PRSA Digital Impact: TopRank Tops SEO Tactics for Public Relations

Rob Key, Peter Himler, David Bradfield, Lee Odden

PRSA Digital Impact Conference
April 30 – May 1, 2009 New York, NY

The public relations industry has warmed significantly to the power of search engine optimization for growing the impact of pull based PR efforts. Now more than ever, journalists, bloggers and industry influentials use search engines to find subject matter experts, research companies, locate past media coverage and to track topical trends. A recent survey on journalists’ use of search by TopRank reports that 91% of those journalists, reporters and editors surveyed use search engines to do their jobs.

Traditionally, search engine optimization efforts have been managed by corporate marketing departments – either in-house or through an outside agency. However, will all the opportunities to create value in the form of increased online brand visibility, reputation management and internet based media coverage,  public relations deserves a seat at the corporate SEO table.

To achieve that, it’s important that PR professionals understand the foundation of SEO tactics as well as the business benefits for PR efforts as well as to the larger organization.  This session will cover SEO and PR tactics with the most impact, how to choose the best keywords, on page SEO and link building best practices and measuring the value of SEO to public relations efforts. It will also cover when PPC is a better fit than SEO, how to combine SEO and social media promotions and the finer points of selling the benefits of SEO to decision makers.

Corporate web site optimization projects require an equal measure of search engine knowledge, understanding of corporate messaging and ability to appreciate and acquire links from credible sources. By learning the fundamentals of SEO and the possible impact on public relations effectiveness, PR departments or consultants can demonstrate their competitive advantage.

 Top ten SEO tactics for PR professionals – Session Outline:

1. SEO tactics – if I could only do one thing…
2. PR tactics that affect SEO
3. When is PPC better than SEO for PR?
4. How to choose the best keywords?
5. Basics of on-page SEO
6. Press release optimization tips
7. Newsroom optimization tactics
8. Link building fundamentals
9. SEO and social media promotions
10. Measuring & selling the value of SEO  

PRSA Digital Impact Conference
New York, NY
April 30 – May 1, 2009

Register for the conference online:
PRSA Digital Impact Conference

TopRank Online Marketing provides Fortune 1000 companies with holistic digital public relations services including online reputation management, social media PR, blogger relations and news optimization.