My clients often ask me if – and why – they should consider engaging a public relations firm to help them gain visibility and improve their Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is complex and requires a well-developed strategy to make a significant difference in rankings. A large part of that strategy is PR.

To understand the “why”, you must understand how search engines work to rank your website.

When responding to queries, search engines have refined their algorithms to such an extent that they can analyze your website for relevant content in microseconds, and decide how high up in the search results to place your website – which is what SEO means, by the way.

Until recent years, if you had a few compatible keywords placed in strategic areas on your web pages, you were golden. Not anymore. Now search engines are seeking quality content, among the 200 other factors taken into consideration. Their algorithms have become so sophisticated that they can make instant judgments about relevance and substance, to deliver the best results for the user.

For example, Google will scan your website for fresh content such as blogs and photos (excluding content that has been recycled or printed verbatim from a news release), for captivating headlines, and for what are known as inbound links or backlinks. The latter is simply a link back to your website from what Google considers a reliable source, including recognized journalism sites such as CNN or The Washington Post, as well as government — including military – and educational sites. If any such entity backlinks to your site, Google will provide additional weight in its results page placement.

This is where an experienced public relations firm becomes necessary. The firm’s job is media outreach, and PR experts know how to cultivate long-standing relationships with reputable journalists, how to craft press releases that will intrigue them, and—more important—the types of information or stories that will pique their interest.

Journalists need a “hook” when developing a story, something that makes it newsworthy. To be newsworthy, a subject must either appeal to a large number of readers, or it must be timely, ideally both. This is the kind of insider knowledge that public relations firms trade in every day, and why PR and SEO teams are now working so closely together.

This, of course, is just one small example of the various news “blasts” PR firms do to all local journalism sites, radio and TV, as well as across numerous social media platforms. Unless you can strategize, plan and effectively execute an entire public relations campaign on your own, then you need a PR firm to work seamlessly with your SEO expert.

Here at 101 Management, Inc. we work primarily with one South Florida based firm, Durée & Company, Inc. to achieve better, faster SEO results for our clients.

Durée & Company, Inc. is an award-winning full-service public relations, marketing and special events firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Aspen, Colorado. The firm serves the corporate, agency and non-profit arenas for local, national and international clients focusing on public relations for real estate, public relations for restaurants, public relations for law firms, public relations for charities, public relations for healthcare, and many more.

Give us a call to discuss your needs, and we’ll put you in touch with the best PR Firm in Fort Lauderdale.