Public Relations or PR is necessary for brands because it helps promote brand awareness and loyalty amongst customers and community. It has been around for a significant period of time compared to SEO which has been around for a maximum of less than two decades since it was never necessary in a pre-digitised world. Thus, it is not very common to consider PR as a way to improve SEO since they operate very differently, however, these days, PR is almost always used as a tool to enhance Search Engine Optimization. This is because as the world got digitised, so did PR and the way it operates.PR and communication pros help in contributing to search engine algorithm. Acquiring top spots in search engine result pages (SERPs) is the key element that makes a brand more visible to the masses. Having Public Relations professionals back it up and promote it amplifies the chances a brand has with acquiring more customers and being more visible and sought after in the market. Below is a list of some SEO Tips for PR.
Keywords
It is essential to identify which keywords work best for you and your brand. Consumers or searchers are susceptible to using particular words when they are looking for something on the web and your objective with the SEO is to be one of the first results they come across. Keywords must be simple words used in daily communication instead of big fancy words because the average user is going to type the word that is common. Keyword Planner is an extension provided by Google that will help you determine the best keywords for your brand. Prevent yourself from using too many keywords because Google analyses that as “keyword stuffing” and it can backfire.
Backlinks
Backlinks from premium, high quality websites must be gained. Since plenty of brands will be implementing the strategy of using relevant keywords, the backlinks become necessary to push one particular link above. These are links that stem from other websites to pages on your site that it considers relevant. Certain search engines consider these backlinks similar to higher reviews on a product and this helps provide weightage to the SEO. The backlink must also be structured correctly because every link is different. The hyperlink anchor text (aka the link you click on a SERP) relies on the structure of the backlink(s).
Use Videos
One of the comparatively lesser explored SEO Tips for PR is the usage of videos. YouTube is one of the most popular formats presently. It is common practice for people to engage with YouTube content and trust it over Google content because it is more detailed and at times, more personalized. Adding that to the presence of YouTube comment sections where other people can comment and shoot their queries or give feedback, it becomes a reliable source of information. If your brand uses videos for YouTube along with the already existing website, the search engine considers it over other websites that do not have videos and increases your chances to be one of the primary options in the SERP. Also, the keyword ranking strategy works much better in YouTube than it does on Google.
Collaborating with Other Brands:
Aligning your brand to a better, more well-known brand, increases your chances for benefitting from SEO. It is different from Brand Association which helps create a mental connection between a brand and its brand design or product (example: the Nike logo, referring to certain products with its brand name in particular). Associating your brand with other brands is a strategy that can be used by you to gain leverage over other brands on your level. The bigger brand has already made a name and acquired awareness and loyalty for itself so when a trusted brand is collaborating with a smaller brand, not only does it help increase the reliability of the latter but it also helps boost its popularity. This is similar to when famous artists work with lesser known artists in the film or music industry. Their heavyweight brand reputation helps the other person come into the spotlight.
Domain authority
Look for journalists and collaborators with something called “high domain authority”. Possessing high authority over the domain states that a hyperlink from them will aid Search Engine Optimization as it carries a higher weightage and their links will be preferred starkly over those who do not have much authority over the domain. For example, you have documented and written funny and trendy material. If you pitch it to sites like BuzzFeed then you are susceptible to gaining a higher SEO compared to what you would get if you had pitched your material to publication that is not very well known or does not deal with light-hearted trends. There are softwares available on the web where you can see a publication’s “Domain Authority Score” so that you know who and what you’re working with. This is a one of the very effective SEO Tips for PR.
Incorporate Social Media
Connect with news publications and renowned journalists on sites like Twitter. Use relevant hashtags with keywords to increase your visibility to the audience as well as the journalists you are attempting to connect to. Journalists tend to look for hashtags that request their attention in order to find sources for their personal projects and doing this puts your brand at a competitive advantage over other brands. Post your content on Facebook groups and Reddit chat forums but it might not get the level of clout it can get from Twitter. A relatively newer trend is using an app called Discord where people can personally connect with the person they are seeking. This is not a very saturated strategy yet and can be highly beneficial. Upload your material inclusive of keywords on LinkedIn and connect with people.
It is important to remember that everything that has been mentioned above cannot be achieved overnight. Patience, time and investment is required to make these SEO Tips for PR effective.