How Digital PR Can Help You Build Links from Huge Publications

Digital public relations (digital PR) is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies to implement if you want to generate backlinks from major online publications.

A good digital PR campaign can help you gain links from hyper-relevant publications quickly and without spending much money.

Digital PR agencies can help you land high-quality backlinks with online publications because they typically have extensive relationships with journalists, bloggers, and content creators worldwide.

Digital public relations agencies use tactics like off-page search engine optimization (SEO), press releases, data-led content, and influencer marketing to help you generate links from high-authority media outlets, giving your website a massive digital presence.

In this article, we unpack:

➡️ What digital PR involves and how it differs from traditional PR.

➡️ The benefits of using digital PR for your business.

➡️ How to choose the right digital PR agency for securing high-quality backlinks.

What Is Digital PR?

Digital PR is a strategic approach within digital marketing that focuses on building, maintaining, and managing a brand's reputation through various online channels.

Unlike traditional PR, which relies on print media, radio, or TV, digital PR taps into digital platforms to create a positive online presence for your brand.

The primary goal of your digital PR efforts is to enhance your brand's visibility and reputation in the digital space.

This is accomplished by building relationships with key stakeholders, including your target audience, media outlets, and customers.

The digital channels your digital public relations agency might use to promote and nurture your brand include:

👉 Social media platforms

👉 Relevant media outlets

👉 Digital press releases

👉 Blogs

👉 Podcasts

👉 Other digital mediums

To reach the right target audience through these channels, a digital PR pro would use a combination of high-quality content, online press releases, newsworthy articles, infographics, social media marketing, and video content.

Digital Public Relations vs. Traditional PR

Public relations—whether it’s digital or traditional—always have the same goals, which include:

🏆 Promoting your brand

🏆 Managing your reputation

🏆 Building relationships with major publications

🏆 Creating brand awareness

While traditional PR casts a wide net to reach these goals, digital PR provides the tools to target specific audiences, measure success more effectively, and engage with stakeholders in real-time.

Some of the major differences between traditional and digital PR strategies include:

✅ Channels used: Where traditional PR focuses on platforms like print publications, radio spots, or TV adverts, digital PR focuses on online channels that promote digital content.

✅ Target audience: Traditional PR targets a broad audience of consumers and stakeholders. By its nature, digital PR can help brands reach niche audiences.

✅ Measurability: The effectiveness of traditional PR campaigns is difficult to measure—how do you know how many people read your press release in a traditional newspaper? Digital PR efforts, on the other hand, are much easier to measure through various metrics.

✅ Adaptability: Traditional PR campaigns require longer lead times and can be slower to adapt to changes. Digital PR operates in real-time, which allows brands to quickly respond to trends or current news.

Examples of Successful Digital PR Campaigns

When it comes to digital PR strategies, standing out requires an informed approach—it takes research, high-quality content, and a deep understanding of the publications and audiences you want to target.

Here are some examples of brands that understand what their audiences want. They managed to generate coverage and backlinks by creating irresistible content:

🚀 JobSage

JobSage is an employer review platform competing in an industry dominated by giants like Glassdoor and Indeed. To increase their brand visibility, they had to create a piece of content that was truly link-worthy.

The JobSage survey infographic is a prime example of the power of a well-executed digital PR strategy:

Source

They focused on a hot topic—workplace friendships and the effects of remote work.

By conducting a survey that addresses current trends and challenges, they created content that’s timely and highly relevant to anyone in a corporate career.

JobSage was featured in the Staten Island Advance—a highly respected local publication with a domain rating (DR) of 79 and over 300,000 monthly visitors.

🚀 IdentityGuard

Identity Guard, a leading identity theft protection service, created an article that focuses on the Dark Web and the use of scanners to steal information:

Source

This is a subject that is both intriguing and increasingly important in the context of online security.

By combining relevant content, expert insight, and educational value, IdentityGuard was able to secure a link from TechJury, a DR 86 website:

🚀 The Zebra

The Zebra’s car affordability calculator helps users quickly discover what kind of car they can afford.

It’s a prime example of how to use a practical, user-centered tool in a digital PR campaign to boost brand authority, drive traffic, and build links:

The page has received over 32,000 backlinks over its lifetime:

The Zebra’s approach clearly shows that you don’t need to build complicated interactive tools to secure digital PR coverage—all you need to do is understand user intent, create great content, and provide real value.

Three Ways to Get Started with Digital PR

Now that you understand the benefits of digital PR and how it can supercharge your brand, let’s dive into how you can use it to score valuable backlinks from top-tier publications.

When it comes to implementing a digital PR strategy, you have three options:

💡Do it yourself: This gives you full control over your strategy. While it demands more time and effort—and a willingness to learn the ropes—it also puts you in the driver’s seat so you can steer your brand where you want it to go.

💡Hire a freelancer: Freelancers bring flexibility and a tailored approach to your brand’s needs. They can be a budget-friendly option, but they may have fewer resources than an agency.

