If you build links from existing coverage, you need to find mentions where a link would help readers find the business or resource described. Brand Unlinked Mentions finds indexed pages that name your brand and contain no observed outbound link to any of your tracked owned hosts. Pages on your own hosts are excluded.
How the missing-link test works, and where it misleads
The report searches brand names in the stored title or body. The missing-link test checks the stored outbound links across page sections and link types.
That produces a specific false negative worth knowing about. A link in navigation, a footer or a comment excludes the page, even when the article's reference to you is unlinked. So a page you would want in this list can be absent from it because something unrelated on that page links to you.
The practical consequence: this report finds a good list rather than a complete one. If you know of a mention that should appear and does not, check whether the page links to you somewhere other than the article body.
Review the reference before requesting anything
Open Details to read the stored text and confirm which business is named. An ambiguous company name will match other organizations.
Then inspect the current page. The report describes the page as it was collected, and the publisher may have added a link since. Asking for a link that already exists tells them nobody looked, which costs more than the link is worth.
Choose the destination deliberately
If a link is still absent, identify the destination that would help the reader. A homepage link is not automatically the best one.
A mention of an original study should point to that study. A reference to a product specification should point to the specification. A mention of a specific feature should point to the page describing it.
This matters for the response rate as well as for the reader. Linking a named study to the study helps readers find the source. A homepage link does not provide the same information.
Which rows to leave alone
Not every unlinked mention should be pursued.
- An unfavorable mention. A link makes a negative reference more findable and more useful to a reader deciding against you.
- An incidental mention in a list of twenty companies. The request is not worth the relationship it spends.
- A page nobody maintains. If the site has not published in two years and the byline belongs to someone who has left, no email will be acted on.
Use the correct collection
Prospect Index and News Index are separate tabs. There is no search-result tab for this test, because a title and snippet do not establish what outbound links a page contains.
Keep all your owned hosts in the campaign
This is the setup mistake that produces a misleading list. If an owned host is missing from the campaign, a page that already links to that website appears as an unlinked mention.
Include every host you own, including alternative domains, regional sites and any subdomain that carries content, before working the report.
Why this list is worth working first
The publisher has already decided your business is worth naming, in something they chose to write, without being asked. What remains is a small mechanical request rather than a pitch, and the response rate reflects that.
It produces a steady trickle rather than a transformation, limited by how often you are written about. Its value is the ratio: the placement exists, the publisher knows you, and the request takes three minutes.
Before writing the request, verify the current page and explain why the selected destination helps its reader.
See working the list, mentions, links and what to ask for, or Brand Link Gap.