When most people think of SEO, they imagine keyword-rich blog posts or perfectly optimized meta tags. But one of the most powerful tools in your SEO toolkit doesn’t live in your website’s CMS—it lives in the world of PR. Digital PR can be an incredible way to boost your SEO by building high-quality backlinks that search engines love.
What Are Backlinks and Why Do They Matter?
Backlinks are simply links from one website to another. Think of them as digital “votes of confidence.” When a reputable site links to your page, search engines interpret that as a signal that your content is trustworthy, valuable and worth ranking.
However, not all backlinks are created equal. A link from a high-authority news outlet or industry publication carries far more weight than one from a low-quality blog or a random directory listing. The better your backlinks, the more search engines recognize your site as an authority—and that can translate to higher rankings, more traffic and increased credibility.
Traditional Link-Building Methods: The Pros and Cons
For years, marketers have relied on classic SEO link-building tactics—but many have notable downsides:
- Manual outreach to site owners or admins: Sending cold emails to request backlinks can be effective, but it’s extremely time-consuming, and response rates are notoriously low. Even when you get a link, it may not be from a highly authoritative source.
- Buying links: This is a fast way to get backlinks, but it’s considered black hat SEO, which is a set of tactics that can result in your website being banned from Google and other search engines. Not only does it go against search engine best practices, but there’s no guarantee the site is credible, relevant or aligned with your brand. The risks often outweigh the benefits.
- Directory listings (like Yelp, Hotfrog or other industry-specific directories): These provide citations and sometimes links, but because most competitors have the same listings, they don’t differentiate your brand. And they offer minimal context, which limits their contribution to SEO signals like E-E-A-T.
In short, traditional methods can work—but they’re either risky, time-consuming, or fail to meaningfully strengthen your SEO.
Understanding E-E-A-T and Why It Matters
Search engines increasingly evaluate sites based on E-E-A-T:
- Experience: Does the content demonstrate first-hand knowledge? For example, a chef sharing cooking tips or a software expert detailing how to implement a tool.
- Expertise: Is the content created by someone with recognized skills or qualifications in the field? Think licensed professionals, award-winning writers or subject-matter experts (SMEs).
- Authoritativeness: Is the source respected in its industry? Mentions or backlinks from credible outlets signal authority.
- Trustworthiness: Can users rely on the content and brand? HTTPS sites, accurate citations and professional presentation help build trust.
Digital PR contributes to all of these signals. When your brand is featured in a major publication, it signals experience and expertise. A link from that publication adds authority and consistent, high-quality coverage builds trustworthiness with both users and search engines.
Enter Digital PR: The Smart SEO Boost
This is where digital PR shines. By creating compelling stories, press releases or thought-leadership pieces that attract coverage from high-authority media outlets, you can earn backlinks that deliver real SEO value.
Here’s why it works so well:
- High-quality backlinks: Links from reputable publications are relevant and authoritative—boosting rankings naturally.
- Brand awareness and credibility: Media coverage increases social proof and positions your brand as a trusted authority.
- Contextual relevance: Unlike generic directory links, PR backlinks come with rich context, helping search engines understand your expertise.
- Multiple SEO benefits at once: Digital PR builds brand mentions, citations and E-E-A-T signals, all of which contribute to better search performance.
Digital PR isn’t just a marketing tactic—it’s an SEO strategy disguised as brand storytelling.
The Future of SEO: Why PR-Driven Backlinks Matter in the Age of AI and AEO
As search evolves toward AI-powered engines and large language models (LLMs), link quality is becoming even more important. Instead of relying solely on traditional search rankings, AI-driven tools like Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), Bing Copilot and ChatGPT draw from authoritative, high-context content to answer user queries.
When your brand earns backlinks from reputable news outlets, niche publications and expert blogs, those mentions act as strong authority signals that help LLMs “learn” your brand’s relevance within a topic area. In other words, high-quality PR coverage doesn’t just improve your Google rankings—it increases your visibility in AI-driven search results and conversational responses.
This shift toward AI search—often called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)—means digital PR is more valuable than ever. Earning credible backlinks provides structured, contextual data that reinforces your brand’s trustworthiness, making it more likely your content will be referenced or summarized accurately by AI systems.
Simply put: PR-driven backlinks are no longer just about PageRank—they’re about perception rank in the age of intelligent search.
Bringing It All Together
If you want real SEO results while boosting your brand’s visibility, credibility and trustworthiness, integrating digital PR into your marketing strategy is key. Today’s SEO isn’t just about ranking on Google—it’s about showing up everywhere your audience searches, from AI chat results to traditional SERPs. Earning high-quality backlinks through media coverage multiplies your SEO benefits—not just from the links themselves, but from all the surrounding credibility signals.
At Beyond Fifteen, we combine expertise in both digital PR and SEO to deliver campaigns that get your brand noticed by top media outlets while strengthening your search engine presence. By strategically linking PR efforts to SEO goals, we help brands generate measurable results that go beyond impressions—turning media coverage into tangible traffic, leads and authority online. Ready to see how digital PR can elevate your SEO? Get in touch today to start building your brand’s online authority.