In this session from The Digital PR Summit, James gives an open and honest talk about the importance of link relevancy.

1. WOULD YOU STILL WANT THIS LINK
IF GOOGLE DIDN'T EXIST?
James Brockbank, Digitaloft

2. TODAY, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
1. WHY RELEVANCE MATTERS IN DPR.
3. RELEVANCE & E-E-A-T.
4. HOW TO RETHINK RELEVANCE.
2. WHAT RELEVANCE LOOKS LIKE.

3. Are You Playing to Play,
or Are You Playing to Win?

4. Are You Playing to Play,
or Are You Playing to Win?
Make sure you’re playing the real game, not some more complicated game you’ve
made up for yourself.
- Lesley Sim
https://commoncog.com/playing-to-play-playing-to-win/

5. Do we overcomplicate what
impactful links look like?

6. Relevancy is the hottest topic in digital
PR that no one can agree on.

7. LOTS OF QUESTIONS. LOTS OF OPINIONS.
DOES THE RELEVANCY OF LINKS REALLY
MATTER?
AT WHAT POINT DOES A STORY STOP
BEING RELEVANT?
DOES RELEVANCE MEAN THE SAME THING
IN EVERY INDUSTRY?
WILL LINKS THAT AREN’T REALLY
RELEVANT HARM A SITE’S RANKINGS?
CAN YOU BE SO RELEVANT THAT THERE ARE NOT
ENOUGH JOURNALISTS INTERESTED IN COVERING A
STORY?
IS THERE A SWEET SPOT BETWEEN RELEVANCY AND
REACH POTENTIAL?
RELEVANCY MEANS TOPICS THAT CLOSELY ALIGN WITH
WHAT THE BUSINESS SELLS OR OFFERS.
CREATE THE CONTENT YOUR AUDIENCE WANTS TO
CONSUME, EVEN IF THAT STEPS AWAY A BIT FROM
YOUR CORE OFFERING.
RELEVANCY MEANS USING YOUR BRAND’S
EXPERTS TO SPEAK ON TOPICS THAT
THEY’RE EXPERIENCED IN.
RELEVANCY IS ABOUT CREATING CONTENT
THAT PEOPLE WANT TO SHARE.
RELEVANCY IS ABOUT CREATING CONTENT
THAT’S RELEVANT TO NOW.
RELEVANCY IS ABOUT PUBLICATIONS IN
THE SAME COUNTRY AS THE BRAND.

8. WHAT DOES BEING RELEVANT MEAN?

9. BEING RELEVANT = TOPICAL ALIGNMENT.

10. RELEVANCE IN DIGITAL PR IS ABOUT TELLING STORIES THAT
ARE CLOSELY CONNECTED TO THE TOPICS IT MAKES SENSE
FOR YOUR BRAND TO TALK ABOUT.
TRAVEL BRAND
WHERE TO GO
WHERE TO STAY
WHAT TO DO
WHERE TO EAT
HOW TO TRAVEL
TRAVEL TRENDS

11. WORK HARDER TO INFLUENCE SEO
WE CAN PULL TO MAKE DIGITAL PR
RELEVANCE IS THE BIGGEST LEVER THAT
SUCCESS.

12. WHAT DOES RELEVANCE
LOOK LIKE?

13. EXPERT COMMENTS FROM BOXT IN METRO’S ARTICLE
ABOUT 5 THINGS YOU MUST DO TO SAVE ON ENERGY BILLS
BEFORE YOU TURN YOUR HEATING ON.

14. DATA ON THE UK’S CHRISTMAS CRIME HOTSPOTS BY ADT IN
THE MAIL ONLINE ARTICLE ABOUT ‘EX-BURGLAR REVEALS
TOP TIPS TO STOP THIEVES FROM TARGETING YOUR HOME’.

15. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM SWIFT DIRECT BLINDS ON WHY
ROMAN BLINDS ARE THE PERFECT WAY TO KEEP YOUR HOME
WARM AND COSY IN IDEAL HOME’S ARTICLE.

