Most marketing executives understand the need for high search engine rankings. Many also know that outside links can push a ranking higher. However, a large number of companies rely on links from partners, followers and social media to get outside links to their sites. Here is a powerful idea from an SEO expert - use PR!

Links that are generated by outside traditional media outlets can provide your company with a ton of SEO credibility (higher rankings). As noted in our first article this month, bloggers pull as much as 99 percent of their content from traditional media. If your company is mentioned in an article that is referenced by hundreds of bloggers, you get a lot of SEO juice.

Many of the Web site, blogger and social links you may receive from a traditional PR coup may come from people, journalists and editors that would have otherwise never heard of your company. Being linked to these influencers will tell the search engine robots that you are important and worthy of a higher ranking.

Another SEO benefit from an article mention is that readers of the article may want to learn more about you, and do a search for your company. This search activity and the additional traffic to your site will also help push your company up the rankings.

Ultimately, your PR campaigns can have an extremely attractive added benefit to your company by helping you build your visibility in the public's eye through higher search engine rankings.