CyberFootprint

I was wondering how the PROs can utilise the power of Search Engine Optimisation and suddenly this nifty guest post from Janet came along. Without further ado, let’s see what she has to say.

This is a guest post from Janet Thaeler, an award-winning social media and press release expert. She currently resides at OrangeSoda.com and just released her new book, “I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What???”

When you run an online PR campaign, you can maximize results (number of clicks, traffic, sharing) by utilizing SEO. The point of SEO is to help your news or content stand out amid all of the other web pages in a search engine. It’s about getting valuable links to your content. These things increase your online presence.

Why Use SEO?

Simply put - because SEO will extend the life of your campaign and will keep bringing people to your web site long after it’s over. PR pros might be used to the sugar high of a big placement but after it’s done the effect can wear off quickly. Online with SEO the results can be spread out and you can experience bumps in coverage rather than a quick high and dropoff. Search engines are where where people go to get information – so it should be a focus on your campaign (another “audience”).

The Pew Internet & American Life Project quantified how many people use search engines to find businesses and information:

89% of Internet users use a search engine to find information. (May 2008)

81% of Internet users use the Internet to research a product or service before buying it. (September 2007)

73% of Internet users use the Internet to get news. (May 2008)

So any content you create can be put on your web site, optimized and sometimes distributed to get even more value out of it. It’s important to not only create and post content, but to do specific things to make sure people can find that content.

Making Google love you

Keywords- In the title of your press release, blog post or description of your submission to a social bookmarking web site, use keywords. These are words people type into a search engine to find information. Throughout the text of your blog post, press release, or descriptions, look for ways to include keyword phrases (do not use misspellings or awkward phrases, make it natural). You can hire an SEO company to identify a list of keyword phrases to focus on or use a free keyword tool like the Google Keyword too.

Social Sites – Remember to take every opportunity to share and ask others in your network to share your content. There are Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups and people on Twitter who will share your content if you ask them to. You can also buy ads on these sites. Just remember that people are busy and I find pre-writing a suggested tweet or Facebook post with the proper links can help increase your chances of getting a response.

Friendly URLs- Search engines look at the words that people use as a link to decide how to classify a particular web page. If someone simply links to your URL they will still be using keywords in that link by default. Then your chances of being found for that phrase increase when a Google search for those keywords is performed.

Anchor Text- Embed links into your content to increase your visibility online and drive traffic to your Web site. For example, link your product name to the page of your web site about that product (or to a specific landing page meant to motivate people to take a specific action, such as download a whitepaper, enter a contest, etc).

Use Multimedia Content - Add images or video to your content to help increase the chances of people noticing your content. In your video or image name and description, insert keyword phrases. Specifically, use ALT tags which tell search engines what an image is. So rather than just describing your image as “logo” be more descriptive – such as “logo for new home from XYZ Realtors”

I’ve noticed that SEO companies like OrangeSoda now perform PR roles. For example, we take press releases that have been written for the media and apply the SEO techniques discussed. Regardless of how you go about it, incorporating SEO into your PR campaign means additional exposure for your work.