As businesses have come to rely heavily on digital channels for promotion, they’ve also come to expect quick wins that are easy to quantify. Consequently, most focus their promotions on paid ads, social media campaigns, email marketing, and content delivered via their website and other owned channels. Any effort that can’t provide an immediately measurable ROI is considered subpar.
That approach, however, keeps companies from tapping into the SEO boosting power of earned media. By leveraging public relations to get media mentions, companies can build SEO momentum that ultimately results in significantly higher search engine rankings. And with better SEO comes greater authority, credibility, and brand awareness, all of which increase a company’s ability to attract and retain customers.
Why digital marketing teams typically prefer paid media
Metrics play a huge role in digital marketing strategies. Companies want to see click-through rates (CTRs) and numbers on cost per acquisition. They also want to know the return on ad spend. Because PR delivers less familiar measurables than those companies receive when they focus on ads on social media platforms, it can be hard to justify.
Attitudes toward PR can also be influenced by an outdated understanding of how it works and what it can deliver. Traditional PR primarily used media coverage to increase brand reputation. Modern PR, however, uses a variety of updated tactics to deliver strong SEO results.
Lack of PR knowledge — especially the ways to optimize it in the digital media space — is another factor that can keep companies from including it in their SEO strategy or broader promotional efforts. Developing sound PR focused on SEO requires distinct skills. Companies that lack those skills may simply ignore the option, robbing themselves of the benefits it can deliver.
While PR may not provide the tangible metrics that marketers are used to, it does impact SEO in a way that leads to greater brand exposure. Companies willing to embrace PR’s long-term impact alongside the immediate returns they see from other forms of promotion will find it to be a valuable addition to their overall SEO strategy.
How paid, earned, shared, and owned media compare
Four forms of media can play a role in a company’s media efforts: paid, shared, owned, and earned media. Marketing strategies typically rely on the first three — shared, owned, and paid media — because they are easier to carry out.
Paid media involves a wide range of efforts that are secured simply by paying a fee. Paid advertising falls under this category, as does sponsored content in media outlets. Paid media allows companies to focus on a target audience and provides a guaranteed placement, but it carries the aura of an advertisement, which can lead to it being ignored at best or blocked at worst.
Owned media encompasses components like blogs that appear on websites and other channels the company owns. Like paid media, owned media gives companies exclusive control over what appears, how it appears, and the type of engagement that is permitted. Content marketing generally involves the use of owned media.
Shared media is content that generally flows through social media channels. While it may originate with the company, it is ultimately intended to be amplified through social media shares or other user interactions. Consumer reviews are a form of shared media that is often leveraged as part of a company’s brand promotion.
Earned media is media exposure a company secures without paying for it. It’s published voluntarily by media outlets or other third parties. Journalists including a quote from a company’s CEO in an article and social media influencers reviewing a company’s products are both forms of earned media.
Unlike paid media, earned media opportunities often don’t give companies complete control over the specifics of their media coverage or detailed engagement data. However, earned media delivers SEO from press coverage, which provides unique brand promotion benefits.
How earned media can be used to boost SEO
To understand the power earned media adds to a company’s SEO efforts, it’s critical to understand that Google, which owns more than 91 percent of the global search engine market, places a high value on unbiased endorsements when it compiles its search results. Earned media provides those endorsements.
In Google’s eyes, companies that get earned media exposure get a vote of confidence from an impartial source, which makes them a more reliable response to a keyword search. Consequently, earned media can do more than any other form of media to improve a company’s rankings in search engine results.
Companies that engage in digital PR gain the capability to build a solid earned media plan that leads to valuable earned media SEO. The following are a few of the key ways earned media can be used to improve SEO:
- Securing high-quality backlinks: Backlinks are hyperlinks that point from one site to another. When Google assesses the quality of a site, it looks closely at backlinks. If the site has backlinks from multiple other authoritative sites, Google gives it a higher position in search engine results. Earned media can lead to valuable PR backlinks for a company, which not only improve its SEO but also its domain authority. As a bonus, PR backlinks also provide a tool for referral traffic, pointing media readers to a website while providing an endorsement.
- Providing brand mentions: Even when backlinks are not provided, earned media can still improve SEO rankings by enhancing a company’s Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT), an SEO-related element Google also pays attention to. While EEAT typically involves the quality and scope of the content on a company’s website, earned media can enhance a company’s authority by building a strong online brand presence. Frequent brand mentions in earned media can also lead to more brand searches, which is a factor that can improve SEO.
- Extending the reach of content: As your earned media success grows, you’ll have more opportunities to contribute to top-tier outlets. With those types of outlets, readers often share content on social media sites or other types of media, which can considerably extend brand reach. If the original earned media content includes a backlink to your site and gets picked up by other sites, your backlinks multiply, further contributing to your SEO.
Leverage digital PR and earned media strategies to improve SEO rankings
For companies looking to leverage SEO to connect with customers, the media type you choose to focus on makes a difference.
Paid media channels give you total control over your message and audience. Social media posts and other owned media provide a high level of control over the content and context of your media, but earned media amplifies your brand’s credibility and trust, which is a critical component of effective SEO.
In today’s digital landscape, brands that leverage earned media as part of their overall promotional strategy gain a powerful SEO tool.
