You might think of digital PR and SEO as distant cousins – but they’re actually an important power couple. Two disciplines that complement each other to capture customer attention amongst the competitive algorithms of the digital world.
People live online, spending an average of 6.5 hours a day glued to their screens. So, to stay relevant, you need to show up everywhere they’re looking.
In this guide, we walk you through key digital PR and SEO components, explain how they benefit your business by increasing visibility, authority, and brand awareness, and share some expert tips and insights to help you supercharge your online profile today.
Understanding Digital PR and SEO
It’s useful to think of digital PR and SEO as the marketing equivalent of Batman and Robin. They’re two very different individuals, but they share a common thread.
Digital PR builds relationships. It gets your brand featured in sought-after publications, earns you trust with bloggers and journalists, gains engagement with influencers, and scores features with media outlets. It doesn’t just make your brand ‘visible’ – it makes it credible. Digital PR is the extrovert of the digital marketing world. By earning mentions, you gain authority, build trust with your target audience, and position yourself as an expert. It’s all about creating the best kind of exposure.
So what’s SEO? Short for Search Engine Optimisation, SEO is the mastermind behind the scenes, working tirelessly to ensure your website ranks on Google. It’s the process of making your website super attractive to search engines so that when someone does Google something related to your business, yours pops up. The main components are:
On-page optimisation: Making sure all of your web content, meta tags and links are optimised for the keywords you’re targeting. Typically, on-page efforts involve visible aspects of your site and can also cover layout and customer journey considerations.
Keyword research: Finding the most relevant keywords your audience is searching for and strategically placing them on your site. Expert copywriting support is needed here to integrate keywords into site content without affecting user experience or flow of copy.
Technical SEO: As the name suggests, technical SEO deals with all the behind-the-scenes aspects of your site which could impact search engine results. This can include ensuring your site loads quickly, is mobile-friendly and has a clean structure for search engines to crawl and index easily.
The synergy between Digital PR and SEO
For those of you who know SEO you’ve likely noticed the obvious element we missed out in the previous section – Linkbuilding.
Linkbuilding is the process of getting other sites to link to your site (these are known as ‘Backlinks’). And it’s the common thread that ties SEO and Digital PR together. They also want those links for surprisingly similar reasons – exposure, trust, and authority!
Consider for a moment what it would take for you to place a link on your site that goes to another site. It’s a highly risky thing to do. Firstly, you’re potentially driving visitors away from your site and onto someone else’s. But more than that, it’s potentially harmful to your reputation if you drive customers to a low quality site.
It’s for these two reasons that linkbuilding is so powerful. These links build trust with readers, but are also a key ranking factor in Google due to how hard they are to obtain. Backlinks are like digital currency – the more quality links you have from reputable sources, the more Google trusts your content. It’s also about quality though, as a single backlink from a well-respected site like a major news publication can make a world of difference for your website’s domain authority.
And this is where Digital PR and SEO are inseparable. Digital PR is the friendly face that goes out and shakes hands with key movers, journalists, media managers, and influencers. It gets you links that would be otherwise impossible to achieve. SEO then optimises these backlinks to have the most impact on Google. It also sources opportunities that Digital PR wouldn’t typically go after.
How to integrate Digital PR and SEO for maximum impact
Getting down to the nuts and bolts: how exactly do you combine these two disciplines into a strategy that delivers? There are four key techniques you can use to achieve this:
1/ Develop linkable assets
Your site must have content that attracts important collaborators. Authority sites and media giants will only backlink to a site that offers relevant and meaningful content aligned with their audience – it’s a two-way street. Developing linkable assets can involve anything from creating engaging infographics and reports to publishing thought-leadership articles and whitepapers. The priority is to create content that is so high-value to journalists, bloggers, and influencers that they want to link to it.
2/ Merge storytelling with SEO optimisation
Great PR is about crafting stories that captivate and resonate with audiences, whereas SEO works to get the story seen by the right people. Content needs to be optimised for search engines whilst also being interesting and sufficiently relevant in order to gain media traction. SEO meta tags are also important – as is ensuring that your headline and meta descriptions are created with SEO keywords in mind.
3/Keyword research
Conduct a comprehensive keyword search to check that the terms you’re targeting align with your PR objectives (reach), and SEO goals (search rankings). You can use platforms like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner to flag high-value keywords that work for both. Ahrefs helps with keyword research, backlink tracking and spotting content gaps. SEMrush supports keyword analysis, tracking domain authority and identifying link-building opportunities. BuzzSumo is another additional tool you can use to find influencers and track your media mentions, which will also assist in securing backlinks.
4/ Optimise press releases and anchor text
In the digital age, we need to craft press releases to satisfy both print and digital media opportunities. With this in mind, press releases now need to be keyword optimised and include specifically placed anchor text (the clickable part of a hyperlink) that links back to websites and landing pages, ensuring quick and easy access to key info for busy journalists.
The role of a digital marketing and PR agency
Managing these two strategies effectively can be rather a handful and needs more than just a few good ideas. You need the right tools and connections to succeed – but experience goes a long way, too. That’s why it’s best to partner with an agency for this specialist kind of support, as they can bring a ton of value on this journey.
Access to specialist tools
The tools mentioned above, which make the process much easier to manage can be quite expensive for individual businesses to purchase. But agencies work with them daily to deliver premium results so there’s no expensive software (or costly learning curves) involved.
Expert knowledge
Agencies have teams dedicated to SEO specialisms alongside PR professionals and content strategists – all of whom stay up to date with the latest algorithm updates and trends. Importantly, they also know how to adapt when Google inevitably decides to change the game (again).
A wealth of media connections
Anyone who has tried to cold-call a journalist or publication will know how difficult it is to get your foot in the door without a pre-existing connection. Agencies have a far-reaching network of strong relationships with key individuals for your business, such as journalists, bloggers and influencers. They also have access to fast-track media placements and mentions, and can gain valuable backlinks to boost your website’s SEO performance.
Agencies blend the two disciplines of digital PR and SEO by focusing on prioritising strategy and content creation, which serves both objectives. Press releases, blogs and guest posts are optimised for search engines by including keywords and backlinks. Then, through their media connections, PR professionals secure backlinks from sought-after, reputable sites, which improve the domain authority and search rankings.
Importantly, agencies closely monitor the progress of your online promotional activity, using advanced monitoring tools and tracking traffic continuously to adjust and refine in real-time.
Agencies don’t just promise positive outcomes – they deliver better results and tangible opportunities with their expertise, technical knowledge and creative flair.
When choosing an agency to work with, look for proven case studies that show them achieving both PR and SEO priorities, as well as those possessing industry experience unique to you, as this ensures they’ll be well-versed in the best tactics required to reach your specific audience.
Conclusion: The power of combining Digital PR and SEO
Digital PR and SEO are a dynamic duo that boosts your brand’s visibility, credibility, and authority. Showing up is half the battle – but showing up everywhere your customers are? That’s when you’re winning.
We’ve walked you through how these two complement each other, with digital PR getting your name featured in all the right places, and SEO priming your website for search engine success. If you’re looking to take it up a notch, a digital marketing agency can give you all the tools, expertise and media connections required to get your brand the recognition it deserves.
Ready to get started? Reach out to one of our friendly, knowledgeable experts today to start your journey.
