New search trend data shows growing demand for Digital PR as online brands look beyond traditional link building and try to build authority in search, media and AI-powered discovery
Searches for “Digital PR” have risen by 192% in the past year, reaching 383,000 searches in the past month, according to Google search trend data analysed by Cupid PR.
The sharp rise suggests more brands, founders and marketing teams are trying to understand how Digital PR fits into SEO at a time when search visibility is becoming harder to win through website content alone.
Cupid PR, a senior-led Digital PR and SEO consultancy, says the increase reflects a wider shift in how online brands are thinking about authority, backlinks, media coverage and visibility beyond their own websites.
Digital PR is often grouped together with link building, but the two are not the same.
Traditional link building usually focuses on acquiring backlinks to improve a website’s authority. Digital PR can also earn backlinks, but it does this by creating stories, data, expert commentary, campaigns and useful resources that journalists, publishers and industry websites choose to reference.
Sophie Rhone, founder of Cupid PR, said:
“Brands are searching for Digital PR because they know authority matters, but many are still trying to understand what it actually means. Digital PR is not just link building with a nicer name. Link building …
… with ‘how do we get a link?’ It starts with ‘what does this brand have the authority to talk about, what are people paying attention to right now, and what would make a journalist want to reference this?’”
Brands warned to check whether “media links” are actually earned editorial coverage
Cupid PR is also warning brands to be cautious of agencies, sellers and marketplaces positioning paid link placements as “media links” or “Digital PR links” when they are not earned through genuine editorial coverage.
Google’s spam policies state that buying or selling links for ranking purposes can be considered link spam. This includes exchanging money for links or posts that contain links, unless those links are properly qualified, such as with sponsored or nofollow attributes.
Sophie said:
“Brands need to be really careful here. A media link is not automatically the same as an earned Digital PR link. There are people selling paid placements, syndicated posts, guest posts or link insertions and …
… comment. A proper Digital PR link is earned because a journalist, editor or publisher has decided the brand adds something useful to the story. It should not be a disguised paid placement being sold as PR.”
Cupid PR says brands should ask direct questions before buying any link-led service, including whether coverage is earned or paid, whether links are editorially placed, whether the agency controls the publication, whether links will be marked as sponsored or nofollow where required, and whether the publication is relevant to the brand’s sector.
Sophie added:
“If someone can send you a fixed price list for guaranteed links on named media sites, that is not the same as Digital PR. There may be legitimate sponsored content routes, but brands need transparency.
The risk is that businesses think they are investing in authority when they are actually buying placements that may offer little long-term SEO value, or worse, create search quality issues.
Digital PR should be about earning relevance and authority, not disguising paid links as journalism.”
Why Digital PR is becoming more important for online brands
Cupid PR says Digital PR is particularly valuable for online brands operating in competitive search markets, including ecommerce, SaaS, marketplaces, finance, legal, travel, property, beauty, wellness and professional services.
For these brands, SEO success is rarely just about publishing more blog content. Competitive rankings are often influenced by authority, trust, relevance and how well the brand is understood across the wider web.
Sophie said:
“An ecommerce brand might have a strong category page, but if nobody is referencing the brand, linking to it or associating it with that product space, it is harder to build authority. A SaaS brand might …
… cited as experts, they are building a stronger footprint. That is where Digital PR can support SEO. It gives brands a way to earn credible third-party signals instead of relying only on their own website.”
Digital PR activity can include expert commentary, reactive PR, newsjacking, data-led campaigns, search trend analysis, original research, internal data stories, product PR, thought leadership, journalist resources and on-site assets designed to earn references.
Cupid PR says the key difference between low-value link acquisition and effective Digital PR is relevance.
A backlink only has real strategic value when it supports the brand’s wider authority. That means the publication, topic, anchor context and landing page should all make sense.
Sophie added:
“A link from any random site is not the same as a relevant editorial link from a publication your customers, competitors or search engines would recognise as credible.
Digital PR should not be about collecting links for the sake of it. It should be about building authority in the right places, around the right topics, and ideally supporting the commercial pages that matter most to the business.”
What AI search and LLMs change for brands
The rise in interest comes as search engines and AI-powered discovery tools continue to change how people find information online.
Google says AI Overviews can provide an AI-generated snapshot with key information and links that allow users to explore further on the web. OpenAI has also introduced ChatGPT Search, which can provide timely answers with links to relevant web sources.
Cupid PR says this does not mean brands can “game” LLMs or guarantee visibility in AI-generated answers. Instead, the practical takeaway is that brands need a credible footprint across the web.
Sophie said:
“There is a lot of noise around AI search and LLM visibility, but brands need to be careful not to chase made-up tactics. What we can say factually is that AI search experiences can link to sources across the …
… PR helps build the wider signals that matter: relevant media mentions, expert commentary, useful data, quality backlinks and clearer association between your brand and the topics you want to be known for.”
Cupid PR says this is especially important for brands in sectors where trust plays a major role in whether people click, buy, enquire or compare options.
Sophie added:
“AI search has not removed the need for credibility. If anything, it has made brand authority harder to ignore.
The strongest brands will not be the ones trying to trick search engines or LLMs. They will be the ones that have built enough real-world authority that journalists, customers, industry sites and search systems can understand what they are known for.”
How brands should measure Digital PR
Cupid PR says brands should avoid measuring Digital PR by coverage volume alone.
More useful measures include link relevance, referring domain quality, links to priority pages, brand mentions, referral traffic, ranking movement, organic traffic growth, assisted conversions and improvements to commercial page performance.
Sophie concluded:
“SEO is moving beyond simply writing more content. Brands need authority, credibility and a reason to be trusted. That is why Digital PR is becoming more important. It sits between search, media and brand …
… Digital PR and paid link placement are not the same thing. If a link is being sold as media coverage, there should be complete transparency around how that placement is secured and how the link is treated.”