5 ways PR can help optimize your off page SEO, from cashkaro.com founder Swati Bhargava

 23rd January 2018    Opinion 

Have you heard of SEO? Even if you don’t have in-depth knowledge, you know that it stands for Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, SEO helps drive traffic to a site but, that definition barely scratches the surface. SEO is crucial and how you handle your PR can have a huge impact on it!

Over the last few years, traditional SEO optimization techniques have become futile. Updates like Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird has created a more level playing field. This helps brands and companies rank organically. Now, all that might sound daunting to a newbie (we’ve all been there!) but, it’s actually rather simple.

Let’s break it down: Ranking on Google is a bi-product of both good on-page and off-page SEO. While on-page optimization is controllable, off-page optimization requires outreach efforts and other strategies. That’s where public relations kicks in: your PR team can help off-page SEO optimization. That includes backlink building, brand mentions, and social media engagement.

I’m going to share some tips that I picked up as we discovered new ways to optimize CashKaro’s SEO:

1. Get More Backlinks
One of the biggest ranking factors for Google is the number of quality backlinks your site has. You need to make sure you get them from authoritative websites and not random sources. The top ranking websites are the ones which have a lot of backlinks from reputed sites.  Your PR team should have a good relationship with media so you get a chance to pitch engaging content. When you create valuable content for these portals they are more likely to give you a useful back link.

2. Scale Your Brand
Your PR and communication efforts allow you to target a niche audience. But what if you could also address bloggers and journalists at the same time?  When your content goes onto these media sites, a large pool of people views it. Journalists are always hunting for content that adds value for their readers. This will help you get more traffic and increase sales opportunities. In fact, making SEO a part of your marketing can help scale your brand and lending it more visibility.

3. Earn User Trust
The more your brand gets mentioned on the internet, the more users trust it. Readers recognize and match your brand to a specific niche. This works well for SEO since Google ranks high-trust websites better than others. You can expect an organic boost in rankings with more PR outreach efforts. You should take the intangible impact of higher customer faith in your brand.

4. Garner Better Rankings
One impact of marketing through public relations is a steady rise in organic ranking. Higher brand mentions, back-links and referral traffic increases, your organic ranking.  That translates to better organic traffic which further boosts your ranking. This boost in rankings lasts long since you’ve had a gradual increase in mentions, back-links etc.

5. Be Cost Efficient
What do you do when you have engaging content but no channel to push it on? Public Relations is the answer: the relationship with media outlets will enable you to send out content for quick consumption. This is an inexpensive way to drive organic traffic. It also boosts rankings without going down the paid guest blogging route.

The one thing you must take back from all the above is that new-age SEO cannot exist in silos. It is an amalgamation of collaborations between content and public relations. I hope my suggestions help you improve the way you optimise SEO and inspire you discover the true potential of PR & SEO.

Swati Bhargava is Co-founder, CashKaro.com