16. EXPERT COMMENTS FROM BLACKS ABOUT WHY RUNNERS
SHOULD WEAR A BASELAYER IN THIS GUIDE FROM MEN’S
FITNESS.

17. WE SEE TRENDS AMONGST THE MOST RELEVANT PIECES OF
PRESS COVERAGE.
✅ Links that point to key commercial pages on the site.

18. WE SEE TRENDS AMONGST THE MOST RELEVANT PIECES OF
PRESS COVERAGE.
✅ Links that point to key commercial pages on the site.
✅ Links within content that leverages the brands’ expertise in their key topic areas.

19. WE SEE TRENDS AMONGST THE MOST RELEVANT PIECES OF
PRESS COVERAGE.
✅ Links that point to key commercial pages on the site.
✅ Links within content that leverages the brands’ expertise in their key topic areas.
✅ Links that cite campaigns as a source; the ultimate form of editorial link.

20. WE SEE TRENDS AMONGST THE MOST RELEVANT PIECES OF
PRESS COVERAGE.
✅ Links that point to key commercial pages on the site.
✅ Links within content that leverages the brands’ expertise in their key topic areas.
✅ Links that cite campaigns as a source; the ultimate form of editorial link.
✅ Links from within content that perfectly aligns with the brands’ key topic areas.

21. WE SEE TRENDS AMONGST THE MOST RELEVANT PIECES OF
PRESS COVERAGE.
✅ Links that point to key commercial pages on the site.
✅ Links within content that leverages the brands’ expertise in their key topic areas.
✅ Links that cite campaigns as a source; the ultimate form of editorial link.
✅ Links from within content that perfectly aligns with the brands’ key topic areas.
✅ Links that positions the brands their people as voices of authority.

22. WHY RELEVANCE
MATTERS IN DIGITAL PR.

23. LINKS ARE A MEANS TO AN END.
LINKS.
INCREASED
RANKINGS.
REFERRAL
TRAFFIC.
INCREASED
ORGANIC
TRAFFIC. INCREASED
SALES &
REVENUE.

24. It’s not the link we want, it’s the
outcome.

25. IT DOES NOTHING FOR YOUR REPUTATION IF YOUR BRAND OR
PEOPLE ARE COMMENTING ON TOTALLY IRRELEVANT TOPICS.

26. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND SEED SITES & LINK DISTANCE
RANKING & THEIR IMPORTANCE ON THE IMPACT OF LINKS.
Google’s “Producing a ranking for pages using
distances in a web-link graph” patent makes
reference to a set of seed pages and a ranking score
that is generated for each page within a set based on
the distance of these from the seed pages.
The shorter the distance between the seed sites and
a webpage, the higher the score.

27. THE ONLY ‘SEED SITES’ WE KNOW ARE THE NEW YORK TIMES
& THE (NOW DEFUNCT) GOOGLE DIRECTORY.

28. SEED SITES HAVE THREE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS.
RELIABLE & TRUSTWORTHY
SITES.
HIGH QUALITY WEB PAGES.
WELL CONNECTED TO
OTHER NON-SEED PAGES
(E.G. LOTS OF OUTBOUND
LINKS).

29. ANOTHER GOOGLE PATENT BY THE SAME INVENTOR
SUGGESTS SEED SITES ARE BROKEN DOWN INTO TOPICS.
The ‘Scalable system for determining short paths
within web link network‘ patent suggests that the set
of seed sites is broken down into shards, and the link
distance is calculated within each of these.
We can assume that these shards are topics or niches.

