Did somebody mention your brand?
Well, it’s good news, they mentioned you because probably they know and trust you.
However, there is one more opportunity, i.e. to convert these mentions to backlinks.
But for that, you have to know where your brand has been mentioned. In this blog, we will now free ways to find brand mentions, and we will know how you can reach out to the right person to convert them into links.
What Are Unlinked Mentions?
Unlinked mentions, also known as brand mentions or fresh mentions, happen when a website talks about your company, products, or services without adding a link to your website.
It’s like someone mentioning your name in a conversation, but not giving out your contact information. Weird though, but it happens around the web.
Usually, when websites mention a brand, they include a clickable link. This link takes readers to the brand’s website or a specific page. But with unlinked mentions, there’s no such link.
Why does this matter?
- SEO boost: Links from other sites can improve your search engine rankings.
- Traffic: Interested readers can’t easily visit your site without a link.
- Missed opportunities: Each unlinked mention is a chance to gain a valuable backlink.
Is converting those unlinked mentions to backlinks important?
The answer would depend on how you see this.
Let me give you some stats.
There are around 94% of the web pages on the web that don’t get any external links (source).
A study conducted by Siege Media identified that to get a high-quality link it will cost around $1000. And we are not talking about building links by paying, both are different concepts.
The cost of $1000 was the total cost marketers had to spend to reach out to big publications, finalize the topic and then do the research.
All of this costs money, both in terms of resources and time. Sometimes you have to go out of the box to do your research and pay vendors too.
These numbers demonstrate the stage of link building we are in & it is not easy to build links anymore.
Therefore converting unlinked brand mentions into links is one such opportunity you cannot ignore. It costs you nothing, you only have to find them and email the right person for a backlink.
So if you are a business that is just starting and SEO can be one of the main channels, it is of the utmost priority that you grab this opportunity with both hands.
Read More: How SEO Can Help You With Brand Awareness
Steps to Identify and Convert Those Unlikedin Mentions
You need to follow a series of steps to convert those mentions into links. But before that, you have to identify the brand mentions you can look for.
Often there will be only some variations of the brand name. For ex. Serpple is a brand. It can have various other brand name variations such as Serple, Serrple, serr ple.
You can even look at your search console for the same data.
However, sometimes unlinked mentions are to the real human too for ex. Founders, CEOs, CMOs or any famous personality that is linked to that brand.
In that case, you have to add more keywords to your list to search for them on web.
In our case, Adam White is the name attached to the brand Serpple and therefore there can be instances on the web where people give the context of the brand but only mention Adam there.
After finding all those relevant mentions you can have on the web, it’s time to find them.
Using Google Search To Find Unlink Mentions
Who is the best to find those unlinked mentions? Google of course, because it has already all the data.
But you just cannot simply search for your brand name and instantly get the results.
Rather you need to refine or filter out your searches using Google search operators which we are going to use below.
So, the first thing we do is we will use double quotes (“”) in the search engines. What this search operator does is give all the results that have the keyword in between those double quotes.
For example, if I search “google search”, the return results have this text mentioned atleast once on the page.
We will use our brand name here and that will help us to find sites that have mentioned us.
The next thing you need to do is to use another operator after mentioning your brand name. This operator will allow Google to stop returning results from our websites or websites that we don’t want to see in search results.
The way we do that is to put ‘-’ (minus) in front of the website we don’t want to get results from.
Let’s apply this to our previous example, we will search for “google search”-google.com
As you can see all the results we get are as per our declaration we did on search box. And no results are from google.com
You can even do this further, for example, since I see x.com in one of the results in top searches if for some reason I don’t want to see x.com also I can filter it down.
Here’s what you will get, we used the search operator “google search” -google.com -x.com
Coming back to my brand, let’s suppose we want to search for unlinked mentions of Serpple, here is something I would use.
“serpple” -serpple.com -facebook.com -linkedin.com -youtube.com -quora.com -g2.com
So what I am doing here is narrowing it down to real websites and cutting down all social media profiles or mentions on social media.
Again for your brand, you can remove as many websites as you would like from search results.
Here is what I get when this query is searched for.
Now as we talked about earlier where your brand name can be mentioned by any other variation of your name i.e. ser pple in place of serpple.
What you can do in that case?
Well, you can use “OR” operator in this case. What this would do is give you any results from Google that have either “serpple” or “ser ple”
This way you can look for websites that have already mentioned you but not linked to you.
The next step would be to look at each of them individually and filter out the websites that don’t have links back to your site.
