5 Ways to secure backlinks from media publications
Securing ‘follow’ links on media publications is the latest KPI for the PR industry to grapple with.
As if we didn’t already have enough on our plate, right? But don’t despair, link building is a perfectly legitimate process that has been tainted by bad practice, and if you can do it properly, you can justify a whole lot more PR spend.
Media publications have a naturally high domain authority and have therefore become the target of SEO teams looking to piggyback on their search ranking. For Google, news outlets are a dream source of information because, like Wikipedia, they provide fact-checked answers to relevant questions. As the Google bots move from “exogenous”’ to “endogenous” signals, online publications will become even more relevant.
So how can a brand rub shoulders with digital media titles and get some tasty Google juice on the back of it to boost their search engine visibility? Through PR, of course. We’ve drawn up a list of five ways to secure backlinks from media publications to help you adjust to the murky world of SEO KPIs:
1. Citations
Writing brand citations as a domain address can prompt journalists to link it up.
Although a full http:// or even www. can be off-putting, most publications won’t see anything too explicit in a dot com or .co.uk.
Or so Jack Peat of 72point.com believes.
2. Link Targets
To encourage publishers to link out, you need to give them a tangible link target. Rather than simply linking to a brand’s website, we advise that you link to a page on the brand’s website that offers further information or other incentives to link away. This could be a landing page with further information on the story, a white paper with full research results, a graphic, a campaign microsite, a quiz or interactive.
3. Number of Links
We recommend including no more than one link to a brand’s website per piece. If you fill the press release with links it automatically looks spammy and will ultimately lessen the chance of the content being used at all.
4. High-Quality Content
High-quality consumer journalism is of paramount importance. For digital titles, the use of multimedia is equally important and will increase the chances of backlinks been included. Take visual puzzles, for example. Our ‘Where’s Wayney’ puzzle got Ladbrokes a follow link from The Sun amongst others. Infographics are another great example. Our infographic for Intrepid Travel made the MailOnline complete with a follow link.
5. Educate
Finally, it’s important to educate clients on link building best practice and also reassure them that landing links is not the be all and end all. As Google moves to endogenous signals a simple citation will deliver significant Google juice, so rest assured, your content is still hard at work on the search engines!
Tim Peake: Master of content
I love Tim Peake. He’s the best thing to happen to space since Buzz Lightyear. In fact, I had originally planned to write this blog about why Tim Peake was the coolest person in the history of people but then I realised that whilst it was obviously true, that title might not wash with everyone.
So after a quick rethink I decided to go down a different route: Tim Peake – Master of content.
Here at 72Point we’re all about content. In our latest white paper, ‘The Content Umbrella’ we look at the way PR and digital disciplines have come together in order to boost the creation of better quality more engaging content. Tim Peake is a shining example of someone that is nailing content and here’s why.
- He knows his audience
Obviously being in space means he has quite a diverse audience; everyone on the planet beneath him in fact. He’s got something they want. Pictures of their planet from the skies above. But sometimes the success of your content goes beyond being desirable to the widest possible audience. In other words, it’s not always about ‘going viral’. For example being a B2B business, everything we do is aimed at a narrower, more targeted audience.
His photographs of individual countries give their citizens their own little bit of Space. Plus there’s the fact he’s British. He is the first British man to complete the Mission. And you know us, whenever we can find a reason to be patriotic and roll out the British pride we like to do so. Tim’s content echoes that patriotism. Whether it’s a caption on his pictures of the UK or the Flag of St George adorning his space pod Tim knows the Brits are watching.
And of course, when it comes to niche audiences, he’s also got the Space nerds. All those who identify, say ‘I’.
2. He’s topical
Being responsible for our social media accounts and our blog schedule I know how beneficial it can be to know what’s happening when, especially when it comes to content creation. Peak, despite being millions of miles away from the hustle and bustle manages to keep himself perfectly in tune with the rest of the world by joining in with major events. Whether it’s watching England during the Rugby World Cup or presenting an award to Adele at the 2016 Brit Awards. Or remember that time he ran the London Marathon from Space? Yep. He ran the London Marathon. In space. On a treadmill. (That guy!). Tim also uses his content to congratulate and celebrate achievements of people back home including:
- a photo for the Queens’s 90th of him holding a sign with #happybirthdayyourmajesty written on it;
- a congratulations to the Scouts on their 100th birthday;
- a call to Eddie Izzard to congratulate him on his marathons
- wishing good luck to those taking part in the Invictus Games;
- even a well done to everyone nominated in the Hospital Radio Awards!
Not much gets past him. His events calendar is, as they say, on point!
- His content is original
As we all know, due to regular commentary in both the industry press and our own blog, there is so much content available to the world now that in order to set yourself apart your content has to be original and engaging.
Ok, so he has a slight advantage that he’s in space and has access to views that we mere mortals can only dream of seeing. Tim’s photos are not only unique, they are stunningly beautiful. People want to look at them, regardless of whether they’re interested or not. Hands up who’s got Instagram envy?
