SEO vs Public Relations

There was a thread on UKBF recently asking for recommendations on PR companies. Someone suggested the money would be better spent on SEO – a debate ensued over what was best, PR or SEO.

My opinion is that they’re two different things and ideally you should use both (sitting on the fence for a change, basically!)

Andy Barr from 10Yetis then posted his tuppence-worth. 10Yetis is a PR Agency we used for years in the early days of KashFlow and Andy also happens to know enough about SEO to give most people a run for their money (he’ll deny this allegation though as he’s too modest). So when he speaks, I listen. I thought his comments were interesting enough to warrant reproducing here:

Timing could not be better for this thread as we have our second instance of having to pitch for a new client where one of the companies we are pitching against is a SEO company.

At the min I see there are being two types of PR Agency, traditional ones who don’t dabble with online media in any way, and then the new breed of agency who understands online media and have their own “specialists” in various fields.

We were really lucky in that early on in our existence we worked with several clients who really opened our eyes to the value of understanding SEO and how PR can work brilliantly alongside campaigns.

As we progressed as an agency we kept coming up against the SEO conversation time and time again, and how we can prove that we can deliver similar value and returns… and so http://www.ps3pricecompare.co.uk was born!

We set up this site and optimised it as best we could and then the only marketing we gave it was EXCLUSIVELY PR.

We chose PS3’s because it is a saturated market, meaning it would be tough to rank highly for key terms, and also more importantly because the commission levels for a PS3 sale is quite good.

Oh yeah, revenue is based on traditional affiliate model, i.e sale = commission payment.

So, we launched the site with a Press Release about something scandalous (think it was about blokes wanting to play games more than they want to have sexy-time with their better half) and it immediately got coverage, including valuable in bound links.

Within 2 months the site was mid way up page one of google for the term “Cheap PS3″ – a key phrase researched from using Hitwise.

We have continued PR’ing it every 2 months or so and the site is now in the top 6/7 page one of google and more importantly delivering a very health revenue stream that we never really anticipated.

So, nothing other than some on-site SEO from our own knowledge and a good blast of PR to build some valuable authority links.

We now use the site as a good example to show people we know about PR and it has also inspired me to set up a few other sideline sites that are only promoted via PR.

I guess that I am trying to say that I think finding a PR agency that understands and can contribute to your existing SEO activity is what people should be looking for and this does not mean one or the other, SEO’s and PR’s should be working in tandem.

Wise words and something to bear in mind when choosing a PR agency.

Update – The Yetis have written this up in a more polished form on their own blog.

http://www.10yetis.co.uk/public-relations/ Andy

Wow… kind words. I must admit, I did not know my post would stir up such debate (honest), was just fighting the PR corner.

Anyway, it is people like you (Duane) that made me realise SEO related PR is the future (like Garlic Bread)!

Cheers

Andy
http://www.alphalimited.co.uk Alan Moore

Of course the major champion on that thread for SEO is an SEO ‘expert’, no surprise there then and the website he has intimated that he improved was such a mess it could only benefit from seo. The PR done for that company would probably have all been done by the owner so no surprise that PR failed miserably.

As commented on by the Head Yeti it really isn’t a case of PR v SEO it is a case of discovering exactly which combination of key marketing elements work for an individual business.
http://www.volkswagenspares.com/ sirearl

Alan as I suspect I may be the SEO in question.

I look after 30 website + all of which have impecably credentials on the engines.so which site were you alluding to.?

Earl
http://www.nikkipilkington.com Nikki Pilkington

It’s an age old debate – whenever anyone talks about promoting their company or website in any way, someone will pipe up “Ooh you need to SEO it” as if SEO and front page Google listings are the Holy Grail (clue: they’re not).

It will start happening soon, if it isn’t already, with Social Media Marketing too.

“I need some PR to promote my new service”

“You dont wanna do that, you wanna do Social Media Marketing….”

Well researched and well thought out online (and offline) PR, by someone as experienced and well regarded as Mr 10Yetis (and no, we don’t know each other well but I know his work) should be seen as an enhancement to SEO and other promotion work, not an either/or situation.

I can’t comment on the thread in question as I haven’t visited the site for a while; bu it seems that the same old arguments are being fought
http://www.lingscars.com Ling Valentine

Bear in mind… you need something to both SEO and to PR. My PR people are damn good and the miserable old git is also very good, I must say. However it helps that they both have something to get their false teeth into. But, while both saw my AK47 front page shoot the cars benefits, neither of them saw the potential of my latest GoogleJack which grabbed 10,000 TV viewers last week, for free http://www.lingscars.com/googlejack.php

Even experts can miss things.

As an PhD in customer interaction, I will also say that too many websites are stuck in web 1.0 and need to start engaging their customlingers.

Duane is learning, bit by bit

Dr Ling.
http://www.mattchedit.com/ Matt Chatterley

Essentially it comes down to:

How are you going to get customers lining up at your tills?

It’s often exposed as “PR vs SEO vs SEM” – whereas in reality it’s about putting together a balanced strategy which works with and for the business in question.

Undoubtedly this is different for virtually every single business concept – for a whole number of reasons!
http://www.volkswagenspares.com/ sirearl

Ling it took you five years to get to the level you were at using PR and every other method. and four months of SEO to double it.

And if you got 10,000 visitors from the dragons den then I am a Chinaman.Ooops

Earl
http://www.lingscars.com Ling Valentine

Nothing to do with the AK47 then? Have you noticed the cars explode too?

Seriously, I need to know where to buy an RPG.
http://www.nakedcreativity.co.uk/website-development/ Naked Creativity

We would always recommend PR as an intrinsic part of any SEO efforts, and any PR agency worth their salt would look to do some SEO as part of their PR efforts – not much point in singing the praises of company X if the search engine results for company X are full of disgruntled customers and complaints. There is no bigger turn off for a potential customer.
http://www.10yetis.co.uk/public-relations/ Andy

Hmm, just an update… following on from this Blog post and our own, we have had a healthy rise in PR on the back of the PS3PriceCompare case study.

AND… rather cheekily, a new PR win has also included taking over the management of their SEO from their existing company.

UKStartups

SEO vs Public Relations

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