How Digital PR Boosts Your Domain Authority and Search Rankings

Authoritative backlinks can be hard to come by. 

This is especially true if you only use simple link-building tactics like using forum comments and business directories. 

While these are great for building a natural-looking backlink profile (which is necessary), they typically don’t translate to higher search rankings. 

Yet, as research by Backlinko has pointed out, a website’s overall domain authority strongly correlates with higher rankings. Thus, the importance of domain authority for SEO can’t be understated. 

So, how do you score highly authoritative backlinks?

A great way to do so is through digital PR (public relations). 

Digital PR is all about increasing exposure and boosting credibility using online channels, and link-building is a significant aspect of the practice. 

What’s even better is that digital PR strategies for SEO are some of the most effective for building highly authoritative backlinks. 

We’re talking backlinks from domains with DA (Domain Authority) and DR (Domain Rating) scores in the 70s, 80s, and even 90s. 

In this guide, we’ll show you how certain digital PR tactics will drastically boost your domain authority and search rankings, so stay tuned! 

What’s domain authority?: Domain Authority and Domain Rating are two metrics that SEO experts use to judge how likely a domain is to appear in search engine results. They’re both scored on a range of 1 – 100, with 100 being the most authoritative. The only difference between the two metrics is that DR only analyzes a domain’s backlink profile, while DA looks at other SEO ranking factors, like content quality. You can use our free domain authority checker tool to instantly view the DA score of any website online.

How Does Digital PR Increase Domain Authority?

We’ve already mentioned that digital PR tactics are some of the best for improving your website’s domain authority, but why is that?

It has to do with the types of websites digital PR professionals target for backlinks. 

Let’s explain. 

On the internet, not all websites are of equal value, credibility, and quality. It’s up to search engines like Google to distinguish which sites are high-quality enough and trustworthy enough to appear in their search results. 

If Google were to rank any old website that simply includes the right target keywords (which is actually how search engines worked before Google), its results would be filled with results from low-quality, untrustworthy websites. 

This could lead to:

1. Lawsuits against Google for linking to sites that provide false information about health, finances, or well-being (which is why Google has YMYL policies). 
2. Users rapidly abandoning Google in favor of other search engines that actually vet the quality of the websites they rank. 

That’s why Google uses ranking factors to ensure that they only rank the highest quality, most credible websites. 

The importance of backlinks for SEO 

Of the hundreds of ranking factors their algorithm uses, backlinks are one of the most significant. 

A backlink is just a link on another website that directs back to one of your web pages. Yet, if you get trusted websites to link to your content, it’s a sign that your content is also trustworthy. After all, major online publications like The Washington Post (TWP) won’t link out to just anyone. 

At the same time, a publication like TWP is extremely authoritative in its own right due to the credibility it’s built up over years of being a major news source. So, if you’re able to secure a backlink from an online publication like TWP, your domain authority will increase. 

For reference, here’s what The Washington Post’s Domain Rating score is on Ahrefs:

Yep, as expected, it’s an astronomically high score of 93 out of 100. 

A backlink from a rockstar domain like this will transfer link equity (also called ‘link juice’) to your website. Specifically, the link equity will flow to the page that contains the link (although you can spread it around by adding internal links to other pages on your site). 

What does this have to do with digital PR?

Quite a bit, actually!  

Securing high-value backlinks from significant news and media publications is digital PR’s bread and butter. Using trusted media for backlinks is what digital PR gurus do best, and they’ve developed lots of clever (and cost-effective) ways to target them. 

The tactics digital PR professionals use to generate these types of backlinks are enormously effective, and you can start using them in your SEO strategy. 

Popular digital PR tactics used to attract top-tier backlinks 

So, just what kind of sorcery do PR professionals use to generate powerful backlinks?

First, it’s important to realize that obtaining backlinks is only part of the goal for most digital PR tactics. Besides ranking higher on search engines, these techniques also aim to generate referral traffic, raise brand awareness, and boost credibility. 

That’s why the methods involve networking with reputable news sites, media outlets, and popular blogs. 

As a bonus, these websites tend to have very high domain authority scores, making them perfect for SEO. 

Here’s a look at some of the most popular digital PR link-building tactics:

• Creating original research. Why spend hours conducting outreach when you can get valuable backlinks to come to you instead? By creating relevant original research like studies and surveys, you will attract lots of backlinks from other websites in your field. Check out our guide on the top 10 digital PR strategies to learn more about this technique. 

• Developing linkable assets. In line with the first tactic, creating linkable assets is also a way to get links to come to you instead of the other way around. The types of content assets that generate the most shares include infographics, how-to videos, resource pages, free tools, and case studies. 

