Link-building has been a part of SEO since the beginning of Google, but it’s definitely evolved over time

In the early days of the internet, generic email outreach was typically enough to seal the deal. 

Today, search engines have grown by leaps and bounds, and SEO is now a widespread practice. As a result, site owners get flooded with emails requesting backlinks all the time. 

This meant link-builders had to get creative to keep backlinks rolling in, so they began using digital PR for building high-quality links

Digital PR is the online equivalent of traditional public relations, where marketers aim to expand a brand’s reach and boost its credibility through various media channels. 

Where traditional PR deals with TV stations and the radio, digital PR focuses on social media, online publications, and partnering with influencers. 

Also, a major aspect of digital PR is building authoritative backlinks to boost domain authority (so you can rank higher on search engines) and generate referral traffic. 

Digital PR has provided site owners with more sophisticated methods to attract backlinks. Gone are the days of using generic outreach templates to secure links, so it’s in your best interest to expand your repertoire. 

In this guide, we’ll teach you the role of digital PR in modern link-building strategies, so stick around! 

Traditional vs. Digital PR Link-Building: What’s the Difference?

First, let’s examine how digital PR methods differ from standard link-building practices commonly used by SEOs (search engine optimizers). 

For the most part, the difference lies between targeting quality and quantity

Traditional link-building tactics are best for building a quantity of backlinks, while digital PR practices are best for acquiring quality backlinks. 

Now, we said ‘for the most part’ for a reason, because there are certainly traditional link-building techniques that can generate highly authoritative backlinks, such as guest posting, the skyscraper technique, and targeting link insertions. 

However, those tactics all overlap with digital PR methods that also include guest posting, link insertions, and outdoing competing pieces of content (which is what the skyscraper method is). 

Traditional link-building practices that don’t overlap with digital PR tend to focus on building lots of lower-quality backlinks to:

  1. Close significant backlink gaps between your site and a competitor’s (it’s hard to outrank sites that have more backlinks than you) 
  2. Make your backlink profile appear more natural (to avoid suspicion from Google) 

The types of link-building methods we’re talking about here include:

  1. Posting backlinks to your site in forum comments 
  2. Uploading your business’s information to directories 
  3. Including backlinks in social media posts 
  4. Inserting links on lower-quality websites (but not spam territory) 

These practices will help you build a lot of backlinks quickly, but they won’t do much to improve your search rankings. 

Digital PR link-building tactics, though, are how you go after the gold

These methods include:

  • Guest posting and securing linked brand mentions on relevant blogs, media outlets, and news websites 
  • Networking with online journalists and bloggers to form lasting link partnerships 
  • Distributing newsworthy press releases to generate buzz about your brand (and backlinks) 
  • Creating rich data-driven content (original studies, surveys, and whitepapers) to attract authoritative backlinks 
  • Partnering with social media influencers to attract links and brand recognition 
  • Developing creative campaigns to appeal to target audiences and generate shares 

By using digital PR techniques like these, you’ll build extremely authoritative backlinks that will help you rank higher on search engines

Important note: The strongest backlink profiles contain a healthy mix of high-quality backlinks (via digital PR) and low-quality backlinks (via more traditional methods). 

The authoritative backlinks help you rank higher, while the lower-quality backlinks make your profile appear more natural (i.e., it’s normal for websites to accrue lots of backlinks from sites of varying quality. If you only build super high-quality backlinks, it signals to Google that you’re trying to manipulate the search rankings). 

So, we recommend that you use a mix of traditional and digital PR link-building methods. 

Digital PR Link-Building Techniques That Drive High-Authority Backlinks 

Okay, now let’s explore some of the most effective digital PR methods for attracting backlinks from authoritative domains. 

These types of backlinks will be the primary needle-movers for your keyword rankings, so it’s important to invest the most time and effort into generating them. 

Technique #1: Use data-driven storytelling to attract backlinks 

Journalists, bloggers, and online columnists are always hungry for new studies, statistics, and figures to share with their audiences. 

Thus, creating original studies and surveys is a great way to generate buzz and backlinks. 

However, sharing raw data is too boring and static. 

That’s why digital PR professionals love to combine the psychological power of storytelling with their original research and data

This involves leveraging power data visualization tools like:

  1. Infographics 
  2. Interactive maps 
  3. Charts and graphs 

Moreover, you need to use these tools to tell an engaging story with a beginning, middle, and end. 

Let’s take a look at a quick example so you can see what we mean. 

Why Do Cats & Dogs?

This interactive story takes users on a custom journey through Google Trends data about why cats and dogs behave the way they do. 

Along the way, users get to select whether they want to learn about cats or dogs first, and the website makes wonderful use of interactive charts like these:

Whenever a user hovers over a specific circle on the chart, it lights up and presents more information. Also, clicking on it will direct users to an appropriate Google page, such as ‘why do dogs lick my feet.’

