SEO loves PR

Keyword density, do-follow links, alternative texts and crawlers. Anyone who listens to a lecture on search engine optimization (SEO) is tempted to leave the room if he/she is not involved in the topic. That's how intimidating the technical language is at first glance. SEO and PR just don’t seem to have anything in common. After all, PR is made for people – and SEO for machines. This assumption is still widespread. 

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So it is hardly surprising that for many companies, until today, SEO unfortunately still means to copy as many important terms – keywords – as possible in white writing on a white background "hidden"  at the end of an article. With this method, companies aim for a good ranking on the largest search engine monopoly in the world. But this assumption is far from being the case. Rather, a more differentiated view on the relationship between SEO and PR shows, how important SEO is for the PR work (and vice versa!).

At this point, the structure of SEO must be briefly explained. SEO is divided into three areas: A technical area, an On-Page-Optimization and an Off-Page-Optimization. The On-Page Optimization is related to the own website: in our case the agency website. 

The three areas of SEO overlap each other:

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Why SEO at all?

It is always advisable to keep your own brand present in the search engines, particularly, because of the high competition within any industry. But let’s be honest, how often do we read more than the first three to five search results? And we also have to ask, how often do we actually check the second page of a search query?

However, it is not too difficult to write SEO-optimized texts while the benefit is double the value of any initial extra work. In addition, search engines nowadays are so "intelligent" that they quickly notice whether a contribution is made for people or exclusively set up for crawlers itself. In short: If I have to hide my keywords at the end of the article because they don't fit into the actual text, both – text and keywords – don't fit together and a new strategy is needed. 

Measures for an Integrated Strategy

A few steps are necessary in order to drive a integrated strategy for PR and SEO. In our Lunch Academy, Jonas Upmann, SEO expert & Head of PR at HomeToGo, showed us exactly what these are:

• Step 1: Streamline the PR editorial plan and the SEO content plan 
• Step 2: Synchronize PR media lists and SEO backend targets (paid portals are better than free portals) 
• Step 3: PR and SEO content are aligned with each other.
• Step 4: PR press distributions and SEO Campaigns run synchronously
• Step 5: PR publications & SEO backlinks are equally important
• Step 6: Reportings of both go hand in hand with each other
• Step 7: Share it on your network, have it linked! -> PR network helps with successful placement of backlinks
• Step 8: Be patient.

Actually, all these steps are conclusive and comprehensible – one more reason to finally make friends with SEO and not to give it up. The results show that both PR and SEO benefit from the cooperation. 

If you would like to find out more about the integration of SEO and press work, please contact us at info@piabo.net. 

These insights were written for you by Stephanie Stein.