In September 2024, Google took a rare manual action against Forbes Advisor, wiping out nearly 20 million monthly visits. Forbes Advisor's digital PR team drove over 70,000 referring domains before the penalty. As of May 2025, the site had regained nearly 4 million in traffic (~17%) Read more

Most replies come fast: 57% of link-building replies and 69.4% of digital PR replies happen within 6 hours. Average response times are 12.85 hours for link builders, 11.4 hours for digital PRs. Education, Fashion & Beauty had the fastest link building reply times. Fashion & Read more

Unsubscribe links are legally required in most unsolicited commercial emails, including for link building and digital PR outreach. Reply rates drop slightly in small campaigns with unsubscribe links, but volume—not the link—is the bigger factor. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft mandate unsubscribe Read more

Massive campaigns (1001–5000 emails) received less than 3.5 links per campaign—70% fewer than 51-100 spots. Only 1 in 3 emails in digital PR gets opened — the average open rate was 33.79%. Open rates dropped from 35.42% (1–50 emails) to 29.76% (1001–5000 emails) — a 16% decline. Read more

Take effect May 5, 2025 Impact bulk senders, aka sending 5,000+ emails/day to Microsoft consumer email addresses Must pass SPF and DKIM Must publish a DMARC record (at least p=none) Must align the “From” domain with SPF/DKIM Must use valid reply-to/from addresses Must include Read more

Podcast pitching is on the rise as PRs struggle to reach traditional journalists. Personalized, value-driven pitches with clear topic ideas outperform generic outreach. Pitch tactics like filling gaps, offering counterpoints, or proposing swaps increase acceptance. Research the show’s Read more

Only 38% of the emails found were correct after we cross-checked manually. 62% were either wrong (34%) or marked (28%) “not found.” Of the wrong email addresses, 59% will never receive a bounce notification, even though the messages never reach the recipient. Of the tools that gave confidence Read more

Target high link-intent keywords like “[industry] statistics” to attract organic, citation-driven backlinks. Use proprietary or hard-to-find data to increase linkability and differentiate your content. Evaluate SERPs and backlink profiles to ensure your keyword has citation potential before Read more

Craft media pitches so journalists can write the story in 15 minutes flat. Use "exclusive" in subject lines strategically to build media relationships. Ensure content is hyper-relevant since irrelevance is the top reason for PR blocks. Engage on social media genuinely, but always pitch via Read more

Use “city rivalries” and emotional angles to spark regional press engagement and amplify link potential. Leverage freemium tools, proprietary data, and trending keywords to create highly linkable content assets. Build link velocity by targeting newsletters, round-ups, and overlooked image-based Read more