We have written before about SEO PR: the power of public relations to help with search engine optimisation campaigns. Now you can hear it from the SEO’s side: SEO specialist Gary Preston has written on the Econsultancy blog about how PR-led story pitching enabled him to get a valuable inbound link from the Telegraph’s website to his client site.
In the cat-and-mouse game that is SEO, search engine providers are perpetually on watch for attempts to ‘game’ their search returns. SEO firms are kept on their toes developing new ways to garner inbound links without falling foul of search engines’ algorithms or (undisclosed) fair play policies. What search engines will never disallow – quite the reverse – is content that addresses a subject topically, authoritatively and with relevance to the searching public. This is where PR can supply invaluable firepower.
In public relations, we know all about creating newsworthy content that people want to read. We understand how to match a story to the audience and medium, using tailored angles and content to obtain sought-after coverage. Using the same skills and insights, PR professionals can help SEO in two ways: securing inbound links from authoritative (and therefore highly-ranked) news media websites, and propagating links via search-optimised PR material that people value and want to share, including press releases, articles, photos and videos.
We believe that the convergence of PR and SEO, already important, will become absolutely vital in the future, and that the most effective marketers will be those who understand how to combine the strengths of both disciplines.
