Need Brand Recognition? Combine SEO and PR

Whether you crave industry authority or sales, brand recognition is necessary for making a name for your business. With more consumers spending most of their time online, it's never been easier to spread the word about your brand on social media, news sites, websites, blogs, and other digital channels.

But getting eyeballs on these digital channels is easier said than done. The best way to attract new customers to your business is to have a dominant presence on search engines. Ninety percent of all online experiences start with a search engine, so optimizing your business for Google, Bing, and other search engines is one of the best ways to turn heads.

See how search engine optimization (SEO) can help your brand attract more customers.

How Does SEO Help Brands Get Seen Online?

Going forward, it isn't enough to create the best product or offer best-in-class customer service. You need something else to differentiate your company. You need a way to ensure your target audience can find you in the virtual noise, and that's where SEO comes into play.

With SEO, you optimize your content so search engines are more likely to index it and rank it highly. The higher you rank in search, the more likely users searching for quick answers will visit your website.

SEO improves your brand's presence in many ways, leading to:

• Higher search engine rankings: With SEO, you optimize your website's content and structure to play nicely with search engine algorithms. Over time, this helps you rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When users search for keywords related to your brand or products, your website will be more likely to appear on the first page, putting you in front of more potential customers.
• Increased organic traffic: Optimizing your website for keywords attracts more organic traffic. Not only is this cost-effective, but organic traffic usually consists of people who want information, products, or services related to your brand. This targeted traffic is much more likely to convert into loyal buyers, with the right nurturing funnels, of course.
• Better user experience: Optimizing your site for search engines usually improves the user experience, too. From content upgrades to clear navigation headers, SEO makes it more likely that people will stay on your site longer, learn about your offerings, and (hopefully) become loyal customers.
• Credibility: Consumers perceive websites that rank highly in search as more trustworthy and credible. If your brand can consistently show up in top positions, you'll enhance your brand authority in your industry — and potentially give yourself a leg up on the competition.
• Measurable results: SEO is a solid marketing strategy that's highly measurable. You can measure the before-and-after for each campaign and see, in black and white, whether a campaign led to tangible results or not. In an age where ROI is a must-have, measurable strategies like SEO are the best bang for your buck.

SEO is a long-term strategy, so you might not see results overnight. However, over time, investing in SEO gives you a competitive advantage that helps you outrank the competition in search, attracting more customers to your business.

PR: SEO's Secret Weapon

Public relations is much more than press releases. It plays a vital role in SEO as the primary way your business earns high-quality backlinks. Also known as inbound links, these links are crucial for improving your SEO ranking and overall online visibility.

Let's look at how business leaders can direct their PR departments to better support their SEO efforts.

• High-Quality Backlinks

Search engines like Google direct users to the most reputable, relevant sites for their queries. To figure that out, Google considers the number and quality of backlinks when ranking your website.

PR efforts like media coverage, guest posting, or partnerships can result in these valuable, high-quality backlinks. When authoritative websites link to your content, it signals to search engines that your site is trustworthy and relevant, leading to improved SEO rankings.

• Organic Growth

Some people try to cheat search engines by buying backlinks. This is an SEO no-no that can get you into serious trouble. PR, on the other hand, naturally grows your backlinks over time, which is a green flag to search engines.

PR backlinks are earned, not bought, making them look natural and organic to search engine algorithms. This link-building approach is less likely to result in penalties, keeping you on Google's good side.

• Well-Rounded Link Profile

Business leaders can encourage their PR teams to acquire backlinks from a variety of sources, including:

• News articles
• Industry publications
• Blogs
• Social media

This variety tells search engines that your brand is authoritative and relevant across different contexts, strengthening your SEO efforts.

• Social Signals

PR activities extend to social media, generating important social signals like shares and comments. Social signals aren't direct ranking factors, but they do indirectly affect SEO by driving traffic and increasing brand visibility. That leads to more natural link acquisitions, boosting your rankings over time.

The Unstoppable Duo of PR and SEO

PR is an essential part of any successful SEO plan. A PR team, whether internal or outsourced, can support an SEO goal by securing high-quality backlinks, fostering organic growth, and amplifying visibility to elevate your brand to new heights. Technical optimization and strategic storytelling work together to ensure your brand resonates with your target audience, building trust, credibility, and sales along the way.