How PR can help boost your SEO
Charlotte Stephen - 3 April 2018
Lots of businesses often take the view that Public Relations and Search Engine Optimisation are two very separate strands of your marketing approach which don’t necessarily have any relevance to each other. SEO can appear to focus solely on the online world and optimising your website for the search engines, whereas PR can be perceived as a more traditional discipline – getting on the phone, making contacts and getting your brand name out there. However at Wagada HQ we have seen the ongoing importance of bringing these two elements together to provide a comprehensive and effective platform for your marketing strategy both in the real world and online.
For a truly integrated marketing campaign it is important to understand that neither SEO nor PR can work in isolation. Instead they need to work together and support each other to ensure that your business really gets the most from both your digital marketing and your PR streams. When you capitalise on PR opportunities you’ll soon see an impact on your online proposition too. We know that a cohesive marketing package will really boost your brand, so we’ve taken a look at the different ways that PR can help to support your SEO strategy.
PR can provide great leads for link-building opportunities
If you’ve been trying to move your website up the search engine rankings you’ll probably have a good understanding of just how important link building can be to this process. Getting a link to your site from another high authority site brings you that all-important ‘link juice’ and helps your site to gain credibility online. However, as you may also know, getting these links isn’t always easy and that’s where PR can really help. An effective PR campaign brings your brand to life and also builds strong connections with online influencers who can be beneficial to your site. For example if you want a high profile blogger to write about your company, host a guest blog or link to your site then simply sending them an email may not get you anywhere as they are likely to be inundated with requests. However inviting local bloggers to a PR launch, talking to them in person and even sending them samples of your product is far more likely to get a positive response and lead to that vital online link or mention.
PR can help to drive traffic to your website
Ultimately the more people that you get to visit your website the more sales you will make and so increasing website hits is going to be an essential part of any business strategy. However in a crowded online marketplace this isn’t always easy and you could find that you face a struggle getting online consumers to click onto your site rather than choosing a competitor site instead. Using offline PR can actually be a fantastic way to generate traffic to your website by creating a buzz around your brand which will naturally lead people to want to visit your website. In fact a mention in a high quality magazine or a slot on a local radio chat show could be a great way of letting people in the real world know about your website and encouraging them to visit. It’s also a brilliant way to capture potential customers who may not spend much time online or use online search on a regular basis.
PR can boost your brand authority and reputation
Brand authority is really important as it means that consumers not only use and trust your brand but they value what you do and will talk about you to others too. In fact it’s long been known that recommendation and word of mouth are some of the most powerful marketing tools around! A PR campaign which sees your brand being talked about by the right people or seen in the right places can instantly lend a cachet to your product and service and generate excitement. This excitement will often translate into social media posts about your brand, shares of your website content and likes or follows of your social media channels. This all demonstrates to Google the value that you offer your customers and can help your site to move up the search engines too.
PR can generate linkless mentions which have an important impact on SEO
It could be that in the past you’ve been tempted to see an online mention without a link as not particularly helpful to your SEO. However SEO experts are now predicting that linkless mentions are gaining in importance and the search engines are realising that they are actually a good predictor of brand value and authority. In fact search engine giants Google and Bing have both explicitly said that positive mentions online and on social media send out a strong signal about your brand to the search engines. This means that there’s never been a better time to integrate your SEO and PR campaigns. Working on your PR can lead to a high number of positive mentions online which will really get your brand name out there. We think that linkless mentions are going to have even more relevance to the search engines in the future so it’s really important to be ahead of the game with this one and integrate this into your PR campaigns.
And don’t forget traditional PR still matters too!
It’s often very easy to focus solely on your website and online proposition, but it’s essential for your business not to forget about your PR strategy too. This is particularly relevant for smaller businesses or local businesses who may find it harder to achieve a solid brand presence. Bloggers and journalists say that nothing beats the personal touch of someone picking up the phone to chat to them about their product, or the excitement of attending a brilliantly executed PR launch event. PR is also a fantastic way of making connections and building a business network which can be valuable to your company in so many ways.
PR and SEO really do work in synergy with each other to provide your business with a holistic marketing proposition. PR can be vital in supporting your online presence, creating excitement about your brand and driving traffic to your website. Building those all-important networks in the real world can lead to online mentions on social media and links to your website from online influencers or high profile websites. It’s also really important to understand how PR can bring you linkless mentions which are increasingly being viewed as a great indicator of brand authority. If you’d like to know more about how to integrate your SEO and PR strategies why not have a chat to the Wagada HQ team who can offer help, advice and support for all your PR and SEO needs.
