The Role of Public Relations in SEO

Search engine optimisation consists of two inter-linked processes; optimising the website (including technical, structural and copy optimisation) and obtaining in-bound links to the company’s website.

Links don’t just appear from nowhere. Underneath every link to your website is an online relationship and developing relationships is an area in which Public Relations excels.

If you think about it, Public Relations and link building are closely related:

Public relations is the process of building a company’s reputation, particularly through the use of positive media coverage.

Link building is the process of building a web site’s reputation by getting links from relevant and respected web sites.

So the role of a PR in search engine optimisation is to ensure that efforts to build the company’s brand also work to get more links for the company by creating and promoting online content.

The benefits of PR in SEO

Effective use of PR can have a dramatic effect on a company’s search engine rankings. Many link building tactics such as directory submissions and reciprocal linking only work at the periphery and are of limited benefit. On the other hand PR can leverage powerful existing processes and relationships in support of the search optimisation mission.

Online PR has a number of benefits in contributing to SEO:

1. The company can leverage existing PR efforts. Links from established media sites are worth their weight in gold.

2. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Content is already being generated as part of current PR efforts. It  can be also be used in your SEO.

3. You already have buy-in from the company’s management team.

4. Online and offline PR can be co-ordinated for mutual support.

5. Link-building will be congruent with the brand message.

The Role of SEO in PR

SEO can play an important role in supporting a company’s brand reputation.

Most companies recognise the value of using their web site as a core part of their PR strategy. It is often the place where the company’s positive stories are told – such as environmental policies, corporate governance, labour policies, and investor relations. Yet many companies do not recognize the importance of search engine optimisation in ensuring these messages are easy to find. Over 90% of web journeys start at a search engines, so it’s imperative to get your SEO right.

The company’s PR requirements should contribute to the formation of the SEO keyword strategy. For each company there will be some keywords that it must “own”. These will include brand keywords, but also keywords reflecting the category positioning of the company’s products and services.

Modern link-building methods utilising social media services, can also assist PR in getting the word out in support of new PR campaigns.

SEO services should provide reporting not just on your rank positioning, but also those of competitors and potential anti-company activists. Social media monitoring may also be used to provide insights into the informal conversations going on around your brand.

The benefits of SEO in PR

On the positive side, high rankings under key categories will have a positive impact on the brand. People trust higher-ranking sites – that’s why they click on them! And link-building using social media can help generate a buzz around new PR campaigns.

On the negative side if competitors out-rank the company for key target phrases, it reflects badly on the company’s brand. And if anti-company activists “own” the top rankings for your categories it can be a PR disaster.

Process

For PR to properly benefit SEO some key things need to happen:

1. New PR efforts should be reviewed against the overall keyword strategy.
2. The story needs to be published on the website and the content search engine optimised, so that in-bound links link directly to the content. Remember the web page will be around for years, long after the press release has been forgotten.
3. Consideration should be given to the Link Bait value of the content and headlines.
4. Press Releases must to be keyword optimised, and linked back to the specific content.
5. Press Releases should be released through PR services that offer best-practice link promotion (eg. keyword rich link text).

The story should also be considered for cross-promotion on social media, via social bookmarking, tagging,