PR Manager at Digitaloft. I’m a dog mum so you’ll catch me on lots of walks and in brunch spots, and I love to travel! I have lots of places on my bucket list, including Japan, Tanzania, and Australia 🌎 I’ve been at the Loft for 3 years, and worked in PR for 6 years. I started out in traditional PR, before making the move to digital PR. My role is to oversee the teams we have at the agency to ensure we are delivering strong strategies with impactful results that our clients actually care about.
A BIT MORE ABOUT… Ways to broaden your client’s understanding or mindset on what success really looks like in the context of digital PR. How to demonstrate real success that isn’t solely dependent on reporting on hitting a KPI. Understand how to showcase the impact beyond link numbers effectively.
talk your clients though high volumes of press coverage. We know that the industry did once only care about link volume, but this has changed. However, a lot of clients still have this outdated mindset when it comes to success… so we need to educate!
full story. Links don’t tell your clients what impact your strategies are having on their wider business goals and targets. So it’s really important that, collectively as an industry, we work to shift our focus away from quantity to really focus on the quality of our results - showing our clients why they should adopt this mindset too!
likely that we haven’t taken the right steps to educate our clients, or their stakeholders, on what digital PR success actually looks like for them specifically as a brand when looking at the bigger picture. We need to retrain the way we talk to clients about our results, clients don’t want links. They are not investing in link numbers. Clients care about the real impact those links have on their business and wider goals, like enhancing their rankings and revenue. Links are a means to an end, not the end goal.
links Google devalues links from low-quality, irrelevant sites and pages. A client’s ROI is very unclear when just listing link numbers. SO, WHY ARE LINK NUMBERS NO LONGER AN ACCURATE MEASURE OF SUCCESS?
links Google devalues links from low-quality, irrelevant sites and pages. Links can’t demonstrate impact on revenue or referral traffic. A client’s ROI is very unclear when just listing link numbers. SO, WHY ARE LINK NUMBERS NO LONGER AN ACCURATE MEASURE OF SUCCESS?
links Google devalues links from low-quality, irrelevant sites and pages. Digital PR is no longer just about links and hasn’t been for a while, brand mentions are more valuable than ever. *think about the shift in AI Search & language models Links can’t demonstrate impact on revenue or referral traffic. A client’s ROI is very unclear when just listing link numbers. SO, WHY ARE LINK NUMBERS NO LONGER AN ACCURATE MEASURE OF SUCCESS?
links Google devalues links from low-quality, irrelevant sites and pages. Digital PR is no longer just about links and hasn’t been for a while, brand mentions are more valuable than ever. *think about the shift in AI Search & language models Links can’t demonstrate impact on revenue or referral traffic. Clients don’t internally report on link numbers, they report on organic growth, conversions and ROI. A client’s ROI is very unclear when just listing link numbers. SO, WHY ARE LINK NUMBERS NO LONGER AN ACCURATE MEASURE OF SUCCESS?
of new referring domains Changes in priority keyword rankings Increases in traffic that can be credited to secured coverage (accurately pinpoint traffic with GA4)
of new referring domains Closing the link gap between your client and their competitors Changes in priority keyword rankings Increases in traffic that can be credited to secured coverage (accurately pinpoint traffic with GA4)
of new referring domains Results that strengthen your client’s E-E-A-T signals Changes in priority keyword rankings Increases in traffic that can be credited to secured coverage (accurately pinpoint traffic with GA4) Closing the link gap between your client and their competitors
of new referring domains Results that strengthen your client’s E-E-A-T signals Changes in priority keyword rankings Increases in traffic that can be credited to secured coverage (accurately pinpoint traffic with GA4) Closing the link gap between your client and their competitors Product & category page links that pass authority, helping products/key pages rank
of new referring domains Results that strengthen your client’s E-E-A-T signals Organic conversions Changes in priority keyword rankings Increases in traffic that can be credited to secured coverage (accurately pinpoint traffic with GA4) Closing the link gap between your client and their competitors Product & category page links that pass authority, helping products/key pages rank
that strengthen your client’s E-E-A-T signals Volume of new referring domains Organic conversions Top 3 & top 10 keyword growth (linked to your strategy), alongside % of SERP features Changes in priority keyword rankings Increases in traffic that can be credited to secured coverage (accurately pinpoint traffic with GA4) Product & category page links that pass authority, helping products/key pages rank Closing the link gap between your client and their competitors
that strengthen your client’s E-E-A-T signals Volume of new referring domains Organic conversions Top 3 & top 10 keyword growth (linked to your strategy), alongside % of SERP features Changes in priority keyword rankings Increases in traffic that can be credited to secured coverage (accurately pinpoint traffic with GA4) Closing the link gap between your client and their competitors 🥁 R E L E V A N C E 🥁 Product & category page links that pass authority, helping products/key pages rank
questions are you asking your prospective clients? • Are you asking them why they’re looking to invest in DPR? • What are their ideal outcomes? Uplift in sales, referral traffic, or share of non-branded search? • Where are their SEO efforts struggling as a business? • What have they already been doing? Have they carried out any DPR work before?
