SEO and PR for Tech Companies. A Very Natural Collaboration.
Oftentimes, PR for tech companies is seen as a separate activity from SEO—different objectives, different activities, delivered by teams with different skill sets. I think that’s wrong.
In fact, SEO and PR have a very natural collaboration. The most successful SEO campaigns are built on three pillars: on-page SEO, technical SEO, and off-page SEO (enhancing brand visibility, improving online reputation, and creating backlinks). It’s within this third pillar—off-page SEO—where earned media and your PR team can really make a massive impact.
And, the PR team just needs to keep doing what PR teams do best…
Creating Great Content
In one of our monthly, Collectivist learning sessions, Judith Middleton, CEO of DUO Marketing + Communications—our member agency for Africa—made this point:
“SEO is a demanding, hungry beast! SEO today—especially in the AI era—is all about consistent, credible, and relevant effort. You have to feed it daily—and not with snacks!”
PR teams are already creating informative, natural content for the toughest of audiences—the media—every day. Through their own PR campaigns, they are helping to feed your SEO ‘beast’! And that’s before a conversation even takes place around repurposing the content for your blog or LinkedIn efforts.
Driving Branded Search Volumes
PR for tech companies creates awareness, which leads to more people searching directly for your brand. If I read about an exciting new GPS watch in T3 today, I’ll probably be searching for ‘Garmin’ on Google tomorrow. Branded search volume is a key trust signal to Google—and a sign that your brand is becoming more relevant to its audience. (N.B. Google Keyword Planner is a useful, free tool for checking your branded search volumes.)
Building Long-Term Value
Unlike your own blog posts, which might get deleted or updated during a site redesign, earned media usually remains live for years—sometimes decades. If I happen to Google myself (I promise I don’t make a habit of doing this), I can still find an article on PR Measurement published on a news site 12 years ago. This makes PR a long-lasting contributor to your off-page SEO strategy. Google Analytics can help identify traffic from earned media sources.
Generating Backlinks and Authority
A backlink from a trusted publication like the BBC or Forbes is SEO gold. These types of backlinks boost your domain authority and signal to Google that your brand is credible. Ahrefs is a useful starting point for checking backlinks.
For many PR agencies—especially those with a few ex-journalists on the payroll—squeezing backlinks into an article designed for the media can feel uncomfortable or even restrictive. That’s worth keeping in mind when briefing your PR team. Asking them to add a few strategic backlinks to their finely crafted article might seem simple, but it’s a delicate balance between supporting your SEO goals and not irritating an editor.
Miguel Matias Barreiro, associate director of Noizze Media—our member agency for Spain and Portugal—explains the challenge: “I have a background in journalism and really enjoy writing—I love it—and I understand what other editors want to receive and publish. We have to be very careful about using keyphrases or search terms in content so that it doesn’t affect the natural flow of the text or detract from the quality of the article and its intended destination.”
It’s also worth remembering that PR teams can’t force journalists to link to your site—so even if links are included in the content, there’s no guarantee they’ll be used verbatim. Miguel has made the point previously that when working with the media in Spain and Portugal, very, very few journalists will provide a backlink (unless you pay for it, but that’s another story).
Where in-country PR agencies can help is in knowing which editors are likely to include a link, avoid links, or get frustrated by being asked for one.
Equally, local PR agencies know which media outlets have the strongest readerships and the most active comment sections—making them more likely to boost your domain authority (if you’re lucky enough to secure a link). When working globally, relying on PR agency insights into the local media landscape is essential.
Impacting AI-Driven Search Results
Cara Corbett from SUSO Digital, an affiliate of the Collectivist, says: “Google’s new AI Overviews and other AI-powered search features are surfacing answers with citations from trusted sources. LLMs (like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini) frequently reference top-tier media outlets.
Getting featured in these publications helps your tech company brand appear not just in traditional search results, but also in AI-generated responses—growing your visibility in a whole new way.”
Conclusion: SEO and PR for tech companies —Stronger Together
The convergence of SEO and PR for tech companies aiming to expand globally isn’t just logical—it’s essential. By aligning earned media efforts with SEO objectives, PR teams become powerful allies in driving branded search, building backlinks, and feeding the content demands of search engines and AI-driven tools alike. The best results come when PR and SEO teams collaborate intentionally, respect each other’s expertise, and work together toward shared goals: relevance, authority, and long-term growth.
