Integrating SEO into Public Relations

The work we do as public relations professionals helps to build brands through earned media and at the core of this is content. Every day we are working with our clients on press quotes, byline articles, presentations, and more. All of this is content. And content as they say in today’s day and age is king. There are basic SEO best practices that PR executives can integrate into the work they are already doing to further help their clients drive website traffic and increase brand visibility.

Here’s a quick breakdown of SEO and PR together being the future of the Public Relations industry from our Digital Marketing Director Cary Leibowitz.

Here are two pieces of low-hanging fruit that a PR agency can integrate into the work they are already doing for clients…

Integrating SEO into Public Relations

Keywords

This is an area where having an open dialogue between client and agency is so important. If a company is doing Google AdWords purchases it benefits them to communicate this to the agency. The PR agency can integrate those words into content that is being created. Also, having an understanding of what a client’s customer base is searching for in order to find them online is important. These are words they need to rank highly on and can also be integrated in messages.

High Value Links

A piece of coverage is good…a piece of coverage with a link back to the client is great! How powerful can a link be from a high ranking website? Last year I worked with the Wall Street Journal to have a client featured in a piece. Today it is still the top three referral site that drives traffic for the client. They have had many more pieces in publications just as prominent, but this Wall Street Journal article featured all their main keywords and a hyperlink to their site. It continues to help them win new clients today. It always benefits a PR professional to ask a reporter to include the link.

Combining SEO and PR

Similar to people noticing appealing billboards and media ads, search engines employ algorithms that sort through millions of web titles to filter out the least relevant pages. Therefore, aside from creating keyword-rich content and headlines, PR professionals can use copywriting to ensure that the page is using an eye-catching title that will stand out from hundreds of organic search results. The days when search engine did not worry about the actual human interaction on web pages are over. Today, factors such as bounce rate, amount of direct traffic visitors, and social interaction play one of the key roles in building successful search engine optimization campaigns.

For PR professionals looking to increase their SEO skills, check out these two great resources. They have many classes in a variety of formats: Media Bistro and PRSA.