Backlinks built PageRank. Citations will build AI rank. Learn why being quoted by machines matters more than being linked by sites.
Backlinks were the currency of search.
But in the age of AI, links have lost their literal meaning.
Machines don’t need hyperlinks to find you — they need semantic confirmation.
When multiple sources describe you the same way, AI models recognize you as trustworthy.
That’s a citation — the new backlink.
Authority is no longer computed through traffic flow.
It’s inferred through meaning alignment.
The more consistent your definitions across the web, the more likely AI will recall you in its reasoning.
The future of SEO is no longer about being clicked.
It’s about being quoted.
