Site URL called out but not clickable.

[newstd100]

Hi - I'm after a bit of clarity; if my site URL is referenced in an article, but doesn't actually link through, does this still 'add value' to my seo efforts? Thanks, David

[KaneJamison]

My guess is that Google is recognizing a branded entity in these types of searches but I'd also guess that mentions play into it.

[EGOL]

I believe that mentions are valuable.  if you are a manufacturer who has products listed and described on lots of sites these mentions will pile up to huge numbers.

Seeing weak manufacturers outranking heavyweight sites makes  be believe that mentions are driving rankings.

[Branagan]

Excellent, it does make a lot of sense!

[KaneJamison]

The references listed by Branagan and Mike are good. I have personally seen Google Webmaster Tools list external links that were simply URL citations without a <a href="">tag involved, so Google absolutely looks at these and probably factors them in to the algorithm somehow. I'm fairly certain there is no answer to how much they count compared to a normal link and what value they pass.</a>

<a href="">It's pretty easy to reach out and ask the author to add a link. Just be really nice about it and there's a 50% chance you'll get it. If not, no worries, move on and acquire some new links. Unfortunately it comes with the territory. We had a client get their domain mentioned on PCWorld.com last month without a backlink. It sucks, but all you can do is ask nicely and hope they throw you a bone.</a>

[Mike.Goracke]

Rand talks about co-occurrence/co-citation in this WBF video.

He gives some great examples of how this can potentially increase rankings. It is a very interesting video.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[Branagan]

I don't know if there's a definitive answer on this, since it's effects wouldn't be easy to measure, but if you think about it, it makes sense that it should be taken into account to some extent, and if not, at least users would be able to learn about your site.

Off course, as regular links do, I guess it would depend on the context, relevance, and reputation of the page where the mention takes place.

Also, from a branding point of view, it would be positive (again, depending on the context), it seems one of the functions of the new SEOmoz Fresh Web Explorer is precisely to find out about mentions.

Check out this post where they carried out an experiment about the subject and also cite Matt Cutt's reponse to the question (although very old): http://dejanseo.com.au/seo-experiment-with-non-link-references/