Presentation by Greg Jarboe, president and co-founder of SEO-PR, entitled, "Digital PR: What every PR Pro needs to know about SEO," which was delivered on December 11, 2020, at PR Asia 2020.

1. Digital PR: What every PR Pro
needs to know about SEO
Greg Jarboe
President and co-founder of SEO-PR
PR Asia 2020
11 December 2020

2. The first thing every PR Pro needs to know is that
search engines present unpaid ‘editorial’ results
• I began my public relations career in
1981 – a decade before the world
wide web became publicly available.
• I heard the term, “Search Engine PR”,
for the first time in 2002 – at the
Search Engine Strategies conference.
• I discovered back then that search
engines present unpaid “editorial”
results AND paid listings.
• And I learned that “Search Engine PR”
is about influencing those (largely)
unpaid results.
Source: Danny Sullivan, “Introduction to Search Engine Marketing,” Search Engine Strategies 2002 conference handbook

3. Google launched Google News in September 2002
and users could find press releases in the results
• In August 2003, I optimized three
press releases for the Search Engine
Marketing Professional Organization
(SEMPO), a new trade association.
• Each optimized release focused on a
different angle of their launch story,
but all of them linked to SEMPO.org.
• SEMPO was able to track 21% of its
total revenues for the period, from
new members, supporters and
sponsors, directly to the three
optimized press releases.
Source: MarketingSherpa, Case Study, “How to Get Your Press Release Picked up by Google News,” 07 October 2003

4. I want to share what I’ve learned about SEO over
the last 18 years that PR Pros need to know today
• Identify how SEO reverses the
hypodermic needle model of
communications.
• Learn how to leverage and boost
search rankings for press releases
through credible content.
• Find out how to leverage Google,
YouTube, Google Images, and Google
News for crisis response.
• Discover how to work with SEO teams
to align communications efforts for
greater success.

5. The traditional press release still uses a classic
model of communication developed back in 1939
• Harold Lasswell developed this model
at the beginning of World War II.
• Lasswell was Chief of the Experimental
Division for the Study of War Time
Communications.
• Lasswell said five elements impacted
the effectiveness of communication:
• Who is your spokesperson?
• What is his or her message?
• Which communication channel does he
or she use?
• To whom is he or she speaking?
• What effect does he or she have?
Source: Greg Jarboe, YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day, Second Edition, November 2011

6. Lasswell’s model was adopted by PR textbooks, but
‘outputs’, not ‘outcomes’, often replaced ‘effects’
You can hand your CEO a pile
of clippings and estimated reach
counts, but at the end of the day,
proven sales are what matters.
Outputs
Outtakes
Objectives
Outcomes

7. I was one of the first to recognize that Google News
had reversed the classic model of communication
• Who: Identify your target audiences.
• Seeks what: Find 2 or 3 relevant search terms
that your target audiences are likely to use.
• In which channel: Reach out to online opinion
leaders before using one of the press release
distribution services crawled by Google News.
• From whom: Edit your press release -
particularly the headline and first few
sentences - and make sure that it actually
includes your target terms.
• With what effect: Add links intended to help
people find interesting, related content, when
applicable, and measure your results.
Source: Greg Jarboe, YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day, Second Edition, November 2011

8. More importantly, I also realized that an optimized
press release can generate traffic, leads, and sales
Traffic
Leads Sales
Keywords
While press and analyst influence
remain important, lead generation
and sales are the new metrics of
marketing performance.

9. For example, a series of 4 optimized press releases
generated over $2.5 million for Southwest Airlines
• First, I conducted keyword research to
find relevant news search terms.
• Then, I included those search terms in
the headlines and lead paragraphs of
a series of four press releases.
• Next, I embedded a unique URL in
each release that offered further
information to consumers and linked
them to the point-of-sale.
• This enabled Southwest Airlines to
track $2.5 million in ticket sales back
to our 4 optimized press releases.
Source: Institute for Public Relations, “You Are Now Free To Link PR and Sales,” Golden Ruler Award
for Excellence in Public Relations Measurement presented to Southwest Airlines and SEO-PR, 2005

10. I’ve also used Digital PR to generate measurable
results for a wide variety of other organizations
• This includes:
• 5 B2B leads worth $200 million for
Symmetricom’s chip-scale atomic clocks.
• 450,000 unique visitors in 24 hours to
The Christian Science Monitor’s website.
• 36% increase in brand searches for the
Better Homes and Gardens website.
• 129,155 entries to the annual cover
photo contest for Parents magazine.
• Double-digit increases in delegates and
exhibitors for SES Conference & Expo.
• 27% of the leads for a new online
Master’s program at Rutgers University.
Source: SEO-PR’s Digital Marketing Case Studies

