Understanding how a law firm’s digital PR strategy impacts SEO

In this article, Scala’s Managing Director Natalie Rodgers explores the principles behind the impact that effective PR campaigns can have on law firms and why every firm needs a PR strategy as part of its overall marketing strategy.

Assessing the return on investment (ROI) from Public Relations (PR) activity for law firms is not as straight-forward as applying a “spend equals profit” formula, which is typically used in advertising or other marketing initiatives. Unlike traditional marketing, the ROI from PR is multifaceted, requiring the analysis of various factors, some of which may not be immediately apparent.

“Creating a digital PR strategy is daunting for most law firms,” explains Natalie. “Seeing beyond the typical new hires or award-win type press coverage takes more thought and commitment—both time and money. However, given what we now know about the importance Google has placed on brand awareness and reputation when assessing the 'site quality’ score, firms that ignore PR are in danger of falling behind.”

While law firms are used to allocating marketing spend to SEO activity, many fail to recognise the link between digital PR and SEO, which weakens the effectiveness of their SEO efforts. Google's website rating score is influenced by a variety of online activity around a brand, from mentions in online press coverage to social media activity, whether that’s originating posts or sharing of content. Therefore, PR and SEO are like two sides of the same coin, both working to enhance your website.

Seven ways PR and SEO can work together to improve online visibility

Building backlinks: PR can help build high-quality backlinks from relevant publications. Whilst the BBC has a policy against including backlinks, many other media outlets don’t. Plus, it’s important to remember that even a law firm or solicitor mentioned by name (a citation) will have a positive impact on your Google score, as well as provide valuable content for your marketing team to use.

Increasing brand awareness: PR can help increase brand awareness, which can lead to more people searching for the name of your firm and engage with its content. A powerful strategy can not only elevate your brands online but also improve conversions from leads to instructions.

Improving brand's online visibility: PR improves content visibility by appearing in the publications that a target audience reads. The power of appearing in publications that have a high credibility score, such as Channel 4, The Times or BBC Radio 4, amplifies the impact of your media coverage.

Boosting E-E-A-T [Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness] score: PR coverage boosts a website’s E-E-A-T factors which is part of Google’s metric for determining quality content. In a large-scale survey by Moz, they found only 14% of consumers trust what brands say about themselves as much as they trust user reviews. Content created by actual users, especially in YMYL [your money your life] topics, is seen as more reliable and essential to establishing credibility with audiences.

Driving targeted traffic: PR can help drive targeted traffic to a website by appearing in publications that a target audience reads, leading to increased engagement and client conversion.

Controlling anchor text: PR can control the anchor text used in your digital PR stories to target key terms and help your high-value pages to rank better. Again, something Google looks at in a contextual analysis of the content on the page around the citation or link.

Other benefits of PR for law firms

• Creates opportunities for non-digital marketing activities: i.e. for award nominations or legal directory submissions.
• Helps with recruitment.
• Good PR has a ‘halo’ effect on firms as a whole: seeing the positive work done by others in the firm creates a collective pride throughout the firm.

Once PR is online, it stays there and continues to work its magic.

Measuring PR output

When examining the success of PR campaigns, we examine Google analytics, social media analytics and coverage collators (our preferred one is Coverage Book):

• Google Analytics: For website traffic and referral data.
• Social Media Analytics: Native analytics from platforms like Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
• Coverage Collators: Websites such as Coverage Book are invaluable for breaking down the data of articles and interviews.

When considering the coverage itself, we look at carious other things such as:

Media Coverage

• Extent of Coverage: Count the number of articles, mentions, or press releases published.
• Quality of Coverage: Consider the prestige and scale of the outlet using your coverage. Is it a respected brand? Evaluate whether the coverage is positive, neutral, or negative. Consider tone, message alignment, and prominence (e.g., front-page vs. back-section articles).
• Reach and Impressions: Measure the potential audience based on the circulation or viewership of the media outlet.

Audience Engagement

• Social Media Metrics: Monitor likes, shares, comments, retweets, and other engagement actions related to PR campaigns.
• Website Traffic: Track increases in visits, time spent on pages, and referrals from PR-driven sources.

Business Outcomes

• Leads: Correlate PR activities with lead generation and enquiries.
• Partnership Opportunities: Track new collaborations or business relationships sparked by PR efforts.

Earned Media Value (EMV)

• Calculate the monetary value of media coverage by comparing it to what equivalent advertising space or airtime would cost.

Crisis Management Success

• Measure the speed, clarity, and effectiveness of responses in maintaining or restoring reputation during a crisis.

For more information on how Scala can help you with your marketing and PR initiatives, please contact us today at office@scala.uk.comor call 0114 4070159