Today, public relations provides a strong support for a company’s search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, as content created by PR pros helps build trusted links for associated organizations or clients. With Google’s Penguin and Panda updates, PR teams should ensure that news releases, blog posts and byline articles are optimized for SEO so they can help drive website traffic and reach potential customers.
Here are a few tips to help maximize your Public Relations-SEO efforts.
Develop Informative, Well-Written Content – Sharing valuable content is imperative for ranking well in search engines and attracting new website visitors. Informative byline articles or blog posts including links and even related content from other sources send authoritative signals to Google and other search engines improving a company’s search rankings. This ultimately helps companies’ online visibility, brand recognition and offers the chance to rise above competitors.
Avoid the Keyword Trap – Pushing out company’s targeted keywords is beneficial, but be careful about the quantity and quality of keywords. With Google Penguin, if press releases include too many keywords the associated websites could be penalized and pushed down in search rankings. Instead, use links minimally – no more than one per 100 words. While it might be tempting to link to product pages, links to videos, infographics, white papers and even other articles produce the best results.
Bond with the SEO Team – Whether working for an agency or an in-house team, collaborate with those responsible for the company’s overall SEO strategy. Regular meetings to share messaging and targeted keywords can help PR and SEO work together and reach the company’s goals. If an SEO team doesn’t exist, the marketing manager and PR agency should collaborate on SEO, as it is imperative for increasing online visibility, reaching customers online and ranking above competitors in Google results.