Why online mentions matter more and more * Anna Bruno

For many years, when people talked about SEO, the question was almost always the same:how many backlinks were you able to get?It was a legitimate question. For a long time, hyperlinks represented one of the main signals used by Google to evaluate a website’s authority. The more links a page received from sites considered reliable, the higher the chance that page would achieve a good ranking in search results.

Summary

For years, the work of many professionals focused precisely on this goal. Getting backlinks was almost synonymous with doing SEO. Digital PR was often evaluated based on the number of links acquired, while press releases, articles, and mentions seemed to have value only if accompanied by a clickable link.

Today, that scenario hasn’t disappeared, but it has profoundly changed. Google has changed. Users have changed. The way we consume information has changed. And above all, the tools we use to find it are changing. The arrival of generative artificial intelligence, AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search, Gemini, Perplexity, and other conversational engines is altering the very concept of online authority.

For this reason, talking exclusively about backlinks risks being limiting. There is a much broader ecosystem made up of reputation, trust, consistency, and digital presence, where even simple online mentions are becoming increasingly important.

Attention: this does not mean that a mention without a link is automatically a direct ranking factor. That would be an oversimplification. However, it does mean recognizing that Google and, even more, AI systems are learning to understand the context in which a brand is mentioned, the quality of the sources talking about it, and how consistently that reputation is built over time. It’s here that Public Relations and SEO truly begin to intersect.

From PageRank to Brand Authority: how the concept of authority has changed

To understand why online mentions are becoming so important today, it’s useful to take a step back. When Google was born, its revolutionary element was the PageRank. In very simple terms, the search engine interpreted each link as a kind of vote of confidence. If many authoritative sites linked to a particular page, that page was more likely to be considered relevant. That model worked very well for years and helped build Google’s success. At the same time, however, it also led to numerous abuses: artificial link networks, exchanges, backlink purchases, and strategies aimed solely at manipulating the algorithms.

Over the years, Google has gradually refined its ability to interpret link quality, starting to look beyond just the number of links received. In parallel, the way people use the web has also changed. Brands have started to be present simultaneously on websites, blogs, news outlets, social networks, podcasts, videos, professional platforms, and industry forums. Digital reputation stopped depending on a single element and became the result of multiple signals.

Today, talking about authority means talking about an ecosystem. An authoritative company is not just the one that receives the most backlinks. It’s the one that is talked about by reliable sources, that produces content recognized as useful, that is mentioned in contexts consistent with its sector, and that builds a credible digital presence over time.

Authority is no longer just a technical matter. It’s a matter of reputation.

What do we really mean by online mention

When we talk about online mentions, many people automatically think of backlinks. In reality, the two concepts do not coincide. An online mention is any reference to a company, a professional, a brand, a product, or an organization published on the web, regardless of whether or not there is a hyperlink.

It could be a news article, an interview, a review, a podcast, a citation in a blog, a technical insight, or even a discussion on a specialized platform. Naturally, there are important differences. A mention accompanied by a link still has concrete SEO value because it directly contributes to the network of links that Google uses to explore and interpret the web.

A mention without a link, however, plays a different role. It doesn’t transfer PageRank but helps build an informational context around the brand. If a company is frequently cited by authoritative sources, in a consistent and relevant way, that presence helps strengthen its overall reputation. For this reason, in recent years, more and more professionals are starting to consider Digital PR not only as a tool for gaining visibility but as a fundamental element in building brand authority. I already discussed this in the article dedicated to what Digital PR for SEO is and why it is so important, but today the topic has broadened even further. PR is no longer just about getting coverage: it helps build an organization’s digital reputational assets.

Why not all mentions are equal

Saying that online mentions matter more and more doesn’t mean all mentions have the same value. Here again, it’s important to distinguish. A casual, generic citation published on a low-authority or off-topic site does not carry the same weight as a mention featured in an in-depth article published by a recognizable and sector-relevant source.

Context is decisive. If a hotel is mentioned by a travel publication, a sector portal, a reputable travel guide, or a magazine specializing in hospitality, that mention helps strengthen its positioning. If a winery is mentioned in an article about food and wine tourism, in a territory guide, or in an in-depth feature dedicated to local wines, the citation adds meaning. It’s not just about presence: it’s about semantic relationships.

