A Step-by-Step Guide to Track Your Press Coverage

If you're an eCommerce brand getting plenty of press coverage, but struggling to catch every mention without endless Google searches and scrolling, this guide is exactly what you need.

We’ll show you four free ways to make sure you never miss a piece of press again. And if you're a larger brand with regular PR activity but no tool to organise it all yet, we’ve got advice on why paid options may be for you.

4 Free Ways to Find Every Brand Mention on the Web

Google Search

The easiest, and of course most common, way to find brand mentions is through Google search. Simply using search operators, you will be able to find every time you are mentioned on the web that is not your own website by doing the following as an example:

‘thisisnovos.com -site:thisisnovos.com’

‘NOVOS -site:thisisnovos.com’

If this isn’t returning the results you need, start by checking the news section. If you're looking for something specific, it's likely going to be there. If you’re looking for a view of every instance, I would recommend not relying on the news section, as this often excludes smaller, and potentially highly relevant, publications.

I would simply look at what is spamming the search. For example, if one specific website is coming up loads of times, simply exclude that domain as well with -site:thatdomain.com.

Google Alerts

Google Alert is a fantastic free tool that tracks brand mentions and delivers them to your inbox. Alerts can be delivered daily, weekly or monthly and can be adjusted depending on how regularly you secure coverage - ideal if you don’t want to overwhelm your inbox. .

All you need to do is input the search term you want to be alerted about—for example, a term like “NOVOS.”

You can also refine alerts by selecting sources (e.g., "News" only), regions (e.g., "Any region" or "UK"), and by choosing "All results" instead of "Only the best" to ensure comprehensive coverage reports.

Talkwalker Alerts

Talkwalker Alerts is another free tool, similar to Google Alerts, but it often pulls in even more coverage, especially from international domains. If you’re doing PR for multiple markets, this is an excellent tool to try.

Reverse Image Search

If you’ve recently received media attention for a specific product or have created imagery for a press release or campaign, try Google’s reverse image search.

On your computer, go to Google Images.
Click on the camera icon to search by image.
Upload a file or paste the URL of your image.

This will show all the instances where the image appears online, helping you track coverage.

If you’ve tried these steps and still feel you’re missing coverage or need a tool to refine and store everything better, it might be time to consider investing in a paid tool.

What to Do if You Have an Influx of Press Mentions as a Large E-Commerce Brand

For larger businesses or agencies handling significant PR or organic press attention, tools like Cision, Agility, Meltwater, Muck Rack, and Prowly are popular options.

These tools often go beyond media monitoring and include features such as databases for journalist contact details, outreach/email sending capabilities and coverage reports with metrics, for example:

Estimated readership
Engagement metrics (e.g., social shares)
Sentiment analysis
Geographical insights
Top-performing publications

This allows you to analyse your coverage effectively, organise it into relevant folders, and identify which press releases or topics are performing best for your brand. You can also pinpoint the top-performing publications and target similar domains for future PR efforts.

Most tools offer trials or customised pricing based on your needs, so explore them to find the right fit.

If this all sounds a little overwhelming, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’d love the opportunity to handle digital PR for your brand, secure press coverage, and provide detailed reports on why it makes a difference—all without overcomplicating things. Whether your PR goal is to boost brand awareness or build high-quality backlinks to improve your rankings in the SERPs, we can do both.