diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2ac24beaa0cb..9982d1b2de9c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,32 +29,35 @@ Loki differs from Prometheus by focusing on logs instead of metrics, and deliver
 
 ## Getting started
 
-The [Installation docs](./docs/installation/README.md) have instructions on how
+The [Installation docs](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/installation/README.md) have instructions on how
 to install Loki via Docker images, Helm charts, Jsonnet, or from source.
 
 You may also be interested in [installing
-Promtail](./docs/clients/promtail/installation.md) to send logs to Loki.
+Promtail](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/clients/promtail/installation.md) to send logs to Loki.
 
 Once you have Promtail, Loki, and Grafana running, continue with our [Getting
-Started Guide](./docs/getting-started/README.md) to get up and running with
+Started Guide](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/getting-started/README.md) to get up and running with
 querying logs.
 
 ### Documentation
 
-The documentation with a Table of Contents can be found in
-[`docs/`](./docs/README.md).
+Documentation for the latest release can be found
+[here](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/README.md). Documentation for
+the unreleased master branch can be found inside the
+[`docs/` folder](./docs/README.md).
+
 
 Some key documents to read:
 
-- [API documentation](./docs/api.md) for alternative ways of getting logs into Loki.
-- [Operations](./docs/operations) for important aspects of running Loki.
-- [Promtail](./docs/clients/promtail) is an agent which can tail your log files and push them to Loki.
-- [Pipelines](./docs/clients/promtail/pipelines.md) for detailed log processing pipeline documentation
-- [Docker Logging Driver](./docs/clients/docker-driver) is a docker plugin to send logs directly to Loki from Docker containers.
-- [LogCLI](./docs/getting-started/logcli.md) on how to query your logs without Grafana.
-- [Loki Canary](./docs/operations/loki-canary.md) for monitoring your Loki installation for missing logs.
-- [Troubleshooting](./docs/getting-started/troubleshooting.md) for help around frequent error messages.
-- [Loki in Grafana](./docs/getting-started/grafana.md) for how to set up a Loki datasource in Grafana and query your logs.
+- [API documentation](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/api.md) for alternative ways of getting logs into Loki.
+- [Operations](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/operations) for important aspects of running Loki.
+- [Promtail](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/clients/promtail) is an agent which can tail your log files and push them to Loki.
+- [Pipelines](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/clients/promtail/pipelines.md) for detailed log processing pipeline documentation
+- [Docker Logging Driver](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/clients/docker-driver) is a docker plugin to send logs directly to Loki from Docker containers.
+- [LogCLI](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/getting-started/logcli.md) on how to query your logs without Grafana.
+- [Loki Canary](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/operations/loki-canary.md) for monitoring your Loki installation for missing logs.
+- [Troubleshooting](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/getting-started/troubleshooting.md) for help around frequent error messages.
+- [Loki in Grafana](https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/v1.2.0/docs/getting-started/grafana.md) for how to set up a Loki datasource in Grafana and query your logs.
 
 ## Getting Help
 
diff --git a/docs/maintaining/release.md b/docs/maintaining/release.md
index 2b2fc6eca22e..a7ab59d2bbb6 100644
--- a/docs/maintaining/release.md
+++ b/docs/maintaining/release.md
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
 ## Performing the Release
 
 1. Create a new branch to update `CHANGELOG.md` and references to version
-   numbers.
+   numbers across the entire repository (e.g. README.md in the project root).
 2. Modify `CHANGELOG.md` with the new version number and its release date.
 3. List all the merged PRs since the previous release. This command is helpful
    for generating the list (modifying the date to the date of the previous release): `curl https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=repo:grafana/loki+is:pr+"merged:>=2019-08-02" | jq -r ' .items[] | "* [" + (.number|tostring) + "](" + .html_url + ") **" + .user.login + "**: " + .title'`