SEO & Publicity – A Marathon and Not a Sprint. Insight for How it Works.
The very basics of SEO with search engines have never changed.
John Coulman /
August 12, 2022 10:15 EDT
(Photo by Merakist on Unsplash)
Major search engines look at your website like a ‘University Paper.’ How well is the content written? What sources do you quote in your paper? Who is interested in your article externally, and how credible are those sources?
On the last note, yes, this would be ‘who is linking to your website?’ At a fundamental level, you could have 1,000 small blogs and mom & pop-type businesses that link to your website, and your website will not be that well recognized. But, on the other hand, if you had a major news outlet, like the New York Times, Toronto Star, etc., linking to your website with a 400-word article, that would be a hundred times more valuable than a thousand small insignificant sites linking to you.
Similar to our last posting yesterday on LinkedIn, the main reason is simple; the Credibility of the source.
Search engines look at the community and national papers (amongst other news sources) as non-biased, credible sources. For the most part, this means someone has taken the time to interview and research your business and write an original article about your business.
We cannot stress enough the importance and value of original content from outside, credible sources mentioning your business. It is called PR & Publicity and is not comparable to advertising or syndicated content.
For those unfamiliar, syndicated news is taking your press release verbatim and posting it across dozens of websites with no original content, hoping your backlinks will have a significant value. They don’t.
Publicity is a marathon, not a sprint.
Some customers have sent eight or more press releases before they get picked up. And when they do, it is magical. Journalists may not pick up a story for several reasons, including timing, being away, or just recently posting something too similar. The lesson here is not to give up. Be patient if your content is of great value and you are not inundating a journalist.
The key is to make sure what you are sending is newsworthy.
Put yourself in the shoes of a journalist. Think about their audience. Is your content newsworthy to their audience?
When you send a press release, the best way to send it is direct to the journalist. The vast majority of media professionals we have spoken with say the first thing they do when they see a story of interest is ‘Google the company.’ If they know the story is already syndicated and ‘out there,’ many will look to a new source unless they are desperate.
Publicity doesnt just come from a press release
Do you have a newsroom? Do you make it easy for journalists researching the web to find information? They may be looking for an expert with lots of information, demonstrating you are an industry expert and could contact you out of the blue for information for their story. Of course, they would also mention your business which, as previously mentioned, is of enormous value. We have seen this first hand.
Conclusion
By reaching out directly to journalists when you have valuable information to share, combined with having your newsworthy information organized, you increase the chances of having information written about your business by the media. In turn, this type of publicity can significantly increase your SEO. But, again, it is a marathon and not a spring.