"Using SEO as a PR Metric." Presentation by Greg Jarboe at Measurement Base Camp May 19, 2020

1. Using SEO as
a PR Metric
Greg Jarboe
President and co-founder of SEO-PR
Measurement Base Camp 2020
May 19, 2020

2. I’ve used the ‘five Ws (and one H)’ as the outline
for my presentation on using SEO as a PR metric
• Who are your target audiences?
• What are they seeking?
• Where do they seek it?
• When do they seek it?
• Why should you incorporate SEO
metrics into your PR
measurement program?
• How do you optimize your press
releases, photos, and videos?

3. Who are your target audiences?

4. If your only target audience is journalists, then your
traditional media relations staff will be cut in half
• Total U.S. daily newspaper circulation
(print and digital combined) was 28.6
million for weekdays and 30.8 million
for Sundays in 2018, down 45% from
52.3 million for weekdays and down
42% 53.2 million for Sundays in 2006.
• According to data from the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, 37,900 people worked
as reporters, editors, photographers,
or film and video editors in the
newspaper industry in 2018, which is
down 49% from 74,410 in 2004.
Source: Pew Research Center, “State of the News Media,” July 9, 2019

5. In addition to pitching stories to journalists, SEO
lets you put the public back into public relations
Harold Lasswell developed the classic
model of communication back in 1939
“With search engines, this whole
process is reversed,” I said in 1998
Source: Greg Jarboe, YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day, Second Edition, November 2011

6. How do you explain the benefits of using SEO as a
PR metric to an established consumer brand?
• In 1998, I said, “Many potential buyers
are no longer waiting passively to
receive messages – 98% of which are
of little interest to them anyway.
Instead, they’re using search engines
to find the 2% that they’re already
interested in. If they find your site
during that search, they’re already
predisposed to take action.”
• In 2019, a study found 83% of U.S.
shoppers who had visited a store in
the last week said they used online
search before going into a store.
Source: Greg Jarboe, YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day, Second Edition, November 2011

7. How do you explain the value or benefits of using
SEO as a PR metric to an established B2B marketer?
• Research shows that those involved in
the B2B buying process are already
57% of the way down the path to a
decision before they’ll actually
perform an action on your site.
• 90% of B2B researchers who are online
use search specifically to research
business purchases.
• 71% of B2B researchers start their
research with a generic search.
• On average, B2B researchers do 12
searches prior to engaging on a
specific brand’s site.
Source: Kelsey Snyder and Pashmeena Hilal, Think with Google, “The Changing Face of B2B Marketing,” March 2015

8. What are they seeking?

9. I’ll quickly explain keyword research: Think about
the words users would type to find your releases
• Google’s webmaster guidelines say:
“Think about the words users would
type to find your pages, and make
sure that your site actually includes
those words within it.”
• Like consumer research, keyword
research can help you find out what
people think about your kind of
product, what language they use
when they search for the topic, what
attributes are important to them, and
what promise would be most likely to
make them buy your brand.
Source: Google, Webmaster Guidelines

10. Here’s a list of some places to find keywords and
free tools for conducting ad hoc keyword research
• Places to find keywords
• Google’s autocomplete feature.
• Google’s “People also ask…” boxes.
• Google’s related searches feature.
• Free keyword research tools
• Answer the Public.
• Google Ads Keyword Planner.
• Google Trends.
• Keywordtool.io.
• Microsoft Advertising Intelligence.
• Moz Keyword Explorer.
• WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool.
Source: Greg Jarboe, SEO-PR, “What is the best keyword research tool for SEO? (It’s your brain!),” Sept. 25, 2019

11. Go to Google News, type Southwest Airlines into
the search box, and see autocomplete suggestions

12. Let’s define short tail keywords, long tail keywords,
and keywords somewhere in the chunky middle
• What are short tail keywords?
• Short tail keywords are search terms with
only one or two words.
• “Buy socks” is a short tail keyword.
• The top 10,000 keywords make up less
than 20% of overall search traffic.
• What are long tail keywords?
• Long Tail Keywords are the longer, highly
specific 4-6 word phrases.
• “Buy breathable running socks” is an
example of a long tail keyword.
• 70% of overall search traffic comes from
long tail keywords.
Source: Raven Tools, Glossary, Short Tail Keywords and Long Tail Keywords

13. Where do they seek it?

14. 94% of searches in U.S. happen on Google, Google
Images, YouTube, Google Maps, and Google News
• Everyone knows that Google has the
largest search engine market share.
• But, most communications
professionals still don’t realize text
and visual content can be optimized
so their target audiences can find the
information they’re seeking with:
• Google.
• Google Images.
• YouTube.
• Google Maps.
• Google News.

