Public Relations and SEO in 2012
-
With all the stress on inbound marketing and focusing on links for traffic and not just SEO, it would seem to me that going forward the best skilled people for the job of link building are public relations consultants (at least for startups). PR folks have the contacts and training to get publicity on the big authority sites and really drive big traffic as well as strong links. What am I missing? For link building, why should we hire an SEO firm and not a PR firm?
Secondly, I've been contacting a few agencies to get some idea of what they charge and most seem to start at about $5k pm whereas we only have a budget of around $1k for link building. Am I wasting my time thinking I may get any benefit at this low of a budget?
I'd love to hear from anyone with any experience using PR firms/consultants and if you have any recommendations that would be great also.
-
From my experience as a publisher... Most PR firms are spammers who wear a suit to work.
-
My two cents? I spent 12yrs in the PR field (and transitioned into SEO/social media) and I'd be very careful to ask the right questions to determine what PR agency to work with. I know - and worked with - few who knew how to properly optimize a release. And, while they did have media contacts, PR Newswire did a lot of the leg work. Pitching a story to a reporter or blogger was really the value the PR person brought to the table. And, link building was never something that was regularly brought up. In the past two months, the majority of the PR pros I network with like to tell me "SEO is dead" which tells me everything I need to know about their understanding of SEO.
Again, I am sure there are plenty of seasoned PR people who have an understanding - there's also lots of agencies who like to sell their services even if they don't have the depth of knowledge. Like any business endeavor, it's just a matter of due diligence to find the right fit.
Freelancers have way better prices because they don't have the same overhead costs as agencies, so that could be a more affordable route.
-
Dear meterdei,
You're right on the part that PR Folks have the right contact allthough my thoughts on why hire a SEO for instead of a PR marketeer are very simliar. I think a good SEO does not only provide you with the right links but also makes sure those links stay good and stay online (monitoring) and also a SEO should (i'm not saying all do or all don't do but they should) also analyse what the links do for your website.
PR agencies charge from 5K and more? I think if you do find a good SEO to do a lot of quality linkbuilding you should put some agreements in a contract. Lets say you want at least 5 .gov links and 10 .edu links to you new project togetheer with lots of other links offcourse the should then provide a list of websites where they had put the links on. That way you can monitor what you get and what they had done. I think for all of this including monitoring what these links did for your website the cost will be anywhere from 2K to 4K depanding on the exact amount of linkbuilding.
If you sell yourself short by going for a cheaper solution you might regret it in the end.
I do have experience with some linkbuilding firms but they have not continued their work. As for PR firms, i would not know what they can provice next to the right SEO.
-
There are two approaches we use:
- The client hires a PR agency. We teach the PR agency how to do SEO press release and give them our manual. Than - and this part is important - before the PR agency sends the press reales, they have to send it to our agency to check it and optimize. After we check the press release it can be send to the media. The point is the links are not important for PR folks. So the most you can demand from them is to put an URL or your home page at the beginning of the press release (sometimes they even don't mention it). But it is just the beginnig. Different online media handle the links in the press releases differenty and you have to know, how make and hypertext from them, how to do a deep-links and how to handle with keywords in the press releases. This is not typical PR work.
- Because we provide the PR services, we write and optimize press releases. We do the PR even off-line. But not all PR agencies provide this kind of service.
Press releases are good sources of links, but it is just a part of link-building. But very valuable.
Another point is that sometimes (manytimes?) is it more valuable to get a link from specialized, but not so known website (e. g. a blog) or discussion board, than from generally oriented huge website/media.
I am not so familiar with the prices on US market but e. g. 600 USD/per month per link-building is a minimum by our agency here in Central Europe. But is someone wants just link-building for 600 USD/month, we have to reject it. If an account manager has to be able to deliver results, he or she has to spend a lot of time with his or her team to work on a project. And many times link-building is not enough. So it needs o lot of time. I cannot imagine a serious project, where you spend less than 20 hours per month doing SEO - and this is really just a minimum. E. g. 20 hours by our Central-European agency is 1 750 USD.
If you want a reputable US agency, you have to prepare to pay higher prices.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How does the background on my product photos impact SEO - step and repeat vs. plain background
I have a new e-commerce site and I'm focused on optimizing it for SEO. If I am taking product photos, will having a step-and-repeat (background with our logo repeated) in the background of the product impact how the images are scanned by Google? In other words, would I benefit from having a plain background behind my item shots vs. a backdrop with our logos all across it? I don't want Google to think I'm spamming my logo across all our items, but also want our photos to be recognized as ours. I want to gain SEO from my effort and definitely not hurt it! Thanks!
Branding | | A_Wo0 -
Changing domain name and site design while recovering from penguin? Still SEO power in EMDs?
