5 Ways to Optimize Your Digital PR Content

Digital PR is a powerful tool in the Search Engine Optimization arsenal. It can help businesses boost their online presence, reputation, and visibility by gaining media coverage and building a robust backlink profile. When top-tier outlets cite your website, Google sees that as evidence that your site is authoritative; that being said, there’s more to digital PR than link building. Without attention to optimizing your content for SEO, even the most informative and engaging content may fail to attract the attention it deserves over time, long after active media outreach has ended. 

SEO, in a nutshell, is the practice of optimizing a website to improve its visibility to Google and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). While traditional SEO is more focused on the nuts-and-bolts content of a website, digital PR takes a slightly different approach that, when partnered with traditional SEO, can take a website even higher on the SERP than before.

How to Optimize Content for SEO

How do digital PR pros optimize their content for SEO? Here are 5 ways to take digital PR content to the next level and reap the long-term benefits of optimization. 

1. Title Tags: What’s in a Name?

Title tags are one of the most important on-page elements of SEO content optimization. They tell search engines and users what the content of a page is about in a relatively short phrase. In the context of digital PR strategy, title tags can play a crucial role in driving traffic to your content and generating interest in your brand.

To optimize title tags for digital PR content, you should:

• Keep it concise: Title tags should ideally be between 50-60 characters long, as this is the maximum length that will be displayed in SERPs.
• Use relevant keywords: Include keywords that are relevant to the content of your page, as this can help to improve its ranking in search results (we’ll get to how to find those keywords down below).
• Include your brand name: Including your brand name in the title tag can help to improve brand recognition and awareness.

For example, if you are writing a press release about a new product launch, your title tag might look something like this: “New Product Launch: Digital Third Coast Unveils How-Tos for Digital PR Pros.”

2. Use Headings to Structure Your Digital PR Content and H1s to Set the Tone

Headings (H1s, H2s, H3s, etc.) are important for both SEO and user experience. They help to break up content into smaller, more digestible sections, making it easier for readers to scan and understand. In the context of digital PR, headings can also help to highlight key points and make your content more engaging. Not only that, but Google will look to the H1 first when crawling a website to determine its content. 

The H1 is the main heading on the page, and therefore usually the title of the content campaign you’d like the public to see. 

To optimize H1s for digital PR content, you should:

• Use a single H1 per page: it’s basically your title
• Include relevant keywords: Include relevant keywords in your H1, but avoid keyword stuffing or making your H1 sound spammy.
• Make it engaging: Your H1 should engage and encourage users to read on. Consider using powerful words or questions to pique readers’ interest.

For example, if you are writing a blog post about the benefits of your product, your H1 might look something like this: “5 Surprising Ways Digital PR Can Transform Your Online Business.”

3. Use H2s to Break up Your Digital PR Content and Add Space

H2s are subheadings that are used to break up blocks of content into smaller sections. The most frequently used header type on a content page, H2s add to user experience and provide opportunities for further SEO content strategy optimization.

In the context of digital PR, H2s can also help to more clearly break down study findings by section and make your digital PR campaigns and content more scannable for journalists. 

To optimize H2s for digital PR content, you should:

• Use descriptive headings: Your H2s should accurately reflect the content of each section and should help to guide readers through your content: the text is larger, so make your H2 eye-catching!
• Include relevant keywords: Just like H1s: Include relevant keywords in your H2s, but avoid keyword stuffing or making your headings sound spammy.
• Make it scannable: Along with H2s, think of the average experience of reading the page: who actually reads through a large block of text? Break up your page: use bullet points, numbered lists, or short paragraphs to make your content more scannable and easier to read.

For example, if you are writing a content campaign about dogs, your H2s might look something like this:

• Top Dog Breeds By State in the U.S.
• Pet Owner Preferences About Walking Time
• Top Dog Names in the U.S.
• Best Cities for Raising a Puppy, Ranked

4. Conduct Keyword Research for Your Digital PR Content

Keyword research is the process of identifying the keywords and phrases that people are searching for in relation to your business or industry. By incorporating these keywords into your digital PR content, you can improve its visibility and ranking in search results.

This is a win-win because by increasing your digital visibility, journalists searching for a subject similar to your content are more likely to find your content- and that’s how some of our campaigns are earning links four (!!!) years later despite no active outreach. 

To conduct keyword research for your digital PR content, you should:

• Use keyword research tools: There are many keyword research tools available, including Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs. These tools can help you to identify relevant keywords and estimate their search volume.
• Identify long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that are less competitive than broad keywords. By targeting long-tail keywords, you can improve your chances of ranking for specific search queries.
• Analyze competitor keywords: Analyzing the keywords that your competitors are using can help you to identify gaps in your own content and find new opportunities to target.

For example, if you are writing a blog post about the benefits of dogs, some relevant keywords might include:

• Dog breeds
• How to train my dog
• Most popular dogs
• Benefits of dogs
• Cost of owning a dog

5. There’s Nothing Alternative About Alt-Text

You’ve got your keywords, your images, and your data spaced neatly and optimized across the page. What else can you do? Take a second look at the images- you can add alt-text to them to optimize even more. 

Alt-text, in SEO terms, are the small captions affiliated with images; they provide a very brief description of what’s on the graphic and its source. As such, add alt text like: “Top Dog Breeds in the US by State – dogbreeds.com” (if that is, indeed, the source website).  This allows Google’s bot army to crawl and index the images as well- increasing visibility and search for you. Think of it as a win-win for accessibility: not only do you make your content that much more accessible to all your viewers, but you also give Google many more keywords to work with from your content. It may feel like an afterthought, but it can definitely be a game-changer for your audiences. 

Make the Connection: Internal Linking

When thinking about content optimization for SEO, internal linking (linking to another part of your website from a different page) is something to consider.

By linking to other parts of your website, you spread the wealth of link equity and make it that much easier for Google to index and crawl the rest of your site, not to mention make navigation a snap.

By linking to relevant parts of your site, you showcase an easy-to-navigate site and reinforce the relevancy of the content of your page. Think about the most important parts of your website as well as those that could use a bit of a ranking boost, and how they can be relevant to the content page you’re working on: a few internal links can go a long way to share page authority and help your site perform that much better in the eyes of Google. 

Enjoy the Long-Term Benefits of Content Optimization for SEO

SEO optimization is not a one-time task – it requires ongoing effort and attention to detail. Google is constantly tweaking its algorithm to prioritize different things for optimal SERP, so SEOs and digital PR pros alike should take time to periodically review old content and make updates as needed- you never know when a journalist could stumble across a page! 

As you can see, the long-term benefits of optimization can be significant. By optimizing your digital PR content for SEO, you can:

• Improve visibility and traffic: By ranking higher in search results, you can attract more traffic to your website and generate more interest in your brand.
• Build brand awareness and recognition: By using consistent branding and messaging across your digital PR content, you can build brand awareness and recognition.
• Establish thought leadership: By creating informative and engaging content, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and build trust with your audience.
• Generate leads and conversions: By incorporating calls to action (CTAs) into your digital PR content, you can encourage readers to take action and become customers.

Digital PR and SEO go hand in hand. Optimizing your content for SEO can help you achieve short-term success without losing sight of long-term benefits. By following these 5 tips, you can improve the visibility, engagement, and impact of your digital PR content, rank higher in SERPs, and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry and to journalists.

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