With all of the recent Google changes, we are increasingly incorporating Search Engine Optimization (SEO) into our client programs. At 5WPR, we believe SEO and PR compliment and enhance one another.
As covered in “For Immediate Release”,
“Search Engine Optimization [SEO] and Online Reputation Management [ORM] are areas that have seen rapid growth in recent years. Yet I’m surprised at how little attention is paid to SEO and ORM within public relations. One negative comment on a website can multiply quickly and become a reputation problem. SEO determines rankings on search engines, and Google is the leader. For example, search for a term, any term: “jewelry,” “jacket,” “flowers,” or what have you, and SEO affects what websites, brands, or stores pop up first.
The first results on page one get the most attention; people don’t want to dig deep for the information. If your site comes up on the first page— “above the scroll,” i.e., the top half of the page visible without having to scroll down—it can change your business: 87 percent of people never go beyond the first page of search engine results.
Today’s “media” allows anyone with some time, an Internet connection, and motivation to become an authority on you, form strong opinions about you or your brand, and affect your Google rankings. Customers, investors, employees, fans, regulators, and partners all look to the Internet to form a credible perception of you personally, as well as your business and brand. Similarly, ORM can manipulate a company’s online reputation (improve it, reinvent it) and ensure that harmful feedback and negative stories are eliminated from high-ranking Web pages.
Major components of both PR and SEO involve content creation and, as such, SEO done properly has a long-term effect. Blog posts and commentary, for example, can directly affect what shows up at the top of Google. This front-page result can be a constructive by-product of a successful digital PR campaign. But it can also be a devastating crisis situation if someone is out to get you. If the opposition wants to blog about how bad you are, it can; and days, months, and years from now everyone can still read it—whether it’s true or not.
Many social networking sites have little to no editorial control or oversight; personal blogs have even more autonomy. Yes, blog hosts have been known to shut down blogs, but it rarely happens, and more likely, the blog will continue to live on the Internet forever. Individual social networkers and bloggers can be as influential as any corporate chief or national news anchor—whether their information is accurate or not. Social media presence is synchronized with Google’s search engines and your profiles (pictures, posts, and friends) are available to anyone trolling the Web.”
If you are interested in discussing further, I can be reached at Ronn@5wpr.com or 212-999-5585.
Ronn Torossian
