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How to Optimize PR for Search Marketing

Search engine marketing is permeating even traditionally offline components of marketing communications. In public relations, the first page of search results is becoming the new cover page.

There are five steps recommended for integrating keywords into public relations to help your company's success in the search engines:

1. Make a list of keywords.
This should include terms that customers, the public, or press members might use when searching, not internal or marketing terms.

You can brainstorm with all departments to find the terminology commonly used in the marketplace to describe your services and products. Check your site logs. Analyze recent press stories about your industry. Watch for news trends and major stories to capitalize on a spike in searches for certain keywords. And of course check keyword competitiveness with a service like Word Tracker.

2. Optimize press releases with keywords.
Focus on 2-3 keywords and be sure to use your top keyword in the headline and first 50 words. Distribute your press releases online with a major wire, and they’ll receive an automatic boost in the search engines. Be sure to include links using your keywords in the body.

3. Place links with keywords in all distributed content.
If you are responsible for corporate messaging on other sites, be sure to use keyword-rich links back to the site you are promoting.

This should be included in your contributed articles and columns on news sites, listings in online trade directories (such as trade magazine sites, trade show exhibitor listings, and association member listings online), articles, email newsletter copies, press releases, white papers posted on your own site, responses posted by you on blogs that allow commentary, message boards, and taglines and information posted along with your logo on distributor, partner, division, vendor, and affiliate's sites (never allow your logo to be posted alone without an accompanying text link).

4. Use keywords in spoken forums.
Spokespeople should be armed with your top 10 keywords. If they're quoted from an interview or speech in an online article, its more likely search results for keywords you used will return your interview and gain exposure for your company.

5. Measure and report results.
Add a keywords results section to upper management PR reports.

Look for results in press releases featured under key terms on major search news sites such as Yahoo News and Google News and measure the number of click throughs on links contained within press releases, links contained in other content you place on outside Web sites, number of hotlinks to your site from other sites on the Web, and data provided by wire services such as PRNewswire or PRWeb on the readership and projected impact of your release via search engines.

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