What effective PR looks like for SEO
By Jane Cronin, Content Manager, and Maria Bain, Outreach Executive, at Jellyfish.
Best practice SEO now incorporates aspects of PR, content and influencer marketing, far removed from some of the tactics used in the past. Wholesale link building has given way to more holistic outreach strategies that blur the lines between PR, SEO and social media.
Producing high-quality, relevant content is more important than ever before, to drive vital social visibility and engagement metrics and position clients as thought leaders within their spheres.
How can Gorkana offer search marketers new ways to undertake both campaigns and day-to-day tasks, particularly discovering and nurturing influencers, finding link opportunities and content creation? These are some of the ways we’re using Gorkana in PR-influenced SEO campaigns.
Engage the right influencers easily:
Gorkana’s media database allows searches by keywords, sectors and topics, which can be used to build a list of highly relevant influencers. After an initial list is drawn up, this can be refined by looking at blog posts and social media information in their profiles to ensure that the right people are contacted.
Profile notes and biographies show the angles which are most likely to resonate with particular influencers and whether they review products, attend events or are interested in commission-based programmes.
Following on from this, a detailed outreach plan can be put in place that nurtures influencers, leading to quality editorial links and brand citations, social brand visibility and ongoing mutually beneficial relationships.
When it comes to creating content, from whitepapers to blogs and infographics, these tactics can pinpoint the most relevant people to ask for quotes or information so that the end product is as unique and shareable as possible.
When events are part of an outreach strategy, you can save time by using the media database to refine searches geographically.
For newsworthy items, Gorkana’s press release system allows these to be pushed out to a highly targeted audience, bypassing some SEO concerns associated with press release sites after Panda 4.0.
Spot link and brand citation opportunities:
Obtaining high quality editorial links and brand citations is still one of the main goals of outreach campaigns. Once the media database is used to build up a list of targeted prospect sites, profile information indicates the preferred way to pitch.
This can vary significantly from sector to sector and Gorkana’s media briefings include information on how influential bloggers and editors like to be approached.
Both Gorkana profiles and briefings are an opportunity to discover current trending themes within specific sectors, information that can be used in pitches to emphasise how content adds relevancy and value to the target site.
The difference between acceptance and rejection frequently rests on providing all the information up front, tailored and in the first communication. Showing that you understand the market that bloggers, editors and journalists operate in is the foundation to building lasting relationships.
Create content that leads discussion:
Used together with appropriate social media monitoring, targeted influencer lists are a valuable way to track conversations and popular topics. This data can provide vital insight for content strategies, creating assets that are pertinent and engaging.
Gorkana’s Forward Features and media briefings are opportunities to scope out hot upcoming themes across relevant sectors. Using this information to inform content strategies positions businesses as thought leaders who instigate and participate in topical debate, rather than as an organisation who scrambles to respond.
Content that speaks to a genuine need or interest in readers is more likely to be organically shared and linked to, further enhancing the signals that build trust and authority in Google’s eyes.
Using these PR tactics and opportunities contributes to creative, integrated SEO campaigns that deliver across a variety of KPIs, including visibility, brand awareness and traffic.
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