What Is The Difference Between Digital Pr And Link Building?

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(Newswire.net — March 25, 2022) —

Digital public relations (PR) are strategies of building brand awareness, similar to traditional public relations but in the online domain. Digital PR can take many forms including publishing web articles and guest posts, online press releases or collaborations with influencers and content creators. 

On the other hand, link building is the more focused act of acquiring links from other websites across the web to your own. It can be achieved through guest posts or sponsorships on news sites or industry niche blogs, utilising social media platforms to share videos, posting on forums or adding your website to online directories. 

Some of the perceived differences between digital PR and link building fall into the following categories: 

1. Time

When it comes to digital PR a lot more time is dedicated to content ideation. This is because it is necessary to identify the ideas that will naturally encourage the receiver to willingly promote the idea for publication. For example, journalists will have to get the go ahead for publication from the chief editor, against countless others. Meanwhile, influencers will have to consider if the idea fits with their personal brand and will be well received by their audience. Whereas link building tends to have a fast-paced turn over and a more effective success rate. 

2. Outreach

Digital PR agencies may spend a longer period of time on outreach for a single idea. By contrast, link building agencies can utilise their large databases, meaning the pitch to publication rate can be higher.  

3. Site authority 

PR companies have a long running tradition of working with national broadsheets and other news outlets and therefore can easily transfer this network to online publishers. Online national news sites are usually higher authority domains, which can have great impact. Whereas, link building agencies often have a greater diversity on sites, including sites and blogs that can fit specifically to a wide range of industries globally which makes multilingual link building more possible. 

4. Network

PR agencies have spent many year networking and building relationships with journalists, bloggers and influencers. Meanwhile, link building agencies operate in a different manner. Instead, they reach out directly with site creators and webmasters. Both can have their benefits to the client. 

5. Feedback

The nature of the two endeavours means that there is a longer feedback loop when it comes to digial PR in comparison to link building. Journalists tend to receive hundreds of pitches a day so it is less likely you will get a response and feedback if your idea is not picked up. Link builders have a more direct line of contact and can make quick changes to suit both parties. 

Whilst differences do exist between the two processes, many in the industry view digital PR as an extension or perhaps a more evolved version of link building.