What SEO work should publicly listed companies plan, and what benefits might it bring?

Publicly listed companies do not need an entirely different SEO strategy: they can plan product pages, educational content and free tools around customers’ search needs, while coordinating with PR efforts to earn relevant links. Around the time of listing, they should also plan the launch and indexing of investor relations pages. Potential benefits include greater organic search visibility, reaching prospective customers and earning backlinks, but being publicly listed does not guarantee rankings, and traffic cannot be equated directly with revenue or share-price growth.

Plan pages around search needs, not just high traffic

In a 2025 article, an Ahrefs author examined roughly 200 websites of Nasdaq-listed companies with estimated annual organic traffic of at least around one million visits, finding that most used familiar SEO practices. These observations come from a high-traffic sample and do not mean every publicly listed company can replicate the results.

• Product and inventory pages: Organize content around how customers search for products or services. For example, Makemytrip creates search-optimized pages for different travel needs, covering a range of queries.
• Niche and long-tail keywords: Low search volume does not mean a lack of commercial value; queries involving high-value transactions or clearly defined business needs may still attract suitable prospective customers.
• Local needs: Companies with nationwide service coverage can also plan content for queries such as “near me.” DoorDash is one example in the article.

Address different needs with educational content and tools

Not every search should lead to a sales page. The 2025 article notes that glossaries, FAQs and basic definitions can address informational needs; at the time, the author judged that pages focused solely on products had a lower chance of ranking for some of these keywords.

Content can also connect to product use cases, for example by introducing relevant products in technical explanations or turning popular paid features into free tools with usage limits. Adobe’s background removal tool is an example of the latter. Such resources may attract visitors, prospective customers and backlinks, but traffic figures from individual examples are not a promise of results for other companies.

Connect PR and SEO, but distinguish what different links support

Media coverage, press releases and journalist relationships may generate links from credible websites. SEO teams can collaborate with PR, for example by providing informative expert quotes, so that brand exposure also has a chance to support search visibility.

However, links to investor relations pages should not automatically be treated as a boost for product pages. The author of a 2022 article argued that the context of stock and financial reporting is generally less closely related to the topics of customer-facing pages. Investor relations content is also subject to regulatory requirements, so unnecessary internal links should not be forced into it merely to pass along SEO value.

Plan separate work for investor relations pages around the listing

The 2022 article analyzed 11 companies that completed an IPO or direct listing in 2021, observing links from high-quality media outlets and brand mentions. The author also advised anticipating increased demand for investor relations pages on listing day and taking steps to get them indexed as soon as possible after approval to publish.

This was practical advice offered in the article at the time, not a current, universally applicable rule for publishing across markets, nor a guarantee of immediate search engine indexing. As for whether an enhanced reputation after listing could increase earned media coverage or outreach success rates, the author explicitly stated that this could not be proven, so it should not be presented as a definite benefit.