Last updated on January 11th, 2026 at 11:50 pm
This article answers the common question, “What is Digital PR?” It clarifies the confusion around link building and explains how a strong Digital PR strategy builds lasting brand authority, credibility, and customer trust through earned media coverage and authentic storytelling.
Let’s answer the question you came here for: What is Digital PR?
You’ve probably heard this term in marketing meetings. And someone almost certainly mentioned ‘backlinks’ in the same sentence. This creates a lot of confusion. Many business owners believe Digital PR is just a technical, complex term for link building, which is a tactic used for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
This view, however, is too small. And it makes you miss the real power of the strategy. When you only view Digital PR as a link-building tactic, you miss what makes it genuinely powerful for your business.
True Digital PR is all about building genuine, long-term brand authority and trust online. We’re here to show you what Digital PR really is and how focusing on trust (not just links) can make a huge difference for your business.
Digital PR vs Link Building
We must first address the biggest confusion: the debate of Digital PR vs link building. The confusion is understandable because a successful Digital PR campaign often results in backlinks. When an online newspaper or a major industry blog writes about your business, they typically include a link back to your site.
SEO specialists love these links. They correctly see them as “votes of confidence” from a trusted source. Google’s algorithm registers these high-authority links and begins to trust your site more, which helps improve its Domain Authority and, ultimately, your rankings.
Here’s the key distinction. Many ‘link-building’ services focus only on getting the link. Digital PR, by contrast, focuses on earning media placement by being newsworthy. The link is simply the happy byproduct of a much bigger goal.
The link is proof of value, not the value itself. The actual achievement was earning that media coverage. A journalist featured your business because you shared interesting data, offered expert insight on a trending topic, or told a compelling brand story. The link happened because you deserved the coverage.
A strategy focused only on acquiring links can lead to low-quality tactics that Google may penalise. True Digital PR builds brand authority that lasts.
So, What Is Digital PR? (And How Is It Different from “Old School” PR?)
Now we can provide a clear answer to what is Digital PR. At its heart, it has the exact same purpose as traditional public relations, which is to manage your public image and build a positive brand reputation.
The “old school” way used offline channels like television, radio, and print newspapers. The communication was mostly one-way. The brand talked, and the audience listened. It was also very difficult to measure the return on that investment. How many people actually saw that newspaper article? No one really knew.
Digital PR uses modern, online channels to achieve this. This includes online news sites, industry blogs, social media platforms, and podcasts. The most important change is that the communication is now interactive. It’s a two-way conversation with your audience.
One of the biggest benefits of Digital PR is that you can track the results with incredible clarity. You can see exactly who saw your content, clicked through to your site, and took action. Every placement becomes measurable data you can analyse and improve upon.
The True Digital PR Goals That Build Your Business
Since the main objective isn’t just collecting links, what are the real Digital PR goals? They’re all about building a sustainable and trusted brand.
Build Brand Awareness and Visibility
The primary goal is simple. Digital PR puts your name in front of new, relevant audiences on platforms they already trust. Most people won’t buy from a company they’ve never heard of. So, media coverage introduces your brand to potential customers through sources they respect, making that crucial first impression.
Establish Genuine Authority and Trust
Here’s where the real magic happens. Digital PR is the best way to prove your expertise, not just claim it. It’s the difference between telling people you’re an expert and showing them.
When an online publication quotes you as an industry expert, that’s a trusted third party validating your knowledge. When news sites use your original data in their reports, you become the primary source of new information. That podcast interview where your founder discusses industry trends? That’s pure, earned authority in action.
This directly impacts what Google calls E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). This is the framework Google uses to evaluate content quality. When a trusted publication quotes your founder as an expert, it signals your authority to both Google and your potential customers. You’re not just saying you’re an expert. A credible third party is validating it for you.
Manage Your Online Reputation
What appears when someone Googles your business name? Digital PR actively shapes that narrative. This involves monitoring online reviews and social media to protect your brand’s image and respond to feedback. Through strategic media coverage, you control the story people discover about your brand.
What Does a Good Digital PR Strategy Look Like?
A modern Digital PR strategy is all about creative and helpful storytelling. It’s not about blanketing the internet with generic press releases. It involves building real relationships and providing real value.
Effective Media Pitching
An effective Digital PR strategy starts with media pitching. This is where you find journalists who are already writing about your industry. You can offer them expert commentary, an interview, or a useful quote for a story they’re working on. Your founder comments on breaking industry news. A journalist needs an expert quote for their article, and your insight makes their story better. You get featured as a thought leader, and your brand gains credibility with the publication’s entire readership.
Data-Driven Stories
Don’t think that authority can only come from the outside because you can also create your own newsworthy stories. Survey your customers or analyse your internal data to uncover a fascinating trend. You publish this research, and multiple news sites report on “a new study” with your brand name attached. Data-driven content earns significantly more media coverage than promotional content. Journalists get an original story to write, and your brand gets credited as the source.
Influencer and Blogger Relations
You must also widen your horizon when it comes to people who can share your story. This involves building real, long-term relationships with online journalists and bloggers. You can partner with trusted voices in your industry (not necessarily celebrities, but people with engaged, relevant audiences). They share your story authentically with their community, introducing your brand to people who already trust their recommendations.
