SEO & PR: A Complex & Collaborative Relationship
By Regina Martel, PRSA Colorado Communications Committee
You know the story: Your organization has a beautiful website, but you do not know if anyone is viewing it. You started a blog, but do not know if people are finding it on Google. Simply put, PR professionals in every industry struggle with metrics and measurement. Yet in today’s digital world, being able to show executives how PR drives business value and impacts the bottom line is more important than ever.
A few weeks ago Matt O’Connell, digital marketing manager at 9thWonder, gave a presentation about how SEO can be incorporated into PR strategy, how to measure the SEO impact of PR efforts, and how to make the case for the PR team to have access to Google Analytics and other data points.
For those who haven’t taken a deep dive into SEO, it can be pretty technical. O’Connell started by explaining his most used SEO tracking tool, Moz. Then he explained the SEO basics like backlinks, domain authority, anchor text, top pages and more.
After understanding some of the basics, what can PR Professionals do with that information? The truth is there is a lot of opportunity in the intersection of SEO and PR; O’Connell stressed the importance of SEO and PR teams collaborating together on content strategies and calendars. For example, creating an SEO keyword strategy that is implemented and optimized throughout PR content can help earn more links and improve your site’s chances of being ranked on Google.
Knowing that SEO and PR work can be integrated, it’s vital that public relations professionals have access to reporting tools (like Google Analytics) that show the impact of PR efforts on SEO or website performance. If you don’t have access, O’Connell said “You have to fight for your right to access.”
A rising tide lifts all boats and that is definitely true in the intersection of PR & SEO. PR strategy usually includes much of the same best practices that SEO strategists utilize. For example, a PR strategy might include writing guest blogs and articles for relevant industry sites and securing media interviews that include backlinks. Those tactics are all good ways to improve a site’s Domain Authority, thus improving your overall SEO. With similar goals in mind and open communication between the two teams, the impact of PR efforts can be enhanced by a strong SEO strategy.
