The Difference Between Traditional Link Building and Digital PR

Since then, digital PR backlinks have become more popular than ever before —growing by nearly 30% in the past several years — because digital PR is one of the best ways to build backlinks with authoritative sites. However, this change in the SEO world has made many SEO experts and novices alike question the integrity of traditional link building. Does digital PR make it obsolete? How are the two techniques different?  In this guide, we’ll answer these questions and explain why both are essential for any business wanting to grow and improve its SEO metrics.

What Is Traditional Link Building?

First, let’s start with traditional link building. This SEO strategy involves acquiring backlinks through outreach, guest posting, directory listings, and link insertions. This strategy has been a go-to for businesses and marketing specialists for years — and for good reason. Building backlinks is the only way to get to the top of the SERPs, according to nearly every single SEO expert.

• Business directories and citations: Local businesses and service providers benefit from listing their information on business directories and citation sites like Yelp, Google Business Profile, and industry-specific platforms. These listings provide backlinks and improve local SEO by reinforcing your company’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) across the web. 
• Link exchanges: Link exchanges involve partnering with relevant websites to share backlinks. Both sites benefit if the exchange is natural and relevant to users.

Your choice of tactics depends on what works best for your brand and has the best success rate.

Primary Goals of Link Building

At Resolve, we have several goals when crafting a link building campaign, including: 

• Improve domain-level authority: Domain-level authority, which you can find as domain authority (DA), domain rating (DR), or an authority score, is a metric that estimates a website’s credibility based on the quality, quantity, and relevancy of the website’s backlinks. Sites with higher DAs often appear higher in the SERP, and users are more likely to trust them over sites with lower DAs.
• Boost keyword rankings: When users search for specific terms, Google provides results by organizing sites based on what they think is helpful. The site should include relevant content and keywords, and have plenty of backlinks that indicate trust. When you build links, you can improve your chances of ranking for the target keywords in your industry.
• Increase referral traffic from niche-relevant sites: When a website secures links on relevant industry blogs, news sites, or directories, it can attract an audience genuinely interested in its products or services. This boosts site traffic and increases the likelihood of conversions and customer engagement. 

Unlike digital PR, you can use link building for short- and long-term goals. For example, referral traffic can occur immediately after you place the link — especially if the backlink is on an authoritative page that already receives consistent traffic. Authority and keyword rankings, on the other hand, take longer to improve and can be a part of a company’s long-term goal for SEO improvement.

What Is Digital PR?

With digital PR services, you reach out to news agencies, radio stations, and other authoritative websites, offering content they can use as a source for their own publication. Ultimately, you’ll earn a backlink from an authoritative domain, and they earn an interesting story that will intrigue their readers. This tactic is best for spreading awareness of your brand, establishing your brand as a credible source with readers and journalists, and building authority.

Digital PR Techniques 

The best digital PR campaigns use a blend of tactics, such as: 

• Thought leadership: Digital PR backlink campaigns that use insightful commentary, expert opinions, and interviews can help brands establish themselves as thought leaders. Journalists often need this and will connect with thought leaders on websites like Qwoted. 
• Data-driven studies and reports: If you generate proprietary data through surveys, company data, etc., journalists will be more attracted to your pitch and cite your brand name as a source. 
• Reactive PR: Reactive PR involves monitoring news cycles and responding quickly to relevant media queries or breaking stories. This tactic allows brands to position themselves as experts in real-time discussions and secure high-authority media placements.

• Visual aids:  By including original visuals like infographics from your content, journalists will be more likely to respond so they can use them to engage their audience. You can also share this infographic on social media, increasing your reach and engagement. 
• PR Magnets: This tactic involves using shareable assets like viral infographics, industry benchmarks, or statistic roundups to attract media naturally. Many news agencies will use these assets in their own publications.

Many of these tactics can be considered proactive PR — primarily thought leadership, data-driven studies and reports, visual aids, and PR magnets — which can be an excellent strategy for getting ahead of news cycles and being considered the leader of the conversation.

Primary Goals of Digital PR

Digital PR has plenty of benefits, and people who use it often hope and strive for:

• High-quality backlinks: Because so many people trust major and local news outlets for news and information, these sites are highly authoritative. You can establish yourself in an authoritative and trusted link neighborhood when they link to your site. 
• Increase brand awareness: More people will naturally learn about you when other trusted sources link to your brand through a digital PR campaign. 
• Establish brand authority and build relationships: Digital PR is not just about one-time media placements — it’s about building long-term relationships with journalists, bloggers, and industry influencers. Once you earn this relationship, their readers will see you as an authoritative figure, and so will search engines.
• Drive traffic: Most news agencies and websites have large and dedicated audiences, who will naturally click on your backlink for more information on your brand. This action drives your direct traffic. The more direct traffic you have, the more likely Google will rank you higher in the SERP, thus driving your organic traffic.  

