10 Yetis Insight Blog - 7 Differences between an SEO Agency and a Link Building PR Agency

Often, we get approached by companies who know roughly want they want but are unsure who they should get on board to get them there. The difference between an SEO agency and a link building agency may seem subtle but, while the end goal may be the same e.g. to get more visitors coming to the website, the approach is likely to be entirely different.

In fact, many of our clients (particularly those who are a little bigger) will even go as far as employing an agency for each at the same time; this can be really effective as they have both sides of the coin covered at once. Of course, not everyone has the budget to get two agencies on the roster at once and may have to prioritise one over the other depending on how they want to go about achieving their goal, but it’s best to try and balance the activity as much as possible in order to achieve rounded results which fare well whatever way you look at it.

As far as possible, these agencies shouldn’t be in competition – they should instead be viewed as complimentary services. To support this philosophy, many agencies actually offer both services under one roof and can tailor campaigns to deliver on all fronts.

To help you spot the difference between the two, however, here are seven key differentiators between an SEO agency and a link building PR agency:

1. Science vs Art

SEO is a science and those working in SEO are likely to be techy types, with glasses, big screens and dark offices. You know the type. They are savvier when it comes to statistics and mathematics, while Link Building PR agencies tend to be a little softer and full of floaty, creative personalities who come up with arty campaigns.

2. SEO Agencies are more random in their approach

SEO agencies are very much target focused and will do whatever is required to get your SEO through the roof, so the campaigns they suggest may be more sporadic, off-brand and aggressive. This is usually because they just want to get the SEO results, rather than because they think it would look good for your company.

3. Link building PR is on brand

Any kind of PR agency has lots of experience with catering for brand messages and ensuring communications tick the right boxes, so a link building one will come up with strategies and campaigns designed to position the brand in the right light while building up a strong link profile.

4. Link Building PRs normally have a PR background – and the contacts to go with it

Link building PR agencies have generally evolved over the years to focus on building links. As a result, the staple mind-set is a PR one, and they have often built up fantastic media contacts, meaning you are likely to get links on popular news sites which carry higher domain authority scores, valuing quality over quantity.

5. Link building PR agencies get people talking

Generally speaking, the work of an SEO agency isn’t so likely to get people talking over a pint in the pub on a Friday night. The genuine interest factor will usually by prioritised more by a link building PR agency and the messages will get out wider into the public domain, carrying across from the online world to the real one.

6. Link building PR agencies will be less happy to part you from your pennies

Although buying links is now widely recognised as A Bad Idea, there are still various sites and bloggers that will expect a little recompense for their co-operation, particularly if they aren’t totally smitten with the content. Link building PR agencies will be less likely to willingly hand over the goods, knowing that if their campaign has a good hook, it will generate good pick-up without needing to part with any cash.

7. They have (kind of) different objectives

Link building PR directly affects your traffic, setting out to build up the traffic to your website. By comparison, SEO instead aims to boost your rankings on search engines – thereby hopefully generating more traffic in turn.