Understanding Expert Quote Links in Digital PR | Interview with Chris Pantelli

James Dooley: Hi so I'm joined with Chris Pantelli from Linkify and today's video is about what is expert quote links in digital PR. Chris Pantelli: Hey James thanks for having me. Um so expert quote links are inbound requests from journalists looking to source experts which they can quote in their articles and then as SEOs we call it expert quote link building because when we provide that commentary that quote we want to be quoted but we also want them to link back to us and that's the uh that's the expert quote link. James Dooley: Yeah I mean some people used to call it like um Haro links some people call it expert commentary some people call it just quote links and stuff like that so why is it that journalists want to get these expert commentary kind of snippets of content in their articles? Chris Pantelli: Yeah uh basically it just enhances the the validity um of the article that they're writing and oftentimes they're they're not looking for anything groundbreaking they're not looking for anything out of the box thinking they already know the answer to the questions that they're asking um you'll often see this with finance queries maybe they've written a journalist is writing a piece on on how to uh reduce your um credit score so how to increase your credit score they know the answers uh so if they're asking for an expert to give a quote on that they're not looking to change the world with their article what they're looking to do is for the four or five ways that they're going to suggest to improve your credit score they want a quote from an expert to either agree or you know explain in their own words why this is a good way and that further enhances the credibility of what the journalist has written because a finance expert maybe an accountant has has uh quoted what they believe and then the journalist has included that quote in the article so this expert commentary in digital PR. James Dooley: Do you think that it's got a decent obviously it's good for branding and getting your name out there but do you also think it's got a value to SEO your your website as well? Chris Pantelli: Yeah 100% I mean the the link in of itself uh with the recent Google leaks we have to take it obviously at face value but you know couple of the metrics that were were clearly in there at some point almost certainly being used by Google and chances are still being used by Google they talk about the the power of links being um uh from fresh pages on tier one publications so that is exactly what what we do and what we're talking about so tier one publications is huge authority publications chances are you've heard of them Forbes New York Times Express the sun big publications high DR huge amounts of organic monthly traffic and then fresh pages so a new article being produced uh for that particular website um and often times as well we'll see huge amounts of traffic going to these newly produced uh pieces of content on these new news publications which um will drive click click click-throughs as well if they've if the journalist has included the link. James Dooley: Yeah I think the the great thing about a lot of these articles is that it gets in Google News and then sometimes also can get the article in Google Discover and I've always said one of the best type of links that you can get is on uh high authorative sites that is relevant and that's got traffic and that's exactly what these expert quote links are bringing so very quickly anyone who's not seen yet the video there's a link in the description about the new era of digital PR with regards to Haro help help a reporter out being moved over and upgraded to Connecti so Chris are you using Connecti? Flat is that the only tool you're using? Chris Pantelli: There's a few of a digital PR agency using tools like Quoted um I think there's one or two of us like Press Plugs um Helper B2B Writer and stuff like that I think there's a couple of others as well um there's certain hashtags that you can use. James Dooley: So how are you managing because I I see you as being the market leader in Haro or what was known as Haro now Connecti and expert quote links like what tools are you are you just using the one tool or you using a collection of all these different tools to get the expert quote links? Chris Pantelli: Yeah uh well thanks for those kind words James but yeah we we use uh not all of them but most of the ones that you just mentioned there's a lot of overlap um so if you're doing this as an individual I'd focus on one um I think they're they're all pay to play now so if you're going to actually I think Quoted is you can get a free account but beyond the the free pitches which I think is probably similar to Connecti I think a handful of free pitches per month beyond that um there is a lot of overlap so as an agency obviously the the it's the it's the gaps between the overlap which makes the difference so if there's one publication uh like a really beautiful publication but the journalist that's sourcing expert commentary for that publication they write for is only on one very specific platform let's say they're only doing it through Press Plugs then we want to be on that platform because we want that publication because we know how valuable it is um but yeah we actually bring everything into like an Airtable we process uh all of the the queries and then we assign them to our clients that we think is relevant um but yeah I would recommend using as