Your model is being talked about on YouTube proper now—and also you most likely do not know what’s being stated.
YouTube is the second-largest search engine, the place customers spend roughly 50 minutes daily (and rising).
It’s additionally the 2nd most cited supply by LLMs, that means video mentions don’t simply attain human audiences—they train AI methods to advocate your model.
YouTube creators are shaping model narratives in entrance of hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Take Canva: it picked up round 460 YouTube mentions this month (based on the YouTube report in Ahrefs Model Radar).
That may not sound like a lot, till you understand these 460 mentions translate to three.4 million views.
In case you’re not monitoring your YouTube mentions, you’re leaving your status in another person’s palms.
YouTube mentions are any occasion the place your model identify seems in a channel identify, title, description, transcript, or hyperlink.
There are two distinct varieties:
Tagged mentions
Tagged mentions work like social media tags (e.g. @channelname). They hyperlink to your channel, and set off notifications in YouTube everytime you’re talked about in titles, descriptions, or feedback.
One factor to recollect about tagged mentions is that the creator has to deliberately tag you—they aren’t simply informal passing mentions.
Untagged mentions
Untagged mentions, then again, are natural mentions. They don’t hyperlink again to your channel and also you received’t get notified while you land one. Untagged mentions can seem wherever: in channel names, thumbnails, titles, descriptions, transcripts, and hyperlinks.
YouTube mentions can take the shape of:
- References to your product/service even with out utilizing the precise model identify
- Comparisons or evaluations that function your model alongside others
- Informal name-drops in tutorials, vlogs, or commentary content material
You may monitor mentions in tagged posts natively inside YouTube Studio.
Simply head to “Group” within the menu on the left, and search for the “Mentions” tab on the dashboard.
However for untagged mentions, you’ll want a social media monitoring device.
Model Radar’s YouTube monitoring device does precisely this—monitoring your model throughout ~15M movies (and rising) by scanning titles, descriptions, and transcripts.
On this information, I’ll stroll you thru monitoring YouTube mentions with this device, utilizing actual examples from Ahrefs.
YouTube mentions are a number one indicator of name well being.
When extra creators discuss you organically, it alerts consciousness is rising round your model.
Usually that interprets as elevated search quantity, AI citations and, in the end, enterprise development.
In case you monitor your mentions each month, you’ll be able to see if consciousness is rising or declining, discover out what’s driving spikes in dialog, and show the ROI of your brand-building with concrete information.
And there are tons extra use instances and advantages…
- Measure model buzz: Monitor point out quantity month-over-month to see if consciousness is accelerating or stalling. For instance, if mentions doubled after your rebrand, you understand it’s working
- Assess marketing campaign influence: Examine point out spikes to marketing campaign launch dates to show which initiatives truly moved the needle—if mentions jumped 3x throughout your product launch week, that’s your proof of influence
- Benchmark in opposition to targets: Set quarterly point out targets (e.g. 500 mentions in Q1) to carry your group accountable and information price range selections.
- Justify funding: Present stakeholders concrete proof of rising model presence (e.g. 150% YoY development in impressions), to safe subsequent yr’s price range.
- Determine breakout moments: Pinpoint what precipitated sudden point out spikes (e.g. product launches, viral movies, PR hits) to duplicate that success once more and once more
- Forecast future visibility: Look ahead to sustained YouTube point out development as an early indicator of rising search rankings and AI citations
Learn how to monitor your YouTube mentions persistently
Add your model identify and variants to Model Radar’s YouTube monitoring device, then use the report view to trace your complete YouTube mentions month-over-month.
Begin off by dropping your model identify—plus any pronunciation variations—into the “Your model” area.
Monitor model identify variations
In case your model identify can be tough to pronounce, take into consideration monitoring for mentions of your model’s options, merchandise, or companies.
For instance, “Key phrase issue” and “Area score” are each uniquely developed Ahrefs scores, so we’d need to take into consideration monitoring these to get a greater sense of the place our model is referenced.
It can save you these variations by hitting the “Save report” button on the primary Model Radar dashboard
In return, you’ll get a month-to-month view of your YouTube model mentions, which you’ll be able to observe periodically to evaluate development or decline.
Beneath that, you’ll see a listing of movies organically mentioning your model, ordered by “relevance”.
Outcomes which are thought of “related” are ranked based mostly on a mix of point out frequency and view depend.
Unprompted model mentions inform you what’s working, how folks naturally describe your model, and which use instances resonate a lot that creators can’t assist however share them.
And, better of all, none of it prices you a cent.
