If you've ever spent any effort researching SEO, you already know how important links are. In particular, backlinks add to your website's authority and importance, helping it rise in rankings. But what you might not realize is that a link to your page on a different website is not the only way to achieve these results. In fact, mere mentions of your company on other sites can be enough to increase your visibility in search results and direct traffic to your website. How does that work? And perhaps more importantly, what can you do to benefit from it?
What all constitutes mentions of your company on other sites?
A brand mention is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It is when someone names your business on another website but doesn't link back to your page. There are multiple situations when this might happen:
• Reviews: If a customer reviews your products on a reseller's page, they might mention your brand. They may also compare your brand to other brands in the industry in their reviews.
• Citations: When you list your website in a business directory or on a review and rating website, you'll inevitably mention the name of your brand. Usually, citations do link to your website. However, the link may be included separately from your brand name.
• Sourcing: If you've contributed to your field with surveys, research, or major innovation, others who use your data and results will mention your brand as the source.
• Other mentions: There are many different situations in which someone might mention your brand without linking to it. Most often, this is a benefit you get from social media - going viral could potentially generate thousands of mentions.
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| Social media posts are some of the most effective mentions of your company on other sites |
The importance of the mentions of your company on other sites
Ideally, you want other websites to link back to yours. This directs traffic to your page, increases your website's relevance and credibility in Google's eyes, and even increases your domain authority. So it's no wonder backlinks are one of the most popular strategies for growing your business today. But even without a link, mentions can be very useful for your company for several reasons.
Building awareness and visibility
One of the first things you need to do when starting a business is to increase awareness surrounding your brand. As your business grows, this gets easier because more people will know of you. But even then, there will always be potential customers who've never heard of your company. So you want to reach as many people as possible by spreading information about your business. Mentions are of great help here. People will read about your business; once intrigued, they'll seek you out on their own. This doesn't always happen the very first time someone hears about your business. But that's precisely why having more mentions matters - the more times people see your company name mentioned, the more likely they are to look it up.
Improving reputation
For some people, a mention on another website will be the first time they encounter your business, and we all know that first impressions matter. So it's important to cultivate positive mentions. These can help you improve your reputation and generate great leads. If someone reads multiple positive reviews of your brand, they're likely to get a good impression of it and give your business a chance.
Signaling importance to search engines
Just like backlinks, mentions can have a positive impact on your SEO. Google bots crawl and index vast amounts of content every day. A part of this process is "reading" reviews, citations, and content in general. If your business's name keeps showing up on different websites (and especially if it does so in a positive context), Google will take this as a sign that many people are enjoying your products or services. This makes it more likely that Google will "recommend" you by putting you higher on the search results pages for your niche.
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| Search engines factor in mentions when ranking websites |
Providing a foundation to build on in marketing
While mentions are rarely a part of it themselves, they can help you achieve some steps of your business development strategy. A mention can, for example, turn into a backlink. All you need to do is find a mention on another website and get in touch with the owner to ask him to add a link. It won't always work, but it's a start. Furthermore, you can build on the brand awareness that mentions creating. Use whatever you've become known for in your marketing to capitalize on it.
How to increase the number of mentions of your company on other sites
One off-hand mention is not really going to do much for your business. Instead, you want to get as many positive mentions as possible. But how can you affect whether someone else mentions you on a website that isn't yours?
1. The first thing to do is to build your citations. This is easy because, in most cases, you can create or ask for citations of your business yourself. Google My Business should be your priority, but local business directories and review websites like Better Business Bureau and Yelp are also important. Even if you're not sure about the importance of mentions, citations are great for your business. They increase your visibility online, provide accurate information to potential customers about your location, contact, and working hours, and perhaps most importantly, put you on the map and make you easier to find.
2. If you can, invest in relevant research. Do a survey, follow Google trends closely, or track your users' behaviour to learn more about what works in SEO and digital marketing. Then, publish your results. If you do something relevant enough for the industry, you'll quickly find people citing you and, in so doing, mentioning your brand.
3. Finally, be proactive and reach out. Send your products to influencers to review, encourage customers to talk about your business, and build a rapport with other web administrators so that you can write on their websites or ask them to mention you themselves. Simply asking people for help is surprisingly effective.
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| Being proactive is the key to increasing mentions and backlinks |
How to turn your brand mentions into traffic
Mentions of your company on other sites are great, but what you really want is traffic. So how do you get from one to the other? The first thing you need to do is make sure your brand name is memorable. That way, people will remember it from mentions. Then, match your website to your brand name, so when someone Googles you, they'll have no trouble finding you. Next, cultivate positive mentions. If you find negative mentions (especially in reviews), respond to them and find solutions the customer will like - this will help improve your reputation even if the initial comment was negative. Finally, turn mentions into backlinks. This is much more convenient for people than having to Google you from a mention. It also doesn't rely on their memory. They can just see your brand name and follow the link attached to it!
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