There was a time in ancient internet history when backlinks were the golden trophy everyone was hunting down.

The louder your backlink profile looked, the stronger you would be in the rankings.

Simple, clunky… sort of like using a hammer on every job, even when you needed a screwdriver!

As a leading expert in the field, the team at SEO Perth Experts has seen the focus shift from quantity to context.

Now, search not only looks at who links to you, but who mentions you, how they mention you, and whether your brand fits into the common clusters of topics in that context.

A bit healthier than the backlink arms race, and much better for businesses that truly want to grow trust with identity.

So, sure, backlinks still matter, but the spotlight is now on factors that feel much more human: mentions and entities.

Quite a radical shift, huh? Well, we’ll break it down in terms you understand and that helps your business move the needle!

Why Search Engines Lost Their Love for Backlinks

Backlinks were the “vote of confidence” search engines used to hold on to. If 500 sites linked to you, you must be important, right? Well, that was until everyone found out how to game it.

Link farms, spam blogs, shady marketplaces, there was a whole cottage industry around tricking search engines.

But search engines got wise. And once they did, backlinks alone wouldn’t cut it anymore.

A link says, “Here’s a reference.”

A brand mention says, “People actually know who you are.”

And that’s a whole different level of proof.

Even without a hyperlink, a mention connects your brand to topics, industries, locations, problems, and solutions, which are things that real people care about. Search engines absorb them like puzzle pieces strewn across the internet. Once enough pieces can be found, the full picture can be seen.

It’s the difference between being linked and being recognised.

And recognition is what drives rankings today.

The Concept Search Engines Use to “Understand” Stuff

Search engines don’t look at the internet as pages of text. They look at it as clusters of entities, names, places, products, industries, people, ideas, all linked through relationships.

Your brand is an entity.

Your industry is an entity.

Your services are entities (even if we’re not naming them here).

Your location, partners, tools, methods – all entities.

When search engines connect your brand to other known entities, you become hugely credible. Now you’re not just an arbitrary site. But a known entity within an ecosystem of a specific topic.

Think of entities like characters in a book. They never exist in isolation. They always relate to others. Put some depth into your characters? You’ve got a convincing story.

Brand mentions are one of the simplest ways to forge these bonds, hence why they’re even surpassing backlinks as signals that really matter.

A Mention Without a Link Still Counts (Sometimes Even More)

There’s this dated school of thought that if someone mentions your business, but no one links to it, it’s more or less wasted. Sort of like being invited to a party, but no one tells you when it’s happening.

Well, that notion is so yesterday.

A mention without a link can:

• Link your brand to a topic
• Reinforce your association with an industry
• Indicate that people discuss you organically
• Add authority without a hyperlink

Search engines absolutely read those mentions, parse them, and file them in their big knowledge graph brain.

A link is a door.

A mention is a whisper.

Search engines hear both. They’re just listening for different stuff.

Why It’s More Important Than Ever for Your Brand to Be Talked About by Humans

People trust what other people say. Even if someone occasionally mentions your business in a forum or random social feed, it plants a seed in the mind of someone new. “Oh yeah, I’ve heard of them before.” Recognition. Awareness. Trust. Search engines treat those mentions the same way.

If your name keeps creeping up like:

• “I used this company for a project, and it worked pretty well.”
• “Has anyone tried them? I’ve heard decent things about ’em!”
• “This brand kept popping up in discussions lately.”

… then your business isn’t just existing quietly, it’s part of the conversation. You’re relevant. You’re part of the buzz.

And search engines pick up on those like crazy. Each one is like a subtle nudge that goes “Hey, you should pay attention to them!”

And the best part? It’s almost impossible to fake consistent mentions. Which is exactly why Google trusts them so much.

Google’s Knowledge Graph: The Big Reason Mentions Matter So Much

The Knowledge Graph sounds much like something that belongs on Star Trek, but it’s basically just a huge map of things connected to other things.

Which means it decides what’s relevant, credible, and how different pieces of information are connected.

If your brand keeps popping up,

• Next to topics in the industry
• Next to the problems your audience searches for
• Next to related tools, methods, or outcomes
• Next to the locations you operate out of
• Next to your competition

You’re strengthening your presence inside that map.

