Brand mentions and link building in 2026: what still counts for Google and AI?

A brand mention is any mention of your company name on another website, with or without a link. Backlinks still count for Google in 2026. But now that AI search engines give the answer themselves and name a few sources along the way, it's less about how many links you have and more about how often and where you get mentioned.

That also changes how you look at link building. The old approach, as many links as possible for as little money as possible, now mostly brings risk. In this article, you'll read what mentions and links still get you, how to build them without tricks, and how to spot a link building agency that's worth its money.

What are brand mentions?

There are two kinds:

• Mention with a link: the classic backlink. A site mentions your name and links to your website.
• Mention without a link: your name appears in an article, a review, a forum post or a podcast description, without a clickable link.

For a long time, SEO was almost entirely about the first kind. The second is getting more and more attention, because both Google and AI search engines try to understand which businesses are known for what.

Do unlinked brand mentions count for Google?

Google doesn't say how much a mention without a link weighs. What we do know:

• Links remain one of the ways Google discovers and evaluates pages.
• The guidelines Google gives its quality raters ask them to look up the reputation of a website or business in independent sources, such as news articles, reviews and trade publications.
• Links you buy or trade to rank higher fall under Google's spam policies.

In other words: your reputation outside your own site counts, but nobody can tell you exactly what one mention is worth. Anyone who claims they can is selling something.

Why AI search engines look at mentions

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI features deal with sources in two ways. Language models learn from large amounts of text which names go with which topics. And when someone asks a question, AI search engines pull up current pages and pick a few sources from them to mention.

In both cases, it helps if your name shows up often and in the right context: in trade media, reviews, comparisons and discussions about your topic. A business that isn't mentioned anywhere is hard for a system like that to connect to a field. Want to know if that's already happening for you? Our article on AI search engines and tracking tools explains how to measure it.

Link building in 2026: what has changed?

Link building isn't dead, but the old version is. Three things are different:

• Fewer places to be seen. An AI Overview names a handful of sources. For many questions, an eighth position in the regular search results hardly gets seen anymore.
• Quality over quantity. One mention on a site that matters in your field says more than ten links from sites nobody reads.
• Context counts. A link in an article that's really about your topic fits how search engines and AI systems make connections. A link on a random page doesn't.

What is AI-driven link building?

When agencies talk about AI-driven link building, they usually mean they use AI to find opportunities, look up contacts and prepare emails. That saves time on the research. The risk is on the other side: guest articles written in bulk by AI and hundreds of nearly identical emails. That gets you placements nobody reads, and exactly the pattern Google's spam policies look out for. Use AI for the research, not as a replacement for the content or the outreach.

How to build mentions and links

1. Make sure there's something to talk about

Nobody mentions you without a reason. Your own numbers, a striking case or a well-founded opinion about your industry give journalists, podcast hosts and peers something to point to. That starts with a website with pages worth quoting.

2. Digital PR with a story of your own

Not a press release full of empty phrases. Once a quarter, pick one newsworthy topic, with numbers and explanation, and pitch it to a few trade media and blogs that really write about it.

3. Podcasts and interviews

Almost every field has its own podcasts. A conversation gets you a mention in the show notes, often with a link, that stays up for years. You don't have to be a well-known business owner to be invited; often it's enough to put yourself forward.

4. Industry communities

LinkedIn, industry forums and trade associations. Not to promote yourself, but to keep contributing something of substance. If you're useful, people will mention you on their own.

5. Reviews

Ask happy customers for a review on Google or an industry site. A review that says what you did for someone is also a mention: your name in the context of your field.

6. Guest articles on industry platforms

One good article on a respected industry platform does more than twenty placements on sites that only exist for links. Write for that platform's readers, not for the link.

7. Customers and partners

A line saying "website by …" in a customer's footer, a mention as a partner or a case on a supplier's site. Little effort, and exactly the kind of link that makes sense.

Stop thinking in terms of 'how many links per month'. That's a KPI from another era. Think in terms of 'how often do I get mentioned, in what context, and by which sources'.

Jesse Scherpen, owner of SharpClicks

Choosing a link building agency: five red flags

1. A guaranteed increase in your domain authority

Domain Authority is a score from Moz, not from Google. It says little about how visible you really are, and nobody can guarantee an increase.

2. A fixed number of links per month

Good placements are scarce. An agency that promises dozens of links a month gets them from networks you don't want to be part of.

3. No concrete examples

Ask for three recent placements for Dutch clients, with URLs you can open yourself. A good agency has those ready right away.

4. An extremely low price per link

A placement on a site with real readers takes time, and so it costs money. A few tens of euros per link almost always means a network of sites that only exist for links. Google ignores those, or they work against you.

5. Not a word about AI search engines

An agency that can't explain how it measures whether you get mentioned in ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews is using a yardstick from a few years ago.

Four questions to ask before you sign

• How will you take us from "a website with few links" to "a source that gets mentioned"?
• Which three placements have you landed in the past three months?
• How do you measure mentions in AI search engines?
• Can I talk to a current client?

How do you measure brand mentions?

• Google Alerts: free and basic. Set up an alert for your company name and variations of it.
• Brand24 or Mention: paid tools that track websites, social media and news.
• Ahrefs Brand Radar: handy if you already use Ahrefs.
• Search Console: look at how often people search for your company name. If you get mentioned more often, people also look you up more often.
• Manually in AI search engines: once a month, ask ChatGPT and Perplexity the same questions and write down who gets mentioned.

What not to do

• Buying links or mentions through networks or packages. It falls under Google's spam policies, and AI systems learn nothing from it.
• Signing up for business directories in bulk. One or two directories that people in your industry use, fine. A hundred unknown directories, no.
• Fake reviews or mentions you wrote yourself. People notice, and it costs you more trust than it gets you.

A plan for the next 90 days

• Month 1: take a baseline measurement. Where do you get mentioned now, in what context, and which sites link to you?
• Month 2: create one newsworthy piece with your own numbers or a case, and pitch it to five relevant trade media. Ask three happy customers for a review.
• Month 3: do one or two podcast interviews or guest articles, and measure again.

Conclusion

Backlinks aren't dead, but they're no longer the whole story. Search engines and AI systems look at who you are in your field, and they read that from where and how you get mentioned. If you invest in that with real content, you build something that lasts. If you keep buying links, you'll always be playing catch-up.

Want to know what this looks like for your business? Book an intro call.

What we can help you with

• AI visibility: making sure AI search engines mention your business, starting with a free article.
• Blog automation: content about your field every week that's worth pointing to.
• Websites: a fast, well-built site where mentions and links can land.

Frequently asked questions

What is a brand mention?

A brand mention is a mention of your company name on another website, for example in an article, a review or a podcast description. If there's a link with it, it's also a backlink. Without a link, it's called an unlinked mention.

Do brand mentions without a link count for SEO?

Google doesn't say how much they weigh. But Google does ask its quality raters to look up a company's reputation in independent sources, and AI search engines more often name businesses that get mentioned in their field. Count on mentions helping, without anyone being able to promise you an exact effect.

What is AI-driven link building?

Link building where AI helps with the research: finding opportunities, looking up contacts and preparing emails. That saves time. If you also let AI take over the guest articles and the outreach in bulk, you get placements without readers and you run a risk with Google.

Does link building still make sense in 2026?

Yes, if it's about quality. One link or mention on a site that matters in your field gets you more than a package of cheap links. Buying or trading links to rank higher falls under Google's spam policies.

How do you spot a bad link building agency?

By a guarantee on your domain authority, a fixed number of links per month, no concrete examples with URLs, extremely low prices per link and no idea how to measure your visibility in AI search engines.

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