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Are you trying to get the word out about your organization? Or planning to create exposure to recent activity, product announcement, or release? Press releases provide your business with the national media coverage and first-page search engine prominence, all for the price of one news story. Although there’s a high chance you haven’t utilized them, you must’ve heard about the idea of press releases.
The idea behind press releases is that they are used to share newsworthy content with interested clients. They can also be used to accompany and compliment your existing SEO strategy, which comprises a social presence, blogging, blogger outreach programs, or content marketing.
It wasn’t long ago when press releases were prevalent and very popular in the SEO community. But are they still relevant for SEO today? Are you wondering how SEO and press releases are connected? Will the time and effort invested in dealing with a press release pay off? It’s simple! The answer is yes. Besides the syndication on significant news sites, a well-constructed, well-written, and gripping online press release can appear on search engine results pages in the ‘News Results’ section.
When search engines consider that search results for a given keyword could be improved by related news stories, they add a ‘News Results’ section on the first page. Keyword-optimization in news-like press release show up on popular searches and are beneficial in boosting visibility quickly and effectively.
Press releases are still pertinent not only for search engine optimization but for marketing, in general, for a long time. Publishing information about your company or an event on noteworthy news sites serves as a beneficial tool for your brand and SEO. They are considered as an excellent initial step for reaching any audience. How, you might ask? It’s mostly about backlinks. Press releases grab attention from both traditional media and Google or Yahoo News and generate quality backlinks to your site.
Building backlinks is one of the toughest tasks for SEO and creating high-quality backlinks are even more difficult. And to do all this naturally without using risky tricks such as PBNs or buying them is a challenge. And press releases? They combine all three, which makes it probably the best link building method available. They help you create high-quality links quickly, and they’re also natural and won’t result in any penalties, if done right, of course.
Press releases usually adhere to the following line of events:
If generating topics for your press release gives you a headache, you can download our pdf of 108 brilliant ideas for press releases.
If news publishers start talking about you, you can gain backlinks from the news sites themselves, that carry a high amount of equity, and also score a significant number of backlinks from other webmasters who read the news.
Before starting to write, submit, or send out a press release, there are two vital questions to ask:
Remember this statement for press releases— “If you don’t acquire anything newsworthy to publish, don’t attempt to write a press release at all.”
When you move past these two questions with the correct answer (clue: the correct answer ought to be “yes” to the two inquiries), then comes the writing part!
The prime SEO benefit of a press release? Indirect value.
The greatest advantage of a press release lies in the indirect value it produces. If your press release is captivating, unique, and articulate, then a newspaper, blog, or media outlet is likely to pick it up and champion it, through which your company achieves that golden link, buzz, traffic, mention, etc. from all of these outside sources.
More SEO benefits that come from a press release submission include:
Another benefit of using press releases is their extraordinary effectiveness in geo-targeting. If you are selling a product or service in an area with a population under 350, 000 people, make sure to include your location in the title.
Google has also announced that press releases will be weighted more heavily in SEO rankings compared to other forms of content. There is no better time to use this platform for your product or service.
Read the following steps for composing an excellent, optimized press release.
Figure out what is distinct about your company and story and use that to evoke excitement. It is vital that your story is memorable and does not appear as an announcement. Readers and writers will not be compelled to read about a new business or a new product; instead, they will want to read a story where they hear your enthusiasm behind the organization, or about an impeccable product to help them resolve an obstacle they’re facing.
To ensure that your story quickly conveys its point, it is suggested to use brief titles propelled by keywords. These are more effective compared to catchy titles serving to spark curiosity, as journalists are more concerned with knowledge from the onset of what the story is about. A general guideline is to keep the headline under 70 characters.
An “About the Company” section is generally included after a few passages of the story. This section should be brief and written from a third-person perspective. Use this to include the necessary information and also include points referring to the story.
A succinct summary is necessary to allow journalists and influencers to quickly get an idea of whether or not they should publish your content. This section should ideally be around 160 words and contain a clear overview
Ensure that your story is easily accessible to those to whom it may be relevant. Figure out what readers may be searching for and incorporate those keywords.
Your copy should, similar to the title, be persuasive in communicating the story. Use the first 350 to 500 words to convey all your details, including keywords. Answer questions including the who, what, when, where, why, and how clearly and understandably. Steer clear of specialized language and provide definitions for any technical vocabulary you use.
Make sure to include your any pertinent information for the audience to get in touch with you after reading the press release. This can be your company, address, email, website or your social media account like Facebook, Instagram and twitter.
Construct your press release as if it was a single webpage. Be mindful of how it will appear in an email and look at successful press releases for inspiration. Make use of concise sentences and paragraphs, and format using headings, bold, and italics.
There are two ways to reach your audience with press releases. The first is to go through your press release company’s distribution network to reach a wide range of outside media outlets. This includes content media, search engines, online news services, radio stations and bloggers/influencers.
The second option is to reach out to the relevant media outlets that you want your content to be published on. Although it provides the opportunity to be noticed by a broad audience, avoid sending your press release to several international and national media outlets. Instead, target small audiences through local newspapers, TV stations, and radio, as they tend to be more approachable and quicker to respond. Also, seek media such as newspapers, blogs, or magazines, within your forte.
Press agencies often enable you to include images, audio, and videos. Whenever feasible, employ a mediator–such as YouTube, Flickr, or iTunes to accommodate these features and tag them to obtain traffic from these platforms.
Create a YouTube video that is user friendly for your audience, this is not intended to be for news outlets. Now, include keywords in the title of this video and embed it in your press release.
Here’s an example below.
Press Release Title:
Natural Odorless Bully-Sticks Provide Healthy Pet Treats for Elderly Dogs
YouTube Title:
5 Reasons Why Elderly Dogs Need Bully-Sticks
Doing this will help your SEO ranking while also providing more quality content for your audience.
If you would like any further information on press releases please contact info@prreach.com
Norman Farrar is a serial entrepreneur who provides online marketing and managed eCommerce solutions for brands. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz and 20th Century Fox. Since the early 1990s, Norman has focused on helping entrepreneurs optimize their operations and unlock their business’s potential.
