Building your website’s reputation and authority is key to improving SEO and online marketing, helping your site rank higher in search results.
Two of the most widely utilised strategies to build website authority are digital PR and link building.
However, these two techniques are often discussed as interchangeable, causing quite a lot of confusion for businesses trying to expand their digital marketing efforts.
Whilst there is a significant amount of overlap between digital PR and link building, there are some big differences too, and in this guide, we will take you through the main methods, strategies, advantages, and disadvantages of both.
So, the first question to answer is…
Is Link Building the Same as Digital PR?
Not quite. Both methods aim to drive traffic, increase brand visibility, and contribute towards SEO efforts, but they are different in both their approach and focus.
Broadly, the difference can be summarised as; link building solely focuses on the goal of building links to your website, whereas with digital PR the goal is to increase your website’s general visibility online, and backlinks are a common byproduct of this.
To break down some of the key differences further:
Approach and Goals
Link building is solely focused on improving a website’s search engine rankings by acquiring backlinks from reputable, related websites elsewhere online.
Often, gaining these links is transactional, and the primary purpose is not driving traffic directly through the links, but reaping the benefits of the added authority to your site that the links bring.
By contrast, digital PR’s main focus is increasing brand awareness and credibility, and driving traffic to your site directly through the mentions and backlinks achieved. Digital PR targets are much more widespread, ranging from websites to blogs to podcasts and social media.
Backlinks are not so much the focus of a digital PR campaign but a valuable by-product along with the exposure gained.
Methods Used
Typically, the methods used in link building are more technically led and straightforward. They tend to rely on SEO tools, mass outreach, and sometimes even paid opportunities to secure links (as much as no one would like to admit it).
Things like broken link building, guest blogging, and employing the skyscraper technique are all designed to earn backlinks in a certain, recreateable way.
On the other hand, digital PR strategies tend to be more about creativity, storytelling, and ultimately writing newsworthy content. Methods would include writing press releases, influencer outreach, and creating data-driven articles that attract organic media attention, all with the aim of positioning your brand as a thought leader in the industry, with building backlinks being a secondary benefit.
This isn’t to say that methods of link building lack creativity as there are some very interesting and engaging ways of doing it, just that digital PR relies heavily on engaging content to succeed, whereas there are ways of link building without it.
Focus on Relationships vs. Transactions
Another key difference between the two strategies is the emphasis on relationships. Link building often involves a one-time transaction or exchange; you may supply some good content to a site in return for a link back to you, but that’s where the relationships tend to end.
With digital PR, the relationships you build with those featuring your brand are crucial. One of the goals of a campaign should be to establish or continue ongoing partnerships with journalists, bloggers, and media outlets. These relationships can lead to consistent media coverage, mentions, and backlinks online, as well as building your credibility up to achieve coverage in even bigger publications as you become more trusted.
So those are the key differences between traditional link building and building links through digital PR, but why would you choose to go with one method over another?
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Link-Building
As with anything, there are both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to building links, and these can help you decide which digital marketing strategy is going to work best for your business.
Advantages of link building | Disadvantages of link-building |
Boosts Domain Authority – High-quality backlinks from reputable sites will send signals to search engines that these sites recommend the content, and as such your domain authority should increase. | Short-term focus – link building is often carried out as a one-off activity, meaning the focus is often on immediately gaining links, rather than thinking longer term about relationships and ongoing coverage. |
Quick and successful – Certain link-building methods have shown time and time again to be successful and to help increase domain authority, and they often require much less effort than a digital PR campaign would. | Transactional – link building can feel pretty impersonal at times and is more of a back-door way of getting your brand visibility up. This does not always align with brand image or company goals. |
Measurable Results – Whilst a digital PR campaign can be measured to some extent, link building provides clear, measurable results in terms of the number of backlinks, improved rankings, and domain authority. | Potential for penalties – This is more of a risk if you are buying or exchanging links, but search engines generally look down on buying links and will give your site a penalty if they suspect you are doing so. |
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital PR for Link Building
Digital PR does offer a more holistic, long-term approach to link building, which many prefer as it is more organic, but there are also advantages and disadvantages to the method which we have laid out below.
Advantages of digital PR for link building | Disadvantages of digital PR for link building |
Natural links – One of the biggest benefits of link building through digital PR is that the links gained are all natural. This avoids the risk of penalties from search engines and ensures that the links are all relevant as they were picked up by the publications themselves. | Time-consuming – Digital PR campaigns will only succeed if they are great, and for this reason, putting them together can take time. Building relationships with journalists also takes time, and so whilst effective, digital PR is a longer-term strategy and shouldn’t be relied on for immediate results. |
High-quality links – Links gained through media coverage are often on high-authority news websites or industry leaders’ publications. These links are highly valuable to your business as they will do much more to increase your domain authority than lesser-known sites. | Less focus on backlinks – Not every publication that will mention or write about your campaign will link back to your website, and they are under no obligation to. Backlinks are a common but not guaranteed byproduct of a great PR campaign, and if you solely need the links, it may not be your best bet going forward. |
Long-term relationship building – As the focus is on fostering long-term relationships with journalists, a digital PR agency can lead to continuous results as you know the stories certain journalists want to publish. | Unpredictable results – Coverage is not always guaranteed, no matter how good your campaign or content is, and as such digital PR cannot be relied upon to guarantee backlinks for a website. You will always be at the mercy of the publications to engage with your campaign. |
Should you use Link-Building Tactics or Digital PR Tactics to Build Links?
So, whilst link building and digital PR do both share the same goal of enhancing your online presence and ultimately driving traffic to your website, they are distinct strategies that have different approaches, goals and objectives.
Link building is a more niche, targeted tactic aimed solely at gaining backlinks to your website, whereas digital PR is much broader in its aims of gaining media coverage, with backlinks simply being a common byproduct of this coverage.
However, this does not mean that you cannot use both strategies together. The reality is that any business that wants to improve both its brand visibility and its SEO efforts should be engaging in a combination of both tactics.
They can use digital PR to boost their brand’s reputation online, and then use this to try and gain backlinks over their competitors, both naturally through PR and through more manual outreach.
If you need help with your digital PR or link-building efforts, we can help!