Why SEO-enhanced PR delivers better results – and how to make it work for your business
Over the last decade, the relationship between SEO and PR has become almost symbiotic. This article covers how these two marketing channels became good bedfellows and what you can expect when they work harmoniously.
Despite comments that backlinks are losing relevance and that SEO is dead (because of GEO or AIO – whatever the trendy acronym is of the day), there are plenty of signals that they’re more important than ever. SearchEngineLand makes a very valid point: in the AI content era, backlinks and mentions from reputable sources are an important way to distinguish genuine, well-researched content.
The 2025 reality: 92.3% of the top 100 ranking websites have at least one backlink, whilst 58.1% of SEOs recognise that backlinks have a significant impact on search engine rankings. More critically, 73.2% of marketers believe backlinks influence the chance of appearing in AI search results like ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs).
However, this is true only for websites that follow SEO best practices and have a targeted PR strategy. In fact, trying to attract backlinks is a wasteful activity (time, energy, budget, and opportunity) if your website’s foundations aren’t strong enough.
In Summary:
- 92.3% of top 100 sites have backlinks: 58.1% of SEOs say they significantly impact rankings, and 73.2% believe they influence AI search results.
- PR without SEO wastes budget: Publications won’t link to low-authority sites, and you’ll need 3.8 times more backlinks to rank without optimisation.
- SEO data maximises PR impact: Keyword and trends data ensures your PR targets what people actually search for, combining creative copy with discovery.
- AI systems favour authoritative sources: 76.10% of pages cited in AI Overviews also rank in Google’s top 10. Brand mentions matter as much as backlinks.
- Digital PR is the most effective link-building strategy: 48.6% of SEO professionals choose it, but 72% say it’s harder than 2024; strategic alignment is critical.
What is a backlink?
A backlink, also known as an inbound or incoming link, is a hyperlink on one website that points to another. In simpler terms, when one website links to another, it creates a backlink for the linked-to site.
We’ve written a whole blog on them and why they’re important.
Quick Glossary of Terms
So, before we move into the who, why and how, here’s a quick glossary of terms that will be used in this article:
- Link juice: The name given to the value passed onto a page/domain by backlinks. Search engines see link juice acquired by a webpage as votes toward your site. Note that this is not an official term but one coined by the SEO community.
- Proactive PR: A traditional PR technique that involves a company's PR arm actively nurturing relationships with publications to find out what features are coming up and writing an article or press release about them. The PR team can also send press releases to targeted publications that are either announcement-related or campaign-driven.
- Reactive PR: Responding to requests from news outlets and journalists. This is also a traditional PR technique.
- SEO PR: PR driven by strategy, keywords and competitor backlink analysis with the aim of improving visibility and trust online.
- E-E-A-T: A principle coined by Google but used by most search engines where websites demonstrate high-quality content in the following areas: Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust
- Domain Authority: The authority score developed by Moz that is given to a website has as a whole.
- Page Authority: Like Domain Authority but in relation to the authority of a page on a website.
- No-index No-follow: A “treatment” given to links to hide them from search engines so as not to associate the website that is linking out externally to the website it is linking to. This means no link juice is also attributed to the linked site.
- SERP: Stands for Search Engine Results Page and there are three types. Organic, paid and features.
- LLM: Large Language Model. Your ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.
WHY
Trust Built to Last
PR and SEO supercharges the search engine EEAT machine, particularly Trust, and supports the Helpful Content Update(s) by adding expert knowledge and opinion to the mix.
While PR builds a brand’s credibility and trust with an audience, SEO carries that trust through to the website with security, proof, UX and more.
A survey by Edelman in 2023 found 79% of Gen Z say it’s more important than ever to trust the brands they buy, more than any other generation surveyed.
The 2025 Context: Why Trust Signals Matter More Than Ever
According to a 2024 SEMrush study, pages with strong E-E-A-T signals had a 30% higher chance of ranking in the top 3 positions compared to those with weak signals.
This trend has only strengthened in 2025.
For AI search visibility, large language models still need signals of authority and trust, sourced from a wider net than classic Google. They read solid backlinks and, just as critically, scrape brand mention in news articles, podcasts, forums, social posts, and review sites to decide whether your voice is worth quoting.
The data is clear: 76.10% of pages cited in AI Overviews also rank in Google’s top 10 results. That’s a strong indicator that high organic rankings and AI citations go hand in hand.
