You may have never thought about it, but digital PR and SEO are two very intertwined disciplines, and the link between the two are backlinks (pun intended!)
Most of the businesses who start approaching SEO do so because they are looking for a boost in website traffic. The truth is that, while SEO does exactly that, optimisation alone won’t do the trick.
Because SEO is not just about technical tweaks and fixes, but a lot of it is deeply correlated with reputation, authority and quality. And that’s why, in order to get better rankings on Google, you need to have a solid PR strategy in place to boost your own reputation and authority through digital partnerships.
Let’s take a look below at what backlinks are and why they affect your SEO game so much – particularly your chances to take the number 1 spot on Google.
What Are Backlinks And Why Do They Matter So Much?
Backlinks are just links from other websites to yours. Nothing more and nothing less than that. They aren’t some complex technical bits of coding that only experts truly understand.
Why are they so precious then? Well, because in order to obtain one, you need to build trustworthy relationship with other website owners.
In fact, Google precisely sees backlinks as a vote of trust.
Fundamentally, if a website like Forbes – or any other website that has high reputation – links to your website, Google understands that you have a shared level of reputation, too.
It’s worth mentioning the only technical detail that really matters about backlinks: the difference between a dofollow vs. nofollow backlink.
- Dofollow: they pass authority, therefore they affect positively your overall SEO and boost rankings.
- Nofollow: the do NOT pass authority (social media links tend to be nofollow, but they still drive traffic)
Any link can be either dofollow or nofollow, so, when you obtain a backlink, make sure that it is always marked as dofollow.
Why Backlinks Are So Important In Boosting Your SEO
Did you know that your position on Google’s results page deeply affects your Click Through Rate? That means that a website that doesn’t rank well has very few chances of getting visits from Google.
And the way to rank better on Google is, you guessed it, obtaining quality backlinks.
That is because Google assigns each domain a score, called Domain Authority (DA), which assesses a website’s reputation. Domain Authority is calculated on the basis of how many live backlinks a website has at any given time.
For example, a newly created website starts with a DA of 0/100. When you set up your social media accounts and link them to your website, the score goes up to about 2/100 (that is because Instagram, Pinterest and the likes provide nofollow backlinks, so you don’t get much equity from these links!). When you get backlinks from other magazines, well established company websites, other blogs etc, your DA grows according to the reputation of the originating website.
As a consequence, backlinks from website with a high DA are much more valuable than those from less reputable domains. And the more backlinks you get, the better.
BONUS: you can check anyone’s Domain Authority for free on Semrush or Ahrefs.
Factors that influence Domain Authority (DA) according to Moz
How To Earn Backlinks From High Domain Authority Websites
As we have established that digital PR and backlinks are great for SEO, it’s time to talk about how to earn backlinks to boost your rankings on Google, which ultimately affect your CTR to your website.
I have written a full article on How to Build Backlinks for Wellness Practitioners, but here is a summary of a few different backlink building opportunities:
- Creating high-quality content that will get cited by others: if you publish an original insight piece, infographic or research result, others will naturally use it in their content and link you as the original source. This is the strategy that takes the longest, but gives the most satisfaction.
- Guest blogging: those who know SEO know the importance of backlinks, therefore many blogs offer the opportunity to write a guest blog and will credit you as the author, giving you a backlink. Just search for opportunities on Google!
- Interviews and guest features: if you have the chance to get interviewed and your words end up on a podcast, Instagram live or in written form, ask your interviewer to include a link to your website in the show notes or video descriptions.
- Partnerships: if yours is a B2B business, whatever your service or product is, clients can showcase your work on their own website and offer you a backlink. Don’t be afraid to ask!
- Any media opportunity: did any online magazine or publication mention you? Make sure to ask them to credit you and your work, and include a link directly to your website!
A bonus benefit of these digital PR opportunities is that they grant you more credibility and trustworthiness beyond the SEO benefits, as well as driving additional traffic to your website directly through the links!
The Relationship Between Backlinks and CTR in Search Engine Optimisation
It should be clear now how digital PR and backlinks positively affect your website’s SEO ranking: high-reputation backlinks make your Domain Authority score go up, which triggers Google to prefer your website over one with a lower score, making you climb the ranks on the search result page.
Correlation between Google position and CTR (Backlinko)
Ranking higher on the search results page, as we’ve seen above, is directly correlated with higher click through rates over to your website.
Fun Fact: the distribution in the graph above reflects precisely the conclusions observed by what is called Zipf’s Law, where the #1 position gets 10x as much traffic as #10. Our society loves a winner!
Conclusion: Digital PR and Backlinks Are Essential To Boost Your SEO Game
In conclusion, even if PR is a discipline that is not associated with SEO (and very rarely you will find an SEO expert that does PR, too) the two are actually very deeply connected, because backlinks pass authority from one website to another. In essence, if you want better SEO rankings, you should set up a link-building strategy.
If you’re working on improving your rankings, you might want to check out these articles to understand how SEO can help you achieve your goals:
- 10 Benefits of Blogging for Business Coaches
- How To Get Clients Beyond Word Of Mouth
- Difference Between Title and H1 in SEO
And if you’re looking for expert SEO guidance, make sure to check out my services page, and get in touch if you’re ready to jump on a free discovery call with me!
Ilaria Pellegrini is a SEO consultant and blog writer based in London, UK. With 8+ years of brand and digital marketing expertise, since 2023 she started working with wellness and coaching businesses to strengthen their online visibility and increase their chances of discoverability through SEO. https://www.maars.marketing
maars marketing 