We begin by asking what the PR work is for. Some brands want credibility with customers, some want links to help search visibility, some want expert recognition in the industry and some want direct enquiries. The goal decides which measures lead the report. Next we set up the tracking. We keep a coverage log of every placement: the date, outlet, headline, author, link to the article, whether it links to your site, the link type, the page it points to and the campaign it belongs to. We include press releases, expert comments, interviews and mentions in roundups; see online press release preparation and expert commentary campaigns. We add campaign links with tags where we control the link, so visits from a specific placement can be seen in analytics, and we set up views that separate referral traffic from news sites; see website traffic reports. Then we assess quality. For each outlet we note relevance to your industry and location, editorial standards, whether the article is original editorial or a paid or sponsored post, and whether the link is followed. We do not treat all coverage equally: one article in a respected industry publication can matter more than ten in obscure directories. We group outlets in simple tiers and explain the criteria. We also track mentions without links and flag them for follow-up; see brand mention acquisition. Then we look for effects. We check referral visits, time on site, pages viewed and conversions from coverage traffic. We track branded search interest in Search Console and trends in direct visits around publication dates, understanding that these are signals and not proof; see Google Search Console. We ask your team to tell us when a new customer mentions an article, and we record it as lead evidence. We compare the campaign against its goal and against earlier ones, discuss what pitches worked and which angles failed, and note which journalists or outlets responded. The report is written in plain language. It opens with a short summary and three lessons, followed by the coverage log, charts for trends, quality tiers, traffic and enquiry evidence, and a list of next steps for the coming period, such as new angles or outlets to approach; see industry publication outreach. We deliver monthly or after each campaign and walk through it on a short call. We keep screenshots or archived copies of key coverage, since pages can disappear. We cannot see private audience data of outlets or prove that coverage caused a sale, and links may later be removed, but an honest report tells you what your PR did and where to spend next.