• Influencer marketing. 68% of users on social media platforms follow their favorite brands and creators, and influencers have a lot of power over their buying decisions. Partnering with influencers is not only a great way to spread brand awareness, but also generate backlinks (imagine the referral traffic you could generate from a relevant influencer linking back to your site!). 

• Networking with journalists, bloggers, and site owners. Relationship-building is another major aspect of digital PR. In particular, you’ll want to network with online journalists and bloggers in your field. Taking the time to interact with professionals via networks like LinkedIn will help you secure valuable link placements in the future, so it’s worth the effort. 

These are just a few of the ways digital PR professionals build backlinks and brand exposure, but they’re some of the most effective for SEO. 

What are the SEO Benefits of Digital PR?

Now that you know how digital PR can boost your authority scores, what will that do for your search rankings?

As stated earlier, research shows that higher domain authority equals higher search rankings. So, the higher you’re able to get your authority scores, the more likely it is that you’ll reach the top of the SERPs (search engine results pages). 

Improving your domain authority is also how you outrank competitors. 

We’ve seen countless instances where one of our clients was getting outranked by a competitor with higher domain authority. To dethrone them, we had to boost our client’s domain authority to a higher level, and digital PR tactics are one of the best ways to do that. 

Higher domain authority scores will provide:

• Higher keyword rankings. Ranking for trending keywords is what SEO is all about, and you need a high domain authority score to rank in the top 3. If you’ve been having a hard time achieving top rankings for your most important keywords, it could be that your competitors have higher DA scores, so don’t forget to use our free tool to see if they do. 

• Boosts in traffic, user engagement, and brand credibility. Higher domain authority means you’ve been generating backlinks from high-quality, trusted websites. This will have the added effect of boosting your brand’s credibility to your target audience. For example, if you secure a backlink on a major local news website, users visiting your site from that link will know that you’re respected enough to receive a shout-out from a news source they trust. 

Now, let’s look at a few examples of companies that thrived from running digital PR campaigns. 

The HOTH: Using linkable assets to generate countless backlinks 

First, we’ll engage in a little shameless self-promotion. 

In all honesty, our suite of free SEO tools is a great example of how to use linkable assets to generate backlinks. 

We provide a ton of tools that perform helpful SEO functions like keyword research, competitor analysis, and SEO audits. 

As a result, other websites link to our tools all the time, as our free tools constantly appear on our ‘best backlinks’ reports. 

You can mimic this strategy by creating free tools that are relevant to your audience. Popular examples include calculators (like this FTE calculator for HR departments), meme generators, and image editors. 

Signs.com: Using visual content to attract links 

Next, Signs.com provides an excellent example of how you can use visual content like infographics to attract backlinks. 

Their Branded in Memory study had a unique angle: just how memorable are corporate logos?

To find out, they asked regular people to draw logos from major brands like Apple completely from memory. 

The results were interesting enough to generate hundreds of backlinks from high-DA sites:

Actionable Steps for Businesses 

What can your business do to leverage the power of digital PR to enhance your SEO?

You can start by thinking like a public relations professional instead of a link-builder. Besides generating backlinks, your goal is to promote the ever-loving heck out of your brand by any means possible. 

Here are some tips to help you build links with digital PR:

• Get visual with your content. If you want to mimic the success of Signs.com’s branded study, you need to leverage the power of engaging visuals. If all you currently have on your website is static blog content, fear not! You can easily repurpose your existing content into videos, infographics, and even webinars. 

• Set realistic outreach goals. Networking with journalists and media outlets is a long-term game, so don’t expect to form meaningful relationships in a week or two. Instead, be realistic with your outreach and give yourself plenty of time to make powerful connections with the right people. Monitor industry forums, blogs, and LinkedIn groups to find professionals worth reaching out to, and avoid hard sell tactics at first (build a rapport before mentioning backlinks or brand mentions). 

• Make it effortless to share your content. If you plan on creating linkable assets, you need to make them as easy to share as possible. This means doing things like adding social share buttons and code to embed videos. 

Start Boosting Your Domain Authority with Digital PR 

Here’s a recap of what we’ve covered so far:

1. Digital PR link-building tactics are best for building authoritative backlinks from news sites and media outlets. 
2. Domain authority is essential for ranking higher on search engines, and you can increase domain authority through backlinks. 
3. Digital PR leads to more organic traffic, higher keyword rankings, and more engagement with users. 

Are you ready to leverage the power of digital PR for your business?

Then you need to check out our newly launched Digital PR services for SEO success! We’ll create a custom campaign based on your specific needs, so reach out for a free consultation to learn more.  

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