Why is SEO Important in Public Relations?
No one can truly control every bit of information about their companies or about themselves that gets out onto the web. After all, the web is a huge space and sometimes the information that you need to know about what people are saying about your brand ends up slipping through the cracks.
Some would say that there is no such thing as bad press. But while that ancient advertising mantra might have been applicable some 40 years ago, when business wasn’t as competitive as it is today, in the modern business world, bad publicity can mean no business at all.
While SEO is a fantastic technique for marketing companies of all shapes and sizes, it has another use that can be of real benefit to any company: PR.
Continue reading if you are interested in finding out more about SEO Public Relations.
With a combination of SEO and PR, you not only have a little more control over the narrative on the web, but you will also have a marketing combination that will ensure that you will get more bang for your buck whenever you put new marketing material out there.
This will go a long way towards guaranteeing that the company gets all the attention (the good kind) and this, in turn, will be most excellent for boosting brand awareness.
PR experts are well-known for having the knowledge of finding the right audience and they know just how important it is to get the message to the right people. On the other hand, SEO experts are fantastic at boosting a company’s presence on the web, ensuring that it reaches more people.
When these two industries collide, magic can happen. In so many ways, the principles of PR and the strategies used to reach an audience are the very same strategy upon which an SEO campaign is built.
So when the two practices work together, a whole new realm of possibility can be created.
How SEO and PR can Support Each Other
PR pros and SEO pros are people who work in two very different worlds. That is to say, the way they do their jobs and the tasks that they have to complete don’t look the same, and as such, there is often no extra wiggle room in which to add more to either’s workload.
This means it is more beneficial, and it makes more sense, to have the two working alongside one another, rather than expect either side to spend months trying to learn everything there is to know about the other’s job.
PR is an exceptional tool for any SEO company and yet PR companies can also benefit from incorporating more SEO. PR people are more than able to enhance the efforts of any kind of SEO campaign, something that will be most welcome should the company being worked on be operating in a very competitive world.
Why use the two practices together?
Since the primary aim of both practices is to make the company more visible to its preferred audience, the main reason to use both approaches in conjunction is that it will do just that.
But an enhanced presence is far from the only reason why you should consider a dual campaign.
Grow Organically
Many companies out there, especially the larger ones, have the kind of budget that will allow them to throw loads of money at paid marketing, like Google Ads or Facebook Ads, in order to grow the business further.
While the upside to this strategy is that the campaign is going to be reaching loads of people, there are a few downsides to this approach.
The first is obviously the sheer amount of cash being used to keep up the presence. Sometimes these kinds of campaigns can be a little hit and miss, and there is no guarantee that the money spent will be recouped.
And secondly, consumers are incredibly smart these days and when they see that the ad is sponsored or paid for, they tend to browse over it quickly and then look for something more organic. Whether conscious of it or not, consumers will often associate paid ads with, while not inferior products, then perhaps an average product.
When running an organic SEO campaign to reach more people, you will indirectly be practicing PR, as it is more in-depth marketing and is designed to reach a specific audience.
Backlinks for Authority
SEO relies heavily on backlinks. In the past, such backlinks were normally built at random and without much thought, simply to boost the website’s position.
Today, backlinks are thoughtfully built, with a lot of effort going into finding the types of backlinks that will boost reputation and online authority.
A website’s link authority, which is the authority of the links pointing back to the site, has an immense impact on the overall success of the campaign. Often the best kinds of links are built using an outreach strategy targeting a particular source or audience.
This SEO approach results in high-quality trusted links, which is what PR is all about: Building Trust.
Online Awareness for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness
Known as EAT, building a reputation for expertise, authority and trust is something that any PR person aims to do. And doing this is something made possible through the use of SEO. When running both types of campaigns side by side, Google will recognise the website as being the one that has the most to give to visitors.
This, in turn, will mean that the visitors to the site will see the company in a good light and thus will be more inclined to support it.
Soon, once the campaigns have been successful in the approach to EAT, other brands will reach out naturally and link back to the site, or give the company a shout-out, which can be another great PR benefit.
Content Marketing is PR
A huge segment of the SEO world hinges on great content marketing. Not only does the content have to be perfectly written, witty and enticing, but it also needs to be distributed along the right channels, so that it doesn’t become a white elephant.
Luckily, with SEO, content is moved up the search engine, and this is hugely beneficial for PR.
PR is all about good communication. The words and techniques used are often designed to be fun and informative rather than drab and serious, and since web content is often written more or less in the same tone, it often serves a similar purpose.
Once the message is communicated properly, and when SEO gets it to the right kind of audience, the content will help the PR campaign to spread the content via more channels.
Guest Blogging Outreach
Since PR is all about good, effective communication, and creating relationships, guest blogging as a form of content outreach is up there among the most effective ways to build a solid campaign. The best way to experience all of the benefits of a guest blog outreach approach is to write in-depth, well-written, and well-researched content. Once bloggers, industry professionals, and even influencers realise that your content is the quality stuff they need for their websites, you will be in a better position to establish long-lasting relationships which will be great for PR.
Why Communication and PR Pros need to know some SEO
It is far easier to work with an SEO person or agency than it is to take the time to learn everything on your own. But that doesn’t mean that a PR or communication expert shouldn’t be a little informed about SEO so that they are in a better position to answer client questions or at least capitalise on a growing industry.
PR experts should learn SEO to help Journalists
The journalism of today is nothing like it was in the past. While the journalists of the past phoned around, followed up leads, and dug deep into the information they are given, today’s journalists rely heavily on Google and other search engines to do their jobs.
As a PR person, if you understand SEO, you can help position the information about the company you work for in such a way that a journalist can easily find it.
PR experts should learn SEO to better understand their audience
PR professionals are generally trained in the ins and outs of finding their audience. But the world has changed a lot, and these days, one of the most effective and easy ways to find out more information about their audience is to look at the data freely available on search engines. Having a little SEO knowledge will help the PR person know where to find this info.
PR experts should learn SEO because SEO is about so much more than website optimisation
It would be a huge mistake to think that SEO is only used to rank websites. Often the practice is also associated with social media and micro media, as well as media relations. With the point being to help others find information that they are looking for, SEO will certainly help a PR expert get their message out there to the right kinds of people, even if they are not doing the hard work of ranking websites.
