PR and SEO: How to Build More Authority Together (5 Steps)

PR and SEO used to be separate disciplines.

Now you can’t afford to keep them siloed.

Google and LLMs both rely on third-party signals — backlinks, brand mentions, expert commentary, and coverage in trusted publications — to decide which brands deserve visibility.

PR and SEO both generate those signals, but most teams still operate independently.

When they do collaborate, it’s usually to treat PR as a link-building opportunity rather than a real partnership.

This leaves authority on the table.

But the real gains happen when these teams operate as one.

In this article, you’ll learn a five-step playbook for turning PR and SEO into an always-on authority engine.

I also spoke with two digital PR experts about how they’re partnering with SEO to build more authority across search, media, and LLMs.

Step 1: Align PR and SEO Research

An always-on PR and SEO partnership starts with shared intelligence.

Without it, you get predictable gaps:

• Content that ranks but doesn’t earn media mentions or AI citations
• Coverage that builds awareness but doesn’t improve search visibility
• AI citations and media coverage that go to competitors because they published first

Use PR Insights to Identify Emerging Content Opportunities

The biggest authority wins don’t come from PR and SEO staying in their own lanes.

They come from each team sharing insights that shape angles, assets, and placements.

For PR, this could be:

A sudden spike in journalist inquiries or media coverage around a topic

A new phrase or framing gaining traction among industry voices

Recurring themes across newsletters, conferences, or trade publications

Britt Klontz, digital PR consultant and founder of Vada Communications, says the strongest results come when PR and SEO combine their strengths at the ideation stage:

To facilitate this partnership, build a regular channel for PR to flag insights to SEO.

This could be a shared Slack channel, spreadsheet, or standing agenda item.

For example, when I was the editor of the Hootsuite Blog, our PR team notified us that LinkedIn was shutting down its “Elevate” feature and suggested we should write a blog post about it.

No search volume existed yet, but we created the content anyway.

The post started gaining backlinks and driving a surprising amount of demo requests almost immediately.

Months later, the search volume appeared. And our post ranked #1.

Today, it still ranks near the top of the SERPs for terms like “LinkedIn elevate alternatives.”

AI tools like Claude also use the blog post as a top source for relevant prompts:

That’s the power of PR and SEO sharing information and acting on it quickly.

Rankings, backlinks, and AI citations that would have gone to a competitor built lasting authority for Hootsuite instead.

Use SEO Insights to Inform Content Topics

SEO has signals PR can act on too, including which topics are heating up and editorial gaps.

When conducting keyword research for PR, SEO should flag two things:

• Informational gaps: Questions audiences are actively searching for, but no one is answering well yet
• Trending terms in your niche: Journalists are likely already interested, which gives PR a clear opening

That’s why Rola Tfaili, communications manager for North America at Xero, brings SEO into her process from the start:

Here’s how you can do the same.

Not all keyword tools show you trends over time, so I’ll use Semrush for this step.

Search any term in the Keyword Magic Tool and look at the “SERP Features” column.

Two features in particular signal strong PR potential:

• News and Top Stories: Google surfaces these for time-sensitive or trending queries — sometimes within 24–72 hours of a news event. If your topic triggers these features, journalists are actively covering it, and PR has an immediate opening.
• Discussions and Forums: This signals that audiences are seeking advice or firsthand experience on the topic, which is often a sign of unmet demand and/or increasing interest

Next, use the Keyword Overview tool’s 12-month trend graph to confirm whether a topic is gaining momentum, seasonal, or fading.

A consistently rising trend is your strongest signal — media interest is likely to be building as well.

For LLMs, you need a tool like Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit that shows actual prompt data, not just search queries.

This gives you insight into the exact prompts your competitors are earning AI visibility for, but you aren’t.

Those gaps are worth flagging to PR, especially if competitors are being cited as authorities on topics your brand should own.

Use your shared doc or Slack channel to provide real-time insights, so neither team works from stale data.

Topics that show up in both PR’s emerging trends and SEO’s keyword data are your highest-priority opportunities.

Step 2: Collaborate on AI-Ready Assets

An AI-ready asset is built to be found, cited, and trusted by search engines and AI models (while being valuable to humans).

This is also called answer engine optimization (AEO), which is the process of creating and structuring content for AI systems.