💡Work with a digital PR agency: Agencies come equipped with industry expertise, media connections, and the know-how to develop a successful digital PR campaign. While this option can be pricier, the results are often worth the investment.

Let’s explore each of these options in more detail.

💡Doing digital PR yourself

Taking on digital PR yourself can be a rewarding challenge—and a great learning experience.

While it requires careful planning, time, and effort, it’s possible to achieve impressive results on your own with the right approach and skills.

If you don’t have digital marketing experience or established relationships with relevant news outlets, it may take longer to gain traction and see the results you’re aiming for.

However, it’s not impossible to see success doing it yourself.

If you already have the skills and expertise, or are willing to put in the effort to learn, you can certainly develop an effective digital public relations strategy.

Here’s how to get started:

✅ Assess your resources: Content creation is the backbone of digital PR. Assess whether you have the time, skills, and tools needed to produce high-quality content. If not, consider outsourcing tasks.

✅ Research your target audience: Understanding your audience is the first step to any successful PR campaign. Use surveys, social media interactions, and customer feedback to get to know the people who are interested in your brand.

✅ Build relationships: Connecting with influencers, bloggers, and journalists in your industry is key to gaining media coverage. Start by reaching out to relevant contacts and focus on building mutually beneficial relationships.

✅ Set goals: Define what success looks like for your digital PR efforts. Whether it’s securing backlinks, increasing brand visibility, or driving traffic to your website, setting specific goals will guide your strategy.

✅ Create content: Your content needs to stand out in a crowded digital space. Invest time in brainstorming and developing unique ideas that resonate with your audience.

💡Hiring a digital marketing freelancer

Many professionals in the world of digital PR have decided to break away from working in agencies. They instead offer their services as freelancers.

While there’s nothing wrong with having a freelancer implement your digital PR strategy, you need to ensure you choose the right person.

When it comes to running a digital PR campaign, don’t use platforms like Fiverr and UpWork to find freelancers. The work quality of freelancers on these platforms varies greatly, and you may end up paying for work that isn’t very good—or even damages your brand reputation.

You need a freelancer with extensive experience in digital PR and a solid relationship with a network of large publications.

We recommend reaching out to your network or posting a job ad on LinkedIn or another job board. Then, take the time to interview and vet freelancers before you hire one.

💡Working with a digital PR agency

In our opinion, the best way to reap all the rewards of a good digital PR strategy is to hire a company specializing in digital PR.

If you are going to hire a digital PR firm, here are some things to consider:

🤔 Do they offer the right digital PR services?

You’ll want to choose an agency that offers the services you require to get the backlinks you need. If, for example, an agency doesn’t offer content creation services, would you be able to develop content yourself?

🤔 What is your budget?

Some digital PR firms charge high fees, and rightly so. The links they’d be securing for you in targeted publications would be of immense value. Before you settle on an agency, ensure you have the budget to invest in digital PR.

🤔 What tactics do you want to use to build links?

If you aim to build links through techniques like broken link building, unlinked brand mentions, and link insertions, it is better to hire an agency that provides SEO services to handle this for you.

However, if you want to build links through high-quality articles and press releases that generate links in reputable, high-traffic publications, digital PR is the way to go.

Why Is Digital PR Good for Link Building?

A single successful digital PR campaign can do wonders for your brand.

Not only will you have secured some links from big publications, but you’ll also see several other benefits:

✅ Boosted rankings on search engines

Search engines like Google use backlinks as a way to measure the relevance and authority of your website. Websites with high relevance and authority earn better positions in search rankings.

One way to get authoritative and relevant backlinks is to achieve linked mentions in news publications because these typically involve highly reputable websites.

Getting backlinks from high-authority media outlets shows search engines that your website is trustworthy, which can increase your ranking in search results.

✅ Raise brand awareness

Backlinks not only show Google that it should rank your website higher in search results, but they also improve your overall brand awareness.

You can reach your target audience—and even new audiences—by having a big publication link to your website.

✅ Build authority in your niche

In the digital world, credibility is everything if you want to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs).

If a reputable website like Forbes links to your brand in an article, they’re in effect telling their readers that you’re a trustworthy source.

The backlinks you get from reputable publications through digital PR give you more authority in your industry or niche, which helps you gain the trust of potential customers.

✅ Improve organic website traffic

Generally, backlinks drive organic search traffic to your website. This means you get eyes on your website without paying for it.

A digital PR agency provides the strategy to help you build links with publications that your target audience visits. This approach engages visitors who are already interested in your niche, making them more likely to convert.

✅ Better domain authority (DA) and domain rating (DR)

Domain authority (DA) is a website metric developed by a popular SEO tool called Moz. It’s a score out of 100 that tells you how likely it is that your website would rank for relevant search terms.

Similarly, domain rating (DR) is a metric developed by another SEO tool called Ahrefs. It’s also a score out of 100 that indicates the authority of your backlink profile.