30. THE SEED SITES FOR EACH TOPIC ARE LIKELY TO BE THOSE
DEEMED TO BE THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE & TRUSTED:
TRAVEL.
● Lonely Planet
● Travel & Leisure
● Condé Nast Traveler
● AFAR

31. THE SEED SITES FOR EACH TOPIC ARE LIKELY TO BE THOSE
DEEMED TO BE THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE & TRUSTED:
TRAVEL. FINANCE.
● Lonely Planet
● Travel & Leisure
● Condé Nast Traveler
● AFAR
● The Wall Street Journal
● Fortune
● The Economist
● Financial Times

32. THE SEED SITES FOR EACH TOPIC ARE LIKELY TO BE THOSE
DEEMED TO BE THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE & TRUSTED:
TRAVEL. FINANCE. SPORTS.
● Lonely Planet
● Travel & Leisure
● Condé Nast Traveler
● AFAR
● The Wall Street Journal
● Fortune
● The Economist
● Financial Times
● ESPN
● The Sporting News
● Bleacher Report
● CBS Sports

33. THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN E-E-A-T &
RELEVANCE.

34. EXPERIENCE.
EXPERTISE.
AUTHORITATIVENESS.
TRUSTWORTHINESS.
The extent to which the content creator has the
necessary first-hand or life experience for the topic.
The extent to which the content creator has the
necessary knowledge or skill for the topic.
The extent to which the content
creator or the website is known as
a go-to source.
The extent to which the page is
accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.

35. EXPERIENCE.
EXPERTISE.
AUTHORITATIVENESS.
TRUSTWORTHINESS.
The extent to which the content creator has the
necessary first-hand or life experience for the topic.
The extent to which the content creator has the
necessary knowledge or skill for the topic.
The extent to which the content
creator or the website is known as
a go-to source.
The extent to which the page is
accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.

36. LOWEST E-E-A-T.
LACKING E-E-A-T.
HIGH E-E-A-T.
VERY HIGH E-E-A-T.
Pages in this category are often spammy and lack any form
of credibility. They fail to provide a positive user experience
(UX) and could cause physical, mental, emotional or financial
harm to users. This now also includes inaccurate AI content.
Pages lacking E-E-A-T aren’t considered to be harmful or to
have the potential to cause harm, but they’re those that
aren’t created by those with experience or expertise.
Pages with a high level of E-E-A-T offer significant amounts of first-hand
experience, expertise, credibility, and trustworthiness, but the
breakdown of these differs by sector.
Pages with very high E-E-A-T are created by people
or published on websites that are considered to be
a go-to source for a topic.

37. LOWEST E-E-A-T.
LACKING E-E-A-T.
HIGH E-E-A-T.
VERY HIGH E-E-A-T.
Pages in this category are often spammy and lack any form
of credibility. They fail to provide a positive user experience
(UX) and could cause physical, mental, emotional or financial
harm to users. This now also includes inaccurate AI content.
Pages lacking E-E-A-T aren’t considered to be harmful or to
have the potential to cause harm, but they’re those that
aren’t created by those with experience or expertise.
Pages with a high level of E-E-A-T offer significant amounts of first-hand
experience, expertise, credibility, and trustworthiness, but the
breakdown of these differs by sector.
Pages with very high E-E-A-T are created by people
or published on websites that are considered to be
a go-to source for a topic.

38. LOWEST E-E-A-T.
LACKING E-E-A-T.
HIGH E-E-A-T.
VERY HIGH E-E-A-T.
Pages in this category are often spammy and lack any form
of credibility. They fail to provide a positive user experience
(UX) and could cause physical, mental, emotional or financial
harm to users. This now also includes inaccurate AI content.
Pages lacking E-E-A-T aren’t considered to be harmful or to
have the potential to cause harm, but they’re those that
aren’t created by those with experience or expertise.
Pages with a high level of E-E-A-T offer significant amounts of first-hand
experience, expertise, credibility, and trustworthiness, but the
breakdown of these differs by sector.
Pages with very high E-E-A-T are created by people
or published on websites that are considered to be
a go-to source for a topic.

39. Start thinking about E-E-A-T like your reputation, and it
very quickly starts to make a lot more sense…
especially when you consider that reputation is one of
the main things that influences trust.
After all, you’re far more likely to trust a person or
brand with a great reputation, right?
“
”
E-E-A-T = YOUR REPUTATION.

