A guide to digital PR and why link building is still key for SEO
Digital PR has changed.
Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can now understand a website, content and an individual’s reputation around a specific area of expertise.
All you have to do is ask an AI powered search engine what a website is and what they specialise in.
We asked perplexity.ai what coindesk.com is and below is the answer it returned.
This means search engines aren’t limited to analysing backlink profiles – they now understand online reputation – so although PR for SEO is still about building links, building an online reputation for a website is just as important.
John Mueller, Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, said: “Digital PR is probably more critical than technical SEO.”
But why are backlinks so important for SEO?
Backlinks are one of the main pillars of search engine optimisation and without them, improving a website’s SEO is very difficult.
Backlinks act as a ‘vote of confidence’ that signals a website’s authority and trustworthiness.
Backlinks also increase your website’s authority which you can read more about here.
A higher website authority will lead to better rankings and visibility.
How do backlinks help SEO?
1) Crawling and indexing
It isn’t just users who use backlinks to move around the web.
Search engines, like Google, use programs called ‘crawlers’, ‘bots’, or ‘spiders’ to crawl the internet – moving from link to link.
For a search engine to put a page in their results, they need to find it.
This is the main way they discover content.
2) Ranking signal
Search engines like Google use backlinks to evaluate where a web page deserves to rank in their results.
You should view backlinks as a ‘vote’ of confidence.
If your page about climbing Mount Everest has 500 backlinks from websites across the internet, and your competitor’s similar page only has 10, your page should appear higher.
In Google’s documentation on how they generate search engine results they say backlinks are one of the factors they take into consideration to determine how prominent a page should be.
Google said: “After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritise those that seem most helpful.
“To do this, they identify signals that can help determine which content demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
“For example, one of several factors that we use to help determine this is understanding if other prominent websites link or refer to the content.
“This has often proven to be a good sign that the information is well-trusted.
“Aggregated feedback from our Search quality evaluation process is used to further refine how our systems discern the quality of information.”
This relates closely to the ‘A’ (authority) aspect of Google’s E-E-A-T which you can read more about here.
Authority essentially lives or dies on whether third-party publications recognise your page as an authoritative source and this is signalled by either a link or a mention.
For example, a climbing publication linking to your webpage about climbing Mount Everest tells Google it considers it to be an authoritative resource on the subject in question.
So in short, the more relevant websites link to your published content the more chance your website has of being seen in Google’s eyes as an authority.
Your goal should be to build as many high-quality backlinks from trusted websites as possible.
TRAFCK can do all of the heavy lifting and build backlinks for you. Contact us on email hi@trafck.co.uk.
How does digital PR improve your brand’s awareness and credibility?
By securing coverage from authoritative publications, digital PR enhances your brand’s online visibility which in turn enhances your credibility and reputation.
This then helps increase how your website ranks on Google.
Traffic from digital PR
Digital PR campaigns can drive traffic from the website where your content features which aids SEO performance.
How we do digital PR at TRAFCK
1) Data-driven research
TRAFCK create research studies, infographics, and interactive tools and then pitch them to relevant publications, bloggers and influencers to obtain coverage and then a backlink.
2) Reactive PR (newsjacking)
TRAFCK monitor news and trends and then provide expert commentary and quotes to publications in return for attribution.
3) Relationships with journalists and bloggers
TRAFCK have built genuine relationships with journalists and bloggers in several niches. We provide them with data, insights and story ideas.
4) High-quality content
TRAFCK create high-quality content that explores topics in depth and is found by journalists and bloggers who are actively searching for research around a specific topic.
This then positions your website as an authority which people naturally link back to.
5) Online reputation management
SEO is crucial in managing a brand’s online reputation, particularly for “branded queries.”
TRAFCK align PR content with your SEO strategy which enables you to create compelling narratives, leading to effective storytelling as well as favourable search rankings.
6) Podcasts
TRAFCK can help individuals or companies appear on podcasts which then helps build your brand’s reputation.
7) Competitor backlink analysis
TRAFCK complete competitor backlink analysis to uncover the websites that are linking to your competitors.
We then analyse the types of content that earned those backlinks and use that insight to form your PR strategy and outreach.
