Last Updated on August 24, 2020 by Guest
The worlds of creative content and technological mastery used to orb as two separate planets. Their only connection was the sun that they both spun around: the sun being the business itself. The creative and technological teams only really interacted through the traffic manager: the astronaut middleman who traveled to each planet to investigate progress.
This segmented universe is a thing of the past due to the digital revolution. The implementation of social media and the accelerated growth of the internet have made it impossible for creatives to ignore the tech world any longer.
While the work of PR and SEO teams appears strikingly different, their goal to drive traffic to their company is the same. PR specialists take the creative route, equipped with eye-catching events, charity campaigns, and intriguing articles, and SEO services focus the technological route, as they’ve mastered becoming accessible to target markets online.
These planets have collided, and the two routes now meet at a crossroads. Below are the top five ways PR and SEO complement one another.
1) Place Content Strategically
Writing a fantastic article, press release, or any campaign component is simply a waste of time if the target market does not see it. In the good old days, buying a commercial slot on that channel that every American family tuned in to was an ideal strategy to reach viewers. With the internet’s media dominance, that is no longer the case.
SEO teams know the ins and outs of the big wide web like no other. PR specialists should explain their target market’s demographics and behavioral insights to their SEO team, so they have the complete picture while researching where this audience consumes media. PR content and its audience can then be happily married.
For example, if the PR team has studied that their target audience of teen girls values the advice of current influencers, the SEO team will focus their digital attention on social media and trending blogs.
2) Maximize Content with Keywords
Standard PR content should be double-dipped in SEO strategies to maximize results. Strategically implement keywords—terms or phrases that indicate the topic of a piece—in every published article.
SEO specializes in discovering keywords that are currently being searched by consumers. Using buzzing keywords can help pages rank higher on the search engine results page. They analyze which keywords are both relevant and achievable in the competitive market. To ensure Google is noticing PR content, writers and their SEO team must decide together which keywords are suitable for their business.
So, say the SEO team relays that the keyword “summer hairstyles” is trending for their target audience of teen girls. The PR team will then use “summer hairstyles” in all of its practices, from press releases and pop-ups, causing young girls to flock to the brand.
3) Be Accessible to Journalists
A common goal of PR specialists is to acquire earned media. This includes stories about their brand in authoritative news sources, proving to their readers your business’ name is worth knowing. Creating unique campaigns used to be enough to get noticed by news organizations. However, with the new power of the internet, it is increasingly vital for details of these campaigns to be available online.
Journalists are just like us; they rely on standard search engines to do their job. If you rank high on search engine result pages, these journalists are more likely to use your content for a news story. If you are on the tenth page of Google, these acclaimed writers will likely never know your company’s name.
SEO strategists are here to help improve your rankings and therefore enhance your earned media coverage. If your SEO team helps you rank for “summer hairstyles,” a fashion journalist covering “Beauty Brands of the Summer” may see your site on the Google page for their research.
4) Manage Your Reputation
We all know the importance of maintaining a positive reputation in a world of criticism. PR strategists are educated in ways to present their brand in the best possible light, averting crises and promoting accomplishments.
However, no matter how well PR experts can frame a story, SEO metrics do not lie. Internet presence has become a crucial factor contributing to the overall quality of your company. Potential collaborators may highly value your brand’s SEO rankings, so something like a low domain authority may be a dealbreaker.
Implementing SEO strategies to uphold a strong digital presence will impress collaborators, investors, and journalists alike, making the PR component of your brand run like a well-oiled machine.
5) Build Relationships for Backlinks
PR professionals have mastered the world of relationship-building. They know the importance of establishing secure connections with all types of media to get their content placed.
Backlinking is one of the fundamental components of a successful SEO campaign. Backlinks are hyperlinks that bring users from one site to another. You can imagine that a backlink coming from an authoritative organization impacts search rankings far more than links originating from arbitrary blogs.
For example, your hair product-selling brand getting a backlink in Teen Vogue has a greater SEO impact that getting a link from your mom’s blog.
Use the relationships the PR team has previously built as a starting point to improve your brand’s backlink strategy. Reach out to credible sites in an appropriate manner, asking for a product review or another type of unpaid endorsement.
If your PR mastermind has a strong connection with Teen Vogue already because they have sponsored them at events, it will be a lot easier to ask for a product review with a backlink.
Combing the PR world’s advanced communication skills and the SEO world’s technological expertise will improve your brand’s digital presence. Raising awareness through PR efforts and monetizing this work through SEO strategies is the new formula for a business’ overall success. Gone are the days of a segmented universe; creatives and data analyzers can finally live together in harmony.
Contributor: Caroline Hughes (Magnus Opus)