11. The key objective of the press release SEO process
is to give users the information they’re looking for
• Google’s webmaster guidelines say:
“Think about the words users would
type to find your pages, and make
sure that your site actually includes
those words within it.”
• Like consumer research, keyword
research can help you find out what
people think about your kind of
product, what language they use
when they search for the topic, what
attributes are important to them, and
what promise would be most likely to
make them buy your brand.
Source: Google, Webmaster Guidelines

12. Go to Google News, type Singapore Airlines into the
search box, and see the autocomplete suggestions
Source: Google News, autocomplete suggestions for Singapore Airlines on 01 December 2020

13. The engineers who developed the Google News
algorithm seem to have used the inverted pyramid
• The headline is the most important
SEO factor.
• Headlines should be clear, concise and
more than 2 and less than 22 words long.
• Subheads are weighed slightly more
heavily than body copy.
• Subheads must stay true to the story,
may contain relevant synonyms, and can
be from 50 to 160 characters long.
• The lead paragraph is weighed more
heavily than later paragraphs.
• Write press releases primarily for
readers, not for search engines.

14. In addition to optimizing press release headlines
and subheads, optimize the lead paragraphs, too
• Search experts say the natural-
language processing algorithms scan
at least the first hundred words or so
of news articles.
• They say journalists would be wise to
include two or three of the most-
searched keywords that relate to their
subject in the first few sentences.
• “That’s not something they teach in
journalism schools,” said Danny
Sullivan, a journalist and analyst. “But
in the future, they should.”
Source: Steve Lohr, The New York Times, “IDEAS & TRENDS; This Boring Headline Is Written for Google,” April 9, 2006

15. Add links to help people find interesting, related
content on your site and measure your results
• The primary reason to add links to a
press release is to help people find
interesting, related content on your
site, when it’s available.
• But, you can also use Google’s free
Campaign URL Builder tool to help you
measure your results.
• This tool allows you to easily add
campaign parameters to your URLs so
you can track Custom Campaigns in
Google Analytics.
• You also have the option of converting
the long tracking URL to a short link.
Source: Google Analytics Demos & Tools, Campaign URL Builder

16. The review of air cleaners by Consumer Reports
ranked lower than our optimized press release
Source: Google News search results for air cleaners, 14 September 2005

17. Your crisis response plan needs to include Google,
YouTube, Google Images, as well as Google News
• Professor W. Timothy Coombs of Texas
A&M University, the guru of crisis
response, says the “preventable crisis”
requires a very different response
than for other types of crises.
• A “preventable crisis” is one that an
organization brings on itself, caused
by human error or management
misconduct.
• Examples include the Boeing 737-MAX
crashes in 2018 and 2019 as well as
the WeWork IPO fiasco of 2019.
Source: Google search engine results page (SERP) for Boeing 737-max crashes, 01 December 2020

18. Dr. Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communications
Theory (SCCT) examines types of crisis response
• Apology: Take full responsibility for the crisis and
ask stakeholders for forgiveness.
• Excuse: Minimize organizational responsibility by
denying intent to do harm and/or claiming inability
to control the events that triggered the crisis.
• Reminder: Tell stakeholders about the past good
works of the organization.
• Scapegoat: Blame some person or group outside of
the organization for the crisis.
• Victimage: Remind stakeholders that the
organization is a victim of the crisis too.
• Attack the accuser: Confront the person or group
claiming something is wrong with the organization.
• Denial: Assert that there is no crisis.
Source: Katie Paine, The Measurement Advisor, “Yes, You Can Use Artificial Intelligence To Predict A Crisis,” 24 March 2020

19. Types with fewest negative articles and shortest
time between crisis peak and neutral coverage
Source: Katie Paine, The Measurement Advisor, “Yes, You Can Use Artificial Intelligence To Predict A Crisis,” 24 March 2020