Instead of presenting the data in a static way, the authors chose to make it as fun and visual as possible, which paid off! 

Checking their metrics on Ahrefs, they were able to attract hundreds of backlinks from around the world, with several having Domain Rating (DR) scores in the 90s (which is extremely authoritative):

However, if you want to find success with this technique, the research you conduct must be trending and relevant to your target audience. Otherwise, nobody will care about the data you gather. 

Here are some tips for coming up with strong research topics:

  1. Check platforms like Google Trends and X to discover what your target audience is currently talking about. 
  2. Conduct market research to uncover common pain points and issues in your industry. 
  3. Interview customers to understand what’s most important to them right now. 

Technique #2: Creating thought leader content 

Digital PR professionals also make heavy use of content marketing, but they’re very specific with the types of content they produce. 

In particular, they tend to focus on producing visual content for SEO backlinks, such as infographics and videos

This is because visual content attracts more shares online. According to research, adding visuals to your content increases its sharing potential by 40%

Infographics are perfect for the type of data-driven storytelling we mentioned in the first step, but that’s not their only use. There are many different styles of infographics that you can use, from simple lists to interactive maps and timelines. 

Here’s a fantastic infographic that breaks down the psychology behind brand colors:

This infographic is a great role model since it’s visually engaging, easy to digest, and contains minimal text. 

Videos give you the chance to speak directly to your audience, which adds an extra level of personalization to your content. Webinars and virtual events are also great ways to generate backlinks and spark interest for your brand. 

Some ideas for videos, webinars, and virtual events include:

  1. Product demos
  2. Workshops
  3. Tutorials 
  4. Repurposed blog content (i.e., making a video out of an existing blog topic) 

Technique #3: Partnering with influencers 

The last method we’ll analyze is partnering with social media influencers to gain backlinks and notoriety. 

Today, there are influencers online for every major industry and niche. 

Bear in mind that you don’t always have to try and partner with mega influencers who have millions of followers. 

Instead, you can find great success partnering with nano-influencers and micro-influencers. 

What are those?

A nano-influencer is an online personality with 1,000 to 5,000 followers. While they lack big numbers they make up for it by being tight-knit with their audience. As a result, their followers tend to trust their word and will listen to their product and service recommendations. 

Micro-influencers have a bit more clout, as they usually have anywhere from 5,000 to 30,000 followers. Like nano-influencers, these creators have close relationships with their audience and are often seen as subject matter experts (SMEs). 

These types of influencers make great partners if you want to leverage niche experts to boost your credibility. They’ll also be easier on your budget, as you won’t have to shell out millions to land a sponsorship deal. 

Some ways to find relevant influencers include:

  • Searching on Google for ‘(your industry) + influencers’.
  • Using hashtag searches on platforms like X, Instagram, and TikTok.
  • Use influencer discovery tools like Upfluence and Klear

Measuring the Impact of Digital PR on Link-Building 

Once you’ve selected your methods of choice, you’ll need to learn how to measure SEO success with digital PR. 

Besides using tools to measure increases in your keyword rankings, domain authority, and organic traffic, you’ll also want to set key performance indicators (KPIs) directly related to your long-term goals. 

For instance, if you want to close a backlink gap between you and a competitor, an important KPI to measure would be your total number of backlinks. 

Conversely, if you’re trying to outrank a more authoritative competitor, the KPI to pay attention to would be your domain authority (DA) score. 

Speaking of which, you can use our free domain authority checker to keep an eye on your DA score. 

You can also use it to check the DA score of any other site online, so you’ll be able to compare your score to competitors. 

Ahrefs is also a huge help for monitoring SEO progress, as you can set up Ahrefs Alerts to notify you via email whenever you pick up a new backlink. 

Google Search Console is a must-use platform for any site owner, and you can use it to monitor your keyword position rankings:

This is a good way to judge if the backlinks you’re acquiring are having an impact on your rankings or not. 

Add Digital PR to Your Link-Building Strategies 

It’s been a long ride so let’s recap:

  1. Digital PR is great for building authoritative backlinks from trusted news sites and media outlets. 
  2. It differs from traditional link-building in that you have the added goal of boosting credibility and brand awareness. Also, digital PR link-building tactics are best for improving domain authority and search rankings, while traditional tactics will help you build a natural-looking link profile. 
  3. Data-driven storytelling, visual content, and partnering with influencers are 3 effective digital PR link-building methods. 
  4. You should use various tools and KPIs to measure your success with digital PR. 

Are you ready to leverage the power of digital PR for your link-building campaigns?

Our newly launched Digital PR service is everything you could ask for and more! Don’t wait to get in touch with our team to learn more about advanced link-building strategies with digital PR.