15. 6 of the top 12 videos and photos in Google Images
for Get City Dealz in New Orleans are from SEO-PR

16. Our optimized press releases about Consumer
Reports reviews ranked higher than their reviews
Source: Google News search results for Consumer Reports, Sept. 21, 2005

17. Many SEOs and PR professionals may not realize
how valuable press release SEO efforts can be
• Our early press release SEO efforts
produced:
• $2.5 million in airline ticket sales for
Southwest Airlines in 2004.
• $200 million in leads for Symmetricom’s
Chip-Scale Atomic Clocks in 2005.
• 450,000 unique, daily visitors to The
Christian Science Monitor’s site in 2006.
• A record 1,100 attendees to the Wharton
Economic Summit in 2007.
• A 36% increase in brand searches for
Better Homes and Gardens in 2008.
• 859 backlinks to Parents magazine’s new
Toy and Product Recall Finder in 2009.
Source: Greg Jarboe, Search Engine Journal, “Why News SEO Is Crucial to Publishers Covering the Coronavirus Pandemic,” March 15, 2020

18. When do they seek it?

19. Search interest in early decision and early action
ramps up in August before many colleges reopen
Source: Google Trends, US search interest in early decision and early action over the past 5 years, March 16, 2020

20. Dickinson College used keyword research to build
an editorial calendar for their blog posts and videos
• In January 2018, 3,000 pages of
Dickinson.edu were showing up in the
top 50 search results on Google for
6,000 different keywords.
• And Dickinson College was getting
29,000 clicks a month from their
organic search rankings on Google.
• If they had to buy all those organic
clicks via Google AdWords, then they
would cost $29,000 a month.
• So, keyword research helped identify
their top 100 biggest opportunities.
Source: Greg Jarboe, SEO-PR, “Is the digital marketing strategy for most US colleges fatally flawed?,” Jan. 11, 2020

21. Keyword research helped Dickinson College triple
its organic search traffic to 89,000 clicks a month
• In January 2020, 4,000 pages of
Dickinson.edu were showing up in the
top 50 search results on Google for
10,000 different keywords.
• And Dickinson College was getting
89,000 clicks a month from their
organic search rankings on Google.
• If they had to buy all those organic
clicks via Google Ads, then they would
have to pay $38,000 a month.
• Keyword research helped Dickinson to
triple its organic search traffic.
Source: Greg Jarboe, SEO-PR, “Is the digital marketing strategy for most US colleges fatally flawed?,” Jan. 11, 2020

22. Dickinson College also ripped large share of organic
search traffic away from Swarthmore and Bucknell
Dickinson.edu had 13% share of
organic search traffic in January 2018
Dickinson.edu had 45% share of
organic search traffic in January 2020
Source: SpyFu, SEO Recon Files Reports for Dickinson.edu in January 2018 and January 2019

23. Why should you incorporate
SEO metrics into your PR
measurement program?

24. Rutgers University asked us to help them generate
30 applications to a new online Master’s program
• In January 2019, the Rutgers School of
Management and Labor Relations
(SMLR) hired SEO-PR to help launch a
new Online Professional Master’s in
Human Resource Management
(MHRM) program.
• Our objective was to generate 30
applications by August 1, 2019.
• The tuition for SMLR’s online professional
MHRM program $38,016.
• Our campaign used a combination of
press release SEO, website SEO,
Google Ads, and LinkedIn advertising.
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019

25. We optimized a multimedia press release and
added a copy to the news section of SMLR’s site
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019
• We used keyword research to find out
what people were looking for, and we
used Google Surveys to find out why.
• Respondents with 4 or more years of
HR experience said the following
factors were important when selecting
a university that offers an online
Master’s degree in Human Resources
Management:
• “No GRE/GMAT required,”
• “Top-ranked university,”
• “Fully 100% online program.”