It can include optimizations like:

• Headings that mirror how people search
• Front-loaded key stats, details, and definitions
• Sections that focus on one core idea
• Bullet lists and tables that make key information more extractable

When you combine PR’s distribution power with SEO’s technical expertise, you get assets that earn visibility across search, media, and LLMs.

Original Research and Reports

Original data has long helped brands earn backlinks — now, it helps you build AI visibility too.

A collaborative workflow for this asset would look something like this:

SEO identifies the topic based on search demand and content gaps, and PR validates whether the angle is pitchable and shapes the findings into quotable hooks.

Together, they design the study so it’s structured for citations, with a clear methodology, front-loaded stats, and branded visuals that are easy to share.

SEO content teams might be tempted to create this type of asset on their own, then ask PR to pitch it.

But Britt says if PR is involved earlier, they can help answer questions like:

• Is this a real story?
• Is there a sharper edge here?
• Do we need more reliable data?
• Is there a better hook that fits the time?
• Would it be more interesting if an expert gave their opinion?

That kind of information can make an asset more useful and impactful.

Don’t limit original data to a blog post.

High-value assets should have their own crawlable landing page — no gates, no PDF-only content.

Use the same URL each year for recurring assets to build authority. Then, link these pages to related content on your site (and vice versa).

This way, search engines and AI see your topical coverage as connected, not random.

Free Tools

Free tools that solve a specific pain point earn AI visibility, backlinks, and return visits long after launch.

This includes calculators, templates, checklists, and interactive assets.

The gap here is usually distribution.

SEO can build and optimize tools, but without PR’s contacts and timing, even the best ones can be limited by organic performance.

A strong hook helps, too.

Britt says an asset is easier to promote when it “blends search insights with something more personal, like proprietary data, a strong point of view, or a story angle that is relevant right now.”

The payoff is an asset that is reported on and shared widely across channels.

NerdWallet’s tariff calculator is a good example of this in action.

It launched as tariffs dominated headlines — and earned media coverage because of it.

Podcasts

A branded podcast can generate tons of coverage, review articles, and inclusion in “best podcasts on X topic” listicles.

Getting your experts on other podcasts is also valuable for building authority and visibility.

Third-party mentions get your brand and subject matter experts into the conversation, both in search engines and LLMs.

PR typically drives guest placements, but SEO can identify which shows already rank or get cited by AI for your target topics, so you’re pitching the ones that build the most authority.

Press Releases

When published on your site and optimized properly, press releases can become standalone, crawlable assets that increase your AI mentions.

In fact, press release citations in LLMs grew 5x between July and December 2025, according to Muck Rack.

To get the most out of press releases, both teams need to contribute.

Rola has seen the benefit of this collaboration firsthand:

PR shapes the story and the hook. SEO makes sure the on-site version is crawlable, optimized, backed by citable data, and linked to related assets.

So the press release doesn’t just generate buzz, it feeds your broader authority.

Explainer Content

Explainers are easy-to-digest resources (usually articles or videos) that simplify complex topics or highlight key info about your brand.

They help journalists and LLMs write accurately and consistently about you — especially if your category is niche or complex.

SEO can use keyword and prompt data to identify the questions your explainers should answer and structure them so AI can parse and cite individual sections.

PR knows which questions journalists and analysts ask most often — and where the current gaps are in how your brand gets described.

The format can vary:

• One-page proof point packet with key stats and third-party validation that PR sends alongside pitches
• YouTube video with citable brand facts or product details
• Dedicated pressroom that organizes assets by category with founder bios and press releases

(Bonus points for all three.)

Step 3: Co-Build Your Third-Party Presence

Brands are 6.5x more likely to appear in AI answers through third-party signals than their own content, according to AirOps.

This means PR and SEO have a real opportunity to work together to build more visibility across search and LLMs.

Rola sees this as an important shift for PR teams:

Expert Commentary

When your experts are quoted consistently — on your own site, social media, and in trusted publications — Google and LLMs begin to associate them (and your brand) with that topic.

The biggest coordination gap is knowing where to focus.

SEO has the data on which topics have the most search and AI demand — and which publications are already earning citations for them. PR knows which journalists and outlets are most receptive and what angles resonate.

Together, they can pinpoint the exact publications and topics where a placement will improve results for both teams.

Then shape the commentary accordingly.

