You are right to argue that PR people should be involved in content creation for web sites, that content is king and that SEO is to a large extent driven by content (which, of course, is the expertise of PR people).

Yes, PR has screwed up and missed the main digital game. But the game started 3-5 years ago. That was when PR had its best chance. However, it’s well into the second half of the game now given the start PR had it will never challenge for the lead.

I know from experience. I led my then PR agency Network PR into SEO and content creation in 2006 when we launched the first PR-driven SEO product in Australia. At the same time we had Galaxy Research do the first major study into the relevance and importance of search and the web.

At that point we had already been doing SEO for a couple or years and Network dominated about 50+ search phrases under PR (in fact 95% of our new business enquiries were driven by search and many said they came to us because no matter what they searched under Network appeared at the top of the natural search rankings!)

In addition then, and to this day, an industry publication I produced called PR Influences, is one of the highest ranking sites in the world for PR under natural search. In fact I’ve writing in PR Influences on the issue of web sites and SEO since 2002!

So I know the importance of web sites, I know SEO works, I know content is a crucial factor and I believe that PR people hold the key.

In spite of all this I had to be a pessimist. But I believe that despite the evidence PR won’t play a significant role going forward.

Your article inspired me to blog on this my own site (I closed Network last year because there was just not the demand for the online focus and specialisation that we had pursued).

What I didn’t comment on in my blog is the explosion of social media that has muddied the waters re SEO. Also every man and their dog are now in this web, social media, SEO space and there is a complete blurring of boundaries, competencies and ability to add value.

Sure, PR will play some role. But in my view the potential for PR to play a significant role has largely been lost. The ad agencies as well as the interactive agencies (and some web designers), despite having limited capabilities in the area of ‘real’ content, have the existing relationships with the big marketers and large organisations, have control of this game.

Grant

Too often you visit a website and it is crammed with content but there is no theme – nothing holds it together. The result is that you lose the very people you are trying to reach with that content.

Finally and most importantly, your content shouldn’t be about you and your products, it should be about delivering knowledge and insights that solve your publics’ issues.

Interesting about the changes in perceived credibilty of social media sources. And I think you are onto something with the notion of merging social media tools and website content – in a meaningful way, rather than the tokenistic approaches that seem to be common currency. Not much point in being ’social’ about content that is, um, crap!

I am sceptical about your seeming claims of Google selling organic search ranking prioritisation, but I think you a re probably saying selling advertising space when certain keywords are entered.

I will talk more about these issues and integrate some of your thoughts.