How PR and SEO align perfectly to build trust and gain attention

Good PR isn’t just about producing compelling content, it’s also about making sure you reach the people who will be interested in the information being shared. Your SEO strategy should take the same approach – you need to know who your audiences are, what content is valuable to them and how they go about finding it.

Invest in your audience

Optimising your website and content for search engines presents a great opportunity to improve the ranking of your site, to help reach people interested in what you have to offer. Everyone wants that coveted space at the top of search engine results pages (SERP) but stuffing your content with keywords and link overloading is not the answer.

It’s important to understand what online users search for, and how they do so, in relation to your products and services. A good starting point is to think about the type of questions you tend to get asked from customers about your business, and why they are asking for that information.

There’s no point in getting visitors to your website for the sake of it. Just like PR, you need to invest time in understanding your audience and engaging with them. Whilst your website needs to be search engine friendly, ultimately, your content should be designed for users, not for search engines. Taking the time to understand audience needs will help create compelling content that visitors want to read and share.

Authenticity

Trust is the crucial and binding factor behind the growing alignment of SEO and PR. A study by Ipsos Mori found that 87% of consumers around the world say that they take the reputation of the company into account when purchasing a product or service. 

Creating interesting and relevant content that people believe in and that adds value to them and to your reputation, will differentiate you from businesses that are focused purely on increasing traffic volumes.

Measurement and evaluation

Like any other communications activity, including PR, your SEO activity needs to be measured, evaluated, and improved upon. How are people behaving once they reach your site? Are they spending a long time on the page and have they browsed any further? Google Analytics is great for evaluating performance, including tracking and reporting on traffic that lands on your site, data about a specific page, and from what channel traffic has comes from.

At Ceris Burns International, we are experts at building your reputations, to help build your business. We specialise not only in having something unique to say to your target sectors, but also in getting your message heard. Get in touch today to discuss your PR and digital marketing strategy.