Together, PR and SEO can have a powerful effect on how a brand positions itself online. Integrating the two to achieve great engagement, drive traffic and generate links is essential for any business that depends on an online presence.
This case study highlights how digital marketing and PR expertise can come together to generate some fantastic results…
Why we suggested integrating PR and SEO
Great PR has great effects on SEO. It’s as simple as that. If a website has been correctly optimised and is well-maintained then PR can help to boost it’s link profile and generate targeted, engaged traffic. That’s exactly what our client needed in this scenario – a link and content audit, SEO work to rectify any issues and then PR and link-building tactics to increase the brand’s profile online.
In action
Our client came to us after becoming aware that their website wasn’t performing as well as they had wanted it to.
The first step we took was to complete a link and content audit. It became clear that the client’s website had become the victim of a Google penalty following an algorithm update. On looking at the website’s analytics we could see a 30 per cent drop in organic traffic following the penalty. The website had not recovered from this drop in traffic five months later.
To assess the cause of the penalty we completed a link and content audit of the site, as well as completing competitor research, to give us a full picture of where we could add the most value and the tactical approach we could take, to not only help the website recover from the penalty but go above and beyond it’s previous performance.
Following the audits we established:
- content needed to be created across the site to optimise the site for key search terms
- further value-added content could be created to target long tail search terms and generate traffic from an engaged audience, this would include advice articles and blogs
- link-building campaigns should be conducted to improve the link profile of the website
- the domain name for the website should be changed to maximise on the website’s connection with its well-known parent brand
Although changing domains can potentially be a ‘SEO nightmare’, with the right management, control and monitoring it should not cause any long lasting negative effects to visibility and traffic. By suggesting the website change domain names we wanted to maximise on a positive brand message, encourage trust from visitors and increase organic traffic.
We managed the transition, alongside performing SEO services such as technical optimisation, assessing website structure, keyword research and onsite analysis.
When we were confident that the transition had gone smoothly we began implementing PR and link-building campaigns. Targeting high quality domains, we pitched in the website and the useful content we had created.
Using our PR expertise we liaised with key opinion leaders in the industry, asking them to share the content on social media and their websites. This generated engaged traffic from their audience straight to our client’s content.
The results
Over the period of this campaign the client saw their website go from strength-to-strength. Optimisation made it a friend, not foe, of Google and useful content made the website a go-to platform for job seekers looking to improve their job search.
As a result we achieved:
- 192 per cent year-on-year increase in organic traffic
- a tenfold increase in the number of linking domains, with links being achieved from several high authority .ac.uk domains
- value-added content appearing in the website’s top 10 organic landing pages, driving increased visits to the site on a monthly basis
- 47 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of conversions from those visiting via organic search sources
The value of PR and SEO is clear – it works to generate traffic and improve the health of your website. If you think your website may have suffered from a Google penalty, been negatively impacted by a Google algorithm change or simply want to boost your presence online, get in touch with us today.