This is a crucial point. Today, it’s not just about being mentioned. It’s about being mentioned in the right place, in the right context, alongside the right concepts. This is where PR, SEO, and content marketing increasingly overlap. A good online mentions strategy doesn’t aim to have people “just talk about you” in a generic way. It aims to build coherent associations: brand and sector, brand and territory, brand and expertise, brand and target audience.

Entity SEO: when the brand becomes a recognizable entity

One of the most interesting aspects of the evolution of SEO concerns the concept of entity. In the past, we mostly focused on keywords. Today, search engines are increasingly trying to understand people, companies, places, products, organizations, and the relationships between these elements. A brand is therefore not just a name written on a page. It can become a recognizable entity within the web’s informative ecosystem. For this to happen, however, there must be a consistent and repeated presence over time. The brand needs to be mentioned, connected to certain topics, associated with credible sources, and described in a consistent way across multiple channels.

Online mentions help precisely in this direction. They contribute to strengthening the context around a name. They help search engines and intelligent platforms understand who you are, what you do, which sector you operate in, what topics you’re connected to, and how present you are in relevant conversations.

It’s not work that can be built in a week. It’s a long process, made of content, relationships, editorial consistency, media presence, and reputation. And that’s one of the reasons why PR is once again becoming central, even in a modern digital strategy.

The new role of Digital PR

For a long time, PR was seen mainly as a visibility activity: getting press releases published, securing media coverage, gaining space in the media. Today, this view is far too narrow. Digital PR is about building authority, not just exposure. This is even more true in fields like travel, food, and hospitality, where reputation has a direct impact on customer choice. A restaurant, a farmhouse, a hotel, a destination, or a winery do not just sell a service. They sell trust, experience, credibility, and desirability.

In this sense, an authoritative mention can have a much deeper value than a simple online appearance. It can strengthen positioning, support SEO, fuel owned content, improve brand perception, and generate new points of contact with the audience.

I explored this approach further in the article on how to use Digital PR in travel and food and in those dedicated to Digital PR for restaurants and agritourisms. However, the point remains the same even outside these sectors: PR today should not be seen as episodic activities, but as an ongoing lever to build authority.

PR and content marketing must work together

An online mention works better when it doesn’t stand alone. If a company gets an authoritative citation but doesn’t have solid proprietary content to link that visibility to, it risks losing part of the value. Likewise, if a company produces excellent content but doesn’t work on relationships, that content may remain closed within its own site or channels. This is why PR and content marketing must work together today. PR amplifies reputation. Content marketing makes it stable, accessible, and in-depth. PR takes the brand into external conversations. Proprietary content allows for developing, clarifying, and consolidating those messages.

I’ve discussed this in more detail in the article PR and content marketing alone no longer work. Companies that are able to build authority today no longer think in silos. They don’t do PR on one side, SEO on another, and content separately. They build an ecosystem.

This ecosystem becomes stronger when every action fuels the others: an article on the website can become material for PR activity; a mention in a publication can strengthen a strategic page; an authoritative citation can become social proof; well-ranked content can make a media pitch more credible.

The role of artificial intelligence in new digital authority

The arrival of artificial intelligence makes this issue even more important. Conversational systems don’t just return a list of links like traditional search engines did. They synthesize, relate, interpret, and select information from multiple sources. This means that reputation distributed across the web becomes even more relevant. If a brand is mentioned in authoritative sources, if its content is consistent, if the available information is clear, and if its digital presence is strong, it is more likely to be recognized as a reference in a particular field.

We cannot completely control how AIs interpret and return information. What we can do is work on the quality of the information ecosystem built around us. And this comes from authoritative content, relationships, citations, consistency, and ongoing presence.

I have also covered this topic by talking about artificial intelligence in Public Relations and about ChatGPT for PR and the relationship between speed, relevance, PR, and artificial intelligence. Technology changes the tools, but it doesn’t erase the need for credibility. In fact, it makes it even more critical.

Why companies still get the approach wrong

Many companies still think with outdated logic. They believe doing PR means sending out a press release every now and then. Or they think doing SEO means getting a few backlinks. Or they believe simply launching a company blog is enough to build authority.

The problem isn’t using these tools. The problem is using them without a vision. A press release without a strategy remains just a press release. An out-of-context backlink is just a tactical action. An article published without an editorial plan is just an isolated piece of content.