While you monitor natural model mentions, you can:
- Get unfiltered notion: Learn natural mentions to catch trustworthy opinions (e.g. “clunky UI” or “superb help”), then handle recurring criticisms in product updates (e.g. repair UI points) and fold reward into your advertising and marketing (e.g. homepage copy)
- Market the fitting use instances: Uncover new and novel methods audiences use your product, then construct campaigns round them. For instance, if creators use your venture administration device for podcast manufacturing, create a touchdown web page focusing on that area of interest
- Form messaging: Be aware the phrases audiences use, then undertake them in your internet or advert copy. As an illustration, if reviewers name you “silly easy,” swap out generic traces like “intuitive platform” for his or her precise language
- Spot content material gaps: See which subjects seem alongside your mentions, then create content material for them. For instance, if “Search engine optimization audits” comes up incessantly, publish a how-to information on that matter
Learn how to do discover natural video mentions
Discovering natural mentions is not only a case of looking for your model identify. You should filter out companions and rivals, if you wish to see mentions which are actually natural.
Begin by including a “would not comprise” filter, to rule out:
- Your owned channels (e.g. Ahrefs)
- Sponsored key phrases in descriptions (e.g. #spon, #advert)
- Accomplice URL fragments (e.g. /associate/)
For instance, beneath I’ve excluded our owned YouTube channels with a channel identify > doesn’t comprise> Ahrefs filter.
Then I’ve dominated out sure parts our companions usually embody of their video descriptions, like associate hyperlinks containing yt., or particular merchandise that we’ve been working with them to advertise like awt (i.e. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools).
That filter takes us from 1,482 results to 229 word of mouth mentions. But we’re not done yet.
Some of these mentions are showcasing alternatives to Ahrefs, or pitting us against our competitors.
For now, we want to focus on UGC that is centered around our brand—not our competitors.
So, we need to add a Title > doesn’t contain > partial match > [competitor name]. This leaves us with 201 mentions.
If you’ve followed along so far, you can continue filtering even further to see which videos your brand is the primary focus of (e.g. Title > contains > partial match > [brand name])
Versus the videos that mention it in passing (e.g. Title > Doesn’t contain > partial match > [brand name])
This kind of analysis can show you how customers actually use your products and services.
For example, the video below shows that people particularly use our tool Brand Radar for AI competitor gap analysis…
While the next video shows that some users would like to see more actionable recommendations within the platform…
You can use these kinds of insights to shape your content, and pass them over to the product team to inform your roadmap.
As a substitute of cold-pitching influencers, begin with creators which are already discussing your model or subjects in your house.
It will show you how to observe down high-potential companions whose audiences and area of interest naturally align together with your personal.
There are a ton of advantages to monitoring influencer mentions:
- Discover creator followers: Monitor down influencers already mentioning your model organically, then ship them early entry to options or paid partnership affords they’re prone to settle for
- Assess viewers match: Earlier than reaching out, see if their viewers match your goal market, so that you solely pitch to channels the place your product truly resonates
- Prioritize high-impact creators: Type by view counts and engagement, then allocate your sponsorship price range to the highest performers
- Tailor your pitch: Pull particular quotes like “I really like how [Brand] handles X,” then open your e mail with “Noticed you praised our X function in your latest video—concerned about test-driving the improve?”
- Save time and price range: Construct a shortlist of pre-vetted creators who truly align together with your model, as a substitute of cold-pitching dozens and hoping one thing sticks
Learn how to discover related influencers to sponsor
Discover creators price partnering with by sorting natural mentions based mostly in your targets, then zero in on movies and audiences that truly align together with your model.
Begin with the report you’ve already configured to seek out natural word-of-mouth mentions (i.e. the one which filters out your model channels and the companions you already sponsor).
The intention is to find the most seen creators, with audiences which are related to your model.
As I stated earlier, your YouTube mentions are sorted by “relevance”—which is a mix of point out frequency and view depend by default.
Which means it’s best to be capable to discover high quality influencer mentions proper off the bat.
However some nice alternatives could also be trickier to discover.
As an illustration, you would possibly land simply one point out in a extremely seen video that finally ends up being hyper-relevant.
That’s why it’s necessary to check out completely different sorting choices—e.g. order “By views” vs. “By relevance”.
Then, while you come throughout a creator that appears attention-grabbing, you’ll be able to learn the transcript and watch the video to higher perceive the context of your model point out.
Right here’s an instance of what I imply.
I set the chart in Model Radar’s YouTube report back to Impressions, and located one point out that bumped up our model consciousness by 115% in a single day.
I tracked it down within the record view (by sorting “By views”), then clicked the transcript timecode to look at the video and perceive the point out context.