Can't I Just Do PR?
The Impact of Doing PR Without SEO Could Be One or a Mix of the Following:
You won’t get as much coverage or linkbacks as you hope because your domain/page authority is low. It is common practice for online publications to do their due diligence, as linking to a website in poor health can negatively impact their rankings. So, even if the content is good, they may publish it without a link. Or, if you are lucky, a no-follow, no-index one, which means search engines won’t see the link to you. The result is zero link juice.
A recent report with over 800 SEO experts found that 33% believe authority metrics are the best way to measure backlink quality, and 67.5% believe that decent backlinks have a positive impact on rankings. In non-SEO terms, a high website domain authority will help a webpage rank much more effectively than lesser-known or less-established sites, and will show up more in search engine results and AI search.
If your business manages to bag a backlink, but the website is in poor health, it will not get the link juice boost it had hoped for. Sure, it might get some, but investing in your SEO and website experience will make a significant difference and encourage more links. Without SEO, you would have to work hard to get enough links to that killer piece of coverage, which takes time, money, and resources.
The numbers back this up: The top Google search results have an average of 3.8 times more backlinks than results ranked #2 to #10 (Backlinko, 2025).. With a well-optimised site, you would get these links more easily and wouldn’t need as many to have a positive impact.
At a minimum, start optimising your site whilst compiling your PR strategy. Not only will your SEO expert work to get that domain authority up (which can take time), but you will also have insightful SEO data to maximise PR efforts.
Nothing Goes to Waste
Positive Outcomes of SEO and PR Working as a Team:
Maximum Value
The insights you can get from SEO data can help ensure your campaign content gives your audience what they want. By this, we mean that the keyword and trends data that SEO experts see and can translate can be incorporated into the releases and articles your PR team is working on.
This allows your PR team to create articles and releases filled with the key terms that are actually being looked for.
The combination of creative PR copy and SEO data means not only will your business expertise shine through, but you will also get the SEO boost of being discovered, link juice, and possibly coveted SERP features.
The content creation connection: A survey cited by uSERP and SEO.AI found that 90% of marketers use content pieces as their primary way to generate backlinks.
When PR and SEO collaborate, this content is both compelling and optimised.
"When a new site and brand launches, you’re working with a clean slate. Especially when it’s an innovative product that might not have loads of people searching for it yet, as was the case with our client Bisviridi. We used this very dream team combination of PR and SEO to ensure they had a stand-out launch."
How we did it
- When the site went live it had been optimised correctly from both a technical point of view and from a content and helpfulness perspective
- Our PR team got the word out about the brand and what they were offering
- This meant that the site went from not even ranking for its own brand name, to grabbing featured snippets for key phrases in their industry because the PR features and backlinks meant Google understood who they were and what they offered, giving the site the key trust metrics to start ranking for the right terms.
- Keep to your content strategy to produce authoritative, shareable content that will hopefully bring you some good quality backlinks
- Regularly review your website to make sure it’s representative of who you are and what you’re doing
The result? They went from 0 clicks from search to nearly 300 in the first 3 months post-launch.
Higher Chances of Results:
- Look at where your competitors are ranking above you
- Do a backlink analysis for this keyword and competitor
- Make a list of the publications, focusing on those with a high domain authority, that support that ranking
- Look at what articles that you can create that are better or give a different viewpoint
- Contact the publication
- Hope they add you into the article or publish your article with a backlink
The strategic efforts of both PR and SEO mean more targeted pitches and calls to warmer prospects, taking less time to build relationships and increasing your chances of success.
The 2026 advantage: Digital PR is now the most effective link-building strategy, chosen by 48.6% of SEO professionals. Far ahead of guest posting (16%) and creating linkable assets (12%). 56.2% of SEO experts believe that link quality and quantity impact rankings (source)
Case Study: BioteCH4 Growth
“Over the past 18 months, our PR activity with BioteCH4 has grown and grown. We identified key messages, opinions, and news from the organisation and built up strong relationships with trade and regional media which has resulted in successfully pitching proactive news stories and thought-leadership pieces, as well as providing reactive comments to breaking news stories. This has all gone hand in hand with the company’s content and SEO strategy, ensuring no activity is wasted but instead complements and enhances each other. The highlight of this work was securing BBC Look North broadcast and online coverage, which included a backlink!
