Within any business, PR is an essential tool. PR can be utilised to build and enhance relationships through media and social media. But have you considered the benefits of PR within SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)?

Spink Healthcare Communications Agency has created a guide on how to optimise PR for your SEO strategy within healthcare brands. SEO gives you the ability to increase your website’s ranking within search engine results, such as Google. In turn, this will generate more traffic to your site. Not only does this traffic increase but so does the quality, meaning you are more visible to your target audience and those searching for your product or service.

It is important to remember, SEO does not provide instant results but is a long-term investment. By following these six killer ways PR can benefit your SEO, you can take the first steps to begin your SEO journey, heighten your website ranking and boost your search engine visibility.

1.   Top Tier Backlinks

Backlinks are when one domain places a hyperlink on their page to another website. Visitors are able to click this link and be taken to the relevant page. A backlink from another website is seen as a ‘vote of confidence for your website by search engines.

Search engines will pick up on this affirmation as it carries ‘SEO weight’ and will quickly help you rank your website for certain keywords. By hiring an SEO agency, they can then help clients rank for the target keywords that they want to rank for in conjunction with effective and creative SEO strategies that help brands see an increase in their organic search results performance.

It’s important to be cautious as to which sites you approach because links from low-quality sites are no longer effective. Using a PR agency can help you quickly gain backlinks from highly relevant, high-quality editorial domains. When a link for your domain is placed on these high-quality websites, you will have used the most effective method to increase search engine rankings for your chosen keyword.

Additionally, it would help to ensure that you don’t take part in any link exchanges, but a three-way link exchange (ABC linking). This is spiderman’s way of link exchanges between three domains. As a result, search engines such as Google are less likely to detect and penalize excess link exchanges.

Content needs to be well-written, aimed toward your target audience, and feature relevant information. There is no point in placing an article within a publication if it has no relevance to your brand.

2.   Brand Association

For any business, the brand association is an incredibly important element for marketing and it is invaluable within SEO. If highly-visible media outlets have given your brand placement, the public will then begin to associate your product or service with your brand.

Users’ search habits will then begin to change, for example, they will search “Brand + Products/Service” such as “Vicks Cold and Flu Treatment”. As more users begin to search for your brand with your product or service, your search engine ranking will improve.

As others begin this association, so will search engines. When a user searches your product or service without your brand name, search engines will associate you with this service a place you higher, meaning you will be visible to those who may not have known about your brand and increase the chance of obtaining new customers.

3.   3rd Party Referral Traffic

You can’t guarantee you will always rank for a highly competitive keyword, especially if you are new to the world of SEO. You can instead use PR to gain guest post placements on high-authority sites that do rank for these keywords that also focus on a product or service you provide.

This will then drive more traffic to your site via this backlink. You can use Google Trends to keep on top of rising terms and keywords that are easier to rank for but still relevant to your brand.

4.   Emerging Keywords

When a new product or service is created, new terminology can be generated alongside. Utilise PR to spread awareness of this new vocabulary, by spreading this new term through the media, the public will quickly associate your brand with it.

When users search this term, you will have a high chance of ranking as no other brands will be trying to compete.

5.   Previous PR Reclamation

If you want a quick way to gain a backlink and perhaps don’t have the time or resources to be writing high-quality content for every site that may be of relevance, you can try one simple trick.

Search for websites that have previously mentioned your brand but have not provided a backlink, you can reach out to them and request one. If the page mentions a specific author, you can contact them directly via email, phone or social media.

You won’t always succeed, after all, they are under no obligation to place one on their site or the author may not have the authority to do so. But this does not always mean time wasted, building relationships with these websites means you will have an easier pitch when it comes to launching future campaigns, so get them added to your contact list.

6.   SEO Social Proof

SEO social proof is building credibility towards your company through the positive views of others. If you have been able to get placements with highly-authoritative websites, place their logos on your site. This way, users will perceive your site as having a higher authority and spend more time on your website which provides search engines with a positive user signal.

Dwell time, the time a user spends on your site before returning to their search results is an incredibly vital element of SEO. You can also provide users with relevant, well-written content on your website to keep them engaged, blog and news articles that are unique are a great way of keeping visitors on your site if they are not intending to purchase anything at the time.