40. Page 27, Google Quality Rater Guidelines: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

41. Page 27, Google Quality Rater Guidelines: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
CONTENT.

42. Page 27, Google Quality Rater Guidelines: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
CONTENT. AUTHOR.

43. Page 27, Google Quality Rater Guidelines: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
CONTENT. AUTHOR. BRAND.

44. Page 27, Google Quality Rater Guidelines: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
CONTENT. AUTHOR. BRAND.
ON-PAGE.

45. Page 27, Google Quality Rater Guidelines: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
CONTENT. AUTHOR. BRAND.
ON-PAGE. OFF-PAGE.

46. ON-PAGE SIGNALS.
OFF-PAGE SIGNALS.

47. ON-PAGE SIGNALS.
OFF-PAGE SIGNALS.
● The things a business or person says about themselves.
● Things that are demonstrated on the website.
● Things that are mostly in your control.

48. ON-PAGE SIGNALS.
OFF-PAGE SIGNALS.
● The things a business or person says about themselves.
● Things that are demonstrated on the website.
● Things that are mostly in your control.
● The things that other people say about a business or person.
● Things that are demonstrated on other websites or places.
● You can influence, but mostly out of your full control.

49. ON-PAGE SIGNALS.
OFF-PAGE SIGNALS.
● The things a business or person says about themselves.
● Things that are demonstrated on the website.
● Things that are mostly in your control.
● The things that other people say about a business or person.
● Things that are demonstrated on other websites or places.
● You can influence, but mostly out of your full control.
Digital PR.

50. RETHINKING
RELEVANCE.

51. WE PLACE TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON SEO METRICS:
DOMAIN AUTHORITY..
DOMAIN RATING..
AUTHORITY SCORE..
TRUST FLOW..
FOLLOW.
NOFOLLOW.
SYNDICATED.
AFFILIATE.
Link Metrics. Link Types.

52. Do we overcomplicate what
impactful links look like?

53. IF GOOGLE DIDN’T EXIST?
WOULD YOU STILL WANT THIS LINK

54. DIGITAL PR IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST LINKS.

55. DIGITAL PR IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST LINKS.
1. REFERRAL TRAFFIC.

56. DIGITAL PR IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST LINKS.
1. REFERRAL TRAFFIC.
2. INCREASED BRAND AWARENESS.

57. DIGITAL PR IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST LINKS.
1. REFERRAL TRAFFIC.
3. ASSOCIATION WITH PUBLICATIONS.
2. INCREASED BRAND AWARENESS.

58. DIGITAL PR IS ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN JUST LINKS.
1. REFERRAL TRAFFIC.
3. ASSOCIATION WITH PUBLICATIONS.
4. SALES / LEADS & REVENUE.
2. INCREASED BRAND AWARENESS.

59. If you’d still want a link if Google didn’t
exist, that’s a pretty good indicator that
it’s good for your brand; for awareness,
referral traffic or revenue.

60. These links have the biggest impact on
SEO success & align with what Google’s
algorithms look to reward.

61. STOP THINKING THAT SEO METRICS ARE THE ONLY THING
THAT MATTERS WHEN DOING DIGITAL PR.
✅ What’s the potential to reach new audiences who don’t already know you exist?

62. STOP THINKING THAT SEO METRICS ARE THE ONLY THING
THAT MATTERS WHEN DOING DIGITAL PR.
✅ What’s the potential to reach new audiences who don’t already know you exist?
✅ Could the people who click the links turn into customers or clients?

63. STOP THINKING THAT SEO METRICS ARE THE ONLY THING
THAT MATTERS WHEN DOING DIGITAL PR.
✅ What’s the potential to reach new audiences who don’t already know you exist?
✅ Could the people who click the links turn into customers or clients?
✅ Does the coverage get people talking positively about your brand or products?