It helps that BioteCH4 has a topical and relatable message which, from a media perspective, is imperative. There needs to be a story, which has substance, to ensure it will grab a journalist’s attention. Without this, the PR activity is meaningless and will not support the other communications activities.”
More Qualified Traffic
While we try to avoid pushing a vanity metric, it is true that you will see a growth in organic traffic as PR-driven backlinks boost your search engine rankings. The hope is that the strategic SEO + PR activity has helped search engines rank you for specific key terms, services, or products you provide, so this traffic is super rich with potential leads and sales.
ROI evidence: Over 78.1% of SEO professionals report a positive return on investment (ROI) from their link-building efforts. When combined with strategic PR, these returns multiply as you reach audiences through both media coverage and improved search rankings.
AI Search: The New Frontier for PR and SEO Integration
The search landscape has fundamentally changed. By early 2025, over one-third of Gen Z use AI chat over Google to find fast answers. ChatGPT weekly active users grew 8x from October 2023 to April 2025 and are now at over 800 million.
Why This Matters for Your PR and SEO Strategy
AI systems favour authoritative sources with strong backlink profiles. A 2025 Ahrefs study analysing 75,000 brands confirmed that “AI Overviews overwhelmingly favour large, authoritative domains with extensive organic visibility and robust backlink profiles”.
The citation advantage: When LLMs cite your brand alongside industry leaders, your authority skyrockets. Getting featured in ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews means:
- Instant credibility through AI-generated recommendations
- Visibility even in “zero-click” scenarios, where users never visit websites
- Authority signals that compound over time
Brand mentions matter as much as backlinks. While backlinks remain crucial, brand mentions (references to your brand without a link) have been shown to be a positive signal for those that appear in AI search.
How PR Drives AI Search Visibility
When you secure PR coverage, you’re not just getting a backlink – you’re:
- Building narrative context: LLMs weigh how the link is used inside a real example, not just where it lands
- Creating multi-platform presence: Citations in news articles, podcasts, forums, and social posts signal authority to AI systems
- Establishing expertise: Regular media mentions position you as a subject matter expert in your field
- Generating natural language signals: PR coverage creates the kind of natural, conversational references that AI systems prefer
Current data: 50% of links included in ChatGPT responses point to business/service websites. This indicates that LLMs will often rely heavily on your website when generating responses about your business—but only if your site has the authority signals that come from strategic PR combined with solid SEO foundations.
PR AND SEO TIPS
How to Smash Your PR-Driven SEO Activities
Click below to expand
Have a document with stock answers for common questions so that if you start to get similar enquiries, you have a repository from which you can pull.
- HTTPS security (essential for trust signals)
- Fast loading times
- Mobile optimisation
- Clear site structure
- E-E-A-T signals throughout (author bios, credentials, transparent contact information)
Build for multi-platform presence. The strongest 2025 strategy includes:
- Your main website (canonical content)
- LinkedIn thought leadership
- Industry forums and community engagement
- Guest posts on authoritative sites
- Speaking at events and conferences
The 2025 advantage: LinkedIn is now the most effective platform for link-building outreach, with 17.3% of SEOs using it. This makes it a powerful channel for both traditional PR outreach and building the brand signals that AI systems recognise.
The 2025 Digital PR Landscape
Understanding the current state of digital PR helps contextualise why the SEO and PR combination is more powerful than ever.
There has been a 34% increase in worldwide searches for the term “digital PR” since 2020. (Google Trends), reflecting how much more attention companies are giving to online publicity and content.
However, it’s not getting easier. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of PR professionals say it’s more challenging to get results from digital PR in 2025 than it was in 2024. This increased difficulty makes the strategic alignment between SEO and PR even more critical.
The integration of PR, SEO, and content marketing is now standard practice. As Google’s John Mueller stated, “I love some of the things I see from digital PR; it’s a shame it often gets bucketed with the spammy kind of link building. It’s just as critical as tech SEO, probably more so in many cases.”
The Mission Is Simple
Don’t let your brand fall behind the curve. Embody the power of SEO and PR to propel your digital presence to new heights.
Remember, the main aim should be to build your trust and credibility in the eyes of your audience,and now, in the “eyes” of AI systems, not just to beat your competitors.
Customers are king, after all.