In 2024, Google sent shockwaves through the digital marketing world when they effectively said that links matter less. They later backtracked and said that links were still important, but they shouldn’t be viewed as the be-all-end-all of SEO.
So, in a world where links still matter, but maybe not quite as much as before, how should marketers invest their limited time and budget? Should they focus more on digital PR or traditional link building?
While traditional link building still has a place, digital public relations (PR) has emerged as a more modern, brand-friendly approach to earning high-quality backlinks. That’s why so many of today’s SEO teams are shifting more of their budgets toward digital PR.
But, both strategies have their own benefits to offer marketing teams. To determine the right strategy for you, you need to ask yourself five questions. Below, we share those questions and break down the differences between link building vs. digital PR.
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1. What’s your end goal?
In traditional link building, marketers often use cold outreach, guest posts, directory submissions, and link exchanges. The goal? Get as many backlinks as possible, often through one-to-one communication.
Digital PR takes a different route. Instead of directly asking for links, digital PR teams create newsworthy content—think data studies, expert commentary, and interactive assets—and pitch those stories to journalists and media outlets. The goal is to earn backlinks organically from top-tier publications.
In other words, if traditional link building is a numbers game, digital PR is a credibility game.
2. Which matters more to you: link quantity or link quality?
Traditional link building can get more results, but the quality of those links often varies. Many of them come from blogs, niche websites, or lower-authority domains.
Digital PR, on the other hand, tends to earn links from major news outlets and high-authority websites—think Forbes, The Guardian, TechCrunch, or trade publications.
Google’s algorithms increasingly prioritize link quality over quantity. That means just a couple of links from The New York Times is going to do far more for your SEO than 100 links from random blogs. Digital PR strategies focus on getting more of these higher-quality links, even if that means they get fewer links overall.
The bottom line: Traditional link building prioritizes link quantity, while digital PR prioritizes link quality
3. Do you want to build links or do you want to build your brand?
Traditional link building focuses on SEO, while digital PR impacts both SEO and your brand.
When you land a guest post or a backlink on a niche blog, it may help your rankings—but it’s unlikely to move the needle for your brand awareness.
With digital PR, however, every earned mention is a branding opportunity. When your brand is featured in a trusted news outlet, quoted as an expert, or referenced in a compelling study, you’re not just gaining a backlink—you’re gaining credibility, trust, and reach.
If you just want to build links, traditional link building can get the job done. But if you want to build your brand at the same time, you need to invest in digital PR.
4. How flexible is your team?
Traditional link building content is often evergreen. You can pitch a blog post or resource page at any time.
Digital PR is more tied to news cycles and seasonal relevance. You might pitch a study on consumer holiday habits in November, which means you’ll need to have resources available to create the study earlier in the fall, so you can start outreach in late October or early November.
Digital PR requires more planning and timing than traditional link building, but if you do it right, you enjoy a bigger payoff as well.
5. How fast do you need results?
While it’s still a numbers game, traditional link building tends to offer more predictable outcomes. You send 100 emails, and you might get 10 links. You can scale it, systematize it, and track it easily.
Digital PR, on the other hand, is much harder to predict. A single campaign might go viral, or it could fall flat. But when digital PR does succeed, the results can be huge. A single successful campaign can earn dozens of high-quality backlinks, boost your organic traffic, and even land your brand a spot at the top of Google.
That’s why so many marketers are willing to take the risk on digital PR. The results are harder to predict than traditional link building, but they’re definitely worth the extra effort.
Traditional link building vs. digital PR: Which is right for your brand?
If you’re like most brands, both traditional link building and digital PR deserve a spot in your marketing strategy. The question is really about where to invest your budget and when. The answer to that can depend on your answers to the questions we reviewed above.
If you’re looking for fast results and want to build a reliable amount of links, traditional link building is the way to go. But if your brand wants to level up with high-authority links and build awareness at the same time, digital PR is for you. Just make sure your campaigns are newsworthy, data-backed, and timed right.
Are you ready to unlock the power of digital PR? Our SEO experts can help you craft a campaign that earns the right kind of attention—and the right kind of links. Contact Your Marketing People today.
