Most link building is asking strangers for favours. Digital PR is different. You make something journalists want to write about, they cover it, and the links come with the coverage. Higher authority, lower risk, and it scales.
What is digital PR?
Digital PR is earning editorial links and brand mentions by creating newsworthy content and pitching it to journalists and publications. The link is a natural citation inside a story, not a placement you negotiated.
The formats that earn coverage
- Original research. Survey your audience or analyse a public dataset. One strong statistic gets cited for years.
- Data journalism. Rank, map or index something people argue about: prices by city, salaries by role, best places for X.
- Newsjacking. A fast, quotable expert comment when a relevant story breaks.
- Definitive free tools. A calculator or checker other sites link to as the reference.
The test that predicts a campaign: would a journalist cover this if you removed the link entirely? If yes, the links will come. If no, you are doing outreach, not PR.
Digital PR checklist
- The asset is genuinely newsworthy on its own, link aside
- It has a clear hook: a number, a ranking, a surprise, a timely angle
- The pitch is short, personalised and sent to the right beat
- The landing page is fast, citable and easy to quote
- Coverage without a link is followed up for a link where reasonable
By the numbers
Milon Khan · Link Building & Digital PR Lead
Lead the pitch with the finding, not the company. "Renters in these five cities now pay more than a mortgage" gets opened. "We have published a new report" does not.
Short case study
A fintech startup
No press coverage and a flat link profile. We surveyed 1,200 of their users, turned the results into a short report with three shareable stats and one chart, and pitched it to finance and business journalists.
17 pieces of coverage in six weeks, 11 with a follow link from DR 60+ domains, and the report page still earns links a year on.