Measuring the Full Impact of What Digital PR Does
To understand the real benefits of Digital PR, you must measure your success beyond just counting links. Skip the vanity metrics and focus on signals that show real business impact. Recognising the signs your Digital PR strategy is failing is just as important, as it allows you to pivot before wasting your budget.
Branded Search Volume
Are more people searching for your brand name on Google? If the answer is yes, then this is a powerful indicator that your brand awareness is growing. You can track branded search volume in Google Search Console to see if your media coverage is making people curious about your business.
Referral Traffic
Are people actually clicking the links in the articles to visit your site? Check your analytics for referral traffic from media placements. High-quality Digital PR sends interested people who browse multiple pages and spend time learning about your offerings.
Share of Voice (SOV)
This metric measures how much of the online conversation your brand owns compared to your competitors. It shows whether your Digital PR efforts are making you more prominent in your industry.
Brand Mentions and Sentiment
Track how often people mention your brand online and whether those conversations are positive. You should also track mentions of your brand without a link. These “unlinked mentions” are still valuable trust signals for both Google and potential customers. A study by Moz found that brand mentions, even without links, correlate with higher search rankings.
Amplifying Voices, Values, and Brands
In a conversation with Ivy Vilory, one of Otto Media’s Digital PR Strategists, she talked about what Digital PR is for her.
When many business owners think of ‘Digital PR’, their minds jump straight to one thing: backlinks. And while that’s a part of the puzzle, Ivy explains it’s a common misconception that misses the bigger picture.
“The common misconception of digital PR is just getting backlinks,” Ivy shares. “A lot of people just think digital PR is only about backlinks. And look, if your company just wants backlinks to support your SEO and that’s it, that’s okay! But there’s a lot of untapped territory outside of backlinks that people haven’t really realised yet.”
So, if it’s not just about links, what’s the real goal?
“Our role in digital PR is to make sure that the company’s story and the company’s expertise are being recognised even more by the public through the media,” Ivy explains.
“Basically, the main point is to amplify what you’ve been doing and get it known to the right audience. Whether it’s through journalists, social media, or influencers… that is digital PR.”
“Instead of getting as many backlinks as possible, the goal is to get backlinks from trusted sources,” Ivy says. “This could be by creating a data-led report or trustworthy content and sharing it with big media… so you are known as the expert in your industry.”
Ivy really puts it perfectly. She says that at the heart of Digital PR, our main job is simple, and that’s to amplify our clients’ stories.
“For example,” she explains, “one of our clients made a donation and is contributing to the community. Our task is to get that story amplified through the media. It’s always about building their reputation first.”
This marks a shift in the kind of Digital PR strategy we’re doing in Otto Media. Instead of just chasing link quantity, our goal is to build genuine connections and brand authority.
Frequently Asked Questions About What is Digital PR
While you can get a media placement quickly, the real benefits of Digital PR, like building authority and increasing your branded search, are long-term. Expect to see meaningful results built over 6 to 12 months of consistent effort.
They’re closely related. Content Marketing focuses on creating and distributing valuable content on your own channels (like your blog). Digital PR focuses on getting your brand and content featured on other people’s channels (like news sites or influencer accounts) to build third-party credibility and trust.
No, it’s for everyone. Small businesses can be very successful with Digital PR by focusing on niche publications and local media. Their unique expertise can be a major asset for media pitching.
Not necessarily. Small businesses can start by contributing expert commentary to journalists through platforms like HARO (Help a Reporter Out), pitching to local publications, or sharing original insights on industry blogs.
Professionals use a variety of tools. For monitoring, Google Alerts or CisionOne track brand mentions. When it comes to checking SEO data, you can use Semrush or Ahrefs research publications and track backlinks. Google Analytics tracks referral traffic and conversions, and is generally helpful for you to measure other important metrics.
AI is mostly used as a supportive tool. It helps automate routine tasks like building media lists or analysing public sentiment, which frees up PR professionals to focus on human-centric skills like creativity, strategy, and building journalist relationships.
Start small. Identify your target audience and the online publications they read. Then, think about what unique expertise or data you can offer that those publications would find valuable for their readers. Build relationships with journalists covering your industry and pitch stories that genuinely help their audience.
Build the Brand, Links Follow
Understanding how Digital PR works is simple when you look past the technical jargon. At its core, it’s the modern, measurable way to build a great reputation. It combines the brand-building focus of traditional PR with the measurement and reach of digital marketing.
A good Digital PR strategy focuses on earning trust and proving your authority. Stop chasing links and start building authority. The high-quality backlinks everyone obsesses over? They happen naturally when you create a brand worth covering. The backlinks are just the bonus you get for doing it right.
Not sure where to start? No worries, when it comes to making a powerful Digital PR strategy, Otto Media has your back.
In today’s digital world, everything can be content, and every piece of content is a chance to build your brand with Digital PR. It’s important to make the most of every single opportunity.
We have been in this industry for years, working right here with many local Canberra businesses. You can trust us to help you build a digital footprint that speaks to the audience you want, all while sounding distinctively Australian.
Want to learn more? Reach out to us today!
