URL with no link... What does Google think?

Hi I read a while ago (can't remember where) that it is good to have a few instances of your URL just written on sites without a link, presumably the thought behind this is that this looks natural.

I would think spammy sites that get a load of links quickly will not really have their URL anywhere unless it is a real link (as all the mentions of it will be attempts to get links, and nobody will be genuinely writing about it potentially not giving a link).

The company I am working for puts out quite a lot of press releases which usually get coverage in national/local papers, these press releases find their way onto good news sites, often with the URL written but not linked. Also due to the nature of the company there is quite a bit going on in the press about the area so we quite often get a mention, again many times with a non link URL.

The question is, does Google give any more credit to the site if it sees the URL mentioned allot? I would have thought this would be a decent factor to plug into their algorithm as people writing the URL could essentially be seen as 'half voting' for it, but they don't like it enough to give it a 'full vote' i.e. a link.

Any thoughts on this?

I doubt it makes any difference. Google just sees it as text. I s'pose it might have an impact on themed relivence but doubt it.