Whether it’s attracting higher-quality talent or securing sought-after partnerships, most brands recognise the real value that digital PR (public relations) can bring to their business.
Digital PR has traditionally supported site SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts.
However, with AI (Artificial Intelligence)-driven search becoming increasingly popular, it also now plays a crucial role securing visibility beyond traditional rankings.
By establishing authority, credibility, and relevance through trusted third-party coverage, digital PR can help sites to receive recognition from AI-powered search tools, too.
What is digital PR?
Digital public relations (widely known as just digital PR) is a combination of online marketing activities that are designed to earn media coverage, secure high-quality backlinks, and obtain brand mentions.
This is achieved using content creation, outreach, and SEO with the aim of increasing a brand’s online visibility, public image, and authority.
In short, digital PR is the process of creating a piece of engaging content that can be pitched to certain influencers, journalists, and online publications, securing coverage in the form of a backlink or social media mention!
Why is digital PR beneficial for SEO?
When implemented professionally and strategically, digital PR can enhance your online visibility in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) by supporting the trust signals search engines like Google use to assess site quality and authority.
Digital PR helps websites to:
Improve E-E-A-T
Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) framework was introduced to its Search Quality Rater Guidelines in December 2022 and is used to assess websites, with the most trusted and authoritative sites benefitting from greater online visibility.
Through earning high-quality coverage, backlinks, and brand mentions from relevant and authoritative sources across the internet (for the right reasons!), digital PR helps your business to be viewed more positively by search engines.
Essentially, each backlink or brand mention is an endorsement of your brand!
Secure high-quality backlinks
While high-quality backlinks do support E-E-A-T, they also help improve your domain authority and strengthen your backlink profile – a key ranking factor for search engines.
Backlinks can be bought but these tend to be low-quality and go against Google’s guidelines. Instead, digital PR provides businesses with an organic way to secure high-quality backlinks for their link profile.
As a result, businesses that use digital PR services tend to enjoy increased online visibility for relevant search terms.
Drive relevant referral traffic
Another substantial benefit of having backlinks to your site in well-known and relevant publications is the increase in referral traffic from audiences that are already interested in your industry, products, or services.
With a clear backlink and engaged audience, it’s likely that you’ll see a boost in crucial metrics such as CTRs (click-through rates) conversion rates, and dwell time before navigating away.
Higher site engagement also sends positive quality signals to search engines, supporting improved online visibility.
Increase brand recognition
SEO is all about getting your brand noticed online.
This means even when backlinks aren’t followed, just seeing your name in a piece of content published by a reputable news organisation can boost brand recognition for your business.
These credible brand mentions help build trust with users, encouraging branded searches and indirectly supporting your site’s SEO performance over time.
How does digital PR support AI search?
Alongside fuelling SEO efforts, digital PR is also proving to be an effective tool for helping businesses to appear in AI-driven search results.
As discussed in an interview about AI search at Google between Marina Mogilko and the vice-president of product for Google Search, Robby Stein, Mogilko asked:
“Give me some tips as a business owner who still runs Google ads. What should I focus on right now […] for AI to consider me?”
In response, Stein said:
“If you’re a business and you’re mentioned in top business lists or from a public article that lots of people end up finding, those kinds of things become useful for the AI to find.”
He goes onto describe AI Mode as “literally using Google Search” under the hood.
During the interview, Stein also added that “AI thinks a lot like a person would” in the sense that if a person was trying to decide who to purchase a product or service from, they would search on Google to see which businesses or brands different reputable sites recommend.
And AI does the same thing, meaning its results are informed by many of the connections that digital PR makes when it earns coverage for your business.
Put simply, if you want your brand to be mentioned in AI Mode’s responses or featured in the answers of other AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok, digital PR shouldn’t be ignored.
And here at Aqueous Digital, we couldn’t agree more – we’ve seen first-hand the difference that strong digital PR can make to brands’ online visibility.
Our in-house PR expert, Hollie Marsh, offers some professional advice for businesses that want to increase their SEO and AI-driven search visibility using digital PR.
She says: “Understand the deeper nuances of your business. What do you know about your industry that no one else does? What awards have you won that showcase your expertise? How are you investing in your community and the people involved in your business?
“AI uses coverage and new stories to build a clear narrative around your brand, often linking to this content in response to relevant queries and creating even more touchpoints back to your website.
“Ultimately, PR feeds into the all-important EEAT. No matter how people are searching, establishing trust will always be a fundamental part of being found online.
“Building credible thought leadership and sharing genuine insight on relevant publications is one of the simplest ways to achieve this, while naturally extending your reach at the same time.”
How can Aqueous Digital help?
Whether you want to rank higher in the SERPs or start appearing in more AI-driven searches, you can trust our team to help you achieve your goals.
At Aqueous Digital, our customers can benefit from a comprehensive package of both dedicated SEO and digital PR support, as well as additional digital marketing services such as paid advertising and reputation management – depending on your specific needs.
We’ll carry out a full website audit and identify any areas for improvement, and which marketing services are likely to deliver the most effective results for your business.
Ready to start seeing your brand in more SEO and AI search results for business-critical keywords? Talk to our helpful team today!
Alongside reaching out online to book a free, no-obligation consultation, you can also get in touch via:
Phone: 0800 285 1424
Email: hello@aqueous-digital.co.uk