questions are you asking your prospective clients? You’re about to be paid as their DPR/SEO partner, make expert recommendations! Are you doing your own research into what success looks like for them?
in what areas does this brand need to see improvements to see the biggest impact? • How can this be achieved through DPR and SEO? It starts with your discovery calls and onboarding processes What questions are you asking your prospective clients? You’re about to be paid as their DPR/SEO partner, make expert recommendations! Are you doing your own research into what success looks like for them?
questions are you asking your prospective clients? You’re about to be paid as their DPR/SEO partner, make expert recommendations! Are you doing your own research into what success looks like for them? Understand who you/your contact will be reporting to internally Will they care about detailed coverage metrics, or do they just care about organic traffic?
dig into the WHY when it comes to your strategy. Maybe we need to educate? It starts with your discovery calls and onboarding processes What questions are you asking your prospective clients? You’re about to be paid as their DPR/SEO partner, make expert recommendations! Are you doing your own research into what success looks like for them? Understand who you/your contact will be reporting to internally Will they care about detailed coverage metrics, or do they just care about organic traffic?
questions are you asking your prospective clients? You’re about to be paid as their DPR/SEO partner, make expert recommendations! Are you doing your own research into what success looks like for them? Understand who you/your contact will be reporting to internally Will they care about detailed coverage metrics, or do they just care about organic traffic? Competitor insights Where are their competitors performing that they are not?
results your prospective client wants to see? It starts with your discovery calls and onboarding processes What questions are you asking your prospective clients? You’re about to be paid as their DPR/SEO partner, make expert recommendations! Are you doing your own research into what success looks like for them? Understand who you/your contact will be reporting to internally Will they care about detailed coverage metrics, or do they just care about organic traffic? Competitor insights Where are their competitors performing that they are not?
inclusion in outreach Previous Position New Position Movement Waterproof jacket January 15 1 +14 Waterproof jackets January 6 1 +5 Women’s waterproof jacket January 7 1 +6 Campervan awning February 10 7 +3
100 links this quarter!" "We increased DR from 42 to 45!" You need to change this, your client’s don’t care about results that have with no measurable impact, they care to know that: Their top category page moved from position #7 to #3, increasing traffic to the page by 120%. Their hero campaign earned 8 links from hyper-relevant travel publications, helping their key destination page rank for ‘best destination dupes’. We secured links that drove 1,500 new referral visits, with a 4% conversion rate.
for your clients, there can be an adjustment period. Make sure you address this! If you’re landing less links, even though the links you are landing are now consistently of higher value (and therefore greater impact), it can still be hard to explain this drop in ‘results’ to your client. GET GRANULAR. Include a ‘cumulative links slide’, and look back at all time. Combine all of your link numbers together, and compare this total to your client’s overall KPI for that period. Include consistent YOY comparisons, breaking this down by your client’s wider business goals. - Top 3 keyword positions, % of conversion rates, % of traffic vs this time last year.
reporting every 3 months at least. This allows your clients to understand where they are leading the way, and where they are yet to. But, it also allows you to update and outline a new strategy that will bring your clients in line with their competitors, and even outpace them. Conducting a review into competitor traffic. Comparison analysis into link velocity. Comparison analysis into link quality. This can look like:
these can help your clients to understand why links are not the single result they should care about. Tailor each set of secondary KPIs to your client’s business. These secondary KPIs should be based on your understanding of what they deem to be success, as well as any metrics you identify they should care about that support this success. % OF HYPER-RELEVANT COVERAGE % OF NEW REFERRING DOMAINS INCREASES IN TOP 3-10 KEYWORD RANKINGS INCREASES IN ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC % OF COVERAGE THAT CONTAINS A SPOKESPERSON % OF CONVERSION RATES % OF KEY PAGE OR PRODUCT PAGE LINKS
clients want to see. Remember who you’re reporting to, do we need to cut the fluff and streamline our reports? If your clients do have an interest in link numbers and DR, and get excited to see these numbers grow each month, absolutely report on these. BUT ensure you are explaining the impact every time, and dig deeper into the value of your results. It’s our job to educate - quality over quantity. Check-in with your clients on their reporting preference, if someone new comes into the business, what do they want to see? Ensure you keep that buy-in from your client’s wider team and stakeholders.
look at them this way. What success looks like for one brand, will look very different to another. Demonstrating the wider impact of your digital PR efforts is what’s going to keep your clients retained. How you talk about your results with your clients matters.
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