Public Relations and SEO: What’s the Connection?
We’re often asked what the correlation is between traditional public relations and search engine optimization. If a company is doing one, do they need to do the other? The truth is, the two go hand-in-hand.
Search engine optimization (SEO), or gaining high rankings on major search engines like Google, is really a critical part of any public relations campaign in which a client’s target audiences are online. And, today, with few exceptions, that describes most companies.
SEO and PR share the same goals – to gain visibility and credibility for your company. Let’s first talk visibility. The whole point of having an online presence is for your target audiences – current or potential customers, volunteers, donors, supporters, the media – to find you. When they find you, it can translate into increased inquiries, sales, revenue and market share. When they can’t find you, you’re missing out on the kind of exposure that can literally make or break your company’s success.
As SEO helps you gain visibility on the search engines, traditional PR helps you gain visibility in a wealth of other places like newspapers, TV, radio, blogs, magazines and podcasts.
Now, for the second part of the equation – credibility. How many times have you heard or read about a company or product, then go online to check them out for yourself? Think restaurants, hair stylists, running shoes, lawnmowers, dentists – we do it all the time! If you find the company or product online and like what you see, you’re off to make a reservation, make an appointment or a purchase.
SEO not only helps you find that company or product, but helps in establishing credibility as well. The more positive online mentions you see out there of that company and the more inbound links they have to their Web site, the greater the credibility they’ve generated with the consumer. Likewise in PR, the more positive coverage you see of a company in the media, the industry and community, the greater their credibility.
The connection between SEO and PR is that they work hand in hand to create an effective communications campaign. There are numerous ways to use PR to improve your SEO, such as optimized press releases and Web content, online press rooms and media kits, blogs, social media campaigns – the list goes on and on (and is a whole blog post – or two or three – in itself)! But, in a time when almost 75 percent of all Americans are using the Internet, and 90 percent of those use search engines when researching products or services in their local area, you must make SEO part of your PR!
