Unlinked Brand Mention Request Template

Unlinked Mention Request Sheet (fill-in)

When to use: One row per mention with the mention URL, relevance, supporting destination, editor contact, request, owners and a completion check.

Unlinked mention request sheet

One row per mention. Fill it before you write to anyone. Only rows marked request get an email.

Brand or asset tracked: [brand, product, study or person] - Sheet owner: [name] - Date: [YYYY-MM-DD]

Per-row detail (fill for every mention)

• Exact words: [the sentence that names you, quoted]
• Mention type: [brand name / data or study / product / person quoted / image or chart]
• Tone: [neutral / positive / critical]
• Already linked elsewhere on the page: [yes, where / no]
• Date found and date checked: [dates]
• Destination check: [returns 200, no redirect, matches the context]
• Request in one sentence: [Could you link X to Y?]
• Follow-up date and stop date: [one follow-up, then stop]

Next action

• Researcher: [name] - task: log mentions and fill relevance by [date]
• SEO or content lead: [name] - task: pick the supporting destination and approve the request by [date]
• Outreach owner: [name] - task: send one request and one follow-up, log the outcome by [date]

Completion check

• The mention is about you, not a company with a similar name.
• The exact words are quoted, so the editor knows where to add the link.
• The destination is the page that backs up the mention, not your homepage by default.
• The request is one sentence and asks for one change.
• Critical mentions and mentions that already link to you are marked skip.
• Every row has a status, an owner and a stop date.

Mention Relevance Check

When to use: Decide which mentions get a request and which to skip, and where to find new mentions.

Mention relevance check

Not every mention deserves an email. This check keeps your requests few, polite and easy to say yes to.

Where mentions come from

• Search your brand name in quotes and exclude your own site with -site:yourdomain.
• Search the title of your study, tool or report in quotes.
• Set alerts for your brand, product and founder names in a monitoring tool.
• Check articles that quoted your team in press or journalist responses.

Mentions also show up in AI answers. Run your domain in the AI Visibility Checker to see where answers name your brand and where they cite your site.

You can't ask an AI answer for a link. But the pages it cites can be good candidates for this sheet.

Pick the Supporting Destination

When to use: Match each mention type to the page that backs it up, and check that page before you ask.

Pick the supporting destination

Link the words the writer already used to the page that backs them up. That is the easiest request to say yes to.

Destination check

• Run the URL through the Redirect Checker. Use the final URL if it redirects.
• Make sure the page has no noindex and no broken internal links. A Website Audit checks your site for both.
• Use the canonical URL, with no tracking parameters.
• Check the page says what the mention says. Update the page first if the numbers changed.

Find the Right Editor Contact

When to use: Choose one contact per mention, use the channel the site asks for, and stay within Google's link rules.

Find the right editor contact

A short request to the right person beats three emails to a general inbox.

Contact rules

• One contact per mention. Write down where you found it.
• Use the channel the site asks for: form, editor email or corrections address.
• If someone asks you not to contact them again, mark the row closed and stop.
• Never offer money, gifts or a link swap for the link.

Google's spam policies list buying links for ranking and excessive link exchanges as link spam. If a site asks for payment, the link must carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" (Google on qualifying outbound links).

Request Emails (brand, data, image, follow-up)

When to use: Short scripts that thank the writer, quote the exact words and ask for one link.

Request emails

Thank them for the mention, point to the exact words and ask for one link. Pick the script that matches the mention type.

A. Brand or product named

Subject: Thanks for mentioning [brand] in [article title]

Hi [name], thanks for including [brand] in [article title]. It was good to see [one specific detail].

Could you link the words "[exact words]" to [URL]? It helps readers find us. No problem if not.

[Your name], [role], [brand]

B. Your data or study cited

Subject: Source for the [stat] in [article title]

Hi [name], thanks for citing our [study name] in [article title].

The method and full data are at [URL]. Could you link the figure there, so readers can check it? Happy to answer questions about the data.

C. Your image or chart used

Subject: Credit for the [chart] in [article title]

Hi [name], glad the [chart] was useful in [article title]. It comes from [URL].

Could you add a credit line with a link to that page? Thank you.

D. One follow-up (after about a week)

Hi [name], a quick follow-up on the link for "[exact words]" in [article title]. If it is not possible, no worries. I won't follow up again.

When a link goes live, log it in the Backlink Tracker Template. If a link to you was removed, use the Link Reclamation Template instead.

Spreadsheet Header (CSV)

When to use: A paste-ready header row and allowed values to run the sheet in Google Sheets or Excel.

Paste-ready spreadsheet header

Paste this row into cell A1 of Google Sheets or Excel, then split text to columns by comma. One row per mention.

mention_id,mention_url,site,page_title,exact_words,mention_type,tone,in_body,already_linked,found_date,checked_date,relevance_note,supporting_destination,destination_status,editor_name,editor_role,contact_channel,contact_source,request_text,decision,skip_reason,researcher,approver,outreach_owner,sent_date,follow_up_date,stop_date,status,live_link_checked_date

Allowed values

• mention_type: brand, data, product, person, image
• tone: neutral, positive, critical
• decision: request, skip, hold
• status: found, qualified, sent, followed_up, linked, declined, no_reply, closed

Sheet tips

• Sort by found_date. New mentions get the warmest replies.
• Filter tone = critical out of every export to your outreach tool.
• Highlight rows past stop_date that are not closed.
• Re-check linked rows later and fill live_link_checked_date.

Worked Example (fictional scheduling app)

When to use: Three filled rows for an invented shift scheduling app: one request, one linked study and one skip.

Worked example: Tessivane shift scheduling

Example only. Tessivane is an invented shift scheduling app. The sites, writers, URLs and dates are made up to show a filled-in sheet.

Tracked: Tessivane brand, the "Rota Fairness Report" study, founder Ines Varga - Sheet owner: content lead - Date: 4 Nov 2026

How the rows were filled

• Row 1: the list linked every other app, so a link to us helps readers compare.
• Row 2: the report page was checked first. The figure in the article matched it.
• Row 3: a forum reply is user content, so no request was sent.
• Also skipped: a review that criticised the mobile app. The support team replied on the point instead.

Why this works

• Each request names the exact words to link, so the editor needs one minute.
• The study mention points to the method page, which backs up the figure.
• Critical and user-generated mentions were left alone.

Want help building a mention-to-link process? Book a free consultation with Anatolii Ulitovskyi.