April 28, 2015: As consumers increasingly use digital devices as the dominant — and often the exclusive means to discover information about world, the disciplines of traditional public relations and SEO are rapidly coming together.
So far, the convergence hasn’t been easy. PR pros argue that organic SERP dominance, while desirable, is a small component in the multi-channel battle for influence. SEOs decry the “old school” approach of many formerly analog-only PR agencies, declaring themselves better choices to carry out the job of building influence in an online-centric world.
Two things are clear: neither side has a monopoly in the battle for organic influence, and practitioners on each side have plenty to learn from each other. To add shape and clarity to the great PR-SEO convergence, we present ten voices from experts who’ve thought a lot about the subject.
“Both PR and SEO are all about getting other people to recognize that you have something to contribute to your industry.” — Christopher Penn, Shift Communications (@cspenn)
“The reality is SEO can benefit from PR best practices and PR can benefit from SEO best practices.” — Dave Lloyd (@davelloyd1), Blogs.Adobe.com.
“PR agencies not offering SEO services are going to fall behind.“ — Ian McKee (@imckee), Econsultancy.com.
“Any online PR strategy that relies on press releases with keyword-focused anchor text will fail.” — Samuel Scott (@samueljscott), theclinegroup.com.
“Many PR departments publish articles to a number of authoritative sites without asking “is it possible to have a link?”— qdev, gottaquirk.com.
“Authentic and relevant link building…should be a part of every public relations and SEO effort,” – Mike Cherenson(@mcherenson), former chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America, EVP of Success Communications Group
“The relationships that are built through public relations are the relationships that SEOs drool over.“ — Jonathan Long, the Huffington Post.
“There has to be an emotional connection. If you just throw down a bunch of words that sound good, (your customers and prospects) will read right through it.”— Jen Groover (@jengroover), social media influencer.
“SEO is now stricter about quality than quantity of both links and content. PR pros have those authoritative relationships SEOs need to help gain that quality. –Adam Heitzman, Managing Partner, Higher Visibility (@higherviz)
“The people who own mobile don’t talk to people who own the website. The people who own the website don’t talk to the people who are running Facebook… so you see multiple brands, multiple voices instead of one company. That is PR’s opportunity — redefine the whole journey, the entire experience.” – Brian Solis (@briansolis), social media influencer
What do you think? Tweet to @diditmarketing or @riskycontent.
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