Ep 154-How to Build Backlinks for Google & AI Search

There are some parts of business that we know we’re supposed to be doing.

SEO is one.

Backlinks are another.

And now we can add figuring out how the heck we’re supposed to show up in AI search to the list.

But what if building backlinks didn’t have to start with algorithms, domain authority, complicated SEO terminology, or sending hundreds of cold emails?

What if it started with something much more familiar?

Relationships.

On this episode of The Seed, I sat down with Maria Katrina Johannessen of Links and Maria, a link-building specialist who helps businesses strengthen their visibility in both Google and AI search.

And yes, we talked about backlinks.

But we also talked about motherhood, protecting your time, choosing the right clients, letting go of busy work, adapting your business when life changes, and understanding that growth rarely follows the perfectly organized spreadsheet we planned for ourselves.

In other words, this conversation was very much at home on The Seed.

What Is a Backlink?

Maria gave one of my favorite simple explanations:

A backlink is a digital high five.

When another website links to yours, it’s essentially saying, We know this business. We trust this resource. We think it’s worth sending people there.

For example, imagine you’re a roofing company that regularly uses products from a particular manufacturer. If that manufacturer lists your company on its website and links back to you, that relationship creates a relevant backlink.

And that’s where Maria’s approach gets interesting.

Instead of beginning with, How can I get more backlinks?, she encourages business owners to start with questions like:

• Who are we?
• Who is our ideal customer?
• Where do those people spend their time?
• What products or services are most profitable for us?
• How do we want our business to be perceived?
• What businesses and organizations are already part of our ecosystem?

Because the goal isn’t simply to accumulate links.

The goal is to build the right signals around your business.

Why Backlinks Matter for Google and AI Search

The digital landscape is changing quickly.

We aren’t only thinking about whether our businesses appear in traditional Google results anymore. People are increasingly asking AI tools questions, requesting recommendations, comparing businesses, and using AI-generated answers to decide where to go next.

That makes authority, trust, relevance, and consistency increasingly important parts of your overall digital presence.

Maria explained that backlinks can be part of those signals.

If credible, relevant websites are talking about your business and linking to it, you’re creating an online ecosystem that helps reinforce what your business does, who it’s for, and why it matters.

For entrepreneurs, that means link building should be bigger than chasing an SEO metric.

Think about:

Visibility. Relationships. Authority. Trust.

Those are things worth building whether someone discovers you through Google, an AI search tool, a podcast, an article, or another person.

The Biggest Backlink Mistake: Thinking Every Link Is Valuable

This was one of the most important parts of our conversation.

Not every backlink is a good backlink.

Maria cautions business owners against deciding they simply “need backlinks” and then collecting links without considering relevance.

If your business specializes in one area and you’re getting backlinks from completely unrelated websites, what exactly are those links communicating about you?

That’s where relevance matters.

A link-building expert receiving a backlink from an SEO consultant makes sense.

A completely unrelated website linking to that same expert without any logical connection may not carry the same meaning.

The question isn’t just:

Can I get a backlink from this website?

It’s:

Does it make sense for my business to be connected to this website?

That’s a very different strategy.

Don’t Fall Into the Link Farm Trap

Maria also warned against one of those tempting shortcuts that sounds great until you understand what’s actually happening.

Searching Google for industry websites that accept guest posts and submitting your content everywhere you possibly can may lead you straight into websites created primarily to publish huge volumes of contributed content and links.

More isn’t automatically better.

Instead of chasing hundreds of questionable opportunities, Maria recommends becoming more selective about where your business appears and which relationships you’re building.

That brings us back to something I talk about constantly:

Start with the people already around you.

Your Best Backlink Opportunities May Already Be in Your Network

One of Maria’s simplest suggestions was also one of the most actionable.

Sit down and make a list of the businesses and people you interact with during a normal week.

Who do you buy from?

Who do you collaborate with?

What software or services do you genuinely use?

Which professional organizations are you connected to?

Who have you interviewed?

Who has interviewed you?

Who have you partnered with?

Where have you spoken?

Those relationships may create natural opportunities for backlinks, mentions, referrals, collaborations, podcast appearances, articles, and introductions.

And suddenly, link building doesn’t feel like some mysterious SEO tactic.

It looks a lot more like relationship building.

I see this firsthand with The Seed. When someone joins me as a podcast guest, I create an episode page that allows listeners to learn more about that guest and connect with them.

If that guest then shares the episode from their own website, we’re creating reciprocity.

We’re helping people discover one another.

We’re expanding each other’s visibility.

And we’re building relationships instead of simply collecting links.

Before You Build Backlinks, Fix Your Foundation

There’s another important piece here.

You can have the greatest link-building strategy in the world, but if your own website and digital presence are confusing, you’re building on shaky ground.

Maria recommends getting the basics in place first.

Your website should clearly communicate who you are, what you do, and what you offer. Your site structure should make sense. Your business information should be accurate and consistent. And you should understand which products or services you’re actually trying to grow.

Then you can ask:

Who do we want to get in front of?

Because random visibility isn’t necessarily useful visibility.

I would much rather have my business seen by 100 of the right people than 10,000 people who will never become customers, collaborators, partners, members, readers, or advocates.

A Simple AI Search Exercise for Your Business

Maria shared a smart exercise that almost any business owner can try.

Open your preferred AI search tool and step into the shoes of your ideal customer.