Concrete, data-backed quotes with a specific stat or firsthand insight are far more citable than generic thought leadership — especially for AI, which favors specificity it can extract and serve directly in an answer.

Getting your experts quoted online is a strong start — but it works best when paired with the other authority-building sources below.

Review Sites and Forums

Review sites like G2, Yelp, Google Reviews, and Trustpilot are trusted by AI for the same reason they’re trusted by humans.

They aggregate specific, unbiased information about products from verified users.

And AI frequently cites them for product recommendations:

Reviews across multiple sites also strengthen your brand’s authority signals.

It gives AI detailed evidence of what category you belong in, your core features and pricing, and why you should be trusted.

Forums work similarly — AI pulls from Reddit threads and Quora answers when users ask for honest recommendations or firsthand experience.

Brands that show up authentically and positively in these conversations earn another layer of trust signals.

You can’t control these mentions, but consistently showing up as a helpful, knowledgeable voice in your category’s communities builds the kind of organic mentions AI models trust.

PR and SEO should jointly identify which review sites and forums matter most in your industry.

Keep review profiles current and monitor relevant forum conversations for opportunities to contribute genuinely.

Wikipedia

A Wikipedia page gives Google and AI a neutral, third-party source of facts about your brand.

It also helps establish your brand as a recognized entity in Google’s Knowledge Graph.

It’s a common source for Google’s Knowledge Graph, and it’s baked into LLM training data.

But to qualify for a page, you need to meet Wikipedia’s Notability Criteria.

This includes having significant coverage in reliable, independent sources that address your brand directly and in detail.

PR can help you earn this kind of coverage by pitching stories about your company to journalists in reputable publications.

Once you have a page, you won’t be allowed to edit it directly, as Wikipedia’s rules prevent self-promotion.

But SEO can monitor the page for inaccuracies and flag corrections, and PR can handle reputation monitoring to keep the narrative positive.

Step 4: Unify Your Outreach Strategy

If PR and SEO know what — and to whom — each team is pitching, you avoid mixed messages and misaligned timing.

And your odds of a yes go up.

It doesn’t take much to fix. Just a shared source list, a strategy to split pitching, and a regular check-in to stay aligned.

Build a Shared Target Source List

SEO has a list of high-authority domains that show up in organic rankings and AI citations. PR has a list of journalists, analysts, creators, and publications that influence their category.

Merging these gives you a single view of every third-party source worth going after.

Build it as a shared spreadsheet with three columns:

• PR Sources
• SEO Sources
• AI Citation Sources

Then prioritize.

Any source that appears on more than one list goes to the top. It has double (or triple) the potential to impact your authority and visibility.

Create a shared pitch doc to go with your source list. Use PR’s standard pitch brief, or if one doesn’t exist, create one. Include headline stats, agreed-upon positioning language, and target URLs.

Whoever sends the final pitch customizes it to their contact. But using the shared pitch doc as a starting point ensures your basic story stays consistent.
Split Pitching by Strengths
Many high-priority pitches will need both PR and SEO to weigh in. But not all.

Divide the work of pitching based on what each team does best.

Generally, that means structured, technical placements for SEO and editorial, relationship-based placements for PR.

Your company may want to organize these tasks differently depending on industry or org structure, but here’s what I suggest:

Plan Pitching in Advance

Meet quarterly or monthly — whatever works for your schedules — to decide who is going to pitch what, to which outlets, and when.

This will help prioritize high-impact efforts and reduce accidental duplication of work.

Map outlets to objectives and target KPIs to determine ownership.

Every time you meet, review results from the last period. Prioritize more of what’s working and cut what isn’t.

Step 5: Report on PR and SEO Performance Together

PR and SEO usually track different metrics, like mentions and outlet quality vs. rankings and organic traffic.

The fix isn’t merging into a single dashboard.

It’s building a shared lens for evaluating what each asset actually did, no matter which team owns it.

Britt recommends that both teams agree on a shared set of questions to evaluate each asset:

• Did it get any attention?
• Did it get picked up by reliable sources?
• Did it help with search goals?
• Did it contribute to conversions?
• Did it have results that lasted longer than a short-term spike?

As Britt puts it:

Visibility: Did We Show Up in the Right Places?

Getting in front of your audience more often — and in the places they care about — is one of the main advantages of having PR and SEO collaborate.

