Brand mentions are instances where your business, product, or website is referenced by name on an external site.
These mentions may or may not include a backlink.
While links have always been a pillar of SEO, mentions – sometimes called “implied links” – are increasingly influential in shaping a brand’s online reputation and visibility.
Historically, Google has acknowledged that brand mentions contribute to a website’s authority.
They can drive branded searches, improve click-through rates, and even factor into how Google interprets a site’s expertise, authority, and trust (E-E-A-T).
And now, with the rise of generative AI, these mentions are doing even more.
Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google’s AI systems don’t crawl websites like traditional search engines do.
Instead, they “read” and interpret massive volumes of text, building associations between words, topics, and brands. If your brand name appears frequently in positive, relevant contexts, the AI starts to associate your business with certain topics or industries.
That’s why brand mentions are so important. They act as signals to AI that your brand is trustworthy, authoritative, and worth recommending.
For example, if your company is regularly mentioned in connection with “best marketing tools” or “top link building services,” there’s a greater chance that ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews will include your brand in its answer when a user asks for recommendations in that space.
The quality, relevance, and sentiment of brand mentions matter just as much as their frequency. Mentions in respected publications, niche blogs, and curated listicles help reinforce your brand’s authority in the eyes of AI models.
In contrast, off-topic or low-quality mentions are less likely to be picked up—or worse, they could skew sentiment against your brand.
That’s why it’s critical to develop a strategy for building brand mentions that are both positive and contextually relevant.
Fortunately, many existing SEO tactics already contribute to strong brand visibility, but to truly thrive in the AI era, consider incorporating these specific strategies:
AI tools love structured content like “Top 10” lists and product roundups. These are often the first resources referenced when AI generates answers. Being featured in these types of articles increases the chances that your brand will be recommended by tools like ChatGPT or cited in Google’s AI Overviews.
Our dedicated Brand Mentions service is perfect for securing AI-influencing, SEO brand mentions and backlinks in contextually relevant listicles, reviews, and roundups.