In an ever-changing digital environment, marketing and communication channels are working together more closely than ever and now make SEO and PR inseparable .
On the one hand, SEO uses digital channels to reach consumers. On the other hand, PR relies on relationships with publishers and influencers to generate media coverage of the brand. If the strategies to achieve these objectives may be different, the purpose remains the same: to reach the target audience of the company.
RP AND SEO HAND IN HAND
In many ways, SEO and PR work together without necessarily knowing it. In fact, press relations and public relations involve reaching out to media, influencers and large sites in order to obtain links and visible publications on the brand.
From an SEO perspective, Google places a lot of importance on the reputation of a website, but also on the quality and relevance of its content. Remember that to position yourself in the first search results, two parameters are essential:
- Write and share insightful and engaging content: The future of SEO lies primarily in its ability to tell stories that readers and Google will find interesting.
- Get backlinks (inbound links) from “authoritative” sites: links from credible and trustworthy sources are highly appreciated by Google and lead to a higher ranking in the search results.
EMPOWERMENT THROUGH RP
Obtaining backlinks from authoritative websites allows your business to climb into search results. Indeed, some links from trusted sites have much more weight than hundreds of spammy links built solely for the purpose of manipulating search rankings.
Finding and establishing relationships with authority websites is the specialty of PR. Yes, connections made through public relations are literally what SEO dreams about. Indeed, 200 backlinks of good quality will always be worth more than 20 000 incoming links of bad quality!
Discover the best strategies for quality backlinks
Once a link gained by the PR, the role of SEO will be to optimize it to push some certain keywords for SEO .
SEO and RP can also count on the cascading potential of each link earned. Indeed, journalists and other publishers tend to quote, comment or deepen the work of their colleagues. Thus, if you get a publication in a leading media, there is a good chance that it will be cascaded again. You get links without even asking for them!
PROMOTION ON SOCIAL NETWORKS
Links from major publishers are worth gold. However, it is always easier to develop relationships with social network users. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to name a few, are very effective ways to win a multitude of backlinks.
Engaging a target audience with engaging content not only boosts brand awareness, but also encourages sharing. By creating trendy content, PR can benefit SEO through promotion on social networks.
These shared links generate traffic to your website, which itself helps to improve your SEO. PRs can then ask their relationships and other influencers in their networks to share your content on social networks. It’s a fairly simple way to introduce your content and brand to new potential customers.
BLOGGERS: A PRIVILEGED TARGET
Every public relations professional knows the importance of networking. To better distribute their content, they work to build relationships with bloggers and other small media. This type of coverage can be just as important as larger media publications.
By taking advantage of these small media connections, SEO can work to incorporate keywords into RP content. Providing free samples to a blogger can already make it possible for the blogger to talk about your brand on his site, to raise awareness in his community and to obtain quality backlinks as well as sharing on various social networks. This increased coverage only reinforces your positioning in the SERPs.
