Link building is essential to any strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
The goal of link building is to increase the number of external websites that link to your site. This increases your page’s credibility and results in higher search engine rankings.
If you’ve had an SEO strategy for any length of time, then chances are you’ve worked on building backlinks to your site. What you may not realize, however, is that your company’s public relations team can be a powerful resource for building links.
Let’s take a closer look at why your company should use press release SEO to build your backlinks.
The Difference between Public Relations and Marketing
Public relations and marketing teams have always had different, yet complementary roles in a company.
To put it simple terms, the main goal of a public relations expert is to build a positive reputation for the company. By contrast, the main goal of a marketer is to advertise a company’s products.
PR and marketing experts also differ in their approaches. For instance, PR folks usually focus on generating positive media coverage and public appearance. Marketers create content that directly promotes the company to consumers.
In the age of digital content marketing, it’s more important than ever for these professionals to work together.
Developing a press release SEO strategy can help your company kill two birds with one stone. With this approach, you can promote your business and increase your website’s reputation. These outcomes will help marketers generate more leads.
Why Your Company Needs a New Backlinking Strategy
If you’re a marketer by trade, you may be starting to wonder why you need to work with your company’s PR folks. Perhaps you’ve been managing your company’s SEO strategy for a long time. Why start using press release SEO?
The short answer is because SEO is always changing.
Every SEO strategy relies on the algorithms search engines use to rank search results. SEO experts work to optimize their content so that it reflects what search engines look for.
The challenge is search engine algorithms are always changing. This means that SEO marketers must adapt their approach to fit the new algorithms.
A Brief History of Links and Search Engine Algorithms
In the early days of SEO, one of the primary ways search engines evaluated a website’s credibility was by its backlinks. The assumption was if many websites linked to a particular page, then that page was likely a reliable source.
At its core, this wasn’t a bad assumption. The problem was that once marketers figured out the algorithm, they began looking for ways to game the system. For instance, some marketers would create websites that existed for the express purpose of linking to other websites.
For this reason, search engines like Google constantly tweak their algorithms. This is to make it harder for marketers to increase their rankings inorganically.
In other words, these algorithms strive to prevent marketers from taking a “get rich quick” approach to SEO. Search engines don’t want marketers to take shortcuts to increase their rankings. Instead, they want websites to increase their rankings by producing better content.
Every marketer already knows that the best way to improve their SEO strategy is to create great content and earn links organically. The problem is that achieving these goals can be extremely difficult. It’s also time-consuming.
That’s where press release SEO can become a great resource for marketers. With this strategy, marketers can earn high-quality links for their company’s website. The key is to work with the channels the PR team already uses to promote the company’s reputation.
How Press Release SEO Works
One of the main strategies public relations teams use to build a company’s reputation is securing positive press releases.
Prior to the internet, this press coverage would often be in the form of a newspaper article, a TV new clip, or a radio segment. These are great strategies for building a company’s reputation. But they don’t always directly connect consumers to products.
But the internet age has changed the way that public relations and press releases work. This opens the door for press release SEO.
Nowadays, media coverage for a company is usually published online. This can be through a newspaper’s website, or even through a popular blog. And, as any good marketer knows, any content that is published online will include links.
This is the heart of press release SEO. When your PR team earns media coverage, it’s important to make sure that the published article contains links to your company’s website. Because these links are coming from trustworthy sources, they are high
Because these links are coming from trustworthy sources, they are considered high quality. Earning high-quality links through press release SEO can help improve your website’s rankings.
Best Practices for Success
Keep in mind that earning media coverage is not a free pass to fill an article with excessive links to your page. It’s still important to follow best practices for linking.
Putting too many links in an article can backfire in a couple of ways. For one, search engine algorithms will identify multiple links in an article to the same page as link scheming. Having your content flagged this way could hurt your rankings.
Additionally, filling an article with links can trigger red flags for readers. Consumers are savvier than ever and don’t like to feel advertised to. If they see too many links in an article, they may be turned off.
Another good rule of thumb is to vary your anchor text for your links. Rather than overusing keywords, you can use your company name. You can also use a phrase that invites readers to get more details.
Effective press release SEO focuses on quality, rather that quantity. A good press release that shares interesting, relevant information will be much more successful than one that packs links and keywords.
Are you ready to get started on your company’s press release SEO strategy? Then contact us. Our experts will work to build an SEO campaign customized for your needs.