20. You can also optimize your YouTube videos so the
public as well as the press can find them in a crisis
• YouTube is the world’s second largest
search engine, behind only Google.
• In addition, YouTube has steadily (and
stealthily) increased its organic
visibility in Google’s SERPs over the
past three years and surpassed
Wikipedia for the #1 spot a year ago.
• So, you should optimize your YouTube
videos so “the public” as well as “the
press” can find them in a crisis.
• Include relevant keywords in your
video’s title, description, and tags.
Source: Boeing’s YouTube channel, “Boeing 737 MAX Test Pilot Talks About Safety Commitment,” 06 November 2019

21. Search for WeWork in Google Images finds photos
of office and coworking space, not its failed IPO
• Google Images is a way to visually
discover information on the web.
• Users can quickly explore information
with more context around images with
new features, such as image captions,
prominent badges, and AMP results.
• By adding more context around
images, results can become much
more useful, which can lead to higher
quality traffic to your site.
• You can aid in the discovery process by
making sure that your images and your
site are optimized for Google Images.
Source: Google Images results for WeWork, 01 December 2020

22. Release with a video got more views and link clicks
than one with photo and one without multimedia
• By April 1, the first news release for
Jazzy Nola, which included a video,
had 5,059 release views and 230 link
clicks, according to Business Wire’s
NewsTrak Reports.
• The second release for Orleans
Grapevine, which included a photo,
had 3,406 release views and 181 link
clicks.
• The third release for Glam 504, which
included no multimedia, had 3,255
release views and 169 link clicks.
Source: SEO-PR, “Get City Dealz, SEO-PR, and Business Wire Win SNCR Award,” 11 November 2013

23. In February 2018, I trained the whole Marketing
and Communications staff at Dickinson College
• The Office of Marketing &
Communications promotes the
people, programs and initiatives of
Dickinson College to a wide array of
internal and external constituencies.
• The office is composed of:
• Design Services.
• Editorial Services.
• Media Relations.
• Photography and Videography.
• Online Marketing.
• Print Center.
Source: Dickinson College Office of Marketing & Communications

24. Since then, Dickinson.edu has gone from 6,000 to
15,000 different keywords in Google search results
In December 2017, Dickinson.edu had 6,000
different keywords in the top 50 results on Google
In December 2020, Dickinson.edu had 15,000
different keywords in the top 50 results on Google
Source: SEO-PR, SpyFu SEO Recon Files Reports for Dickinson.edu in December 2017 and December 2020

25. Since then, Dickinson.edu has gone from 29,000 to
112,000 clicks from organic placements on Google
In December 2017, Dickinson.edu got 29,000 clicks
per month from its organic placements on Google
In December 2020, Dickinson.edu got 112,000 clicks
per month from its organic placements on Google
Source: SEO-PR, SpyFu SEO Recon Files Reports for Dickinson.edu in December 2017 and December 2020

26. Since then, the value of Dickinson’s organic clicks
has increased from $29,000 to $127,000 per month
If Dickinson.edu had to get 29,000 clicks per month
via Google Ads, then they would cost $29,000
If Dickinson.edu had to get 112,000 clicks per month
via Google Ads, then they would cost $127,000
Source: SEO-PR, SpyFu SEO Recon Files Reports for Dickinson.edu in December 2017 and December 2020

27. Since then, the competitive share of Dickinson’s
organic search traffic has increase from 13% to 30%
Relative to their top 5 competitors, Dickinson.edu
had 13% share of the organic search traffic in 2017
Relative to their top 5 competitors, Dickinson.edu
had 30% share of the organic search traffic in 2020
Source: SEO-PR, SpyFu SEO Recon Files Reports for Dickinson.edu in December 2017 and December 2020

28. While pandemic drove down enrollment at other
colleges, demand for Dickinson remained strong
• Now, Dickinson College isn’t trying to
double or triple its enrollment of
2,345 full-time students.
• Its goal is to continue providing a
different kind of liberal-arts education
at a time when the coronavirus is
forcing other colleges and universities
to make deep and possibly lasting cuts
to their liberal arts programs.
• So, the increase in organic search
traffic has enabled Dickinson to
weather the storm with far less pain.

29. That’s some of what I’ve learned about SEO over
the last 18 years that PR Pros need to know today
• How SEO has reversed the
hypodermic needle model of
communications.
• How to leverage and boost search
rankings for press releases through
credible content.
• How to leverage Google, YouTube,
Google Images, and Google News for
crisis response.
• How to work with SEO teams to align
communications efforts for greater
success.

30. This is the one-hour long version of an intensive
five-hour long Virtual Masterclass on Digital PR
Source: “Digital PR: Outsmart Google’s algorithm for maximum viewership with SEO”