Ultimately, digital PR links are challenging to replicate, so let Resolve handle them for you! Since digital PR involves a lot of strategy, they’re best for long-term goals, like spreading brand awareness or boosting your authority. This has a lasting impact and will benefit your brand for years!

Traditional Link Building vs. Digital PR

When you break down traditional link building and digital PR, you’ll see that the two create a Venn diagram. While both strategies involve building backlinks, digital PR expands upon link building by prioritizing high-authority sites like news agencies. You’re not reaching out to niche blogs and website owners — you’re reaching out to journalists and attracting them with what they want. 

While brand awareness can be an added benefit to link building, it is not the sole goal of the strategy. For digital PR, brand awareness is one of the many goals. Most of the time, journalists will name your brand in writing, which can build recognition among their readers. Link building, on the other hand, often doesn’t use such explicit mentions. Plus, the audiences of news websites are often bigger and broader than niche blog websites, which can be the leg-up you need when growing your brand.

KPIs to Track for Both Strategies

Digital PR and link building also differ in which KPIs they track. Link building metrics involve:

• Number of backlinks acquired;
• Domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA) improvements;
• Referral traffic from acquired links;
• Keyword ranking improvements.

You can track these metrics using Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Search Console. You should check these tools regularly throughout the year. However, you won’t see any changes for at least a couple of weeks to a month after you start a link building campaign.

Digital PR, on the other hand, can be a bit more nebulous. In addition to tracking the SEO metrics listed above, you also have to track improved brand awareness, which you can gauge with these metrics: 

• Number of high-authority placements;
• Number of followed and no-followed links;
• Branded search traffic;
• Social shares and engagement.

You can track these metrics effectively using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and CoverageBook. We get it, there’s a ton of metrics to watch. Contact Resolve for your link building and digital PR. We’ll keep tabs on all these metrics and adjust your strategy to meet your goals.

Why You Need Both for a Strong SEO and Branding Strategy

While we can spend all day comparing apples and oranges, the truth is that both methods are valuable and essential for any effective SEO and branding campaign. You shouldn’t get caught up in chasing one method or another. If you do, you may limit the diversity of your backlink portfolio.

When you have a diverse backlink portfolio, you can stand more resilient against algorithm updates, and show a natural growth of traffic, which Google will reward with a higher authority. If you solely rely on one method or the other, it may look unnatural to Google, and you may risk losing any growth during the next algorithm update.

Not to mention, using both link building and digital PR is part of growing your business — no matter its size. While our digital PR helps to facilitate trust in your brand among the public and has a more lasting impact, traditional link building can provide a steady pace of backlinks that can keep traffic moving to your site. 

FAQs About Traditional Link Building and Digital PR link building

What Is the Difference Between Traditional Link Building and Digital PR links?

Traditional link building focuses on acquiring backlinks from niche-relevant sites to improve search rankings. At the same time, digital PR aims to secure high-authority media coverage that enhances brand visibility and credibility.

Which Strategy Is Better for SEO?

Both strategies are valuable for SEO. Traditional link building provides consistent, niche-relevant backlinks that help with keyword rankings, while digital PR earns high-authority links that improve domain authority and trust signals.

Do Digital backlinks PR Generate More Traffic Than Traditional Link Building?

Digital PR can potentially drive more referral traffic because it secures placements on high-traffic media sites. However, traditional link building can drive steady traffic from industry-specific sources over time.

How Long Does It Take to See Results From Each Strategy?

Traditional link building can show results in three to six months, depending on link velocity and competition. Digital PR takes longer but has a lasting impact. It often requires months to secure placements and see measurable growth.

Can Traditional Link Building and Digital PR linking Be Used Together?

Yes, combining both strategies creates a well-rounded SEO and branding approach. Traditional link building strengthens niche authority, while digital PR secures high-visibility coverage that enhances credibility.

What Are the Best KPIs to Measure Success for Each Strategy?

Key metrics for traditional link building include the number of backlinks, changes in domain authority or rating scores, keyword rankings, and referral traffic. For digital PR, we measure success by the number of high-authority placements and changes in organic traffic.

What Are the Most Effective Tactics for Traditional Link Building?

Guest posting, resource link building, niche edits, business directories, and link exchanges are some of the most effective traditional link-building tactics.

How Can a Business Choose Between Traditional Link Building and Digital PR?

Businesses focused on improving keyword rankings and industry relevance should prioritize traditional link building. Those looking to boost brand awareness and earn high-authority media mentions should invest in digital PR link building. A combination of both delivers the best results.