An interview with Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR as we gear up for SES London

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Andrew in PR

We’ve been lucky enough to score an interview with Greg Jarboe. Greg’s been at the forefront of the blended SEO/PR style for so long that he’s synomymous with the tactic.

Q. You’re the President and co-founder of SEO-PR and helped pioneer many of the ways in which PR can be good for SEO. Do you think it’s worked the other way around? Has SEO been good for PR?

A. Not yet. I’ve found that more SEOs understand the benefits of PR a lot sooner than the other way around. We are often brought in to meet with a company’s PR department or PR agency by someone on the SEO side of the house. There are exceptions, of course. But I often forget that my background was in “high tech PR,” so maybe SEO didn’t seem as foreign to me as it might to a traditional media relations shop. PR people seem more interested these days in social media than they are in SEO. So, at least they won’t go the way of buggy whip makers.

Q. Do you think SEO agencies tend to be better at distributing online press releases than traditional PR firms? Or is it the other way around?

A. SEO agencies tend to use press release distribution services that provide SEO options, anchor text links, and metrics. The vast majority of traditional PR firms use expensive press release distribution services that are supposed to reach “mainstream media,” without realizing that most journalists and bloggers now use search to find story ideas. Oh, and many traditional distribution services charge extra for press releases that are longer than 400 words. This might have made sense, back in the late 20th Century, when press releases were distributed over teletype machines that used paper. But, what is the cost of distributing longer releases to digital media?

Q. What are some of the differences between a good SEO savvy PR campaign and a great one?

A. The biggest difference is results. If you optimize a press release that gets a high ranking for terms that no one uses, so what? If someone reads your press release, but doesn’t click on any of the links in it, so what? If they get to your website, but don’t become a qualified lead or buy something online, so what? At the end of the day, you’ve got to do all of this in order to make the cash register ring. When it does, that’s a great PR campaign.

Q. Let’s warm up the future-seeing crystal ball. What changes do you expect will come to online PR and PR for SEO in the near future? What adjustments do you think the industry will need to make?

A. The future for online PR will continue to be bleak — as long as the universities continue to prepare their graduates for 20th Century careers. Most companies can’t afford to retrain an entire generation of new employees for the digital age. And most individuals can’t afford to train themselves for jobs that didn’t exist six years ago. Yes, yes, some clever firms and folks will figure out a way to muddle through. But the industry needs a more systemic solution.

Q. What’s one of your top tips for getting bloggers to take notice of a press release and/or news piece?

A. My first tip is to read their blogs first and only send bloggers something that they are already interested in writing about. Next, don’t send them your press release. Ask them if they are interested in getting a copy — in advance. Third, be sure to include a photo (jpeg) and a video (YouTube). Yes, yes, the words in your story are important, but so are the graphics to the readers of blogs.

Q. How important has building online buzz become for off-line events like conferences and tradeshows?

A. Very important. Maybe not as important as having great speakers and sessions, but online buzz ranks right after great content. We have a saying that sums this up: It’s the conference organizer’s job to knock ‘em dead. It’s our job to notify the next of kin.

Q. Is Search Engine Strategies harder or easier to engage with bloggers about than other events?

A. It is harder than some and easier than others. The hardest event was BlogOn 2004, because Chris Shipley wanted to position it as the event about “the business of social media.” But, back in July 2004, no one had ever heard the term “social media” because Chris had just coined it. So, we had a hard time explaining why bloggers why they should come to UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. The easiest event was the 2007 Wharton Economic Summit. The keynote speakers included Michael Milken as well as the Chief Executive Officer of Medtronic, senior vice president of External Affairs and Public Policy for DaimlerChrysler Corporation, senior partner worldwide of McKinsey & Company, chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch & Co., and the creator and host of a nationally syndicated radio program. The event got more than 1,100 attendees – a record in the school’s 125-year history. But it’s easier to engage bloggers when you can offer them access to speakers who are harder to reach?

Q. You’ll be moderating a session at Search Engine Strategies London about real time SEO called “No More Yesterday’s News”. What sort of topics do you hope the panellists will cover? (They’re Brent Payne – SEO Director from Tribune, Paul Roach – Technical Lead for SEO from the Guardian and Julian Sambles – Head of Audience Development at the Telegraph).

A. This session will focus on specific aspects of SEO for large media companies. The panelists will discuss the tools that media companies use to help them rank well for breaking news keywords as well as to capitalize on social media opportunities that exist within news content to help media companies to do well on sites such as: Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc. Attendees will learn about the future of video SEO and how structured data will play an important role in the future of video SEO for media companies. Lastly, the session will show attendees how to be successful in executing on large projects related to SEO within a media company. And I get to be the moderator. Even if I didn’t have that assignment, I’d have a seat in the front row.

Tags: interview, seo

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An interview with Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR as we gear up for SES London