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SEO: Hot for PR or not?

Posted by Debby Penton on 21st November 2013

SEO is right up there with hot PR topics for the PR industry, along with measurement, social media and content marketing. But regular changes from Google hoping to stop SEOs trying to game their algorithms can cause headaches for even the most SEO-savvy PRs.

We carried out a survey of 250 marketing decision makers which confirms that almost 75% of marketers believe an understanding of SEO is important to marketing, and 68% state that SEO is now a core part of their organisations’ marketing strategy.

But only one in three believe they have the SEO knowledge in-house to deliver on this strategy, highlighting their dependence on external agencies.  So can PR help?

Well, yes, in theory. Despite recent alarmist proclamations that Google killed PR, the opposite is in fact true. PR is now more relevant to SEO than ever. On top of delivering huge value in building awareness, managing reputation, and even generating business, PR can now have the biggest impact in your search rankings.

Why? Simply because the secret ingredient for effective SEO is creating and distributing relevant content that your audience values. Sound familiar? Yes, that’s exactly the remit of PR.

Obvious really isn’t it? Well you’d think so. But evidently not all PR agencies would agree. We asked Retortal to audit the 2,141 UK-based websites of PR agencies and found that only 26% had any mention of SEO on their site, whether in TITLE tags or actual content.

This would suggest that nearly two-thirds of UK PR agencies don’t believe SEO services to be important enough to publicise on their websites, or don’t have the expertise to make the claim.

So we’ve put together an essential free to download guide for PR professionals and marketers feeling a bit in the dark about how PR can impact SEO.

photo credit: Jan Krömer

Debby Penton

Motivated, competitive and highly experienced, Debby drives excellence across the agency and leads by example, going the extra mile to create stand-out campaigns and a dynamic agency culture. As CEO, Debby champions a new breed of PR that meets the evolving communication needs of today’s tech companies.