Offsite SEO In The AI Era: Links, Authority & Control Over Chaos (Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2025)

by Szymon Słowik

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Offsite SEO in the AI era: links, authority & control over chaos Chiang Mai SEO Conference 2025

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What era of search are we currently in?

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AEO, LLMO, AIO, GEO

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LMAO

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There’s no “new” Google. There’s louder Google.

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There’s no “new” Google. There’s louder Google. Google has is AI search engine for a decade; AIO just made it visible. What matters: are you legible to its semantics, retrieval, and quality systems? Same with LLMs: they pull from other documents → your offsite context.

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Systems reward clear entities, credible sources, clean authority flow, and satisfied users.

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FOMO FILTER step by step

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Does it improve semantics, retrieval, quality, entities, authority flow, or discoverability? New shiny thing?

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Does it improve semantics, retrieval, quality, entities, authority flow, or discoverability? New shiny thing? Yes: integrate into your foundation.

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Does it improve semantics, retrieval, quality, entities, authority flow, or discoverability? New shiny thing? Yes: integrate into your foundation. No: park it.

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https://datos.live/report/state-of-search-q1-2025/ Do you think users abandon Google and go to LLMs?

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ChatGPT is growing but...

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Search still runs the game!

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AI search/answer engines cannot exist without grounding

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Focus on SEO

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→ cheap → scalable → infinite Content in 2025

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Offsite signals matters more than ever

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→ backlinks → mentions → users → brand identity Offsite signals:

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backlinks mentions user behavior identity

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mentions

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→ correlation =/= causation → always more brand mentions than links → almost every link is a brand mention ( → strong brands are mentioned more often

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→ correlation =/= causation → always more brand mentions than links → almost every link is a brand mention ( → strong brands are mentioned more often

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→ correlation =/= causation → always more brand mentions than links → almost every link is a brand mention ( → strong brands are mentioned more often

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→ correlation =/= causation → always more brand mentions than links → almost every link is a brand mention ( → strong brands are mentioned more often

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Complementary systems mention link brand search

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Mentions → recognition Backlinks → authority Brand-related search → confirmation

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→ hundreds of links → no branded traffic → demotion HCU

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→ brand mentions → branded traffic → more “tolerance” for links

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Brand mentions alongside branded search make growing link velocity appear natural.

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If you could change an unlinked brand mention from a good source into a df backlink... Would you?

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df backlinks nf backlinks mentions

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mentions links context

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Random (irrelevant) links & brand mentions without the context can create the noise...

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Random signals Controlled signals

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LB tactic scalability control cost effect natural links random low low random digital PR low low high random link insertions medium medium high medium / risky PBNs medium high medium high / risky guest posts (cheap) very high medium low low / risky sponsored articles high very high medium depends on you

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WHEN DIGITAL PR IS OK?

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WHEN DIGITAL PR IS OK?

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WHEN NICHE EDITS ARE OK?

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WHEN NICHE EDITS ARE OK? → contextual → come with significant document update → come from a page with traffic and other quality metrics

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WHEN CHEAPER GUEST POSTS CAN BE OK?

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WHEN CHEAPER GUEST POSTS CAN BE OK? → If they index, and have limit of outgoing link → 2nd tier

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SPONSORED ARTICLES within real media, industry magazines, blogs

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Meal plan delivery in Poland

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Car rental service in Miami

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Should you buy links in 2026?

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Paid links let you control the game: link velocity anchor-text referring domains traffic DR, TF, AS... number of outgoing links parasite potential placement within the document predictable budget longevity social media shares additional internal links time on a homepage

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https://www.szymonslowik.com/link-building-sponsored-articles- reverse-engineering/ SEO Mastery Summit 2024

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https://www.szymonslowik.com/data-driven-link-building/ BrightonSEO 2024

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Don’t know where to buy articles?

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There are some systems that demote links because of geographical irrelevancy. But it’s not 0-1 metric. It’s all about the context. Deliver the right context and buy links from cheaper markets. Language? Location? ccTLD?

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AI OVERVIEWS HYPE

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Pick link placements already ranking in your topic Target long-tail → “query fan-out” style topics Think of AI Overviews as parasite SEO placement AI Overviews + sponsored aricles

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AI Overviews + sponsored aricles

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AI Overviews + sponsored aricles

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AI Overviews + sponsored aricles

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Google (AI), ChatGPT... → zero click searches

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→ focus on mid, bottom of the funnel (onsite and offsite)

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✅ How much does an SEO audit cost? ✅ SEO audit price ✅ How much does a website audit cost? source: surferseo.com

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source: surferseo.com

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source: surferseo.com

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It wasn’t a made up story! It was just an amplification

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https://seonotebook.notion.site/The-Detailed-LLM-Traffic-Dashboard-with-a-Two-Click-Set-Up-1e38c368519180f297dec82a4f959a2d

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Isn’t every piece of content marketing a form of LLM poisoning?

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Repurpose PBNs!

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Multiple models, different sources

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Reverse engineer from other brands

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Can’t get real wiki? Get a cheap one

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Can’t get real wiki? Get a cheap one

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Control your reputation → be ready for query fan-out

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LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, X, TikTok, Instagram, SlideShare, SpeakerDeck, Crunchbase, Clutch, Google Business Profile, Bing Maps, Yelp, TrustMate, TrustPilot, Vimeo, Quora, Reddit, iTunes, Spotify, Spreaker Foundational links: social media & directories

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Amplify your story!

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Video SEO Publish on YouTube tutorial videos chatGPT → canva bulk creation → animated slideshow Embed videos in sponsored articles Gain momentum on YouTube Connect multiple touchpoints on the web Infogrpahics? Pinterest? more...

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Use images (charts, infographics) within sponsored articles as backlinks

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Guest articles in industry magazines

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Press releases https://www.szymonslowik.com/buy-guest-post-links-why-how-and-where/

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AI tools love listicles (structured content)

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Incognito, VPN: UK

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Niche down to a relevant tier

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AI search → brand SERPs → ZMOT

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Branded search → critical touchpoint

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Pinned posts

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Highlighted stories

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Marketplace cannibalization → where branded search goes? → where users satisfy their intent?

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UTM in GBP Picked up by LLM Referral traffic GA4 → wrong attribution

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Links Mentions Listicles PBNs Guest blogging Sponsored articles Multimodal content Press releases Consistent brand signals Co-occurence with entities What works in 2025 and will work in 2026

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Follow smart SEOs who test, research and analyze patents Patents, Whitepapers, case studies → RAG Fuel your custom GPT with it Ask questions How to stay updated without FOMO?

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Thank you! https://www.szymonslowik.com/ https://takaoto.pro/en/ [email protected]