In recent years, SEO, or search engine optimization, has quickly advanced to become one of the most effective tools for businesses. The latest report from Search Engine Land predicts a continuing rapid growth for SEO within the realm of digital marketing.
Public relations and search engine optimization teams have typically worked as entirely different entities within the marketing department, but as the digital world continues to evolve and integrate, marketing departments – and separate marketing agencies – are having to work closer together than ever before.
Here are some tips to align your PR strategy with predicted SEO trends, so that both teams excel in 2017:
Develop consistent messaging and coordinate your content.
Messaging from both SEO and PR teams should be consistent across all brand channels. Consumers who visit your website are now getting there by searching with a very specific question or phrase, rather than just simple keywords. Your PR team should continue to utilize SEO keywords while beginning to incorporate full phrases into press releases, fact sheets and other messaging documents. By doing so, media and influencers are more likely to use these SEO keywords and phrases in their coverage.
Optimize links when media placements are earned.
Utilizing your earned media placements from your public relations team, by placing the links to the media coverage on your website, is important, since quality links are key to search engine optimization. Links from major publications or influencers will drive more traffic to your website and play a part in determining where your page will rank on Google results.
Combine research, analyze results and adjust as needed.
When looking at the results from SEO, PR teams should take note of which media outlets are driving the most traffic to your website and whether or not that media is driving an increase to brand searches. SEO can analyze PR’s results to understand best practices for consumer communication and outreach. The SEO and PR teams should then work together to develop a strategy moving forward based on what worked and what did not.
More tips on how to integrate PR and SEO can be found here and here.