Track these metrics to see if it’s working:

• Quality mentions in relevant outlets: Not raw mention count. A placement in a niche newsletter your buyers trust outweighs 10 mentions on unrelated blogs. PR likely already has a media monitoring tool for this.
• Recurring format mentions: Listicles, comparison posts, and “best of” roundups will continue to earn backlinks and AI citations over time. They also show how your brand is positioned relative to competitors. Track these separately in your media monitoring tool or a shared spreadsheet.
• Share of voice in category coverage: Report on the percentage of category coverage that mentions your brand vs. competitors. Free tools like Google Alerts and Mention’s share of voice calculator give you a general sense of how you’re doing. But paid media monitoring tools let you dig into specific platforms, outlet types, and topics.

For AI specifically, track how often your brand appears in AI answers for queries you care about.

You can manually check your top questions and prompts in LLMs to see if your brand is mentioned, but this gets tedious at scale.

The AI Visibility Toolkit is helpful here. It automates tracking so you’re not manually checking every LLM for every query.

You get an overall AI Visibility score for your brand, which measures how often you’re mentioned in AI systems compared to other brands.

The Competitor Research tool shows how your AI visibility stacks up against competitors, which is one of the clearest ways to show leadership whether you’re gaining or losing ground.

It also tracks your Share of Voice across AI platforms, a single metric that reflects the combined impact of your PR and SEO efforts.

Authority: Did We Become More Credible?

This is where you show if your brand is becoming a trusted source online.

Start by tracking new referring domains.

New backlinks matter too, but new domains are more meaningful because they represent more unique sources vouching for your brand.

Reporting on your website authority is also helpful. This is a third-party estimate of the level of trust search engines are likely to assign to your domain, based on your backlink profile and other signals.

Different SEO tools calculate it differently (and call it different things).

So, focus less on the score and more on the direction it moves over time.

The AI Visibility Toolkit tracks your mentions, citations, and cited pages over time, and tells you percentage increases and decreases.

When your authority score and AI mentions are both climbing, you’ll know your PR and SEO work is paying off.

Expert commentary placements, direct requests from journalists, and new journalist relationships are also worth tracking.

Increases in any of those areas are a strong signal that you’re gaining trust.

Google Alerts can catch mentions to help you track expert commentary placements, but a tool like Semrush’s Brand Monitoring gives you a more comprehensive picture.

It lets you track any query (SME names or other keywords) and provides:

• Total mentions
• Estimated reach
• Traffic
• Mentions with backlinks
• Sources (Social media, news, and blogs)

Demand: Did It Help People Take the Next Step?

Did improving visibility and authority have any impact on your business goals and revenue?

PR and SEO sometimes sit at the top of the funnel, so this can be tricky to answer.

Start with these metrics to prove demand:

• Referral traffic
• Assisted conversions
• Branded search lift

Track your referral traffic to show the number of visitors who visit your site directly from media coverage.

Even if numbers are low, they’ll tell you which topics make your audience want to know more about you. Then you can publish more on those in the future.

Tracking assisted conversions shows you conversions where organic search or referral traffic appeared somewhere in the buyer’s journey, but not necessarily as the last click.

PR and SEO content may not convert on the first visit, but it still influences the buyer’s journey.

This metric captures that concept.

Find this in GA4 under Advertising > Key event attribution paths, and switch to “Source/Medium” to see which specific outlets have the most impact.

As AI search has decreased click-through rates, branded search queries have become one of the clearest signals that your PR and SEO efforts are building real awareness.

It’s a metric Britt prioritizes for exactly this reason:

The metric is also important to Rola:

Google Search Console tells you how often people search for your brand by name and how many of those searches result in a click to your site.

Look for spikes around major coverage dates to directly tie increases to your PR and SEO efforts.

Turn PR and SEO Into an Always-On Authority Engine

The brands earning the most trust right now aren’t doing it with PR or SEO in siloes.

They’re showing up consistently across media, blogs, review sites, search engines, and AI because all of those channels feed the same authority signals.

That takes more than a “quick sync” before campaigns. It takes an always-on partnership.

You don’t need to overhaul everything at once.

Start small:

• Co-create one high-impact asset (and keep AEO best practices in mind)
• Merge your source lists
• Plan 3 pitches using our PR and SEO Joint Outreach Strategy Template

When you’re ready to go deeper on how to optimize your brand’s presence in AI, check out our complete guide to AI optimization.

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