Link Publishers joined global SEO community at brightonSEO 2026 to solve AI visibility challenges

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At brightonSEO 2026, Het Balar and Harshal Shah from Link Publishers met global search experts and revealed data-backed frameworks to protect brand visibility in generative AI search.

BRIGHTON, UK, 12 October 2026: Link Publishers, an AI-powered link building and digital PR marketplace, wrapped up its presence at brightonSEO 2026, held on October 8th and 9th at The Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK. Exhibiting at Stand 26, the company met hundreds of SEO professionals, agency owners, and enterprise marketers from around the world. They all kept coming back to one question: How do brands stay visible as AI reshapes search?

Link Publishers demonstrated that the answer lies in building verifiable online authority at scale. A critical foundation of that authority is strong off-page validation from relevant, credible publishers, which is exactly what the company’s marketplace provides – more than 114,000+ vetted websites across 40+ countries. Its AI engine then matches each brand to the most relevant publishers within that network, replacing slow manual outreach with data-driven precision. Through AI-powered link building, niche edits, and digital PR, brands can earn the authoritative footprint that keeps them visible across both traditional SERPs and AI search engines.

Driving these conversations on the ground, the team engaged directly with agency executives, search strategists, and enterprise marketing leaders throughout the two-day event. Their discussions centered on the core operational hurdles agencies face right now: How do agencies scale link building without risking quality? And how do brands ensure AI search engines actually cite them as trusted sources? 

“Search is no longer about raw backlink volume, it’s about strategic entity building,” said Het Balar, Co-Founder of Link Publishers. “When you use smart technology to check site relevance and publisher trust upfront, every placement actually strengthens your brand. That is what gives brands the clear, high-quality mentions they need to earn trust from Google and AI search tools.” 

This precision matters more than ever, because search behaviour is shifting beneath everyone’s feet. Generative AI models and automated summaries are reshaping brand discovery, so traditional rankings must now be paired with presence inside AI-generated answers.

That risk of losing visibility inside AI answers is backed by data. A recent study analyzed more than 3,500 digital PR links across 170 brands. It found that 43% of brand mentions were dropped when AI summarised the article. Placements with strong brand prominence proved 4.75 times more likely to survive. These findings reinforce why brands require targeted, high-relevance publisher mentions to preserve visibility across both classic search engines and emerging AI tools. 

“As search environments transition into generative answer platforms, brands need predictable, data-backed methods to establish online authority,” said Het Balar. “The brands that win will earn credible coverage that Google and AI engines trust. At brightonSEO, we discussed how agencies can build that authority at scale, without ever compromising on the contextual relevance that drives real performance.”

The two days in Brighton made three things clear for marketers: backlinks only work if they come from trusted, niche-relevant sites. To show up inside AI answers, your brand needs prominent, top-of-page mentions rather than buried links. Ultimately, getting featured on websites that actually speak to your target audience and industry is now what decides whether your brand stays visible on Google and AI search.

Armed with these insights, Link Publishers will continue expanding its AI capabilities, platform automation, and publisher verification frameworks. The conversations at brightonSEO reinforced a direction the company has held for some time: in an AI-shaped search landscape, trusted, relevant coverage is what keeps brands visible. 

About Link Publishers

Link Publishers is an AI-powered link-building and digital PR marketplace co-founded by Het Balar and Harshal Shah. The platform connects brands, agencies, SEO professionals, and publishers, helping businesses discover publishing opportunities and scale their link-building campaigns through technology-driven solutions. Learn more at linkpublishers.com.