PR and SEO: How Press Coverage Helps You Rank (on Google and in AI)
Here's something most founders don't realize: PR and SEO aren't two separate things—they really go hand in hand! Every time your brand gets featured in a real publication, you're not just getting eyeballs. You're telling Google (and now ChatGPT and Claude) that you're legit.
Let's break down how that actually works.
Why PR helps your SEO
Google ranks sites it trusts. One of the biggest ways it decides who to trust? Other trusted sites linking to you. And if those sites are highly trafficked - just like Forbes, Food and Wine, Yahoo and Aol are, Google trusts it more.
When a journalist mentions your brand in an article and links back to your site, that's called an earned backlink. And a link from a real outlet carries way more weight than anything you could buy or swap. And yes there are paid companies that are just buying those backlinks for you, so beware!!
PR helps your SEO in three big ways:
Quality backlinks. One link from a respected publication can do more than dozens of random directory links.
Brand searches. After people read about you, they Google your name. That search activity tells Google you matter.
Authority in your niche. The more you show up in your industry's media, the more Google connects your brand to that topic.
P.S. If you need to know more about SEO, check out this guest article here by our friend and SEO Expert, Mariah Magazine.
Now AI is reading your press too
This is the part that's changed everything in the last year. When someone asks ChatGPT, Claude or Google's AI "what's the best [your product] for getting rid of acne?", those tools pull from what's been written about brands online. Articles, roundups, reviews, expert quotes.
So if you're not in the press, you're basically invisible to AI. If you are? You've got a real shot at being the brand it recommends! So cool right!
We break it all down in this video:
What kind of coverage actually moves the needle
Not all press is equal for SEO. Here's what we look for:
Relevant outlets. A feature in a publication your customers actually read beats a random big name every time. You want it to be aligned!
Expert quotes. Getting quoted as an expert in your field builds topical authority fast. (Tools like Qwoted make this way easier.)
Roundups and gift guides. These are gold for product brands, because AI tools love pulling from "best of" lists. These are also amazing for sales conversions too because everything is trackable! win win!
Consistency. One big hit is great. Steady coverage month after month is what really compounds.
Why paid press releases don't do the same thing
Quick note, because we get asked this a lot. Paying to blast a press release out on a newswire usually doesn't help your SEO much. Most of those links are syndicated copies that Google doesn't give much weight, although it usually still shows up when your brand is Google, so it's not for nothing! Earned coverage, where a real journalist chose to write about you, is the thing that counts.
Biggest takeaway!
If you're investing in SEO and ignoring PR, you're leaving one of the strongest ranking signals on the table. And if you're investing in PR, you're already doing SEO, whether you meant to or not.
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