Prominent newspaper covered my content but did not link

[reallygoodstuff]

Hi,

I've seen this question asked and answered by SEO's somewhere in the past but can't seem to find it.

A press release we created was covered in a  nice article by a very prominent newspaper, with a mention of us but no link.

The paper is so prominent that you hesitate for a second to write them and ask for the link, but of course, it doesn't hurt to ask.

One mistake I made was issuing the release but not really pointing it at a piece of relevant content besides our company web site. This is not part of the question but is a good tip fo' learning and growing - the information we released was highly compelling but we should have taken the time to create a beautiful, linkable asset on our site.

Anybody with advice on the best way to ask for a link? Is it asking the author? I assume I am not going to get this.

I think this article will be syndicated -- if it gets picked up elsewhere, do you think it's worth the time to ask those papers?

[TomRayner]

Regarding the syndicated content, not only do I think response would be even lower for those editors, but I don't think a link from a non-original, syndicated source would offer much SEO value.

I would approach the editor or author via social media initially, thanking them for the mention.  If you strike up a conversation, you can ask to contact them regarding a change in the article - which can then be the time to ask for a link.

That's one route to go down, but I don't think you'd have much success.  The outreach is rather forced/artificial, which usually results in poor response.  Get to know the editor/author over a series of communications, however, and opportunities may open up.  Then the next time they tweet for a few sources on your topic, hey presto - you've got content for them and a legitimate request to ask for a link if used.

It's worth noting as well that many newspaper editors I've spoken with have a simple directive not to link to external websites on their articles full-stop.

Furthermore, I don't think you should be too disheartened at all by the lack of a link.  The branding and PR effect of the mention will be very strong and you can also throw in a co-citation and lexical co-occurrence element into the mix.

There is a school of thought that Google is getting much better at making the connection between your brand and keywords should they be mentioned together on high authority sites - regardless if a link is present or not.  Should this prove to be more of a factor over the year(s), this mention will be very handy.

Here's some further viewing and reading on the theories, courtesy of (beardless) Rand and IAcquire:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/prediction-anchor-text-is-dying-and-will-be-replaced-by-cocitation-whiteboard-friday

http://www.iacquire.com/blog/its-not-co-citation-but-its-still-awesome/

Hope this helps.

[PaddyDisplays]

Did they mention you companies name or website , just didn't link to it or did not reference you at all?

I'm not sure, but if your website name (not link, or anything, just the brand) is written on a high profile site you will get a something (little) from it as in google seeing/knowing your brand name, but I could be wrong about that.

edit: Tom beat me to the post

[reallygoodstuff]

Much mentioning, no link.

[reallygoodstuff]

Thanks very much for this reply. I'm not disheartened at all, positive media mentions are good no matter what.  But, I approach campaigns with goals in mind, backlinks were one of the goals of this.

I like to get the site on people's browsers most of all, though, traffic-bearing links are like child-bearing hips for me.

That iacquire link was really interesting! Thanks again.

[PaddyDisplays]

Then as Tom said, this would help you branding with google and also helps make you backlink profile look more natural, as you would expect big brands to get mentions a lot more than links.  I think you will get a hidden boost from this, but I understand nothing beats the instant gratification of a back link