The real question should be: what kind of authority do we want to build over time? In which conversations do we want to be present? Which sources should quote us? Which content can demonstrate our expertise? Which relationships can reinforce our reputation? This holds true for large companies, but also for startups, SMEs, professionals, and local businesses. In the article dedicated to PR for startups I explained how important credibility is in the early stages of a project. Today, that credibility is not built just with a good story, but with a coherent set of digital signals.

A practical example: hotels, restaurants, wineries, and destinations

Let’s take a concrete example from travel and food. A hotel that wants to position itself as an experiential property linked to the local area can’t just optimize its website for a few keywords. It needs to build a broader system of authority. It can publish content on its site about the local area, local experiences, cuisine, itineraries, and its hospitality philosophy. It can work with journalists, bloggers, creators, and industry media to secure qualified mentions. It can be cited in articles about destinations, slow travel, food and wine tourism, or independent hospitality. It can turn those features into supporting content, credibility proofs, and useful materials for communication.

The same goes for a winery. It’s not enough to say it produces quality wine. It needs to build a coherent story around the land, its people, its methods, the wine culture, and the experiences it offers. Mentions in food and wine media, guides, travel magazines, and industry portals all help strengthen that perception.

Similarly, a restaurant can use PR not just to gain visibility, but to be associated with a precise idea: local cuisine, research into ingredients, family identity, innovation, sustainability, local experience. When these associations are repeated by external sources, they become part of the brand’s digital reputation.

This is where online mentions become much more than occasional appearances. They become signs of authority.

How to build a mention strategy focused on authority

An effective strategy doesn’t start with the question “where can I get myself mentioned?” It starts from a deeper question: what do I want to be recognized for? This is the foundation of everything. Before seeking mentions, links, or press coverage, a brand must clarify its positioning. It needs to know which topics it wants to lead, which strategic keywords belong to it, which audiences it wants to reach, and which sources can strengthen its credibility. Only after this does it make sense to build a content and PR strategy. Proprietary articles demonstrate expertise. PR helps take that expertise outside the brand’s own channels. SEO makes everything more accessible, organized, and discoverable. Content marketing ensures continuity and depth. It’s not just a sum of activities. It’s orchestration.

This is also why a mention strategy shouldn’t be evaluated only by the number of publications obtained. You need to look at the quality of the sources, the relevance of the context, the consistency of the message, continuity over time, and the ability to strengthen the brand’s overall positioning.

Backlinks and mentions: it’s not a competition

At this point it’s important to clarify one aspect: it’s not about choosing between backlinks and mentionsBacklinks remain important. When they are natural, relevant, and come from authoritative sources, they continue to have significant value. The point is that today we can no longer reduce all off-site SEO to links. A brand can build authority through citations, interviews, reviews, collaborations, articles, podcasts, events, shared content, and editorial relationships.

A backlink is a signal. A mention is another signal. Editorial consistency is yet another. Reputation is the sum of all these elements. The real mistake is to continue reasoning as if a single indicator could explain everything.

The future of visibility will increasingly be tied to trust.

SEO is not becoming less important. It is becoming more complex, more cross-functional, and closer to strategic communication. It is no longer enough to optimize pages, build links, or publish content. Trust must be built. This trust arises from what we say about ourselves, but also from what others say about us. It comes from the content we publish, the sources that mention us, the consistency with which we cover a topic, the quality of the relationships we build, and our ability to be recognized as a reference in a sector.

For years we focused on links. Today we must build authority. And authority does not come from a single action, but from a system of consistent signals.

Conclusion

Online mentions matter more and more because the web is no longer just a network of links. It’s a network of meanings, relationships, contexts, and reputations. Search engines and AI platforms are trying to understand not only which pages exist, but who is credible, who is mentioned, who produces value, and who is recognized by others as an authoritative source. In this scenario, PR, SEO, and content marketing can no longer be separated. PR builds relationships and reputation. SEO makes that asset visible and structured. Content marketing transforms it into useful, accessible, and long-lasting content.

Companies that understand this shift will have a significant advantage: they will not only chase visibility, but also build trust. Because, in the end, the question will no longer be just “who links to you?” It will be: who talks about you, why do they talk about you, and how credible are you when you’re not the one telling your story? If you want to work on an integrated strategy of PR, SEO, and digital authority, you can request a free consultation.