But it’s not just photography. Take his marathon run for example. Have you ever seen anyone run a marathon in space before?! No, you haven’t. Of course, you haven’t. No-one has. Content doesn’t get more original than that.
- He’s entertaining
Now obviously Tim’s on the I.S.S to do a job. He’s not just there to have fun. You wouldn’t know it though. Whether it’s playing virtual reality Space Invaders, zero gravity somersaults or being chased by your colleague who’s jumped out of a box dressed as a gorilla, Tim’s always happy to embrace the lighter side of life to help keep audiences interested.
That’s what people want. Everyone knows he’s got the technical stuff nailed down. You can’t go to space for months on end without knowing your shit. But if you don’t keep them entertained and only talk shop, who’s going to care? Make people laugh and the boring stuff (sorry Tim!) becomes a lot more interesting and accessible.
People from all walks of life have developed an interest in space technology because it’s been made both accessible and entertaining. That’s a lesson that can be transferred to most campaigns. Obviously, it depends on the subject matter but there’s no harm in embracing your inner child every now and then.
5. He engages with his audience
Tim regularly gets involved with his audience directly, whether it’s his live video calls to school kids or GOSH or his space rocks competition. A couple of times a week Tim tweets some lyrics from one of his favourite songs and whoever guesses correctly wins a very special space rocks patch. Competitions or games are a great way of engaging with your audience, particularly on social media but not exclusively. People love the chance to win something, feel clever or have their say so give them the opportunity to do so and you’re on to a winner. At 72Point we’re regularly producing quizzes or puzzles for our clients to satisfy publishers’ calls for engaging content; take our ‘Where’s the Gherkin Lurkin’ puzzle for Deliveroo. This simple Where’s Wally style puzzle was such a simple idea but it featured on the MailOnline, the Independent, The Metro, the Sun and many more sites.
6. He’s multi-platform
Everyone knows that in this day and age if you want your content to be successful it has to span all mediums. To put it another way, it has to be multi-platform. This is something we’re passionate about at 72Point. We’re in a fairly unique position in that we have in-house specialist teams that cover all options, whether it’s surveys and news copy, design and animations, video or even photography. That means that we can offer the full comprehensive content package to really boost your campaign.
Tim doesn’t have this but he still manages to span all platforms. He blogs, he takes photos, he creates videos. He’s a one man fully integrated media campaign. And he is reaping the rewards. He’s just been featured on the Queen’s birthday honours list for crying out loud! It doesn’t matter what your platform of choice is, whether you love a newspaper, TV, surfing the interwebs or browsing social media, the chances are you’ve seen something that he’s done.
So with Tim shortly to be back on terra firma we’re sadly going to have to say goodbye to the world’s most beautiful Instagram account. But I think all PRs and marketeers have learnt a valuable lesson. Tim’s promotion of a niche subject to a wider, previously disassociated audience has been phenomenal. Know your audience; make your content engaging and original; don’t limit yourself to one platform or medium or discipline and your content will do nothing but stand out. And if there is a problem, Houston, let us do it for you.
Does 'pure PR' still exist?
After almost 50 years of operating as the Public Relations Consultants Association, the PRCA has launched an industry-wide consultation into whether it should change its name. They will consider whether to drop the ‘C’, which is deemed too inclusive for an organisation that has members from across the entire breadth of the industry, and also ‘PR’, which is considered to be a redundant term in a sector of wide and varied specialities. Go the ‘A’ Team!
The public consultation raises the question over whether “Pure PR” still exists. According to The 'A Team', public relations is the intersection between people and a brand, and is primarily concerned with “reputation” and “gaining trust and understanding” between an organisation and its various publics - whether that's employees, customers, investors, the local community - or all of those stakeholder groups. PR professionals use a variety of techniques to achieve this, and differ from marketers because they secure ‘earned’ media rather than ‘paid’.
But there are very few PR professionals left operating so rigidly. "As the dividing lines between practices have blurred over the years, many within our industry no longer term themselves as offering pure PR,” the PRCA statement read, “the industry has changed in nature”.
They’re not the only ones to notice. As Fifth Ring’s Katherine Fair says, “it is getting difficult to pinpoint exactly how communications, marketing and public relations differ from each other”, which, according to Ogilvy’s Stuart Smith, means there is a rush to be “THE agency” that can “own the insight, the big creative idea, produce the content and optimise the channel: paid, owned, earned media”. The definition of PR as being focused on getting a good press “is close to being redundant”, Alastair Campbell says. PR is now about marrying several disciplines to achieve numerous objectives.
We have coined this ‘The Content Umbrella’. It’s a simple concept. It denotes the merger of previously detached industries, including, but not limited to PR, digital marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimisation and content marketing, and it is a shift that has been on the cards for some time.As Google demands better quality content, online media consumers get turned off by display and brands look to engage rather than convert an amalgamation of disciplines has occurred leveraged on the basic principles of creating and distributing content.
“Pure PR” is a relic of a time gone by. Today, PR professionals must marry several principles that fall under the content umbrella and in doing so re-shape the industry’s outlook. The re-naming of the PRCA is a symbolic move for the industry as a whole; PR is dead, long live PR.