26. We collected campaign data by adding parameters
to URLs to identify the content that referred traffic
• Google’s Campaign URL Builder allows
you to add campaign parameters to
URLs so you can track Custom
Campaigns in Google Analytics.
• This enables you to quickly see the
number of users, new users, sessions,
bounce rate, pages/session, average
session duration, conversion rate, goal
completions, and goal value that have
been generated by your social media
posts, social videos, mobile ads, email
newsletters, and press releases.
Source: Google Analytics Demos & Tools, Campaign URL Builder

27. PR and SEO generated 10 of the 38 applications
(27%) to Rutgers’ new online Master’s program
• We used Google Surveys again after
the campaign to measure brand lift.
• Our campaign increased familiarity with
and likelihood to recommend Rutgers.
• We tracked the source of 694 leads.
• Press release SEO generated 8% of leads.
• Website SEO generated 19% of leads.
• Google Ads generated 18% of leads.
• LinkedIn ads generated 37% of leads.
• The launch campaign generated 38
applications, which represent up to
$1,444,608 in tuition for Rutgers.
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Optimized by SEO-PR Boosts Enrollment by $380K,” Sept. 30, 2019

28. How do you optimize
your press releases,
photos, and videos?

29. We tested an unoptimized press release with a
video and an optimized press release with a video
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Measuring the Effectivness of News Releases – a Case Study,” Feb. 17, 2016

30. We used keyword research to see which relevant
topics the public and press were more interested in
Rutgers Offers Next-Generation Supply
Chain Strategy Program
• “Rutgers” is a keyword, but it is
hard to rank well for it, especially
during the college football season.
• “Next generation” is a search
term, but it is frequently used for
“Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
• “Supply chain” is a relevant, two-
word search term, so we used it in
the optimized press release, too.
Internet of Things (IoT) Impact on Supply
Chain Explored by Rutgers Business School
Executive Education Mini-MBA Program
• “Internet of Things” is a relevant
three-word search term and gets
49,500 monthly searches.
• “Rutgers Business School” is a
relevant three-word search term
and gets 1,000 monthly searches.
• “Mini-MBA” is a relevant two-word
search term and gets 590 monthly
searches.
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Measuring the Effectivness of News Releases – a Case Study,” Feb. 17, 2016

31. Both press release distribution services emailed
reports 2 hours after their release crossed the wire
• The unoptimized release was
distributed on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015.
• It had 151 release views.
• 1 tweet about the release by a person
with 924 followers.
• The optimized release was distributed
on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015.
• It had 886 release views, 146 multimedia
views, and 29 link clicks.
• 19 tweets about the release, including
ones by @debraruh (111,000 followers),
@edaccessible (65,400 followers}, and
@TheIoT (40,100 followers).
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Measuring the Effectivness of News Releases – a Case Study,” Feb. 17, 2016

32. We added parameters to the URLs to identify
which press release referred the most traffic
• The unoptimized press release with a
video generated 26 new users to the
Rutgers Business School Executive
Education (RBSEE) website, but no
registrations for the new course.
• The optimized press release with a
video generated 70 new users to
RBSEE’s website, and 6 registrations.
• At $4,995 per registration, that’s
$29,970 in incremental revenue, or
12.9X times more than the cost of the
optimized press release with a video.
Source: Greg Jarboe, The Measurement Advisor, “Measuring the Effectivness of News Releases – a Case Study,” Feb. 17, 2016

33. Hopefully, you’ve now learned how to use SEO
metrics to show the value of your PR efforts
• Who are your target audiences?
• What are they seeking?
• Where do they seek it?
• When do they seek it?
• Why should you incorporate SEO
metrics into your PR
measurement program?
• How do you optimize your press
releases, photos, and videos?

34. Why does it take a minimum of 4.3 hours to cover
Search Engine Land’s Periodic Table of SEO Factors?
• SEO seems like alchemy to the
uninitiated.
• Search Engine Land’s “Periodic Table of
SEO Factors” provides a guide to 29
success factors in six groups – content,
architecture, HTML, trust, links, and user
– that are foundational to an effective
SEO strategy.
• On the upper right, you’ll find six Toxins,
which represent practices that can harm
your SEO efforts and even get you
penalized by the search engines.
• Below that, you’ll see four Emerging
Verticals that are growing in importance.
Source: Search Engine Land, “Periodic Table Of SEO Factors 2019”