Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388

GTA: (647) 699-2838

Search Engine People
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • CRO
  • Display
  • Blog
  • Why Us
  • Contact
  • Join Our Team
  • Get A Quote

Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388

GTA: (647) 699-2838

Combining PR with SEO: How to kill two birds with one stone

Alicia Lawrence | May 14th, 2013
Tweet36
Share7
Share
Pin1
44 Shares

two-birds

SEO and public relations both come from a past of scumminess and irresponsible behavior. Since PR is an older industry they've had the time to improve their reputation and establish itself as a necessary marketing component for every company. SEO, on the other hand, is less than 20 years old and is still trying to paint the black hat white.

SEO is starting to look more like public relations. "The truth is SEOs, PR, and others are all talking about the same stuff from a different angle," said Joe Cardillo in a comment on Spin Sucks. SEO and PR tend to keep to their own sides and ways of thinking. In doing so, they miss out on the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Rand Fishkin talked about why we can't just be SEOs anymore. The SEO bubble has popped. There is more to SEO than link building, site architecture and keywords. Search engines are looking at usage data, brand signals, offline data and social signals to determine ranking. Rand encouraged SEOs to recognize this different way of doing SEO and eventually take on these new positions.

SEOs have the chance to broaden the definition of SEO and improve its reputation by combining PR techniques.

4 ways SEO can improve using PR

1. Quality: There is a reason SEOs are sometimes frowned upon. They have the tendency to focus on building links quickly, leaving a gap in quality. This is most evident when using linkbait, such as an infographic with non-reliable sources or a catchy headline to a mediocre article. A poor quality infographic associated with a client's logo can be damaging to their reputation if discovered.

2. Relevant: A completely relevant article to your client doesn't mean it's purely promotional. Customers like brands that are willing to help them, not just sell to them. If your client is a security disability attorney then write an article about social security on a financial website (don't just randomly mention their name like I'm doing right now). Not only should the content be relevant to your client but the blog or website you are publishing on should appeal to your client's audience. Topically relevant blogs increase the amount of link juice to your client's website as well.

3. Newsworthy: Besides self-help articles, SEOs can capitalize on client news. Newsworthy topics include: new products, hiring an employee, winning an award, or whitepapers. Yes, it does take more work to create relevant content on both the SEO's and client's behalf. But Internet public relations is well worth the hassle if it means a greater return on investment.

There are two additional bonuses to using client news to gain links. The first is that news sites typically have a good page rank that will push more link power to the client's site. Secondly, unlike blogs, news sites aren't as dogmatic about original content. Your press release can be reused on multiple news sites without the trouble of writing different content for each. SEOs should double check the sites that picked up the press release to make sure they kept the links.

4. Build Relationships: Many SEO companies have already taken steps toward public relations by hiring online PR specialists to build relationships with bloggers, influencers and journalists. The formula to good ranking in Google comes from a mixture of various kinds of links (directories, social signals and content). Since a link in the content of an article is one of the more influential types of links, making friends with high domain authority sites is key to your clients' success.

Tweet36
Share7
Share
Pin1
44 Shares
Posted in PR, SEOTagged combining SEO with PR, Internet Public Relations, SEO PR

About the Author: Alicia Lawrence

Alicia is an Online PR Specialist for WebpageFX. She enjoys helping her clients boost conversions through business development. When not at work, you can find Alicia cooking up a storm in her apple-red kitchen or blogging at MarCom Land.

MarCom Land

5 thoughts on “Combining PR with SEO: How to kill two birds with one stone”

  1. Chris Mayhew says:
    May 16, 2013 at 1:47 am

    Great article Alicia.
    SEO should be the next natural step for people working in PR as they are already creating excellent content on a daily basis; they just need to optimise it a little.
    PR is always changing and SEO is the latest skill that will help to give your campaigns a big boost.
    Thanks for sharing.

    1. Alicia Lawrence says:
      May 16, 2013 at 11:48 am

      Hi Chris, thanks for the kind words. I agree about PR adopting SEO techniques! For those coming from the SEO world, there is a great opportunity as well to step up their game by using the PR tactics. Did I mention more money for SEOs? 🙂 I’m excited to see Penguin 2.0 roll out and changes SEOs will have to make to adopt. For those of us who are already implementing PR tactics, we are ahead of the game.

      1. Alicia Lawrence says:
        May 17, 2013 at 1:28 pm

        Thanks! PR wasn’t necessary for SEO just over a year ago but it definitely is with Google’s recent changes.

  2. Local SEO says:
    May 17, 2013 at 9:00 am

    Good article Allcia..

    I’ve using PR for Traffics and Some SEO benefits lately. So far it works good. Matt Cutt said PR will not help SEO but actually it does and bring some traffics. Let wait to see Panda 2.0 next month or so.

    1. Alicia Lawrence says:
      May 22, 2013 at 6:13 am

      Hi Local SEO, For some reason my reply to your comment went above it. I just wanted to make sure you knew it was for you:)

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

  • The Manifest Names Search Engine People Among Toronto’s Most Reviewed SEO Companies
  • Movin’ On Up! Why Migrating to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Should be a Priority
  • A Year in Review: The Digital Marketing Trends That Defined 2021
  • The Basics of Video Marketing
  • Just How Much Do Google Reviews Impact Your SEO Ranking?

Categories

  • Analytics & ROI Analysis
  • Company News
  • Content
  • Conversion Optimization
  • Display Advertising/RTB
  • Email Marketing
  • En Español
  • En Français
  • Inbound Marketing
  • Lead Nurture & Marketing Automation
  • Local Search
  • Marketing
  • Mobile
  • Partnership Marketing
  • PPC
  • PR
  • SEO
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Web Design

Additional Posts

Mobile-Friendly Sites: Has Your Business Jumped on this Bandwagon?

May 14th, 2013 | by Brittney Dudar

How to Stand Out With Your Marketing

May 13th, 2013 | by Chris Nosal

3 Ways Retargeting Can Transform Your Display Campaign

May 13th, 2013 | by Ben Plomion

LET'S TALK

Need more information or want to get in touch?

Get in touch!
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Display
  • Blog
  • Why Us
  • Join Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Local SEO
  • Small Business SEO
  • Enterprise SEO
  • International SEO

LOCATION

1305 Pickering Parkway,
5th Floor Pickering, L1V 3P2

PHONE

Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388
Greater Toronto Area: (647) 699-2838

Social

© Search Engine People Inc. 2023 – Canada’s Top Digital Agency
© SEP 2023 – A Search Engine People Company | Privacy Policy

Search Engine People