Link Building vs Digital PR. The day the Internet appeared in our life, traditional PR has lost its power. Still, traditional media works and brings results, but digital PR wins with a lot more points.
Being promoted in national printed media is still relevant for brands, as it helps consumers know about them. However, nothing compares to the speed of news we enjoy today. That made PR change focus. Today, it is called digital PR.
While the goal is the same – to get coverage, the means have changed. Following The Times print newspaper rules is not enough. Google’s guidelines are a new sheriff in the town.
People are social creatures, and when they want something to read, they talk about it. As a good PR professional, you should know what to share with them. And that’s where link building comes into play.
What Is Digital PR?
Digital PR is all about using the best PR practices to earn connections to support your SEO strategy. Simply put, it is about telling stories that passionate journalists grasp to cover the secrets behind them and bond with them.
But why do journalists care about your stories?
It’s clear, to come up with new ideas, they read news, speak to people, and check PR pitches. With hundreds of pitches a day, the headline is crucial and makes a journalist read it.
Now, let’s do it in practice. You created a piece of captivating press release about your brand. Try to find a new angle to deliver your story. Then sent it via email with an eye-catching headline with numbers (for example, what cities are best at solving Wordle) to journalists.
Now important thing – digital PR is not about reaching everyone. It is about getting everyone to tie to you.
A journalist for whom that topic is relevant decides to write about it and adds a link to your press release. Once Google sees that your website is associated with a trusted, authoritative source, it also drives traffic to your website.
So, how to make your story work?
You never know what kind of return on investment your story will get. However, it is still worth doing. Check your copy for the following factors:
- Current news
- Used a big name
- Emotional connection
Turning a brand mention into a link is possible, and digital PR is your secret weapon for that.
What is Link Building?
PR link-building puts authority under focus. It includes all the SEO techniques that work to keep your site ranking at its top.
Often links are one of the key factors for search engines to determine the relevance of your page. Whether external or internal, they do provide visibility to your site. What about the number? Well, good links matter. But what are they?
Check a few factors to determine the right strategy for your link-building:
- global popularity
The more popular the website, the bigger the number of external links it has. Wikipedia is one of the best examples of that.
- niche popularity
For a jewelry shop, the best way to get popularity is to be related to a popular fashion blog. For clothing, flowers, or furniture shops, the inbound link strategy is the same.
- anchor text
When someone binds your jewelry shop using the anchor ‘jewelry shop’, you win. Search engines determine that your website is a good resource.
- link context
Adding connections that are relative to your topic should provide a seamless transition.
- the source of the bond
Authoritative websites have the upper hand over less-reputable personal blogs.
Methods of Link Building
For any campaign, the first step in link building is to find out the reasons why the popularity is weakening. That helps you to determine the campaign focus.
Stating with internal connections is easy. First, it takes a little time and depends on you. To boost SEO on your pages, include internal bonds to your relevant blog posts and product pages. Hooks to your social media pages are also important in link-building strategy.
To gain external bonds, a good search campaign is needed. The main focus here is to improve traffic. That includes working with bloggers, creating infographics, and teaming with smaller niche sites. You can’t publish news each time, but it should be relevant to the content you push.
Often, the link to the site doesn’t work twice for a brand. It adds value when used once. Next time it is for nothing. With over one billion websites available, the choice for something interesting to look at for your readers is wide.
Instead of paying for ties that could be spammy, it is better to ‘spy’ on your competitors. Understand what they do well and use it to your advantage. That is a much better strategy that works and helps you write with SEO in mind.
Do not skip forums. Instead, become an active user who adds to the conversation by answering comments with links to your pages. The best way to encourage people to explore your website is to get to know your ideal customer. And places like forums are the best spots to introduce you to new topics and keywords to write about.
Methods of Digital PR
The main goal of digital PR is to build a strong, serviceable brand. And one of the best ways to do that is to put the brand into the spotlight. Doing that is much more likely link building that starts with research.
When homework is done, you build a strategy around your ideal customer. The idea is to speak to people and help them join a bigger conversation. And building relationships with influencers is key here.
Your story is your valuable asset. The idea is to work with the public to show it as something worth talking about. That could be article statistics, fun online quizzes, or engaging stories on evergreen topics.
Digital PR is about working with authorities who cover your ideas in a way that lands you links from top-tier publications. Those links are not so easy to clone.
Different tactics work across industries. When you know how they work, you know when to utilize them. Check them all so that you take advantage of each tactic when building your next digital PR strategy.
- Newsjacking
- guest blogging
- influencer outreach
- press releases & media coverage
- social media marketing
- thought leadership
- data-driven research studies
- creative content campaigns
So, What’s the Difference? Link Building vs Digital PR
When choosing between the two, it is important to understand that the end goal of each is to drive traffic and build website authority. However, the way you get there differs depending on the focus.
Link building is set to impress search engines, while digital PR is about impressing people. Both strategies work to help reach the deserved position on the rankings.
How you make them work is your care. The key is to set the right focus, which helps you improve your ranking positions and build your brand.
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