Whatever experts on the internet say, it’s certain that SEO is still an important marketing aspect. Almost 40% of internet users click on the first organic result, showing just how important it is to have a high ranking on search engines.
As a part of SEO, backlinks play an essential role in increasing brand awareness and improving ranking. While you can find versatile in-house marketers who can help you with link-building, outsourcing this activity to digital PR agencies can be a lot more functional.
Companies that focus on SEO activities, especially when partnered with a reliable search engine optimization agency, can boost your company’s ranking, as they have the necessary connections and resources. This article explores the importance of backlinks and the benefits that PR agencies have to offer.
Importance of backlinks
In short, backlinks are links from other websites that target your website. While this seems like nothing special and important, backlinks serve as a form of vote of confidence. They show the algorithm that your content and website are worth referring to.
Not all backlinks are made equal. Websites are considered worth depending on their Domain Authority or Domain Rating. These two measurements can be calculated using Moz and Ahrefs, respectively.
It’s always a better practice to seek fewer high-quality links rather than dozens of low-quality backlinks. There are many studies that show that backlinks are the most important factor for your website ranking.
What makes good backlinks challenging to find?
Securing good backlinks is challenging. We’ve all been contacted by outreach experts who want to provide us with high-quality backlinks, but these links are rarely valuable. There are dozens of websites that sell backlinks, but this often isn’t a good practice.
If a website has external links to two businesses that are in completely unrelated industries, it’s likely a bad option to obtain a backlink from there. Digital PR agencies that provide a complete link building service can help you bridge specific gaps.
For example, you’ll be able to find websites that are in the same niche as yours and have related and authoritative content about related topics. There are three main ways in which you can obtain backlinks:
- Link-insertion,
- Guest post,
- Link exchange
Each of these practices has its pros and cons. However, it’s up to the agency and your budget to decide what method of link-building will be the most lucrative for your business.
Good content often isn’t the only indicator of a high-quality website for backlinks. Without tools like Ahrefs, it’s hard to see some key metrics. For example, the website can have traffic from countries that are unimportant to you.
Many of these tools are expensive, and purchasing them without having an extensive need for SEO analysis can be unnecessary. This is one of many reasons why outsourcing your backlink requirements to an agency is a better option.
8 Reasons to pick digital PR agencies
There are numerous reasons why PR agencies can help you with your backlinks and overall ranking.
The eight reasons mentioned below are only a portion of all the benefits that a business might experience.
1. Access to influencers and media outlets
One of the greatest strengths of digital PR agencies is connections with journalists, bloggers, and influencers across various industries. This can help businesses get backlinks and increase their visibility in a short amount of time.
Without these connections, building backlinks and networking with notable blogs and individuals can be time and resource-consuming. These partnerships not only boost your backlink profile but also improve the overall position of your business.
Of course, depending on your industry, it’s recommended that you seek out agencies that have partnerships with individuals in the same niche as your business.
2. Experience with clients
In many aspects, SEO requires a lot of trial and error. While there are many practices that are proven useful or harmful, there are a lot of complexities that only experienced individuals and agencies can solve.
Past experience with clients, especially with the ones in your industry, ensures that you can expect immediate benefits by partnering with a digital PR agency.
For example, they know which publications are most relevant to an outdoor clothing brand versus a fashion retailer. While these two examples have some overlapping, an experienced agency can pick more specific backlink options.
3. Credibility and transparency
When you partner with a notable PR agency, you’re collaborating with experts whose past results speak for themselves. By outsourcing PR and SEO activities to a credible agency, you’ll be able to shift your focus elsewhere.
These agencies often provide their clients with regular updates and clear reporting on campaign performance. You’ll know exactly where your backlinks come from, how they align with your brand strategy, and how they impact your SEO.
4. Content creation at scale
Many businesses nowadays have their own teams of content writers. While these writers can also work on guest posts, digital SEO and PR agencies often have better capabilities for creating content on a larger scale.
Furthermore, digital PR agencies are equipped to produce a wider variety of content types. Most importantly, they have the capabilities of producing press releases, infographics, research reports, and interactive media.
Unique content like infographics and statistics can be crucial for attracting organic backlinks. The agency you’re working with can also provide your website with content that can later be targeted for outreach campaigns, improving the likelihood of securing placements.
5. Improved brand visibility
Beyond backlinks and search engine ranking, digital PR campaigns are excellent tools for boosting brand awareness. When your brand is featured in high-profile publications, it gains exposure to a wider audience.
Obviously, these publications can help you reach potential customers, but they also serve as proof of competence and trust. In short, your business will be seen as more reliable and credible if industry leaders are talking about it in popular publications.
6. Monitoring, analysis and adaptation
SEO, and more precisely, link-building, isn’t a one-time task. Ensuring that your content ranks and that your business is represented in popular blogs is an ongoing process. By collaborating with PR agencies, you’ll ensure continuous monitoring of your performance.
They use advanced tools and metrics, assess the quality of each link, and, if needed, fine-tune your content and backlink choices to maximize the performance. This aspect is especially important if something goes wrong.
For example, suppose your business experiences a sudden drop in traffic. In that case, the SEO experts you’re collaborating with can help you take emergency measures that will solve this in a timely manner.
Furthermore, many of the problems and opportunities for growth can go unnoticed without previously mentioned tools.
7. Time-efficiency
Link-building is notoriously time-consuming. It involves conducting outreach, creating content, partnering with individuals, and following up to secure placements. For in-house teams, this process can become costly in time, energy, and resources.
Outsourcing digital PR can help you divert your focus to important aspects of your business. For example, you can have a great social media marketing team, and allowing them to focus on SMM can be much more productive than bothering them to work on SEO at the same time.
The process of link-building can be even more time-consuming if you’re just starting. You’ll have to contact dozens of websites and individuals until you find the ones that are interested in providing you with a backlink.
Then, once you have a list of websites that are interested, you’ll have to vet each of them in order to reduce the chances of potentially toxic backlinks.
8. Expertise in technical SEO
A solid backlink strategy goes hand-in-hand with technical SEO. SEO agencies are experienced in ensuring backlinks adhere to search, avoiding pitfalls like spammy links or irrelevant placements.
Furthermore, they can help you with fixing potential technical problems with your website and articles that might impact your website’s ranking negatively.
The services of digital PR agencies can significantly help you with SEO
SEO is a long-term game. There isn’t a way that will make your ranking skyrocket overnight. It’s actually quite the opposite; your ranking can plummet if you haven’t conducted link-building properly.
As a decision-maker in a business, make sure that you explore PR and SEO agencies that had results in the past in your industry. By finding quality services, you’ll ensure long-term benefits and a competitive edge.
However, don’t neglect other marketing methods and SEO practices besides link-building. Cover all marketing channels that you believe are essential for your business type, and prepare to reap the benefits.