Our website recently suffered from a penguin update courtesy of some black hat techniques used by an SEO company we hired a few years ago. We are working on cleaning up and disavowing the old spammy links, but at the same time this penalty has hit us while we were working on making some major changes to our website. As a law firm we have 2 separate practice websites we are planning to merge under 1 domain to help boost our local results. Our problem is that the domain names for each practice are specific to the type of law they practice, so we will have to move both practices to a branded name domain that works for both practices. I thought since traffic was already affected because of the penguin update this might be an opportune time to change the domain name, but since I am far from an expert at SEO I'm wondering if there are variables I am unaware of that might make this decision a very bad one. Also we currently have exact match domains for our two different sites -- the way I understand it EMDs don't carry the same SEO weight they once did, but the firm is worried that losing the EMDs is going to cause a dramatic drop in traffic. If we keep the EMDs but permanently redirect them to the new site, will it maintain their SEO value? Would google consider that black hat and possibly penalize us for it in the future? Thanks for any advice or insight!!
Branding | | MyOwnSEO0 -
Looking to hire an SEO/Reputation manager
We are looking to hire an SEO/reputation manager or firm to complement our existing marketing efforts. The goal is to take up the front page of Google on 3 branded keywords. We will create the content but need someone to come up with the strategy on what content to create, where to post it and how to link to get it moved to the front page of Google. We went through MOZ's recommended list of service providers but would rather work with an individual freelancer than a large SEO company. Please advice where we can find such consultant or email vitaly@newpeakmedia.com to apply. Include your experience and some samples of projects you have worked on. ################## UPDATE ################# Here's the keywords' difficulty based on MOZ's serp analysis tool and top 10 ranking pages for the first term http://i.imgur.com/zqktjuU.jpg http://i.imgur.com/LB7i4yz.jpg
Branding | | vmotuz0 -
Rebranding for Local SEO
I'm preparing to begin a rebranding project for a client who is changing their brand name, logo and primary domain name. They have dozens of locations (some that accept walk-in customers, and some that don't). What's the best place to get started? Once their rebranded website is published, should third-party sources like Acxiom & Localeze be addressed first, then move to Google+ Local, Bing Places, Yahoo Local, etc.? Is using schema for local business and the new company logo on their website a must-do action item? Just trying to be proactive & figure out the best process in order to maximize cost and time efficiency. Thank you.
Branding | | BT2110 -
Competitors' dummy websites --- What SEO (or other?) strategy is this?
I work for an e-retailer. I've noticed that at least one of our competitors (and, I think, a second as well) has set up a neutral "third party" website that attempts to provide unbiassed information about different manufacturer's products. Of course, their products always win out over the competitor in these comparisons. But this one site (and another whose corporate backer I can't seem to figure out) is keyworded so poorly, and not branded at all. There are very few (if any) links to the corporate sponsor, or links, period. It's definitely not serving to have "Little Brand x" appear next to "Big Brand Y" in search results, either (again, really poorly keyworded). Other SEO seems really minimal. What do you think their strategy is? Is it a dumb waste o' money or something really smart that I'm not picking up on? Your insights most appreciated!
Branding | | Novos_Jay1 -
Infographic for SEO
How can an infographic be used for seo purposes? What tools should I use to create one or should I just outsource the work? How much does an infographic cost to make?
Branding | | bronxpad0 -
List Quick and Dirty places to seo-tag images/content for new brands
I'm helping a new brand (service industry) to try to dominate the first page for their own name. They have a name that also exists in another state AND a negative Yelp review which (shows up #4, whilst they show up #1 on google unpersonalized search). Aside from Linkedin/Facebook/twitter, what are good places to Tag Images and have them show up under the search for this company's name. This is a picture/heavy industry (jewelry) and I'm looking to create profiles on several sites that would immediately show up if I tag the content properly. Are quora/pinterest good choices? I need to grab-bag as many properties as possible. Secondary question: would these properties on quora etc, respond well to exact-match anchor text links to shoot them past the negative yelp rating that is showing up #4 for their brand?
Branding | | ilyaelbert0 -
Acquired Premium Domain, question about Brand name change related to SEO
We recently acquired a premium domain name The domain we were operating on before had a lot of SEO done on it, as well as branding campaigns. Now that we have the premium domain, would it be wise to start doing SEO on the premium domain and discontinue old domain promotions if we plan on changing the brand name? to clear up any confusion, we own for example AAAFurnitureStore.com we acquired the premium domain: AAAFurniture.com should we redirect AAAFurnitureStore.com -> AAAFurniture.com or since we already have established presence/brand do opposite and redirect AAAFurniture.com -> AAAFurnitureStore.com and keep the brand name same as "AAA Furniture Store"?
Branding | | lafurniturestore0