Coverage that never converts into rankings, and a technically flawless website that nobody ever hears about, are two different ways of leaving visibility on the table. Most brands treat PR and SEO as separate jobs run by separate people, which is exactly why so much of the value between them gets lost.
Kitten & Shark is a boutique, senior-led PR consultancy based in London, working with hotels, restaurants, travel, wellness, and lifestyle brands across the UK and Europe. This page is part of our digital PR work. You work directly with our senior consultants, backed by SEO specialists in our wider network.
Digital PR for SEO is the practice of earning links and mentions from credible websites in order to build the authority that can support your rankings. Rather than chasing low-value links, it earns them the right way, through stories, data, and coverage that journalists genuinely want to publish.
The result is coverage that reaches readers and, at the same time, can strengthen the signals search engines and AI tools use when deciding who to surface.
Links remain one of the clearest signals of trust online.
Ahrefs found a positive correlation between the number of websites linking to a page and its search traffic.
Digital PR is how you earn those links credibly, through the same relationships and storytelling as our media relations work, and SEO is how you make the most of them.
In practice that means PR angles built around the terms your audience searches, coverage that links to the right pages on your site, and a site technically sound enough to benefit. When the two are planned together, every piece of coverage does more.
| The work | What it delivers |
|---|---|
| Earned links from digital PR | Authority and trust signals that support rankings |
| Coverage and brand mentions | Visibility with readers and material for AI tools to draw on |
| Keyword and content strategy | Pages that match what your audience actually searches |
| Technical SEO | A site search engines can crawl, understand and rank |
| Data and content stories | Assets that earn links and answer real search queries |
| Joined-up measurement | A clear line from coverage to rankings, traffic and enquiries |
They solve different parts of the same problem.
Earning the coverage, mentions and links that build authority and reputation.
Making sure it is fast, crawlable, well-structured and easy for search engines to understand.
One brings authority in, the other makes sure your site can use it. A brand that invests in digital PR and technical SEO together tends to see far more from both, because links point at pages that are actually built to rank.
Search is changing. People increasingly ask AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews for recommendations, and those tools build their answers from what credible sources say about you. That makes digital PR more valuable, not less.
Consistent, accurate coverage across trusted sites gives AI tools clear material to draw on, so your brand is more likely to be named when someone asks for the best hotel, restaurant or destination in your category. For brands with little existing coverage, this is often the fastest way to start showing up in AI answers.
For hotels specifically, our digital PR for hotels page goes into more detail.
The two disciplines pay off most when they share a goal. A few situations we see often:
So its PR also builds the links and authority that support its visibility on Google.
Combining digital PR, technical SEO and content so coverage and rankings pull in the same direction.
Wanting to appear in Google, AI Overviews and LLM answers when people search its category.
Where PR and SEO have run separately, and one joined-up strategy with shared goals would serve it better.
Because SEO and digital PR share a goal, we measure them against it together. That can include the quality and number of links and referring domains earned, keyword rankings and organic traffic, brand mentions and share of voice, visibility in AI Overviews and answer tools, and the enquiries or bookings that follow.
Reporting on both in one place is what shows whether coverage is actually moving your visibility, rather than sitting in a cuttings folder.
SEO and digital PR are usually run as a monthly retainer, since links, coverage, and rankings build over time. Boutique, senior-led consultancies typically start from a few thousand pounds a month, with larger programmes involving heavy content, link building, or technical work costing more.
We lead on the PR and strategy as part of our wider PR services, and bring in SEO specialists through our network, so you get joined-up thinking without paying for two separate agencies that never talk to each other.
Kitten & Shark is a boutique PR consultancy where our senior consultants work directly on your account. We lead with story and coverage, then join that up with SEO and content so it all points the same way. Because the team is small, everyone knows every account, and your strategy stays coherent rather than split across silos, with no handover to a junior team once the contract is signed.
Our SEO and PR work sits alongside our sector expertise, from hospitality PR to hotels, restaurants, travel, and lifestyle. We work with boutique and independent hotels, small groups, restaurants, travel, wellness, and lifestyle brands. Our focus remains firmly on these categories, which keeps our media relationships where they count for you.
SEO and PR work together by combining earned authority with on-site optimisation. Digital PR earns links and coverage from credible sites, which build the trust signals search engines reward, while SEO makes sure your site can turn that authority into rankings and traffic. Planned together, coverage and rankings reinforce each other.
Digital PR for SEO is earning links and mentions from credible websites to build the authority that can support your rankings. Rather than low-value links, it earns them through stories, data and coverage journalists want to publish, so the same work reaches readers and strengthens your search visibility.
It can help. Links and mentions from trusted sites are among the signals Google uses to judge credibility. Ahrefs research found a positive correlation between the number of sites linking to a page and its search traffic, which is the kind of link digital PR is designed to earn.
Digital PR affects SEO mainly by earning high-quality links and brand mentions that build domain authority, and by creating content and coverage that match what people search for. Done well, it can support rankings, referral traffic and the reputation that both Google and AI tools draw on.
Digital PR works off your site, earning coverage, mentions and links that build authority. Technical SEO works on your site, making it fast, crawlable and easy for search engines to understand. One brings authority in, the other makes sure your site can use it. They work best together.
AI tools build their answers from what credible sources say about a brand. Consistent, accurate coverage across trusted sites gives them clear material to draw on, so your brand is more likely to be named in AI Overviews and answer tools. For brands with little coverage, digital PR is often the fastest route into AI answers.
We measure them together against a shared goal: links and referring domains earned, keyword rankings and organic traffic, brand mentions and share of voice, visibility in AI answers, and the enquiries or bookings that follow. The aim is proof that coverage is moving your visibility, not just a stack of cuttings.
Not necessarily, but they need to share goals and talk to each other. Many brands lose value when PR and SEO run in silos. We lead on PR and strategy and bring in SEO specialists through our network, so the work is joined up without you managing two disconnected teams.