and third-party mentions are a major source for AI engines.
• What works in Belgium: sector and local directories, trade press, co-created content with a peer, original data, podcasts and carefully handled communities.
• What is risky: buying links without a sponsored label, private blog networks, mass link exchanges and automated links.
• In B2B, a few dozen relevant, credible mentions beat hundreds of generic links.
• Measure referring domains, qualified traffic, leads and citations in AI answers, not just a domain score.

What is link building, and why does it still matter in 2026?

Link building is the work of earning links from other websites to your own. Google's documentation says that its ranking systems include link analysis, which helps understand what pages are about and which are most helpful, and that PageRank "continues to be part of our core ranking systems". Links did not disappear. They have simply been joined by a second currency: mentions.

For GEO, the evidence points the same way. In December 2025, Ahrefs analysed 75,000 brands and found that branded web mentions showed the strongest correlation with visibility in AI answers, while link metrics showed very weak correlations (correlation, not causation). The exact share of citations that come from third parties depends on the study: Scrunch reports 87.2% of more than 442 million citation events coming from sources other than the brand's own site, between December 2025 and March 2026, while Yext, which counts listings and reviews as brand-managed, finds 86% brand-managed. Both agree on the point that matters: your own website is only one of the places where engines look for you.

How does link building SEO work, and what is a good link?

A good link is one that an editor or a community gave you because your content is useful to their audience. Everything else is a risk. Five criteria separate the two:

• Relevance. The linking site covers your subject or your market, in your language.
• Editorial origin. A human chose to cite you, in the body of a page, not in a footer or a paid slot.
• Real audience. The page has visitors who could click on the link.
• Natural context. The anchor text is descriptive and written for the reader, as Google advises, not stuffed with keywords.
• Diversity. Your profile mixes directories, press, partners and communities rather than a single type.

What works in Belgium?

In a small market, the winning approach is local, specific and human. A Belgian SME rarely needs a hundred links. It needs the right twenty. These are the sources we see working, from the quickest to the most ambitious:

• Sector and local directories. Sortlist, the Odoo partner directory, Google Business Profile, Trustpilot, companyweb.be, DigitalWallonia. In our own test of twelve commercial queries about SEO and Odoo agencies in Belgium in July 2026, Sortlist.be appeared in eight. Use the same name, description and contact details everywhere.
• Trade and business press. Offer an expert comment backed by a Belgian figure to media such as Digimedia or L'Echo. A useful quote earns a link and a mention that engines can read.
• Co-created content with a peer. Two complementary experts each write one part of a guide and link to the other. This is how our SEO and Odoo guide with Renaud De Harlez works, with part two on sitemaps, robots.txt and AI crawlers published here.
• Original data. A study that others quote becomes a source in its own right, as with our research on the state of GEO in Belgium in 2026.
• Podcasts and events. A guest appearance or a speaker page usually comes with a biography and a link, and a clean association of your name with your subject.
• Communities and forums, with caution. Answer questions usefully, under your real name, without a promotional link at first. Google recommends labelling forum links as user-generated, so the value is often the mention rather than the link.

What is risky or forbidden?

Google defines link spam as creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings. Its spam policies list several examples, including buying or selling links for ranking, excessive link exchanges, large-scale article marketing and automated links. Buying and selling links for advertising is not a violation if the links are marked with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".

Detection is no longer theoretical. With its December 2022 link spam update, Google said its SpamBrain system could detect both sites buying links and sites created to pass outgoing links. A shortcut that works for a few months can cost you the page it was meant to lift.

How does SEO B2B change link building?

In B2B, buyers are few, cycles are long and decisions are collective, so the reputation signal matters more than the volume. A Gartner survey of 645 B2B buyers, conducted in August and September 2025, found that they used an average of seven information sources in a recent purchase, and that 45% used generative AI, mainly to research vendors and products. Before they ever contact you, your name has been read on several sources.

• Aim for the places buyers check: sector directories, review platforms, partner listings and trade media.
• Point links at commercial pages, such as service pages and case studies, not only at the blog.
• Use clients and partners. A testimonial, a case study or a partner profile that names your company is a credible mention.
• Favour quality over volume. A few dozen relevant mentions are worth more than hundreds of generic ones.
• Show your experts. Named authors and speakers make mentions attributable to people, which supports E-E-A-T.

