SEOClerks

Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO



Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ

Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO

Backlinks have been at the core of Search Engine's ranking algorithms right from the early days of search engines. Google, as well as the other big search engines, had a problem with this for years, Google tried to fix everything with the Panda update and began to penalize domains that used unlawful techniques to gain backlinks and overall link authority.

In fact, to this day, backlinks remain one of the most important ranking factors in any search engine, including Google.
Shady tactics of gaining backlinks as well as plenty of abuse are still happening in the SEO community. This is why prominent publications started to implement the nofollow tag to their overall outgoing website's links, transferring zero link authority by doing so and ensuring spam and low-quality content is filtered out.

There is a massive industry behind backlink building, and a lot of people are willing to pay big bucks to gain those precious backlinks from trusted sources.

What is Google's answer to this problem?

Brand Mentions.
Both Google and Bing are currently taking into consideration brand mentions when it comes to rankings. Brand name mentions on websites as well as social media is noticed by Google and may result in a short-period rank spike to test your site on a certain number of queries.

This, combined with artificial intelligence learning machines like RankBrain will ensure the future of search engines results, especially Google.

How does SEO fit into this story?

Well, SEO specialists around the world will have an additional task: tracking brand mentions over the web. Why? Because it gives you the perfect opportunity to contact those mentions and ask for backlinks, that's why!

"Again with the backlinks?" - YES!

Backlinks aren't dead and buried just yet. Brand mentions may equal in a positive buzz that your domain may benefit from in the future, but for now, backlinks are still highly valuable and will generate a buzz on steroids.
I don't know precisely when backlinks will stop being a ranking factor, maybe in a couple of years, perhaps never. But what I'm sure about is that Google will eventually crack down on Black Had SEO and everything related to non-natural authority building.

Brand mentions vs. Backlinks - Which one is the most important? 

I would say backlinks. Even more, I suggest you do your best and apply your best outreach techniques into transforming as many organic mentions as possible into dofollow backlinks.

How can you increase the number of brand mentions?

- Encourage reviews as much as you can, especially on the third-party website and social media. Make sure you remain active and respond to negative reviews whenever they appear, but it may also be good to answer with thanks as well as information to the positive reviews.

- Social media content and ads. Brand exposure is good, use every tool at your disposal to improve your social media exposure. Respond to people mentioning your brand and try clearing out stuff when you have the chance.

- Influencers. A growing trend nowadays, influencers marketing is perfectly designed to increase your band mentions. Contact influencers in your niche and start those mentions flowing.

- Learn from your competitors. Track their movements and campaigns. Copy everything they are doing right and keep away from stuff that had negatively influenced them.

Comments

Please login or sign up to leave a comment

Join
TommyCarey
Whenever I do a consulting gig, I always talk to the owners about brand mentions as well as backlinks. They always ask for backlinks, because they brought me on to do SEO, but most of them don't really think about brand mentions in plain text form. Rankbrain will change everything online when it's tweaked just a few times, just like the normal algorithm, it will only get more specific to weed out all the websites that are using simple SEO software to build backlinks.

I don't think backlinks will be going anywhere soon, but they could all be devalued over time, which would give birth to a more natural branding optimization method that would be difficult to cut corners with. I'm sure Google and Bing already have a multi-step plan to devalue all the crumby websites, and the major algorithm updates, as well as RankBrain, are just the first few steps.

The search engines will always be evolving, just like our SEO techniques, and it's being pushed towards a more natural way to obtain links and less software built ones. I should know, I use to run software all the time and get top rankings, but then I stopped when I noticed it wasn't getting me to #1 anymore lol Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO I have a decent amount of SEO clients, so I have to make sure they have the best campaigns possible, so just like you, that's why I'm always testing and reading the updates that will affect my techniques and methods Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO

The point you hit on "Encourage reviews as much as you can" is a great way to boost your brand mentions Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO Since I work with a lot of websites, I always ask them to blog about their experience with our services, which usually gets me a backlink, but it also gets my domain name in the titles and gets me a brand mention for later on when it's more of a ranking factor Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO If we put in the work now, and get plenty of brand mentions, we will see a nice little spike in traffic when the algorithm begins to be tweaked and RankBrain starts to kick in a little more to follow mentions and not just time on site, click throughs, and backlink lol Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO


Great post, Cristian Brand mentions vs Backlinks in SEO


- Tommy



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Adesuwa08
This is a good opportunity for us who got a website/blog/forum, both brand mentions and backlinks in SEO are all cool, they have made website owning easier and much fun to be recognized, I prefer backlinks in SEO anyday and time. It is more helpful and draws that attention you want through the AdSense and other setups, not everyone might want brand mentions.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Judas2018
Brand or website mentions I think on many levels are more important than backlinks. Especially if you can get a mention on a show or program that directly caters to your audience or niche.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

centurion
I think back link is most necessary for any product on online world. If you have a website and have quality content- to product traffic for your website or for your product- white hat SEO_ off page optimization back link method will give you huge facilities. Like-

1) You will get traffic from all over worldwide search engine for the life time.
2) Your website rank on search engine result page will be increase.
3) Your website page rank will be change.

Thanks
Centurion



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Martinsx1
I very well agree with you on this, yes it's true that brand mention gives a good result but it doesn't last long like backlinks does in SEO. Brand mention would last for a while and it would fade away but as long as the internet exist and Google as well, backlinks guarantees eternity of such work.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

DenisP
You mentioned not being sure when or even if backlinks will ever stop being a ranking factor. I might not be an expert on the subject, but from what I've learned about SEO, I don't think we can expect backlinks to go away any time soon. I feel that they're going to remain an important deciding factor when it comes to ranking. This is because when you have good, reputable, organic backlinks, this is a clear indicator that you are running a noteworthy business. It's the digital equivalent of a word-of-mouth recommendation, which is obviously an invaluable thing.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

kaka135
There are so much to learn from this platform. I didn't know about brand mention, and I am glad you have mentioned it and explained it in an easy to understand manner. I like the encouraging review idea, but it might not be easy for me to get any reviews at the beginning. So I think improving the social media exposure might work better for me when I first start a blog or website. Thanks for sharing this!



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

vinaya
Recently I discovered that the mention of vinayaghimire.com is as important as http://vinayaghimire.com Google and other search engines will recognize vinayaghimire.com as a brand and http://vinayaghimire.com as a backlink.
I don't know yet which one is powerful, however, I will continue to do this as long I get a chance.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

flyinwashi682
I really dont know anything about Backlinks..

Could someone tell me what they are?



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

kgord
I think that your brand or logo would be much more important than backlinks. Your brand or logo in essence says who you are, and what you stand for. It is essential in any kind of business transaction where someone is going to buy from you. I would give this the most importn.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

Corzhens
Does it mean to say that a brand name can be equivalent to a backlink in terms of the search engine algorithm? What if I would write an article about dogs but there would be mention that soda is bad for dogs and Coke would be explicitly mentioned, will that serve as a sort of keyword or backlink for Coke? This is one evolution that I think will be for the benefit of established brands.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

DenialSom
You're right, actually searching for a brand mention is a good step in any off-page strategy. For the first time I heard about this from SEO agency engagement who were engaged in promoting my business. If your company is well-known in the market, you can get a lot of mentions in the market, and then turn them into backlinks for your site.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?

lindabancher
Great post, thank you so much, for me as for a student who studies SEO it is very useful.



Are you sure you want to delete this post?