Find the Right Person to Contact
Once you’ve identified the websites that have mentioned your brand without linking back, the next crucial step is to reach out to the right person. This step is essential to ensure that your request for a backlink is addressed by someone who has the authority to make changes on the site. Here’s how you can do it:
- Identify the Author or Contributor: Start by checking the article or page where your brand was mentioned. Often, the author’s name is displayed at the beginning or end of the article. Clicking on the author’s name might lead you to a profile page, providing more information, including a way to contact them.
- Use LinkedIn and Twitter: If the author’s contact information isn’t readily available on the website, social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter can be valuable resources. You can search for the author’s name or the website’s team members to find relevant contact details. Craft a concise and polite message explaining who you are, the mention, and your request for a backlink.
- Contact the Website’s Editor or Content Manager: If the article does not have a byline, or if the author isn’t responsive, look for contact information for the website’s editorial team. This is usually found on the website’s “About Us” or “Contact” page. Editors and content managers are often responsible for content updates and can assist with adding links.
- Use Email Finder Tools: In cases where contact information is difficult to find, you can use email finder tools like Snov. These tools can help you locate email addresses based on the website domain and the person’s name.
- Crafting Your Email: When reaching out, keep your email short and to the point. Introduce yourself and your company, mention the specific article or page where your brand was mentioned, and politely request the inclusion of a link to your website. It’s helpful to explain how the link can provide value to the readers, enhancing the credibility and resourcefulness of their content.
- Follow-up: If you don’t receive a response within a week or two, a polite follow-up email can be a good reminder. However, avoid being pushy; sometimes, editors and authors have busy schedules.
Usually, people will easily respond to you since they already know your brand. And this is what’s great about converting these mentions into links.
However, the 5th step in the whole process is crucial and for that, you need some good reason so that the person responds to you. This is what we will discuss in the next section.
How To Pitch to The Website Owners
The key here is to communicate the mutual benefits of including your link, ensuring the request feels both valuable and reasonable.
When reaching out, make it clear that linking to your website will benefit not only you but also the website owner and their audience. For instance, if your content offers additional insights, data, or resources related to the topic discussed, emphasize how this enhances the reader’s experience.
Often, it’s more effective to request a link to a specific internal page rather than the homepage. Identify a page on your site that aligns closely with the content where your brand was mentioned.
For example, if the mention is in a blog post discussing industry trends, suggest linking to your blog post or resource page that provides further analysis or insights. This targeted approach makes it easier for the webmaster to see the relevance and utility of the link.
Politeness goes a long way. Start your email with a friendly introduction, and express genuine appreciation for the mention of your brand. Below is an example wherein I reached out to a brand with a thank you message.
Compliment the article or content in a specific and authentic manner, highlighting what you enjoyed or found particularly valuable. This sets a positive tone and demonstrates that you’ve engaged with their content.
Be explicit about what you’re asking for. Provide the exact URL you’d like them to link to and suggest the anchor text, if appropriate.
Make it as easy as possible for them to implement the change. Also, thank them in advance for considering your request, and indicate that you’re available to answer any questions they might have.
How Can You Track Future Mentions of Your Brand
For the time being with this article, we worked on the mentions that were posted in the past. Supposing your brand is working on all the possible marketing channels, there will be instances in the future when your brand gets mentioned again.
Furthermore, many of those will be unlinked mentions. What you can do in that case is use a free Google service called Google Alerts.
This service allows you to track keywords (in our case these keywords are the brand mentions) on the web.
Not getting into the details of the tool, as the blog will get out of context. However, I have a plan to prepare a detailed article on this tool. So whenever I will make that new blog, I will link it here.
But the context of this tool is to monitor mentions in future. (if any)
Read More: How You Can Use ChatGPT for On-Page Optimization
Conclusion
Receiving mentions from well-recognized publications without a link is an acknowledgement of your brand’s credibility, but it’s only part of the potential benefit.
Ideally, these mentions should include a link to your website, enhancing brand awareness among a relevant audience and bolstering your SEO efforts.
While unlinked mentions still provide some recognition, converting them into backlinks is a powerful strategy, as backlinks remain a key off-page ranking factor for Google.
It’s a win-win situation, providing valuable information to your target audience while strengthening your site’s authority. This outreach should be treated as an ongoing effort, ideally conducted quarterly, to ensure you continuously capitalize on new opportunities.
While results can vary, you can expect around 15-20% of your outreach efforts to successfully secure backlinks, with an average implementation time of about a week once a publisher agrees.
Adam White
Posted on July 30, 2024
Adam White is a 20+ year SEO professional who has optimized over 400 websites, built and sold over 20 internet and SaaS businesses all with SEO as the main traffic source. Follow him on Twitter/X