Wales digital PR, Cardiff public sector and regional link building

What to take away

How Welsh Government and public sector campaigns are structured

Welsh Government campaigns are not run like UK government campaigns with a Welsh office attached. Devolved policy areas including health, education, transport, housing and the Welsh language sit with Welsh Government ministers and their officials in Cardiff. That means campaign approval, messaging and publication often happen inside Wales rather than through Whitehall.

A campaign usually starts with a policy objective that already exists in a Welsh Government strategy. Communications staff then build a delivery plan around it, often with a named campaign lead and a set of partner organisations. Those partners might include health boards, local authorities, universities or third sector bodies.

For a digital PR agency, the practical entry point is usually the partner network rather than the Welsh Government communications team itself.

Public sector campaigns in Wales also tend to be smaller and more targeted than UK-wide equivalents. A campaign might focus on one health board area, one valley community or one Welsh language initiative. That scale is an advantage for link building because a well-placed story can travel across the Welsh public sector network quickly.

Timing matters. Welsh Government campaign cycles often align with the school year, the Senedd term and budget announcements. Pitching a story that fits an existing campaign window will get further than pitching a standalone idea.

If you want to understand how client demand shapes this kind of work, our analysis of commercial opportunities sets out the wider market context.

Devolved policy angles are the strongest editorial hook. A story about a Welsh Government consultation, a new Welsh law or a change to a devolved service will interest Cardiff media outlets because it is genuinely Welsh news. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, for example, provides a named Welsh legal framework for stories about long-term public-service planning. The same story framed as a UK policy story will usually be ignored.

Cardiff media outlets and who covers devolved policy

Cardiff media outlets are the centre of Welsh political and public sector coverage. WalesOnline is the largest commercial news operation, with dedicated politics, health and education reporters. BBC Wales and ITV Cymru Wales carry the broadcast weight, and both have specialist correspondents covering the Senedd and Welsh Government.

Nation.Cymru covers Welsh politics and culture with a strong devolved policy focus. Golwg360 publishes in Welsh and reaches a Welsh-speaking audience that other outlets do not. Business News Wales and the Western Mail cover the commercial and public sector angle, including procurement and infrastructure.

Who covers what matters for link building. A health story should go to the health correspondent, not the general news desk. A procurement story should go to the business desk. A Welsh language story should go to Golwg360 or the BBC Wales Welsh language team.

Sending a devolved policy story to a UK-wide desk in London is the most common reason Welsh pitches fail.

Regional titles outside Cardiff also carry weight. The Daily Post in North Wales, the South Wales Argus in Newport and the Carmarthen Journal cover their own areas and often pick up stories that Cardiff outlets miss. For regional link value, a link from a trusted regional title can outperform a link from a national outlet with no Welsh focus.

Relationships with Cardiff media outlets are built the same way as anywhere else: by being useful, accurate and fast. Journalists in Cardiff are fewer in number than in London and cover more ground, so a well-prepared story with data and a named spokesperson is more likely to be used.

Before you commit resource to Welsh media relations, run through a market entry checklist so the outreach plan matches the market.

Procurement routes for public sector digital work in Wales

If you want to be paid by a Welsh public body for digital PR or communications work, you usually need to go through procurement. The applicable legal regime depends on the procurement: the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 continue to govern procurements covered by them, while the Procurement Act 2023 governs procurements under the newer regime. Public bodies must follow the relevant rules on transparency, fair competition and value for money.

Reading that guidance before you pitch will save wasted effort.

The Digital Marketplace is a common route for public sector digital work. It lists frameworks and allows public bodies to find suppliers for digital, data and technology projects. In Wales, monitor Sell2Wales for contract opportunities and use eTenderWales where a buyer runs its electronic tender process. Many Welsh public bodies use the Digital Marketplace because it simplifies compliance.

If your agency is not on a relevant framework, you can still be a subcontractor to a supplier that is.

Below is a simplified route map for public sector digital work in Wales.

Procurement thresholds and rules can change. Always check the current public sector procurement policy before assuming a route is open. The same applies to framework expiry dates and call-off terms.

Public sector procurement in Wales also has a Welsh dimension. The Wales Procurement Policy Statement sets Welsh Government policy expectations for public procurement, including consideration of community benefits, Welsh language and fair work. Building those into a proposal can strengthen a bid. For a wider view of how supplier relationships are assessed, see our guidance on supplier comparison.

