Digital PR

What does digital PR include?

Agency guides describe a similar sequence (common practice, not Google guidance).

1. Find a story, often built on first-party data such as a survey or an analysis of internal figures
2. Prepare material journalists can use, such as a report, charts or expert quotes
3. Pitch the story to relevant publications and editors
4. Collect the coverage
5. Measure the results

Common metrics are earned links, referral traffic, organic visibility, brand search volume and leads.

Compared with classic press work, the findability of results online is part of the goal. An article in an online outlet can be linked to and found for years.

How does digital PR relate to link building?

Digital PR is one route to links that editors set on their own. Google lists as link spam, among other examples, links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites, and paid articles with links that pass ranking credit. Links that come out of coverage and were not paid for do not match those examples (assessment).

Unlinked brand mentions are discussed separately in the brand mentions entry.

Example

An insurer analyzes its own claims data and publishes a regional overview of burglary figures. Local media report on it and link to the analysis. The example is fictional.

FAQ

Is digital PR the same as link building? Link building is the goal of acquiring links. Digital PR is a way of working with media that can produce them.

How do you measure digital PR? Agencies track earned links, referral traffic, organic visibility, branded searches and leads.

Last updated: October 7, 2026