Using PR Outreach to Boost Off-Page SEO Efforts

 

On-page search engine optimization (SEO) often takes the spotlight when marketers consider SEO strategy as compared with off-page SEO. But why? 

On-page SEO is solely in the control of the website’s author. Poor keyword optimization? There is no one to blame but the person in charge of website management. Lackluster internal linking or images missing ALT text? An internal team can divide and conquer to get the website back up to speed. Boring content? Write something new. Every victory and failure involving on-page SEO lies with the website’s manager. However, in regard to off-page SEO, this is far from the case, often resulting in off-page SEO perceived as harder than its on-page counterpart. 

What is Off-Page SEO?

Off-page SEO involves tactics employed by a website to boost its online reputation, therefore resulting in higher search engine results page (SERP) rankings. But if on-page SEO is well executed, won’t websites rank well on Google anyways? Smith (2017) explains the importance of off-page SEO well when he says, "not caring about off-site SEO is like having that great house in the gated community, but none of your friends want to visit because they’ve heard from others that it smells like vomit on the inside, and no one they talk to can either confirm or deny it." Without others endorsing your website, Google can’t assess if it’s an adequate resource for consumers. Varagouli (2020), also supports the importance of off-page SEO by stating, “If you want to rank your site on Google and increase your brand's visibility and organic search traffic in 2020, you need to be looking beyond your own site.” 

PR as an Off-Page SEO Tactic

When thinking of off-page SEO, the word that most readily comes to mind is backlinks.  While backlinks are incredibly important, Varagouli (2020) reminds us that “off-page SEO isn’t just about links.” In fact, John Donnachie of ClydeBank Media goes as far as to say that “the number-one off-page SEO tactic for us is PR outreach”, and Luka Budka of Topline Comms states that “PR-led SEO is the future” (Greene, 2020). 

According to Varagouli (2020), PR helps with SEO in the following ways:

• Increase brand awareness and resultant brand searches.
• Puts your business in front of your target audience and gets them talking about you.
• Drives referral traffic.
• Positions you as a thought leader in your industry and helps to build trust signals.

Additionally, Alistair Dodds of Every Increasing Circlers notes the importance of “building great relationships with journalists and publishers. Be the go-to reference point in your industry when journalists are looking for comments…Those kinds of relationships are invaluable and will win you the high-quality backlinks that make all the difference” (Greene, 2020).

By putting out press releases with company updates and serving as subject matter experts to media outlets, a company can both keep consumers and the media updated on company happenings and establish trust. When trust is established with a company, it transfers to trust in the company’s website. For example, a company may put out a press release about an upcoming white paper they are publishing.  A media outlet reads the release and decides to post a story about the white paper, linking back to the company’s website. This is a backlink generated directly from the news story. Furthermore, because according to Donnachie “Google and other search engines rely on authority, and news sites often have high domain authority,” this should positively impact SEO. 

Another example of how press releases and PR outreach can impact SEO is if the media outlet reads a press release about a company and then asks the company to appear as a subject matter expert on a morning news show.  A consumer who trusts the morning news program sees the company representative on the show and is interested in the topic the company representative is speaking about as a subject matter expert. The consumer then goes to the company website to learn more, driving traffic to the company site. Because the consumer trusts the morning news program, that trust is transferred to the company representative appearing as a subject matter expert, and the trust is then transferred to the company website. In addition to getting the company’s name in more households by appearing on the morning news program, the company also positively impacted SEO. While this chain of events may sound complicated, it all started with a press release and positive relationships with journalists, thereby supporting Baker’s (2020) statement that “press releases boost SEO indirectly.” 

Advantages of PR Outreach for Off-Page SEO

In addition to the off-page SEO advantages listed above, PR outreach helps companies control the narrative about their business, sometimes assuaging a situation by getting on record about potential detriments before the point of disaster. While a company cannot control if a news outlet picks up a press release or if they decide to run a subsequent story about it, they can control the timing of when releases go out as well as which journalists will receive the inside scoop. This allows for some control of the off-page SEO tactic. 

PR outreach is also a cost-effective strategy for off-page SEO, as expenses are usually the salary of the public relations specialists on staff or a contracted writer, as well as the minimal cost of placing the press release on a wire service. 

Considerations for PR Outreach as an Off-Page SEO Strategy

While there are numerous positives to implementing PR outreach as an off-page SEO strategy, there are also considerations that should be factored in. 

Most notably, as Baker (2020) points out, is that newswire sites now employ nofollow links. This means that when a release is re-posted on a news site and includes backlinks the link authority from the news site will not transfer. Even if nofollow links are not in place, John Mueller of Google warns that “we try to ignore links from things like press releases because we know in general companies put the press releases out themselves. So any links in there are essentially placed by themselves… I just wouldn’t rely on kind of press releases as a strategy for building up links for a website because like I said we do ignore most of those” (Google Search Central, 2018). However, if a news site writes a story about a press release, nofollow links will not be used and Google will recognize backlinks. 

Companies should also be warned about putting out irrelevant press releases or conducting unwarranted PR outreach. If press releases are not engaging or interesting, consumers will not consistently read them and news outlets will not pick them up, causing deteriorated trust with the company. Additionally, if companies present themselves to media outlets as subject matter experts when they are not, this will drastically impact trust and potentially result in decreased coverage or unfavorable coverage in the long run, negatively impacting SEO efforts. 

Finally, it should be noted that using PR outreach as an off-page SEO strategy takes time to develop, especially when it involves building relationships with journalists. Companies looking for a quick fix off-page SEO solution should employ other tactics, and use PR outreach over time to develop off-page SEO success. 

References:

Baker, L. (2020, October 11). Are press releases still good for SEO? Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/are-press-releases-good-for-seo/382986/

Google Search Central. (2018, June 29). English Google webmaster central IRL office-hours hangout [Video].  YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k6z0mzhaXk&t=2131s

Greene, J. (2020, November 13). The 35 most effective off-page SEO techniques (According to 98 SEOs). Databox. https://databox.com/off-page-seo-techniques#tactics

Smith, R. (2017, May 10). 8 Can't-Miss off-page SEO strategies to build your online reputation. Moz. https://moz.com/blog/offpage-seo-strategies

Varagouli, E. (2020, August 3). What is off-page SEO? A comprehensive guide. Semrush. https://www.semrush.com/blog/off-page-seo/