As content reassumes something closer to its natural value, tricks like backlinks and overt SEO-focused terminology will fade as the actual message conveyed will be tracked through more sophisticated software. This means words on websites no longer need to be virtual code words and can be more descriptive as context becomes clearer. Linkless mentions are coming of age, as search engines get better at knowing what you’re trying to say. While backlinks connecting networks of websites still have value, providing a reliability chain, this technique has led to an overvaluing the links themselves, to the discrediting of actual content.
This smarter tracking of info helps free PR agencies to focus more on developing their actual relationships with clients and the media. As nuanced meanings, key messages and messages you may not even fully realise you’re conveying are picked up by Google and the like, more realistic search results will follow. When put to use more appropriately, technology can correct some of the skewed relationships that it leads to elsewhere.
Perhaps somewhat ironically, in an age in which information is more easily verified, understood and sorted accordingly, trust in the media has significantly decreased. According to the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer report, trust in this key disseminator of information that PR agencies and their clients depend on is lower, as is trust in various institutions worldwide. Trust, once broken, remains difficult to repair and there’s no app for that, so make sure your integrity remains intact.
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