Has the PR industry missed the search marketing boat?
Do you know how the Google search engine ranks websites? When you enter a search term, its “bots” scan billions of web pages and, in milliseconds, follow 200 or so “signals” to decide what to present to you in a SERP (Search Engine Results Page), that list of sites that you see.
Google’s chief concern is relevance. Some of the more powerful signals in the way Google ranks a website are the number, variety and potency of links coming from other sites, and the way users behave onsite. Put more simply, how many other sites want to talk about your brand – i.e. the coverage you get – and how people engage with your content, both on-site and sharing your content with their personal networks.
Appearing on page one of Google is a key business advantage. It’s also a potential reputation challenge: Google your own company in incognito mode and see what comes up. Is your brand website prominent? Is it accurate? Are there negative articles among those results?
Taking those factors into account, you can see how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – the business of helping a site rank highly for search terms – should be a part of the company’s PR machine.
PRs can bring content, links and reach to the table. After all, these are the teams traditionally trusted to build relationships with journalists and influencers, create marketing content, and defend corporate reputations.
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Yet the number of PR agencies offering SEO services has dropped by a fifth (20%) in the last four years, according to research from the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA)
I believe the reverse should be the case: PR should be accelerating its search offering as part of a truly joined-up approach to their clients’ marketing. Or at least partner with a specialist search agency.
Search agencies have long recognised that the way Google has changed its algorithms in recent years to focus on quality inbound links and content, and many have hired PR practitioners far faster than PR has been hiring search talent.
While search agencies may not present a huge threat to PR, they are competing for similar budget and many are doing really great work.
A lack of understanding of SEO and how measurable it is in achieving business objectives is holding PR back.
SEO and PR are symbiotic, so there is always an opportunity for the agency that:
a) knows how to brand their search/content service and
b) has the skills to deliver on their promise
Search plays a key role in PR’s major functions of informing and persuading audiences, and defending reputations.
There is budget to be won. The PR industry needs to upskill on how search engines work, the opportunity and challenges for their clients, and how to package an offering.
To answer my own rhetorical question, no, PR hasn’t missed the search marketing boat, but agencies still to master SEO are missing out on additional revenue streams.
Search is forever changing, so PR need to be in this game for the long haul. The SEO opportunity is very much alive for PRs who want to take it.