WE NOW KNOW THE #1 RANKING FACTOR FOR AI AND LLMS, THE DATA

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Contextually relevant backlinks had the strongest correlation with AI rankings across 17 AI search channels. For GPT-6 Astra, the correlation averaged 0.57 across industries and was positive in all 100. Unlinked brand mentions also correlated with rankings at 0.41 compared with 0.55 for total backlinks. The findings suggest prioritizing links and coverage from relevant industry sources over simply increasing backlink volume.