James Dooley interviews Luis Salifa Herado about whether backlinks help websites rank for more query augmentation terms because modern search engines and LLM systems rely on entity connections rather than simple PageRank signals. Luis Salifa Herado explains that backlinks still matter but their role has evolved because they now help connect brand entities, products, services and audiences across the internet. The discussion highlights how semantic content on third party sources such as media sites, guest posts and digital PR strengthens brand understanding and generates branded searches. Luis Salifa Herado also explains that strategic content placement on platforms where the target audience already exists improves both SEO performance and business outcomes because user engagement, brand mentions and entity relationships strengthen the signals that search engines and LLMs use to understand a brand.