Instead of asking about your own business, ask the kind of detailed question your ideal customer would ask while searching for a solution.

If you’re a roofer, for example, don’t just ask:

Who are the best roofers?

Create the context your customer might actually provide.

Where do they live? What type of home do they have? What roofing material are they considering? What environmental conditions matter? What problem are they trying to solve?

Then look at the results.

But don’t stop there.

Look at the sources being referenced.

What websites appear?

What publications?

What directories?

What organizations?

What businesses?

Those sources can tell you something important about the digital ecosystem surrounding your industry.

Instead of asking only, How do I get AI to mention me?, start asking:

Where is AI finding the information it trusts enough to reference?

That’s a much more useful question.

Stop Spending $1,000 Worth of Time on a $1 Task

Our conversation about backlinks eventually led exactly where so many conversations on The Seed lead:

Time.

Maria talked about avoiding what she calls the busy maze—all those projects that make us feel incredibly productive without actually moving the business forward.

And I loved the question that came out of our conversation:

Are you doing a $1,000 task or a $1 task?

Entrepreneurs are often incredibly careful about where we spend money while being strangely careless about where we spend time.

We’ll hesitate over a financial investment and then spend 50 hours on something with almost no return.

But time is currency too.

If you spend 50 hours on a project, multiply those hours by the value of your time.

Suddenly that “free” project isn’t so free anymore.

Sometimes the higher-value activity isn’t another project.

It’s sending the email.

Making the introduction.

Building the relationship.

Following up with the person you met.

Pitching the podcast.

Asking for the collaboration.

Creating something worth referencing.

Or simply getting visible.

Motherhood Changed the Way Maria Uses Her Time

This conversation wasn’t only about SEO.

Maria is also a new mom, and becoming a mother has changed how she approaches her business.

Before her daughter arrived, Maria described herself as someone who loved structure. She could plan the next day’s tasks and move through them almost like cells in an Excel spreadsheet.

Motherhood changed that.

The plan still exists.

But now it’s a guideline instead of a guarantee.

Maria knows she does her best work in the morning, so she protects that energy when possible. She has also become much more aware of the value of the limited windows she has available to work.

That constraint has created something valuable:

clarity.

When time becomes precious, you become much more aware of what deserves it.

And that applies far beyond parenthood.

Businesses change.

Families change.

Health changes.

Responsibilities change.

Energy changes.

We change.

The goal isn’t to create a business that somehow remains untouched by real life.

The goal is to create one capable of adapting with you.

Protecting Your Time Also Means Protecting Your Energy

That conversation naturally led us to clients.

And specifically, the clients who take far more energy than the value of the relationship warrants.

Maria made an observation that many entrepreneurs will recognize: sometimes the clients paying the least are also the ones demanding the most.

We’ve probably all experienced some version of it.

You discount.

You overdeliver.

You make another exception.

You answer another message.

You give a little more.

And instead of creating appreciation, the relationship becomes increasingly draining.

There comes a point in entrepreneurship when protecting your time also means becoming more selective about who receives it.

That isn’t arrogance.

It’s understanding that your energy is a business resource.

Build Authority by Becoming Worth Referencing

One of my biggest takeaways from this episode is that good link building isn’t really about gaming a system.

It’s about building a business worth talking about.

Create useful information.

Develop genuine expertise.

Build strong relationships.

Collaborate with people in your ecosystem.

Become visible in places that make sense.

Give other people reasons to reference your work.

And when opportunities for backlinks arise naturally from those relationships, make sure you’re taking advantage of them.

Because ultimately, whether we’re talking about Google, AI search, podcasting, networking, partnerships, or business growth, we’re still talking about the same thing:

Being known enough by the right people—and trusted enough—that they want to point others toward you.

That’s a much stronger foundation than chasing an algorithm.

Learn More From Maria Katrina Johannessen

Maria Katrina Johannessen specializes in link building and helping businesses strengthen their visibility in Google and AI search.

She also offers a self-paced course for business owners who want to understand the foundations of link building and begin building their authority more intentionally.

Connect with Maria:
Email: [email protected]

Maria’s Link-Building Course:
How to Build Back Links

Maria’s Website:
https://linksandmaria.com/

Listen to This Episode of The Seed

In this episode, Maria and I talk about:

• What backlinks actually are
• Why Maria calls them “digital high fives”
• How backlinks can support your broader search visibility
• Why relevance matters more than simply accumulating links
• Link-building mistakes business owners should avoid
• Why relationships should come before random outreach
• Preparing your website before starting a backlink strategy
• Using AI search to research your industry’s trusted sources
• The difference between being busy and doing revenue-producing work
• Protecting your time and energy as an entrepreneur
• How becoming a mother changed Maria’s approach to business
• Why businesses—and business owners—have to evolve

Listen to the full episode:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-seed-growing-your-business/

Ready to Grow With Us?

The Seed is about building businesses, lives, and legacies that don’t have to look perfect to be meaningful.

If this conversation planted something in you—whether that’s the need to strengthen your visibility, rethink where you’re spending your time, build more intentional relationships, or simply give yourself permission to grow differently—I hope you do something with it.

And if you’re looking for a place to keep growing, The Patch by Dandelion-Inc brings women together around community, connection, accountability, and creating meaningful opportunities.

Because growth doesn’t have to be perfect.

It just has to keep moving.

Explore Dandelion-Inc, The Patch, courses, and upcoming opportunities:
dandelion-inc.com