an unlinked brand mention is a page that names you without linking to you. they are worth finding because the writer already knows you, but most are not worth an email. when we audited our own brand, 11 of 14 pages mentioned crawlgraph without a link to our site, and only 5 of those looked made by a person. the job is mostly sorting.
if a page used to link to you and the link broke, that is a different job, covered in link reclamation. for the other ways to earn links, see how to get backlinks.
- Find pages that name you. Search your brand in quotes, exclude your own site, and repeat for product names and common misspellings.
- Check for a link. Open each page and look for a link to your domain in the rendered page, because raw html can miss links added by javascript.
- Sort by who made the page. Separate pages written by a person from generated directory pages and scraped copies.
- Ask only where a reader benefits. Write to the page owner, quote the sentence, and suggest the exact page that matches what they describe.
- Record the outcome. Log the date, the answer and the final link status, then recheck any link you win.
what we found when we audited our own brand
on 30 october 2026 we ran an exact-match search for “crawlgraph” in dataforseo's content index, which returned 21 pages on other sites. we then opened each one in a browser and looked for a link to crawlgraph.com. 5 pages could not be read and 2 showed no visible mention, which left 14.
- what we found: looks made by a person, no linkblog posts, a report, tool docspages and what we would do: 5 pages: worth a look
- what we found: generated listing, no linkregistry pagespages and what we would do: 5 pages: skip
- what we found: scraped copy, no linka copy of our own postpages and what we would do: 1 page: skip
- what we found: generated listing, with a linkalready linkingpages and what we would do: 3 pages: no action
so 79% of the mentions had no link, which sounds like a lot of missed links. after sorting, there are only 5 we would even consider asking about, and 3 of those are on one site. the most useful finding was that an agency had written a full post about us with no link to us. a brand alert alone would have shown that as one more mention among 14.
how to find unlinked mentions
none of these methods finds everything, so use more than one if the brand matters to you.
- exact-match search. try
"yourbrand" -site:yourdomain.com, then repeat for product names, founder names and common misspellings. this is free and works for any brand with a distinctive name. - alerts. google alerts can flag new pages that use a phrase. it is a light way to catch mentions as they appear, but it won't find older ones.
- a content or mention index. paid tools search their own indexes, and the results differ by provider, as backlink indexes do.
- your own referrers and support inbox. people who write about you often turn up there first.
a common or generic brand name makes this harder. add a word from your category to the search, such as "yourbrand" software, and read each result before you log it, so you know what the page actually says about you.
how to check whether the mention links to you
search results do not tell you this, so open the page. find the mention, then check whether the name or anything near it links to your domain. record the exact url and the date, because pages change.
use the rendered page, not the raw html. in our audit, one directory showed two links to us that were missing from its raw html, because they were added by javascript. also note where a link does go: a mention can point to a github repo or a directory listing rather than your site. in our audit, one research report cited a directory listing of us. if the page already links to you and you want to confirm how it is treated, see how to check a backlink's source page.
which mentions are worth asking about
use the first question below as a filter. if nobody wrote the page, there is usually nobody to ask, and possibly no reader to help.
| page type | what to do | why |
|---|---|---|
| article written about you or your category | ask, and suggest a specific page | a person chose to name you, and a link helps their readers |
| list or comparison that includes you | ask, and offer a correction if anything is out of date | a link is normal in this format, and accuracy helps them too |
| tool or documentation that uses your product | ask only if you have a useful page for its users | you may have a better reason to talk than a link |
| generated directory or listing | skip, unless it has a submission form you can use | there may be nobody to write to, and little reason to want it |
| scraped copy of your own content | skip, and check that your original is the one indexed | a request is unlikely to reach anyone |
a nofollow link can still be worth having when the page has real readers, so don't reject a site for that alone. if you want more detail on judging a linking site, see how to judge backlink quality.
how to ask for the link
you are asking for a small favour from someone who has already been generous. the best version is short, specific and easy to decline.
subject: small addition to [their page title] hi [name], thanks for mentioning [your brand] in [page title]. the line is: "[the exact sentence]" readers who want to try it have to search for us. if you'd like to make that easier, this is the page that matches what you describe: [exact url] no problem if you'd rather leave it as it is. [your name], [role] at [company]
three things tend to spoil these emails:
- implying they made a mistake. an unlinked mention isn't an error, and you can't claim a link was removed unless you can show it existed.
- linking to your homepage by default. suggest the page that matches what they describe.
- offering payment for the link. google's spam policies list exchanging money for links as link spam.
keep a simple record
a spreadsheet is enough, and it stops you asking the same person twice. rerun the search on a schedule that suits how often you are mentioned, then recheck any link you win. backlink monitoring covers that part.
url,found_via,found_on,page_type,written_by_a_person,mentions_brand,links_to_us,links_elsewhere,contact,decision,asked_on,outcome https://example.com/guide,exact-match search,2026-10-30,editorial,yes,yes,no,no,[email protected],ask,, https://example.org/tools/yourbrand,exact-match search,2026-10-30,generated directory,no,yes,no,github,none,skip,, # fictional rows: replace with your own
mentions are one source of link prospects. to find sites that link to your competitors but have never mentioned you, try a link gap analysis. crawlgraph's version needs an email and returns the first 5 gaps for free, at domain level from a named common crawl snapshot.
frequently asked questions
faq
what is an unlinked brand mention?
it is a page that names your brand, product or founder without a clickable link to your site. the reader knows about you but has no direct path to you, and link data will not show the page as a backlink, which is why these mentions are easy to miss.
are unlinked brand mentions worth chasing?
only some of them. when we audited our own brand, 11 of 14 pages mentioned us without linking to crawlgraph.com, but only 5 looked written or maintained by a person. the rest were generated directory pages or a scraped copy of our own post. ask only where a reader would benefit from the link.
do unlinked brand mentions help seo?
nobody outside google can say how much. google publishes no statement that a plain mention works like a link, so treat any ranking benefit as unknown. the benefits you can observe are that readers meet your brand, and that a mention can turn into a link when you ask.
how do i find unlinked mentions for free?
search your brand in quotes and exclude your own site, for example "yourbrand" -site:yourdomain.com. then open each result and check the page for a link to your domain, using the rendered page where you can. google alerts can flag new pages, though neither method finds everything.
how do i ask for a link on a brand mention?
write to the person who owns the page. quote the sentence that names you, give the exact url you suggest, and explain what a reader gets from it. keep it short, do not imply they owe you anything, and accept no for an answer.
documents crawlgraph backlink workflows, open-data methods, and the limits of each report.
plus one when a new common crawl release lands. that is all.