Public Relations (PR), as a practice, dates back to the late 1800s. Yet Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is as young as the commercial internet itself!
As time progresses and we see standard commerce slowly becoming entirely e-commerce based – a fact further solidified by the recent pandemic, we’re seeing industries like banking, retail and print journalism becoming online affairs.
So, it becomes harder to deny the mutual exchange between digital PRs and SEOs when driving unprecedented results for clients. Read on to find out more about how they interlink…
How are PR and SEO connected?
Firstly, it’s important that we briefly highlight the roles of an SEO and a PR specialist:
- Someone working in SEO maintains a website’s performance by practising on-site technical work, but also practices off-site work. This is usually with the aid of a digital PR, to help draw the attention of the internet back to the client’s website
- A digital PR will work on the client’s public reputation and social reach by running campaigns that capture the public’s attention. And draws their eyes to the client’s site and social media platforms!
But what happens when you marry both practices together? Let’s take a look.
-
Multi-faceted results from one campaign
Let’s talk about links. SEOs and Digital PRs love inbound links for a variety of reasons. This is especially apparent when the site featuring the link has a high DA (domain authority). But what does that mean for a client’s performance?
-
Traffic
Links offer the opportunity for a unique browser to find the client’s website, then increases traffic and directs it to the chosen landing page. In time, this will enhance brand familiarity, which is a key component in marketing psychology. It helps aid the consumer in their decision to buy. What’s more, it will also provide key consumer data for the Paid team to study (if your agency is connected in that way, like ours).
-
Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
There are billions of competing websites on the internet. But it’s up to a search engine provider, such as Google, to put them in order of relevance, authority, and specifics to optimise the user’s experience.
If you work in SEO and digital PR, combining the two will improve massively, by bringing in high DA links. To achieve that, you’ll likely need a digital PR campaign on your side!
But why should we boost our client’s SERP performance?
Studies show that 90% of search queries don’t make it past the first search page. Not to worry; good digital PR campaigns can aid the SEO team in their fight for SERP domination.
Trend forecasting
It’s both the role of SEO and PR teams to stay ‘in the know’. PRs might news-jack, set up Google alerts on certain topics and use current affairs (or trends) as leverage for the next campaign. Alternatively, SEOs can use search trend software and search data to target or predict what the public is interested in, or will be talking about.
This is useful data to have when coming up with your next PR campaign. For example, have the SEO team noticed an up-and-coming search-trend spike in office furniture? Well, if so (and your client sells these goods), create a story that optimises that corner of the site.
SEO quantifies the conceptual
It is easy to see a website’s performance sore sky high from an SEO’s perspective and wonder, “well, what do PRs get from this relationship?”.
The reality is the SEO team has PR’s back. Amazing coverage without gaining links is still amazing coverage because brand citations will still bring many benefits for your clients.
Some of these are:
- Helping to place the client as a household name
- Helping the client be noticed as an authoritative voice
- Providing an opportunity to market
- Creating brand exposure
- Helping to sway public opinion.
These are all very valuable metrics to measure success by, but except for exposure, it’s conceptual – it isn’t quantifiable.
When SEO teams work within a digital PR paradigm, it offers the results as a number or graph. This is really helpful when a client wants to see the results of your work, and SEO workers have the PR team’s back, so to speak!
Check out more insights on the connective3 blogs, here.
