Digital PR
White hat. Within Google’s guidelines. Safe to use. White, grey and black hat SEO compared
What is digital PR?
Digital PR is the practice of earning coverage, brand mentions and links from online publications by giving journalists and writers something newsworthy: original research, data stories, expert commentary, tools or creative campaigns. It combines traditional public relations with SEO goals such as backlinks from authoritative, relevant sites.
Typical campaigns include survey or data studies, indexes ranking cities or products, reactive commentary on breaking news, expert quotes for journalist requests, and interactive tools. Success is measured in coverage, links and brand mentions, and increasingly in visibility in AI answers, which often cite the same publications.
Why digital PR matters for SEO
Links from news and major publications are among the hardest to get and the most valuable, because they are editorial and come from trusted sites. Digital PR is one of the few reliable ways to earn them at any scale without breaking Google’s rules.
It also builds things links alone do not: brand awareness, credibility with readers, and signals of expertise that support E-E-A-T.
How to run a digital PR campaign
- Pick an angle journalists in your niche care about. Look at what they covered recently.
- Create the asset: original data, a survey, a study or expert analysis. Make the headline finding clear in one sentence.
- Publish it on a page of your site with the methodology, charts and quotable findings.
- Build a list of relevant journalists and pitch them a short, specific story, not a press release blast.
- Offer an expert for comment, and reply quickly. News moves fast.
- Track coverage, then ask for a link politely where a mention has none.
Digital PR FAQ
What is the difference between digital PR and link building?
Digital PR is one way to build links, focused on earning coverage from publications through newsworthy stories. Link building also includes tactics like broken link building and reclamation.
Are press release links good for SEO?
Links in press releases distributed through wire services generally pass little or no value, and Google’s spam policies name optimised anchors in press releases as link spam. The value comes from journalists covering the story and linking on their own.
Related SEO terms
Link buildingWhite hat
Link building is the work of getting other websites to link to yours, to earn referral traffic and the trust that helps pages rank.
HARO and journalist requestsWhite hat
HARO and other journalist request services send reporters’ requests for expert sources, so you can earn quotes, mentions and editorial links.
Editorial links are backlinks a writer or editor chooses to give because your content is worth citing, without payment or a link exchange.
Brand mentions are references to your brand name on other websites or in AI answers, with or without a link to your site.
Unlinked brand mentionsWhite hat
Unlinked brand mentions are places that name your brand, product or people without linking to you. Asking for a link is an easy white hat win.
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness: the qualities Google’s quality raters look for in content.