64. STOP THINKING THAT SEO METRICS ARE THE ONLY THING
THAT MATTERS WHEN DOING DIGITAL PR.
✅ What’s the potential to reach new audiences who don’t already know you exist?
✅ Could the people who click the links turn into customers or clients?
✅ Does the coverage get people talking positively about your brand or products?
✅ Does the coverage help potential customers to trust you with these associations?

65. STOP THINKING THAT SEO METRICS ARE THE ONLY THING
THAT MATTERS WHEN DOING DIGITAL PR.
✅ What’s the potential to reach new audiences who don’t already know you exist?
✅ Could the people who click the links turn into customers or clients?
✅ Does the coverage get people talking positively about your brand or products?
✅ Does the coverage help potential customers to trust you with these associations?
✅ Does the coverage get you mentioned alongside your brand’s key topic areas?

66. UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT BEING RELEVANT LOOKS LIKE FOR
ONE BUSINESS CAN LOOK VERY DIFFERENT FOR ANOTHER.
SITE 1: THE GOALS
AN ESTABLISHED PERSONAL FINANCE BRAND
THAT’S EARNED LINKS FROM HUNDREDS OF
UNIQUE DOMAINS OVER THE LAST FIVE
YEARS. THE SITE RANKS AT THE BOTTOM OF
PAGE 1 FOR ‘CREDIT CARD’ TERMS.

67. UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT BEING RELEVANT LOOKS LIKE FOR
ONE BUSINESS CAN LOOK VERY DIFFERENT FOR ANOTHER.
SITE 1: THE GOALS
AN ESTABLISHED PERSONAL FINANCE BRAND
THAT’S EARNED LINKS FROM HUNDREDS OF
UNIQUE DOMAINS OVER THE LAST FIVE
YEARS. THE SITE RANKS AT THE BOTTOM OF
PAGE 1 FOR ‘CREDIT CARD’ TERMS.
SITE 2: THE GOALS
A BRAND NEW PERSONAL FINANCE BRAND
THAT LAUNCHED LAST MONTH. THE SITE
RANKS OUTSIDE THE TOP 100 RESULTS ON
GOOGLE FOR ‘CREDIT CARD’ TERMS.

68. UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT BEING RELEVANT LOOKS LIKE FOR
ONE BUSINESS CAN LOOK VERY DIFFERENT FOR ANOTHER.
SITE 1: THE STRATEGY
THERE’S NO LINK GAP TO CLOSE WITH
COMPETITORS. FOCUS ON TACTICS THAT
CAN EARN HYPER-RELEVANT LINKS.

69. UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT BEING RELEVANT LOOKS LIKE FOR
ONE BUSINESS CAN LOOK VERY DIFFERENT FOR ANOTHER.
SITE 1: THE STRATEGY
THERE’S NO LINK GAP TO CLOSE WITH
COMPETITORS. FOCUS ON TACTICS THAT
CAN EARN HYPER-RELEVANT LINKS.
SITE 2: THE STRATEGY
THERE’S A LARGE LINK GAP WITH
COMPETITORS THAT NEEDS CLOSING. FOCUS
ON EARNING QUALITY LINKS AT SCALE, EVEN
IF RELEVANCE ISN’T AS TIGHT.

70. SET BETTER EXPECTATIONS; THE MORE RELEVANT YOU GET,
THE LESS COVERAGE YOU’LL (USUALLY) EARN.
TRAVEL
[GLOBAL]
FAMILY
TRAVEL FAMILY
[USA]
TRAVEL
[UK]
TRAVEL
[SCOTLAND]
Scale of relevant
publications.

71. BUILDING LINKS VS BUILDING YOUR BRAND: IT DOESN’T NEED
TO BE A CHOICE BETWEEN ONE OR THE OTHER.

72. It’s the end result that matters, not the
way you get there.

73. /digitaloftuk
/digitaloftuk
@digitaloftuk
digitaloft.co.uk