In the end, the creator briefly beneficial Ahrefs as a long-tail key phrase device for solopreneurs trying to begin Search engine optimization-monetized blogs.
Understanding the context helps get a greater thought of whether an influencer is worth sponsoring. You can quickly assess:
- Is this an audience you want to reach?
- Is the recommended product/service valuable to your business?
- Does the channel or video topic align with your marketing goals?
In this example, the audience probably isn’t right for Ahrefs. The video primarily targets beginners who are more likely to be interested in our free keyword tools.
Our priority, on the other hand, is promoting our more advanced tools to mature SEOs and marketers in medium-sized to enterprise businesses.
Which brings me on to the next video…
While it has fewer views, it features Ahrefs in workflows that appeal to our actual target audience: mature marketers in corporate brands.
It also covers a topic that is a big product focus for us right now: AI.
Plus the creator shows off a use case that could be even better handled by our new ChatGPT SEO tool: Ahrefs MCP.
Diving even deeper, I can see the creator has ~98K subscribers, and that her channel aligns with our topic focus: Digital marketing, AI strategy, professional growth, tech & business.
So that’s an:
- Audience match
- Product match
- Marketing/topic match
To me, this looks like a much better partnership opportunity.
If you want to cast an even wider net, you can repeat this whole process, but remove your own brand mentions from the equation, and instead filter by the market/industry you’re aiming to get mentioned in.
For example, here’s a detailed filter I built to find relevant creators in the “AI marketing space”.
Use the filters to sort through your mentions until you find creators worth partnering with.
Earlier than folks open their wallets, they’re on YouTube watching evaluations and checking in case your services or products truly solves their downside.¹
These mentions reveal what attracts patrons to your model, or sends them to a competitor.
Monitoring bottom-of-funnel YouTube mentions helps you:
- Handle widespread objections: Spot recurring issues in evaluations, then publish weblog posts, replace your FAQ web page, or ship product fixes that straight counter them
- Double down on differentiators: When creators say one in every of your options beats your rivals, highlight it in your homepage, product pages, paid advertisements, and gross sales decks
- Practice your gross sales group: Give gross sales reps responses to the precise objections, questions, and issues showing in these movies
- Mine testimonials: Discover genuine buyer tales in video mentions, then screenshot quotes on your web site, repurpose clips for social proof advertisements, or construct case research round them
- Sponsor strategic comparisons: Discover creators who place you favorably in opposition to rivals, then attain out with sponsorship affords or new speaking factors to bolster
- Right misinformation: Catch inaccurate comparisons in movies, e mail the creator with correct information, or supply to collaborate on an up to date video
- Enhance function priorities: See which competitor options persistently win over patrons, then bump comparable capabilities up your product roadmap or sundown options no one mentions
- Optimize comparability pages: Be aware what patrons truly care about in video comparisons, then rewrite your “Model vs Competitor” touchdown pages to guide with these precise ache factors and options
Learn how to discover excessive buy intent mentions on YouTube
The best approach to discover mentions of your model in buyer-focused content material is to seek for comparability movies that includes your model and rivals.
Maintain your earlier “doesn’t comprise” filters lively (i.e. those excluding your personal model channel and companions), then reintroduce the rivals that you just filtered out.
On this instance, I’ve merely eliminated the Title > doesn’t comprise > partial match > [competitor name] filter.
I’ve additionally excluded mentions of the phrase “free” within the video title, simply so I can deal with creators reviewing our paid instruments.
Now all of our rivals are again within the recreation.
When you have a bigger model with extra mentions, you’ll be able to add additional key phrase modifiers to zero in on comparability content material—e.g.
- versus/vs
- different
- compares/in contrast/comparability
- evaluation
- professionals and cons
- price it
- greatest
- high
This wasn’t mandatory for us, as our hottest mentions have a tendency to come back from head-to-head evaluations, so that they’re fairly simple to discover.
Analyze your video mentions in NotebookLM
After organising my filters, I instantly discovered two evaluations pitting Ahrefs in opposition to Semrush.
The primary got here from “Advertising and marketing Island”, revealed again in Could 2024. Thus far, it’s been considered 10.2K occasions.
The second was from “Jaume Ros”, revealed again in August 2024 and considered 3.4K occasions.
While you run them by means of NotebookLM, it turns into clear one recommends Semrush, and the opposite Ahrefs.
However in each instances, the creators evaluation Ahrefs negatively as a consequence of our previous “credit” based mostly fee system, and the truth that we lack a broader vary of selling instruments.
Our platform and pricing has modified so much since these movies have been created.