How to start a link building campaign, step by step

1. Audit your current profile. List who already links to you and to your three closest competitors, using the Links report in Search Console and a backlink tool.
2. Define the goal and the target pages. Choose the two or three pages tied to revenue, such as a service page or a case study, and the queries they should win.
3. Fix your identity first. Align your name, description and details across your site, LinkedIn and directories before asking anyone for anything.
4. List 30 to 50 realistic targets. Group them by effort: directories, partners, media, podcasts, communities.
5. Create something worth citing. A figure, a guide, a comparison or an expert opinion that gives the other party a reason to mention you.
6. Pitch one person at a time. Write short, specific messages that explain what is in it for their audience, never a mass mailing.
7. Label, track and adjust. Mark paid placements as sponsored, record each link and review the results every quarter.

How do you measure link building results?

Measure what moves the business, not a vendor's score. Authority scores from tools are estimates that differ from one tool to the next, and they are not Google metrics. Five indicators give a reliable reading:

• New referring domains, counted only when they are relevant and genuinely editorial.
• Qualified referral traffic from those links, and the leads it produces in your analytics.
• Impressions, clicks and positions on the target pages in Search Console.
• Branded searches, which show whether people look for your name more often.
• Citations in AI answers, tracked on a fixed panel of prompts every quarter.

How much does link building cost in Belgium?

The budget depends on the route you take. Our own published ranges, detailed in our article on the price of SEO in Belgium, are indicative and depend on the authority of the sites targeted.

Prices far below these ranges deserve suspicion. Our advice on choosing an SEO agency in Belgium lists the questions to ask about link practices before signing.

Frequently asked questions

What is link building?

Link building is the work of earning links from other websites to yours. These links act as signals of relevance and trust for search engines. Done properly, it relies on useful content, partnerships, directories and press coverage. Done badly, with bought or automated links, it falls under Google's link spam policy and can cancel the benefit or harm the site.

Is link building SEO still worth it in 2026?

Yes, but selectively. Google says link analysis and PageRank remain part of its core ranking systems. What has changed is the standard: a few relevant, editorial links and mentions matter, while volume and exchanges do not. Link building now also feeds GEO, since AI engines rely heavily on what third-party sources say about a brand.

Do backlinks help you appear in ChatGPT or Copilot answers?

Indirectly. Ahrefs found that branded web mentions correlate far more strongly with AI visibility than link metrics do, although correlation is not causation. The useful reflex is to be present and described consistently on the sources engines read: directories, press, reviews and partners. A link on such a page helps, but the mention is what counts.

Is buying backlinks allowed by Google?

Buying links to influence rankings is link spam under Google's policies. Buying advertising or sponsorship is not a violation if the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". In practice, a paid link that passes ranking credit without a label is a risk, as Google's SpamBrain system is designed to detect sites that buy links.

What is a realistic link building approach for B2B SEO?

Target the places your buyers check before contacting a supplier: sector directories, review platforms, partner listings and trade media. Add one or two pieces of content that others will want to cite, such as a data study or a co-created guide. Aim for a few dozen relevant mentions over a year, pointing to your service pages and case studies.

How many links do you need to rank?

There is no magic number. Compare your profile with the sites that rank for your target queries: how many relevant referring domains they have, and of what type. Then set a realistic goal over twelve months. A handful of strong, relevant links can outweigh a hundred generic ones, and the content of the target page matters as much as the links it receives.

Key takeaways

• Links remain part of Google's core ranking systems, and mentions have become the second currency of GEO.
• In Belgium, a few well-chosen local sources beat large volumes of generic links.
• Co-created content, original data and press expertise earn links that nobody can accuse of being bought.
• Paid links must be labelled, and networks, mass exchanges and automation should be avoided.
• In B2B, aim for the places buyers read before they contact you, and point to commercial pages.
• Measure referring domains, qualified traffic, leads and AI citations, not a vendor score.

What next? Do you know who links to you, who mentions you and who quotes your competitors instead? We can map it for you in a free audit of your link and mention profile, with a realistic action plan for Belgium. Request your audit on our contact page or discover our SEO service in detail.

About the author

Timothy Jacqmin is co-founder of Nexuro Digital, a digital marketing agency and Official Odoo Partner in Belgium. He helps companies with their SEO, their Odoo upgrades and their visibility in AI engines. LinkedIn profile · About us

Sources

1. Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search, link spam section
2. Google Search Central, Qualify your outbound links to Google
3. Google Search Central Blog, December 2022 link spam update, 14 December 2022
4. Google Search Central, A guide to Google Search ranking systems
5. Google Search Central, Link best practices for Google
6. Ahrefs, AI brand visibility correlations, 75,000 brands, December 2025
7. Scrunch, Citation dynamics, data from December 2025 to March 2026 (vendor data)
8. Yext, What brands need to know about AI search going into 2026, January 2026 (vendor data)
9. Gartner, Survey finds 69% of B2B buyers turn to sales reps to validate AI-generated insights, 20 May 2026