PR and digital marketing teams…unite!
PR and SEO may seem worlds apart, but they have more crossover than you’d expect.
In fact they actually complement each other quite well, making PR professionals and digital marketers somewhat of a dream team.
By employing a blended media relations and SEO strategy, you can elevate your brand’s online presence, boost credibility and achieve great results.
Here’s how.
PR and SEO: Natural best friends
Move over tea and biscuits: media relations and SEO are a pairing unlike any other – a mutually-beneficial relationship.
A few ways that media relations tactics and SEO work together:
- Boosting brand awareness: Placing our clients’ names in relevant media thus builds a positive reputation and enhances online presence. This is because being referenced on a prestigious media website supports in increasing domain authority, and this is even without a backlink
- Creating backlinks: However, those outreach efforts which secure relevant backlinks from websites with a high domain authority are considered successful. This not only drives traffic to our clients’ sites but also improves their search result rankings and domain authority
- Providing social proof: This is a fundamental tenet of media relations, and in the digital world, it’s no different. Showcasing positive customer case studies and testimonials attracts more clicks towards our clients’ products and services, meaning their sites rank higher in search results.
Of course, all these PR strategies need to be backed up by your digital efforts. If your website has long loading times or is difficult to use, visitors will click elsewhere (or ‘bounce’) and, in turn, negatively impact your SEO.
SEO and PR: Also good friends
SEO can support media outreach efforts, too:
- Keyword research: Understanding what a client’s audiences are searching for helps us devise relevant stories for journalists that also support with our clients’ business objectives.
- On-page SEO: Optimising client website content for SEO through on-page techniques such as headings, meta descriptions and keywords will boost its reach. This strengthens brand awareness and gets people talking.
- Analytical insights: Analytics tools such as Google Analytics combine all of our SEO metrics – click-through rates, conversions, backlinks and the like – into one place, making it easier to optimise media relations campaigns. And to demonstrate success – just how many leads started with PR coverage?
It’s all about authority
Most media relations campaigns seek to establish authority and credibility. Through thoughtfully-crafted storytelling, we position businesses and their senior leaders as industry experts. SEO can support this mission, with upticks in a brand’s online visibility helping build trust.
Rise, shine and optimise
A great example of a blended strategy, accommodation platform Airbnb was one of the first major brands to combine SEO with media relations in 2015.
By partnering with influencers and celebrities to create immersive city experiences (you might have seen a snap of Mariah Carey in front of a beach house floating about the web), the campaign not only boosted traffic to the platform but also contributed to a positive brand image that still resonates – and keeps Airbnb at the top of search pages.
A collaborative effort
The Think Tank’s top tip for combining SEO and PR? Collaborate across teams and leverage different parts of the comms toolkit to achieve your business objectives.
Alternatively, you can get in touch with us. Our integrated working style combines the expertise of our PR and Digital teams to refine techniques across the board – and get the results you need to succeed.