We’ve executed away with credit, and added rather more versatile advertising and marketing options like Model Radar for AI monitoring, Social Media Supervisor for scheduling social posts, and Net Analytics—our GA4 different for analyzing all-site visitors.
One motion we’d take right here is to achieve out to those creators, replace them on Ahrefs’ product developments, and ask in the event that they’d be concerned about filming new evaluations.
This manner we are able to enhance the accuracy of the knowledge surrounding our model, and hopefully encourage extra conversions.
Sponsored content material typically represents a giant chunk of selling funding.
Monitoring your sponsored mentions helps you affirm whether or not content material went dwell and measure which partnerships drove the very best engagement.
Particularly, you can:
- Examine deliverables: Affirm creators truly revealed the content material they have been paid for, and observe up on any lacking or delayed content material
- Assess the standard of the point out: Consider how authentically and prominently they featured your model—did they point out you within the title and thumbnail or simply as soon as on the 8-minute mark in a 20-minute video?
- Monitor longevity: See if sponsored movies proceed driving mentions over time or fade shortly. For instance, if a video nonetheless generates mentions six months down the road, that creator delivered lasting worth and is price working with once more
- Aggressive intelligence: Monitor which creators your rivals are sponsoring, then study from their technique. Does it appear to be working? Might you go after comparable influencers? Or differentiate your model with distinct area of interest influencers?
Learn how to analyze the YouTube mentions you sponsor
When you’ve secured sponsorships, use Model Radar to watch them and ensure your price range goes to good use.
Keep in mind all the “doesn't comprise” parameters you arrange earlier (to filter out sponsored mentions)?
Swap them over to “accommodates”.
Ensure you’ve accounted for all of the phrases or hyperlinks you’ve requested your sponsors to incorporate of their descriptions.
It will show you how to hold observe on output, assess the relevance of your sponsored mentions, and evaluate the engagement generated by completely different companions.
You may also research how the companions of your rivals spotlight their sponsor relationships (e.g. semrush encourages creators to advertise their free trial).
Then use these findings to construct out a question, so you’ll be able to observe rival sponsorships.
This sort of setup will show you how to discover your rivals’ high creators and swoop in with higher affords, or spot niches they’re ignoring, then personal these areas earlier than they catch on.
YouTube is the 2nd most-cited supply by LLMs—so video mentions straight affect how AI assistants place your model.
Right here’s what you achieve from monitoring AI-cited content material:
- Spot AI-driving mentions: See which video mentions result in AI citations. For instance, if a tutorial from “MarketingPro” generated 180 ChatGPT citations whereas your different sponsored video landed <20, prioritize “MarketingPro” on your subsequent marketing campaign—or replicate their tutorial format in your owned content material
- Perceive AI preferences: Study which subjects, codecs, or creators AI favors most. Say AI cites 10-minute tutorial movies 5x greater than 2-minute product demos, then you have to shift your video technique to prioritize longer, academic codecs
- Discover the very best AI companions: Goal creators whose content material is incessantly cited in AI. As an illustration, if “TechReviewer101” seems in 70% of related AI responses, add them to your top-tier sponsorship record and think about allocating extra price range to the partnership
- Create AI-led video content material: Produce extra of the video varieties AI references. For instance, if AI persistently cites “Learn how to do X with [Your Tool]” movies, script and produce 5 tutorial movies with that precise title format
- Measure twin influence: Monitor how YouTube presence boosts AI visibility. You are able to do this by monitoring your complete AI citations post-sponsorship. If visibility jumps from 200 to 500 mentions, for instance, then your associate is price working with once more
Learn how to see whether or not your YouTube mentions drive up AI mentions
Everytime you discover a point out of your model in YouTube, drop the video URL into Model Radar.
It will present you which of them of your YouTube mentions are additionally answerable for AI visibility throughout seven completely different AI assistants.
As an illustration, whereas analyzing how Ahrefs seems in latest “greatest device” movies, I noticed this LearnWire point out:
I took the URL over to the Model Radar dashboard, and dropped it into the “URL > accommodates” filter:
Because it occurs, that one video triggered 254 mentions of Ahrefs in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
You may scale this evaluation to seek out out which subjects, codecs, and creators AI cites most frequently—then run the identical verify on competitor mentions.
Then it’s only a case of manufacturing and sponsoring extra of that content material.
Wrapping up
Your model is being mentioned on YouTube whether or not you’re watching or not.
Monitoring your video mentions will show you how to work out how creators place you, spot partnership alternatives, and join your YouTube presence to AI visibility.
Begin with month-to-month model monitoring in Ahrefs Model Radar to see the place you stand.