Like being introduced to someone else at a party. “Oh, this is the business I was talking about”. Suddenly you’re being talked about too. More people are aware of who you are. And their friends know you, too. And their friends.

Search engines work this way, too.

Backlinks? Might be nice.

Mentions? They fill in the picture that backlinks can’t paint.

Why Entities Make Content Ranking Fairer for Growing Businesses

In years gone by, major companies earned backlinks like crazy because everyone linked to them. The rich got richer.

Entities and mentions level the playing field.

You no longer need a massive backlink profile to play ball. If your brand is mentioned consistently in the right places, recognised in context, and connected with known topics, you can still rank strongly, sometimes even stronger than the big players!

Small businesses actually get a chance for visibility.

How a Digital Marketing Company Helps You Win the Kinds of Mentions That Matter

Let’s be real for a second: real mentions take more skill to generate than links did. Links are a purchasable commodity. Genuine conversations about your company are not.

A digital marketing company can help you get a presence that people actually want to talk about. This includes:

• Creating actual content worth mentioning.
• Creating materials that spark conversation.
• Putting brands within the digital spaces these people already frequent.
• Creating messaging that’s compelling enough to repeat and get talked about.
• Cementing the presence of brands in multiple platforms so that they can be recognised.
• Encouraging communities to share, react, interact and participate.

Mentions don’t happen. They happen as an acknowledgement of your visibility, credibility, personality, and value within digital spaces, and these are the things an agency can help you build.

The Snowball Effect: Mentions Can Really Build Once You Start Getting Them

When a brand starts getting talked about, it tends to snowball quite quickly.

First, you’re referenced on one platform.

Somebody else saw that and added you on their site as a reference.

Some local joint, blog or business then quoted something you said.

After that, your name gets brought up in a local community engagement group.

And all of a sudden, your brand is part of the digital fabric.

That’s the momentum that search engines love. It proves you’re a real part of your industry, not a wallflower waiting for a crawler to stumble upon you.

Brand mentions send out a ripple of visibility that backlinks alone rarely achieve.

Brand Mentions Help Your Business Build Trust Faster Than Backlinks Do

People trust things they recognise. It’s human nature, and search engines know this.

Backlinks? Not always a sign of trust. Some are paid and formed in a shady part of the internet. Others are from outdated content or a random blog.

But those little mentions? They’re a show of genuine relevance. People mention things they recognise and talk about brands that they believe have something to offer.

They’re little allusions of faith, not strictly in your content, but in your character as a business. That, inadvertently, gets reflected in your rankings because trust is literally in the mainframe now. There is no escaping it.

Practical Ways Companies Can Cultivate Brand Mentions (Without Link-Begging)

You can’t make people talk about you. But you can make it easy for them to want to.

There are a few things companies do that often make them “mentionable”:

• Tell stories people want to repeat. People love sharing things they feel they can relate to, things that surprise them, things that help them.
• Join conversations in the industry. Once you show up a few times, they’ll start referencing you naturally.
• Give new insights. Not someone’s same old recycled advice. Something with flavour. Something real.
• Make your messaging clear. If people can tell what you do in one sentence, the higher the chances are that they’ll mention you correctly.
• Show your personality. If a company sounds human, people will talk about it.
• Give your community a reason to talk. Why should they mention you?

None of these sounds aggressive. They’re just smart ways to get talked about organically.

The Future of Rankings: Recognition > Links

If search is headed where it seems to be headed, and all the signs say it is, recognition is more important than volume.

Search engines want to reflect human thought in how they rank, and they want to reward brands that participate meaningfully in their industry, not brands that have collected links like fridge magnets.

Mentions of your brand and entity associations are a digital form of reputation building. They tell search engines:

• “This brand is known.”
• “This brand is discussed.”
• “This brand belongs here.”

That’s the kind of signal that no amount of backlinks could ever imitate.

What All This Means for Businesses Right Now

If you’re a company currently trying to increase your visibility, don’t make the mistake of thinking, “if I get more backlinks, then I’ll be set.” You’ll just waste energy, money, and time, and you’ll lose out on your biggest opportunities.

Instead, focus on recognition and relevance.

• Let people talk about you.
• Give them reasons to.
• Be part of conversations.
• Show them what you know.
• Make your brand feel like a presence, not a billboard.

This is not about nailing the algorithm anymore. This is about your rightful space in digital conversations.