FREE TOOLS TO ADD SOME SEO SPARKLE TO YOUR PLANS
15TH FEBRUARY 2021
PR and SEO have for so long, existed in their own bubbles. And that was pre-Covid, when our only attribution of the word 'bubble' was the soapy stuff you blow through a ring. But SEO can no longer exist in a vacuum. For it to be effective, it needs to be hemmed in as part of a broader marketing communications model, and especially with PR.
I don't proclaim to be any sort of SEO expert, but I'm learning fast about ways to digitally optimise the work we deliver through PR to elevate our clients' search performance and drive traffic to their ever-important websites. With links continuing to be one of the most important ranking factors in Google, securing decent ones is the holy grail. But PR and SEO can also work together better through enhanced content discovery.
The reality is, the traditional customer decision journey is no longer linear. It's like a plate of meatballs and spaghetti...intertwined, messy and with strands overlapping each other.
The reality is, the traditional customer decision journey is no longer linear. It's like a plate of meatballs and spaghetti...intertwined, messy and with strands overlapping each other. This means that as marketing communications professionals, we can use search string analysis to better inform the content we can be creating to best meet the needs of consumers where they are in the CDJ. So for example, if you have a client who's in the business of home removals, you may want to search for digital crumbs when they're in the house searching mindset and show up on the websites where they are - way before they start searching for 'home removals firms' on Google.
To keep things simple, here are some of the free tools I've been using to help enhance by client comms (around key word research mainly) to give some rigor to the recommendations I'm able to provide. Have a play around, you'll be amazed at what you can find!
1. CHECK OUT THE 'SEARCHES RELATED TO' OPTIONS ON GOOGLE
When you enter a search term via Google, scroll down to the bottom of the page and you’ll find a list of 8 keywords that are closely related to your search term. As these suggestions come directly from what people are actually searching for, it's Google's way of telling us what millions of people are searching for so see if there are words or phrases you can build into your article / content headings and subheads. Try it out.
2. TAP INTO REDDIT TO FIND KEY WORDS
No matter the industry your client is in, it is very likely that there will be a discussion thread on it via Reddit. So, say for example your client sells zero alcohol drinks, you can type in 'zero alcohol' into Reddit and then choose a subreddit where your audience is likely to be. To take this one step further, try tapping into Keyworddit,” a free SEO tool that scans Reddit for words and phrases that people use and organises the phrase by monthly search volume.
3. PLAY AROUND WITH GOOGLE TRENDS TO FUEL A DATA STORY
I love Google Trends. It takes some messing about with to find what you're specifically looking for, but I've used many a stat in client pitches and presentations to validate a POV or build into a media pitch to show why a certain topic is newsworthy right now. Google Trends is especially useful around seasonal spikes as it can help fuel your pitch with some careful analysis and data extraction. Have a play and see what you think.
4. DOWNLOAD THE MOZBAR SEO TOOLBAR FOR INSTANT STATS
Moz Bar can give you some seriously cool data on web pages. I've downloaded the MozBar Chrome extension and used it to great success lately. Not only can it tell you the domain authority score of a website (domain authority is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine result pages) but it can give you search performance and individual page rankings. I'm using it to help the team build SEO first media lists for earned, taking us beyond the usual metrics of reach and circulation.
There are many more free tools like the ones above but I like to keep it simple and add more options to the mix once I master the basics. For other PR professionals like me that want to dabble in SEO, give some of these free tips a chance. As more consumers head online to shop, learn, find inspiration and seek advice, PR has no choice but to evolve at breakneck speed to stay agile, digital first and evolve our profession to meet the needs of this new age consumer.