It doesn’t matter if you’re in marketing, media or PR, SEO is what’s going to get people to recognise your site, your client’s brand and essentially your content overall. According to Liesl Silverman, copywriter and proofreader at Boomtown, “SEO is the method for getting your website ranking high enough to be noticed in web searches.”

This means that, if a publication posts your content on their website and your SEO is strong, it will be that much easier to find on Google.

When it comes to your PR strategy for optimising SEO, it’s important to note that keywords play quite a big part. This is because they help search engines to better identify whether or not the content a person is searching for is relevant to that specific search.

This means that you have to use only the most relevant keywords in your content to have it rank higher in search engine results.

Still, confused about how this all works? Then read on for our top tips!

SEO tip #1: PR pros, you’ve got to name your images correctly

The reason why you need to ensure that you name your images correctly is simply because Google crawlers read the name of the image, they don’t actually see images.

This means that if your press release or social media caption talks about the importance of SEO’ then you need to save your image with that name. Otherwise, if you just save the image as ‘145.jpg’, Google’s crawlers don’t actually make the connection between your content and that image.

So, the next time you are writing content and you need to attach an image with it, be sure to name it accordingly to better your chances of ranking higher in Google searches.

SEO tip #2: When writing press releases, write for SEO specifically

When you’re on a roll and busy writing a press release, it can be easy to forget the importance of keywords that need to be used in order to boost your SEO game. That’s why you need to make a note of the following points (whether it’s a sticky note or written in your diary):
  • The first five words in your press release’s synopsis needs to include the main keywords (think topic) that your press release focuses on. For example, if your presser is about ‘marketing tips for beginners’, ensure that the words ‘marketing’, ‘tips’ and ‘beginner’ are all within the first sentence of your article.
  • Ensure your headline also contains one or more of the main keywords. Using the same example as above, you might make your headline: Top 10 marketing tips for beginners.
  • Try and add in keywords into your subheadings. Again, your first subheading might read something along the lines of ‘Always use the correct marketing tools’. Notice how the word ‘marketing’ is in the synopsis, headline and your subheading.
  • Avoid keyword stuffing. This is when you use the same keyword too often throughout your content. Try and include it every now and again but using synonyms also helps. For example, you don’t always have to say ‘marketing’; you can say ‘marketer’ or ‘this industry’. If you do stuff your keywords, Google will pick up on this and your press release will be found on the second page of this search engine, or worse ...
The more you practice writing for SEO, the easier it will become and the better your content will start performing.

SEO tip #3: Find publications for your press releases with domain authority

There is no use in ‘spraying and praying’ your content to multiple publications and hoping that someone, anyone will publish your press release. Even if they do publish it, 10-to-one, they are not reputable and their audience may not be of any value to you or your client.

For example, if you are writing a press release for a client who works in the marketing industry, it wouldn’t be advisable to send the press release to a small publication that only focuses on the media industry, now would it?

If you did, it probably won’t get published and, secondly, if it does get sent out,the wrong kinds of people will see it and your SEO value will be lost. It won’t receive engagement and the reads will be incredibly low, meaning its ranking on Google will suffer.

Rather distribute the press release to big publications that focus on the relevant audiences that you are looking to target in your client’s content.

SEO tip #4: Use relevant keywords on social media

More and more people are making use of social media to find the news and information that they are looking for. That is why it is so vital that, when you publish a link to your press release, or post an image, that you use the relevant keywords — or hashtags, in this case — in your posts.

For example, if your client’s press release got published by a particular publication, and you want to take this achievement to social media, focus on creating content that utilises keywords and hashtags that relate back to the story. This will make it easier for users to find it.

You can even take it a step further and tag the relevant publication and your client so that they can also share the story on their own platforms.

SEO tip #5: Make use of backlinks from reputable sources

A great way to ensure that the brand’s content gets a better SEO ranking is by encouraging other reputable websites to link back to the story or press release.

“Google and Bing view backlinks from third-parties as a ‘vote of confidence’ to your web content and brand,” says Jo Spink, founder and creative strategist at Spink Healthcare Communications Agency.

Additionally, ‘backlinks from low-quality websites’ don’t actually improve your SEO and Google will not rank your content higher. This is because it knows when a website is not reputable and will therefore not rank it higher even if five of these types of websites link back to your content.

Thus, the best way to ensure that you receive backlinks for your client’s content is to write press releases that are of a high-quality and that carry important value and information for people in your specific industry of focus.

You can also do it the old fashioned way if you’re just starting up — send that high-quality content to reputable sources and ask them to link back to your content.

What are some other important steps PR pros should take to improve their SEO efforts? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

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Keen to learn more about how to write SEO-friendly headliners? Then be sure to check out these Three tips for writing a killer press release headline.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy