Digital PR Agencies in Brazil: Stop Buying Links, Start Earning Them

If you are searching for Digital PR Agencies in 2026, you are likely trying to solve a specific problem. You need higher visibility in Brazil. You need to rank on Google. You need traffic.

But the Brazilian market is flooded with "SEO Shops" selling low-quality backlinks on spammy websites.

This is a trap. In 2026, Google’s algorithms are smarter. They penalize brands that "buy" authority and reward brands that "earn" it. If you use a "pay-for-placement" strategy, you risk a manual action penalty that could de-index your site entirely.

At The New Standard, we operate at the intersection of Public Relations and SEO. We know that the only way to win in the long term is to create content that journalists want to link to.

Here is why your strategy needs to shift from "Link Building" to "Digital PR," and how to execute it in the Brazilian market without getting penalized.

1. Why Digital PR Agencies Are Replacing Traditional SEO Firms

For the last decade, companies hired SEO agencies to "build links." The agency would pay 50 blogs to post a generic article with a link back to the client.

This worked in 2015. It destroys rankings in 2026.

Digital PR Agencies operate differently. We do not pay for links. We pay for storytelling. We use PR tactics to place stories in Tier-1 Brazilian media outlets like Valor Econômico, Exame, and TechTudo.

The "Authority" Difference

• SEO Agency Result: A link from a low-traffic blog that nobody reads. This provides low "Link Juice" and zero brand trust.

• Digital PR Result: A feature story in a major national news portal with a "do-follow" link. This provides high SEO Authority and positions your brand as a market leader.

When Google sees a link from a major Brazilian publisher, it signals that your brand is a legitimate entity. This drives your Domain Authority (DA) up faster than 1,000 low-quality blog comments ever could.

2. The Role of Content Marketing Agencies in PR

You cannot get a journalist to link to your homepage just because you are a nice company. You have to give them something of value.

This is where the line between PR and Content Marketing Agencies blurs. To win backlinks in the B2B space, you need "Linkable Assets."

What is a Linkable Asset?

A linkable asset is a piece of content on your site that is so useful, journalists cite it as a source.

• Proprietary Data: We survey your customers or analyze internal data to find a trend (e.g., "70% of Brazilian CFOs are worried about tax reform").

• Visual Assets: Our design team visualizes complex data into infographics that news sites can embed.

• Expert Guides: Comprehensive resources that explain a new law (like LGPD) or technology.

When TNS pitches a story to the media, we pitch the data. The journalist writes the story and links back to your site as the source of the data. This is how you "earn" links rather than buying them.

3. The Online PR Agency Advantage: Speed and Agility

Traditional PR is slow. It relies on press releases and embargoes. An Online PR Agency behaves like a newsroom.

In Brazil, the news cycle moves at the speed of WhatsApp. Trends rise and fall in hours.

The "Newsjacking" Strategy

We monitor the news for breaking stories relevant to your industry. When a story breaks (e.g., a new Central Bank regulation on Fintech), we immediately offer your CEO as an expert commentator.

• The Goal: To be the first quote in the article.

• The Result: High-authority mentions and links in real-time coverage.

This requires an agency that is always on. If you wait 24 hours to approve a comment, you missed the story.

4. International SEO Services: The Technical Factor

One area where traditional PR agencies fail is international technical SEO. If you are entering Brazil from the US or UK, simply translating your content isn't enough.

You need to ensure your International SEO Services support your site architecture.

• The Duplicate Content Risk: If you publish a press release in English on your Brazil site, Google might view it as duplicate content of your US site.

• The Hreflang Solution: We work with your dev team to ensure your content is tagged correctly for pt-BR(Portuguese/Brazil). This ensures that the authority we build links to actually boosts your Brazilian rankings, rather than getting lost in the ether.

Most PR agencies don't know what an Hreflang tag is. At TNS, it is part of our onboarding.

5. The Intersection of B2B SEO Agency Tactics and PR

If you are a SaaS or Tech company, your customers are sophisticated. They don't click on Instagram ads. They research vendors on Google.

A standard B2B SEO Agency will optimize your keywords, but they often fail to build the necessary trust signals. In Brazil, B2B buyers are risk-averse. They check your digital footprint to ensure you are a stable partner.

The "Brand SERP" Strategy

When a potential client Googles your brand name, what do they see?

• Weak Brand: Just your website and maybe a LinkedIn page.

• Strong Brand: Your website, plus 5 or 6 articles from reputable business journals (via Digital PR) discussing your success.

We use Digital PR to "decorate" your Google search results page. This increases conversion rates significantly because it proves third-party validation. We don't just optimize for "Traffic." We optimize for "Trust."

