While I certainly love to sing the importance of an integrated marketing strategy from the mountaintops, I still know plenty of traditional PR folks who react to mentions of “SEO” or “Google Analytics” like a deer in headlights.
It’s the same reaction people give when they hear the word “dentist.”
And, although I do fall on the PR side of the table, I fear not either!
One of the most fundamental goals of an SEO strategy is to increase visibility of and increase traffic to a website.
And, guess what, PR pros? You’re doing just that!
Who Invited You…
…to the party that is my website?
Are you amped about analytics? Well, you should be. It’s time to tout your media results based on more than just unique monthly visitors.
Here’s how:
To begin, your client will need to ensure they’ve added Google Analytics to their website. Then, you’ll need to be added as an Admin on your client’s Google Analytics account. Once you log in, click on the name of the website. On the side bar, select Acquisition, then Referrals. Here is where you will find out who’s been inviting folks to the party that is your website. Don’t be alarmed if you see some referrals that sound a bit spammy, it is pretty common to have a few (although it shouldn’t be all of them!). By taking a look here, you can see how many website visits your media results sent over.
Supplementing your public relations reporting with referral traffic reporting is pretty cool AND the traffic you’re sending is also a component of a proper SEO strategy.
You Are Not the Weakest Link…
Gone are the days where SEO is all about keywords. When your media results are linking to a website, you’re link building! That’s an SEO tactic. Boom! Still, not all links are created equal. It’s a popularity contest. Seriously…
Alexa’s Judging You…
…it’s all about popularity.
Alexa is one of the top judges of the website popularity contest and she’s very smart. At Alexa.com (and by adding Alexa to your toolbar), you can check out how popular a page is. Being popular is not just about visits, it’s about value. Sites with good content AND a solid amount of visitors are popular.
Google knows who is popular. More popular sites are more trustworthy—that’s proven by the amount of people who visit them and the amount of time spent on them reading content. The more popular the sites are that send traffic to your website, the stronger your link building. SO, not only do great media placements result in high visibility, they also have the highest impact on your link building efforts (and hopefully the amount of traffic sent to your site.)
See—there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to SEO. It’s time to get integrated!
Want to learn more? The Beginners Guide to SEO, produced by Moz, is a great place to start. And, of course, you can comment below with any questions/comments!