The higher your DA or DR score, the more likely it is that a search engine like Google would rank you higher in its SERPs.

Backlinks help improve your DA and DR, especially when they come from authoritative online sources.

✅ More sales and conversions

Consumers buy products and services from brands that they believe are credible, reliable, and trustworthy.

What better way to convince a potential customer that you are a reliable brand than by getting media coverage in major publications?

When you drive website traffic through a digital PR campaign, you’re telling consumers that you are the best source of what they’re looking for. This can ultimately result in more sales and conversions.

✅ Quality anchor text

Anchor text is the clickable words that are used by a website when they hyperlink your website URL in their content.

Here, the blue text is an example of what anchor text looks like:

Trust us when we say that you want good anchor text in your backlink profile to achieve decent rankings in search results.

Your digital PR agency will ensure the anchor text used in publications is relevant and valuable to your site.

✅ Diverse, natural, and quality backlinks

When search engines analyze your backlink profile, they look for the three things that make a good backlink: quality, diversity, and how natural the links are.

Link building through digital PR tactics gets you high-quality backlinks that appear naturally from a diverse range of sources and domains.

You don’t want random links that provide no value from irrelevant websites, all coming from one or two sources.

When premier publications link back to your website, it often results in a natural backlink profile that looks more authentic and less like a deliberate link-building strategy.

This approach serves as an indicator to search engines that you’re worth ranking highly.

The Benefits of Digital PR Agencies

Depending on your chosen agency, you’ll be offered some or all of the following services to help take your brand to new digital heights.

✅ Content creation

When it comes to link building, there’s nothing more important than developing valuable, relevant content. Good content is what will give website owners a reason to link to your site.

But not everyone can write a truly valuable, high-converting blog post or article.

Digital PR companies usually employ professional copywriters and content creators to develop premium-quality content that earns links from big publications.

✅ Content marketing

In addition to creating content, digital PR pros usually offer content marketing as a service.

They may even have a team of content marketers ready to help you make the most of your content.

Content marketing is how you take the content you’ve created and put it in front of the right audience. For example, it’s how you get your beautifully designed infographic distributed through the right channels—such as social media—to market your content.

A good content marketing campaign will drive traffic to your website, establish your brand as an authority in your niche, and help you convert visitors into paying customers.

✅ Media relations

The media is a powerful tool—it can make or break your brand in seconds. This is why it’s important to have a digital PR professional handle your media relations for you.

Media relations activities include:

• Building relationships with reporters

• Conducting research and performing outreach

• Developing newsworthy press releases

• Pitching relevant content to editors

• Following up with journalists and influencers

• Tracking, monitoring, and analyzing your brand’s presence

✅ Search engine optimization (SEO)

Many digital PR firms offer technical SEO services to help ensure that the websites they drive traffic to are perfectly optimized.

Unlike your average SEO company, a digital PR team will optimize your site in a way that makes it attractive to targeted publications and their audiences.

✅ Influencer marketing

Digital PR companies offer influencer services such as partnering with influential bloggers or social media personalities to promote your website, products, or services.

If, for example, you were to earn a backlink in an influential blogger’s content, this would be an excellent vote of confidence for your brand because audiences trust influencers.

✅ Online reputation management

One of the main reasons brands hire PR firms is to manage their reputation.

These services typically include monitoring when your brand is mentioned online, like in reviews and feedback.

Reputation management also includes developing strategies to mitigate damage to your brand’s reputation, including crisis management planning.

✅ Link building

Not all digital PR agencies mention link building as a specific service. Instead, they offer other services that naturally result in links being built.

For example, these agencies won’t usually rely on traditional link-building techniques like directory link building or broken link building.

Instead, the work that those PR agencies do typically focuses on generating links in targeted publications. This allows you to reap the rewards of having your website mentioned by online news outlets.

✅ Analytics and reporting

Analytics and reporting services are critical to SEO, so make sure your digital PR firm offers them.

This tells you how your brand is performing online and what results you’re getting for the fees you’re paying.

Digital PR teams often use analytics tools that go deeper than Google Analytics to track how many backlinks they’ve generated for you in major publications.

✅ Digital PR campaigns

Campaigns should reflect that your PR professionals are pulling all the abovementioned digital PR tactics together effectively.

Successful digital PR campaigns involve good content, effective media relations and outreach, link-building tactics, and online reputation management.

Wrapping Up on Link Building through Digital PR

Digital PR has become an essential tool for brands looking to build links from huge publications worldwide. Securing a backlink in any major online publication is a win for your brand.

Such a backlink can improve your organic traffic, rankings, brand awareness, and authority in your niche. Getting several of these backlinks with a tailored digital PR campaign is an even bigger win.

Although the digital landscape is continuously changing, one thing remains constant: digital PR is a crucial part of any brand’s marketing strategy.

To learn more about the link-building techniques we use here at LinkBuilder, visit the FAQs section on our website.

You’re also welcome to contact us so we can tell you more about how we help brands build natural, quality, and diverse backlinks.