6. Using Digital PR for Reputation Management

In Brazil, one platform dominates online reputation: Reclame Aqui. It is a consumer complaint site that ranks extremely high on Google. If a consumer searches for your brand, Reclame Aqui often appears in the top 3 results.

This is a nightmare for international brands. One unresolved complaint can ruin your first impression.

The Defensive Strategy

You need proactive Reputation Management. We use Digital PR to publish high-authority positive content (interviews, awards, CSR initiatives) that outranks negative complaint sites.

• The Goal: Push Reclame Aqui down to the bottom of Page 1 or onto Page 2.

• The Method: Google prefers news sites over forums. By securing coverage in high-authority portals like UOL or Estadão, we suppress negative noise and control your narrative.

7. Vetting Link Building Services vs. White Hat PR

If you are evaluating partners in Brazil, you need to ask tough questions to ensure they aren't using "Black Hat" (risky) Link Building Services.

Use this checklist during your pitch meetings:

The Red Flags (Avoid These)

• "Guaranteed Links": No reputable PR agency can guarantee a specific number of links. We can only guarantee the effort and the quality of the pitch.

• "Private Blog Networks (PBNs)": If they own the sites they link from, run away. Google will eventually ban these networks, and your site will go down with them.

• "Pay per Link": If they charge you $100 for every link, they are incentivized to get you low-quality links.

The Green Flags (Hire These)

• "Earned Media": They talk about pitching stories to real journalists.

• "Domain Rating (DR)": They measure the quality of the publication using tools like Ahrefs or Moz, not just the quantity.

• "Traffic Correlation": They look at how PR hits drive actual visitors to your site.

8. The Digital PR Landscape in Brazil: Where to Pitch

Understanding where to get coverage is just as important as how. Brazil has a unique digital ecosystem.

The "Portal" Culture

Unlike the US, where media is fragmented, Brazil is dominated by massive "Portals" that aggregate news, sports, and entertainment.

• UOL (Universo Online): One of the most visited websites in the world. Getting a link here is SEO gold.

• Globo (G1): The digital arm of the largest TV network. Extremely high authority.

• Terra: Another massive aggregator.

A US-based SEO agency doesn't know how to pitch UOL. They will get you links on irrelevant niche blogs. A local Digital PR Agency knows the editors at these portals and understands what headlines they need to drive clicks.

9. Measuring SEO Authority: Beyond "Clippings"

Traditional agencies hand you a PDF of "clippings" or calculate AVE (Advertising Value Equivalency). That doesn't help your SEO. We measure impact using modern metrics.

The Digital PR Dashboard

• Do-Follow vs. No-Follow: We specifically aim for "Do-Follow" links that pass authority to your site.

• Referring Domains: We track how many new unique domains link to us.

• Keyword Rankings: We monitor your positions for "Money Keywords" (like "Tech PR" or "Fintech Solutions") to correlate rises with press coverage.

If your agency isn't reporting on these metrics, they aren't doing Digital PR. They are just doing digital clippings.

FAQ: Digital PR in Brazil

Q: How much do Digital PR Agencies charge in Brazil? A: Pricing is typically higher than standard SEO link-building because it involves creative labor (writing, design, pitching). Expect monthly retainers between $5,000 and $15,000 USD for a comprehensive strategy that includes content creation and media relations.

Q: What is the difference between an Online PR Agency and a Content Marketing Agency? A: A Content Marketing Agency creates content for your own channels (your blog, your social media). An Online PR Agency takes that content and pushes it out to external channels (news sites, industry journals). The best results come when you combine both.

Q: Is it illegal to buy links in Brazil? A: It is not "illegal" in the criminal sense, but it violates Google's Webmaster Guidelines. If Google catches you buying links, they can apply a "Manual Action" penalty, removing your website from search results entirely. This is a catastrophic risk for any business.

Q: How long does it take to see SEO results from PR? A: SEO is a compound effect. One link won't change your ranking overnight. However, a consistent Digital PR campaign usually yields significant ranking improvements within 3 to 6 months as your SEO Authority climbs.

Q: Can you guarantee coverage in top Brazilian outlets? A: No agency can ethically guarantee editorial coverage. Editorial decisions are made by journalists, not agencies. However, experienced agencies with strong relationships and high-quality data stories have a very high success rate.

Ready to Earn Your Authority?

Buying links is a gamble. Earning them is an investment.

If you are ready to build a Digital PR strategy that drives real traffic and protects your brand reputation in Brazil, we should talk.

Contact The New Standard to build your Digital Authority