PR and SEO: Two Terms Growing Together
What do you think when you hear the term “Public Relations Expert?” Well, I think of someone who specializes in public speaking and writing comes natural to them.
Now, what do you think when you hear the term “Search Engine Optimization Specialist?” I think of someone on their computer who can do anything and everything involving technology- a tech-wiz some may say.
These observations lead me to believe that these two words have nothing in common, and their jobs are on entirely different sides of the world. The North Pole and the South Pole of jobs!
Public Relations and Search Engine Optimization are very different concepts in the eyes of consumers. This generalization is because PR deals with people, while SEO deals more with the technical side of things. However, now the line between them is beginning to blur quickly.
As times are changing, PR and SEO are also evolving. Due to overlapping goals and values, PR and SEO are now a new type of homophone.
Now, PR and SEO are similar to these homophones because, as times are changing, these two fields are beginning to look very similar. PR and SEO will never be the same thing because, like homophones, they are spelled differently. However, they are on a track that is revealing they are beginning to sound more and more similar.
Link Building
PR and SEO both use a form of link building in their job to gain revenue and traffic to their brand.
PR uses exposure and mentions as their form of link building. Public Relation agents work with the consumers to show off their brand. By hosting events, they create exposure that helps drive traffic to their company. PR uses mentions to push their brand, such as having a famous blogger try a particular material and post about how great it is.
When you are scrolling through Instagram and you see a popular influencer post about their FAVORITE ice cream brand, in reality, they were most likely hired by a PR team to post about the product. The influencer brings traffic to the company because all of the influencer’s followers get exposed to it.
Link Building in the SEO world is more on the technical side. In SEO, the specialist focuses more on exposing the brand’s website rather than the company’s name. Their goal is to have the website link be published so that the target audience is reached
They both use a link or mention to show off their brand or website; which allows them to drive traffic and bring in revenue. Each party has the same goal of spreading awareness of their brand.
Building Connections
In both industries, the central premise is to try and build relationships and form connections with other humans or websites. These connections are what help cause brand exposure and drive traffic.
Public Relations builds relationships with people. PR experts reach out to different celebrities or bloggers to have the individual help their cause. The ties they make is what helps them get their job done: expose the brand.
A PR consultant may reach out to different bloggers, but they first need to establish a relationship. They can establish a relationship by commenting on blog posts and following them on social media. The goal is to be recognized by the individual you are hoping to form a relationship with. Once the connection forms, the blogger will be more willing to help and do what the PR representative has offered.
SEO experts need to form a relationship with a website or content writer to ask for a link to their website. By building the relationship, they have a better chance of gaining the link. I would rather give a link to a friend then some person who came out of nowhere.
Both fields have the same goal and end result when forming relationships. The goal is to expose their website or brand, and the end result is a new contact who can help with their brand awareness and increase in traffic.
Working Together
SEO revolves around using the right keywords and inserting them across the website. A keyword is a word the SEO team tries to promote for their brand. Consumers type a keyword into the search engine, and SEO experts want their company to be the first result that consumers see.
The more the SEO team incorporates the keyword, the more the search engine relates that company’s content with that word.
By using the term “Female Sandals” across a sandal company website, they are bettering their chances to be the first result that shows up when individual searches for “female sandals.”
The PR representative can use this keyword and work with the SEO expert. The Public Relationist can incorporate the keyword that the SEO professional has chosen into press releases, interviews, and anything else they do that gives their company exposure.
By having the Public Relationist use the keyword, the more relevant the search engine sees between the company and the keyword. Thus, causing their company to be the first result on the search engine result page.
Public Relations and Search Engine Optimization can work together to produce the most exposure for the company. The efforts of each can be used by the other to help drive traffic.
