How Do PR and SEO Work Together?
There is an old Indian story about a princess asked by her father, the king, to demonstrate how much she loves him. While her sisters compare their love to their favorite desserts, she responds: “Father, I love you like salt.” He becomes very angry and banishes her to the kitchens, where she serves him food without salt for the next few days. When he realizes what she has done, the King finally understands the depths of his child’s love and forgives her. Bread and salt go together much like PR and search engine optimization, or SEO. The two consumed separately are pretty good—not great. Together, they are fantastic.
We’ve written previously about the differences between marketing and public relations. SEO crosses the spectrum into both, but its implications for PR are far less understood. The truth is that SEO makes public relations better in many ways. Below, we dive into the primary reasons to ensure your SEO strategy intertwines tightly with your PR efforts.
PR + SEO = Optimized Communications
The digital revolution is responsible for pushing PR and SEO together like never before. When everything is online, it’s all fair game for optimization.
Building A Strong Link Strategy
Creating smart digital content begins with a strong backlink strategy. Your public relations experts work day in and day out to land those backlinks connecting your company to prestigious sites, including the news media and other authority domains. Give them SEO guidance so they know exactly which types of outlets to pitch to—you’re aiming for the cream of the crop. One really great backlink is worth about a dozen so-so links.
Team Up on Social Media
The PR gurus spend a lot of time analyzing trends and looking into the meat and potatoes of social media postings. By incorporating keywords and link research into those posts, you’re going to get optimal results. It’s all well and good to come up with a hilarious, timely post, but the right hashtag campaign created by your SEO genius can take it viral!
Press Release Symbiosis
Press releases used to just consist of words on a page. Now they are multimedia presentations, linking together imagery and video, infographics, public stunts, influencers, and so much more. Get SEO’s eyes on all of that. They can give you the right keywords and hyperlinks to skyrocket the next announcement to the moon.
Don’t Operate in Silos
The three reasons above only scratch the surface in explaining why PR and SEO should be in sync. If these teams are working within your company as separate entities, you’re missing out on a lot of potentials. And if you’re searching for a new PR or marketing agency, make sure they understand the importance of this relationship as well. Contact us if you need advice on how to get PR and SEO working together as one.