Link-building opportunities across Welsh public and third sector sites

Welsh link-building opportunities are not limited to media coverage. Public and third sector websites in Wales often link to research, guidance and campaign resources, and those links carry regional relevance. The key is to create something worth linking to, not to ask for links.

Start with the bodies that publish resources. In Cardiff, potential public-sector link targets include Cardiff Council, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and Public Health Wales; Natural Resources Wales is another relevant Wales-wide body. Cardiff University and Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) are academic and third-sector sites to assess. Check each organisation's remit, resource pages and linking policy before shaping an asset. Health boards publish patient information and public health campaigns. Universities publish research and community engagement reports. Local authorities publish strategies, consultations and service guides. National parks and heritage bodies publish visitor and conservation content. Third sector organisations publish reports on poverty, housing, Welsh language and rural issues.

A useful asset for this market is a data-led resource that a public body would cite. Examples include a Welsh-language take-up study, a comparison of devolved service performance or a map of regional funding allocations. The asset must be accurate, sourced and easy to reference.

Levelling Up policy has affected regional demand across the UK, including Wales, and has created funding streams that public bodies must communicate. That communication often produces reports and web pages that can reference credible external research.

When you approach a public body, lead with the resource and its relevance to their remit. Do not lead with a link request. Public sector communications teams are accountable for what they publish and will only link to material that supports their own objectives.

If your work involves third parties, apply vendor due diligence before you rely on their data.

Welsh language and accessibility considerations for content

Welsh language content is not optional in much of the Welsh public sector. The Welsh Language Standards are made under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, and the Welsh Language Commissioner oversees compliance. Many public bodies must treat Welsh and English equally. If you produce content for a public body, you should expect to provide a Welsh version or work with a translator.

This affects link building in two ways. First, a Welsh language page can attract links from Welsh language media and community sites that would not link to an English page. Second, a poorly translated page will not be linked to by anyone who cares about the language. Use professional translators, not machine translation alone.

Accessibility is the other requirement. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 set accessibility requirements for public sector websites and mobile applications. Content that does not meet the applicable requirements is unlikely to be published or linked.

The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 provide a technical benchmark for accessible content. The W3C's accessibility fundamentals explain the principles that underpin it: content must be perceivable, operable and understandable, and work across different browsers and assistive technologies.

In practice, accessible content means clear headings, descriptive link text, alt text for images, sufficient colour contrast and captions for video. It also means avoiding PDFs where HTML would work. If you supply an asset to a public body, supply it in an accessible format.

Both requirements shape what you pitch. A campaign idea that cannot be delivered in Welsh and in an accessible format is not ready for the Welsh public sector. Build those costs into your proposal from the start.

Measuring regional link value in Wales

Regional link value is not the same as domain authority. A link from a Welsh public body or a Cardiff media outlet can be worth more than a link from a larger site with no Welsh audience. The value comes from relevance, trust and the audience that follows the link.

Measure four things. First, referral traffic quality: are visitors staying and converting? Second, topical relevance: does the linking site cover devolved policy, Welsh public services or Welsh language issues? Third, trust signals: is the site an official body, a recognised media outlet or a respected third sector organisation? Fourth, persistence: will the link remain in place and remain followed?

A simple scoring model helps. Give each link a score out of five for relevance, trust, traffic and persistence. A link from a Welsh health board might score five for relevance and trust but lower for traffic. A link from WalesOnline might score highly on traffic and trust. Both are useful for different reasons.

Report on outcomes that matter to public sector clients: reach into Welsh audiences, engagement with policy messages and coverage in Welsh language media. Raw link counts tell a client very little. A small number of high-relevance Welsh links is usually a better result than a large number of generic ones.

Benchmark against the wider UK market where useful, but do not assume that Welsh performance should match London performance. Audience size and media volume are different. Set expectations that reflect the Welsh market.

Compliance checks before pitching public bodies

Before you pitch any Welsh public body, run through a compliance check. The list below covers the main areas that cause pitches to fail.

Work through these in order.

Most failures happen at step two or step three. Agencies pitch a good idea to a body that cannot buy it, or offer English-only content to a body that must publish in Welsh. Fixing those two issues early will improve your success rate more than any outreach tactic.

Common questions