many as you can and then also doing uh X for because X is is free the journalist will often post the the their uh expert comment requests to these individual platforms which beyond your free pitches on Quoted or Connecti will charge you to pitch but they'll also post that expert source request on their Twitter account uh and they'll use either hash um PR request or hash Journal request so keep an eye out on X as well because that's a great place to find these and they'll often just include their direct email as well in the X post and then boom if you provide good commentary you then started a relationship with you know a journalist as well who oftentimes will write for more than one publication. James Dooley: For anyone who's looking to do digital PR I'd also strongly recommend checking out the link in the description where me and Chris talk about the difference between reactive PR campaigns and expert quote links expert commentary like like what Chris does as well but also I want to touch a little bit on how you managed to get from getting the expert quote links actual branded articles in digital PR because the journalist and reporter really liked the commentary and the quote of what you did and they wanted to expand and do more articles on it how that expert quote link then led for your relationship with that reporter to then actually get a branded digital PR campaign set up as well just for people to understand that there's more to it than just the SEO value getting the name out there getting the back link it also builds that relationship up with that reporter or journalist that's writing in the exact topic and industry that you're in that then might further expand on getting actual branded digital PR articles about your company. Chris Pantelli: Yeah so um first and foremost the the journalist will uh is looking to like please their bosses so if you provide a good quote that they've sourced expert uh commentary for either like personally from you or like on behalf of a client and they publish that article let's say on the Express they've include your comments and then their bosses say this article's done really well it's had 100,000 views it's good done really well on social it's gone on to Google Discover we're really pleased with it they're going to be really pleased and they're also going to be really pleased with the um with the comments that that that you provided as an expert also it goes a long way to say that the the better the expertise and the more uh web visibility that the the expert that you've provided has the more trust that that journalist and that journalist bosses has in that expert so that's quite key part of it um making sure that that the experts visible on LinkedIn and other social platforms that's really really good way to um enhance the credibility of that expert then that journalist will often be working either for one major publication or often times multiple publications and they're in constant need to produce good content so if you can take the um the proactive PR route as opposed to waiting for those inbound expert commentary you can just go directly to that journalist and say would you be interested in in taking some um PR campaigns that either you have have individually or you have for other clients within the same niche let's say this journalist covers is on like a lifestyle desk or the um the uh health and fitness desk let's say you can go to them and say you know I've got a couple of clients in the uh health and fitness space um we've got the Euros coming up uh I've got a couple of really interesting campaigns that you know that tie in fitness with the Euro campaigns would you be interested in having a look that journalist is either going to say yes or no chances are they say yes they'll have a look and if you've produced a really interesting um campaign then you've made their job super easy that they can then go to their bosses and say hey I've got this really good fitness uh instructor who represents let's say this this gym it's a gym owner a gym brand chances are they're going to run with that story and that story is going to be uh about the idea that you've come up with but it's going to prominently feature the expert and therefore that company within the article you will have seen these in the Sun the Express US publications as well New York Post where they they publish an article and it's specifically from the perspective of that expert and there that company and that that brand building is super valuable. James Dooley: Yeah great answer there so anyone who's watching this are you actually doing expert quote link building as part of your digital PR campaigns are you doing any sort of digital PR check out one last link in the description I actually do a full interview with Chris Pantelli from Linkify let's see whether you think it's worth doing the expert quote link building in house or whether you feel that you should be outsourcing it to somebody like Linkify and Chris Pantelli Chris it's been an absolute pleasure having you on and explaining the ins and outs of expert link building if anyone needs to get hold of you where's the best place to capture your information? Chris Pantelli: Thanks James yeah it's been awesome um yeah Linkify.io uh Twitter Linkify or LinkedIn any of those. James Dooley: Great stuff well it's been an absolute pleasure and let's hope that everyone who's watching this enjoyed understanding a little bit more about expert commentary Haro links or expert quote links as part of digital PR.