PR is an important marketing channel that helps build the reputation of people and brands. In the same light, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) also grows the reputation of people and brands. SEO supports marketing objectives by building brands inside search engines. There is, however, a big opportunity that is not being utilised by the majority of business – leveraging your PR strategies to improve your Search Reputation.
PR strategists are measured by the advertising value generated through the PR campaign. SEO value will create further longevity to the campaign, providing the opportunity to use your PR to build your search ranking and drive leads into your sales pipelines.
Understanding How PR Can Work with SEO
Let’s dive into some specific tactics of how PR professionals can support SEO professionals in the day to day activities.
It’s necessary to understand at this point that SEO strategies look to build as many links pointing back to relevant pages on the website that are promoting. The more links, the better. Especially links from well-respected websites – like news websites. These links are called backlinks, and building high-quality and high volumes of backlinks will give Google the proof they need that your website is a reputable source for the person searching for specific content.
I have oversimplified things, but hopefully, you get the importance of developing backlinks.
Driving SEO Around the Press Release
Direct value occurs when the press release URL itself is ranking in search engine results pages, which is possible, albeit rare. For example, if your press release is unique, eloquent, valuable, and attention-grabbing, then a newspaper, media outlet, or other blog is more likely to pick it up and champion it. When they do so, your company gets that golden link, mention, citation, buzz, referral traffic, etc. from all of these outside sources, not just from the submission site.
The traffic and awareness will mean that interested people will share the content on social platforms (links) and write articles about the content (links). So while the press release only generates one link back to the site, if its well written the article gets shared and it becomes a reputable source in Google’s eyes. Thus the link back to the website in the press release carries more weight – Pushing your website ranking up.
Distributing the Press Release
You can also get direct value from the links on the press release websites. There are thousands of press websites online, and a listing on each of these sites will build your backlink volume and therefore build your search reputation.
A good PR Listing submission process will build word of mouth, but more importantly, it should generate between 100-400 links back to your website each time. Meaning each press release becomes a significant driver for backlinks.
Buying Links to Expand Brand Reach
In the same way that you buy space in magazines through advertorials, you can do the same in SEO. Most big online media publications will allow you to purchase links that point back to your website.
These link purchase tactics are usually managed by people who care more about the link than the content. They misunderstand the brand opportunity that exists in that link purchase. Buying links then becomes another channel for PR strategies to explore in getting content seeded into the right publications.
Requesting Links in your PR Submissions
In general, most online publications do not allow links back to websites from their PR articles. When negotiating article placement, you should begin insisting on links back to key landing pages on your website.
SEO and PR – New Best Friends (Hopefully)
Tying your PR strategy and your SEO strategy together can mean forming a much more substantial impact on both marketing channels.
In today’s day and age, everything is going online, and people are enjoying the ease of search engines when looking for information. This is why it is so essential to understand how SEO and PR go hand in hand. They work together to build a presence – the presence you want to get your business in front of the right audience.
