In a past blog article, we discussed the importance of backlinks and link-building to your SEO strategy. Now, we’d like to shine a light on a particularly powerful way to generate backlinks and boost your brand’s SEO efforts: digital public relations (PR). Learn how to maximize your SEO efforts through PR link-building during an informative Q&A session with our Content Marketing Manager – SEO, Jeremiah Greco. But first, let’s get on the same page about what digital PR is.
What Is Digital PR in SEO?
Digital PR in SEO is a strategy focused on using traditional public relations tactics to get your brand featured more widely online. Examples of these tactics include creating valuable content and building relationships with reputable online outlets. By working to get your links and content referenced or included on online news outlets, blogs, industry publications, and other digital forums in your niche, your brand can:
- Establish and elevate authority with search engines (and thereby boost your SEO).
- Build a reputation as a trusted source of information in your area of expertise.
- Craft your brand’s story as an authority in your space for AI generative search.
- Gain high-quality backlinks and mentions that bring more traffic to your website.
A Q&A With Our Authority on PR Best Practices for SEO
To gain some expert insights on some of the best practices for leveraging digital PR for SEO success, I discussed the topic with my colleague Jeremiah, who regularly provides digital PR-focused SEO services to our clients. Here’s what he had to say during our Q&A on how to maximize your SEO through PR link-building:
Why should brands include digital PR as part of their SEO strategy?
Jeremiah: Digital PR expands the footprint of signals and relationships that are available for search engines and generative search to better understand your website.
SEO is about guidance and signals. Keywords on a page signal what it’s about. Structured data guides bots to specific information. Internal links guide users and bots through your site, signaling relationships between pages, and backlinks from external sites signal importance and relationships to the pages they link to.
If you think about SEO holistically—which you should be doing—digital PR reaches beyond what you can directly control on your site and builds those signals and relationships to guide search engines and human searchers to related pages.
Experts have been talking about the importance of PR in an SEO strategy for well over a decade. What has changed?
Jeremiah: We’ve seen the same changes mirrored on the PR side of things as we have across SEO, with the importance of quality being amplified. Ten years ago, most SEOs were focused solely on the number of links, and they were scraping the bottom of the barrel for whatever they could get. That meant a lot of hours spent on link-building outreach, with endless unanswered emails, resulting in pretty low-quality links and less time spent on developing really good, unique content.
Our team has always been focused on making great content for our clients that readers will enjoy. When we have something we think is really special, we’ll put in some extra effort on the outreach side to get those seeds planted. But it’s very targeted. Many SEOs today might not even categorize link-building as part of digital PR—but not long ago, it would’ve been the leading strategy.
Now, especially since the arrival of generative search, digital PR is an all-encompassing tactic of online brand management for the purposes of SEO. Through digital PR, you’re not just garnering links to your site, but instead shaping the agreed-upon story and opinion of your brand that search engines and AI will share with searchers.
What should brands be doing now to see digital PR results?
Jeremiah: The first thing brands should do is obvious (and easy to say as an agency), and that’s “invest in it.” I get it: With limited budgets and knowing you need to be doing all of the basics, it’s difficult to find more money to spend on digital PR. But when it comes down to shaping what signals your brand is sending, how your brand is viewed in search engines, and what AI knows and shares about your brand, digital PR can’t be overlooked.
Next, I’d focus on sharing your brand’s expertise. Become a voice for your industry. Founders and presidents may already have too much work, but they’re the most qualified to be experts in your arena. Find ways to make it easier for them to share their expertise through thought leadership online.
Also, share unique research in your area. If you’re a dog toy company, it could be as simple as surveying dog owners about what types of toys their dogs enjoy most and sharing the results. Providing original data is a great way to underline expertise. Or, if you’re lucky enough to find data you can share and make more presentable or interactive, doing so can show expertise, as can creating a page that other sites might want to link to or highlight. Finding or creating these resources is my favorite part of my job. There’s a lot of untapped opportunity out there for brands. They just need to take a moment to find it.
Looking Forward: Generative Search Opportunities Abound
Clearly there’s a lot more on the horizon for digital PR and SEO with the continuing advancements of generative search. You can bet we’ll stay on top of the latest developments—and that we’ll keep you up to speed with regular updates to our blog.
Leverage Help From the PR Link-Building Pros
At Eight Oh Two, we specialize in creating content that resonates, converts and builds authority for your brand—a key factor in the success of any efforts to boost your SEO with digital PR. Contact us today to get started building more high-quality backlinks for your brand—and improving your site’s search rankings and online visibility in the process.
