Link Building with PRweb press releases
-
Im looking for tips or best practices when sending out PR for link building.
I send out at least 4 press releases per month using prweb’s advanced release which allows anchor text. For the past few months I’ve been rotating branded terms, exact match keywords and full URL’s as the links, but always linking to my home page or to one particular subpage. Most of the releases are to announce upcoming projects or to announce a recent website launch for a client, less often we’re highlighting a service or special we want to promote.
Im wondering if I should be linking to more sub pages to spread links around, and if I should be focusing more on branded terms vs. exact match anchors. Due to the cost involved I just want to be sure im getting the most out of it.
-
[Response removed by forum moderator.]
-
This is always the issue with "We need you to prepay because... blah blah blah." The real reason is, if we did it month to month, it would kill the model.
I think the problem will be that slowly it has no real value. How slowly,who knows, I have never been able to justify the cost for the PR services. I have gotten a lot of emails from them telling me they disagree with me though.
Best
-
For one client whose work is generating some interesting potential headlines (business technology for the financial sector), I'm starting to experiment with PressKing.com. It's a distribution wire that's roughly like DM'ing an unusually large, influential Google+ circle. It's too early to call it a success, but here's why I think it's important to use in tandem with any PR:
- Their database includes journalists and bloggers who've consented to receiving fresh news on an overwhelming list of topics. Client wants to publicize a new patent for mobile checking? Want to get your PR in front of 2000+ US-based columnists who've expressed interest in "ATMs", "Business Technology", or "Digital Imaging"? (It seems like a good idea, no?) You can do that with PressKing, and the contacts span from high-DA sites like NYTimes, Bloomberg, and WSJ to niche news sites and industry quarterlies.
- If you're already using OSE to identify where related sites receive links from, and you know your client's low-hanging fruit (i.e. sites that link to multiple competitors but not to your client's site), it could be an excellent idea to add contact email addresses from those sites to the distribution list. Would it be more effective to reach out directly to individual journalists with a personalized note? Probably – but if you don't have the time, I think there's a way to do this respectfully, and successfully.
The technical considerations of which keywords to use, what anchor text, to which pages, I think are old-world considerations that obscure the real issue. The real issue is how to get links to your latest and greatest content while it's still fresh, and "fresh" is powerful bait for many journalists seeking word counts to occupy an otherwise slow news day. I hope this helps!
-
Wait, PR Web is sending some really nice links your way.
-
I am no expert, in fact I probably should not be giving advice, but here are my 2 cents. With the recent Penguin updates it seems that we now need to blend exact match anchor text with branded keywords. Make sure you diversify your back links, try to keep it natural.
-
Great ideas, thank you! The reason I've been sending them as one-offs is to keep the flow steady and add these types of links each month, but I really like your ideas about promoting great content. Easier said than done of course...
-
It's working OK, but it's hard to justify the cost. My goal was not to get the attention of the press, although I have on rare occasions, it was to get the releases picked up by authority domains for some decent links. It's certainly a case of diminishing returns since it seems to be the same sites that pick up the releases each month. I prepaid for a year with PRweb so im trying to get the most out it.
-
Most of the releases are to announce upcoming projects or to announce a recent website launch for a client, less often we’re highlighting a service or special we want to promote.
These topics are ephemeral rather than evergreen.
Just saying what I would do.....
I would announce client sites in batches - one batch of several clients every couple of months.
I would make three or four great pieces of content that are best-on-the-web in your niche each month (posted on your own site) and send one press release to PRweb that announces all of them. People might say WOW... if anybody still reads PRWeb releases.
I think that this would focus your efforts on building great equity in your website and minimize your investment in topics of temporary interest and using PRWeb - which IMO is a low value service. Maybe share your release with a couple of bloggers in your niche.
-
Nick,
Wow, by paying extra you get to use anchor text! OK, sorry, had to do that...
To say I have an opinion on these is an understatement. First, it sounds as if you are using them as more of an actual release which is good. Most companies use them as web trash and news rehash with a company or firm name repeated: XYZ announces inside toilets used more often than outhouses in US!!
My question would be, how is it working for you? Are you getting links back and are they of value? If so, where do you need/want them and make sure you are watching for questionable ones, keeping anchor text varied, etc.
Rand did a nice piece on Link earning versus link building that I went back and reread that speaks to more "meritorious" (for lack of a better term) link gathering. I think over time we will see this type of link building diminish. As someone who understands PR, I can tell you that the "press" does not see this type of thing due to there being so much of it. So, to call it a press release is overstating it at best. These are link building tools for the web.
I think with Penguin and all the other animals, slowly these will lose value.
Good to see someone at least using it like a real press release about their company,
Best
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Value of no-follow links
I'm curious to understand roughly how much % of value a no-follow link has in building authority relative to a do-follow link? I understand that Google seems consistently and growingly focused on value - ie. is the link valuable in growing the business, irregardless of SEO - and perhaps therefore the no-follow / do-follow distinction is becoming a more unnecessary dichotomy. How does Google look at do-follow vs no-follow links? And how much weight now is really given to one compared to the other?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Gavo0 -
Disavowing Affiliate Links - Domain or Actual Affiliate Link?
Hi everyone, Hope you're all having a great day, I have a question in regards to a site which I am about to disavow. Over the past 2 months a certain page of ours has dropped from the 2nd page, all the way to the 7th. I haven't been able to diagnose why, however, yesterday I discovered that a site has been using an Lafitte link on his sidebar, the link is a do-follow. Webmaster tools indicates that this site has linked to us over 24,000 times. I understand that this link could potentially ruin our rankings - however, in terms of disavowing, what is the best approach here? Do I disavow their domain, or do I disavow the actual affiliate link also? The link is placed within an image, once the image is clicked it redirects you to another link for a second then redirects to our money site. We have got in touch with our affiliate program and they have made the link a no-follow, however, we are pretty certain this site is causing issues for us and we want to go ahead and disavow. Thanks, Brett
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Brett-S0 -
Wrong titles in site links
Hello fellow marketers, I have found this weird thing with our website in the organic results. The sitelinks in the SERP shows wrong written text. As in grammatically incorrect text. My question is where does Google get the text from? It is not the page title as we can see it. kKsFv0X.png
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | auke18101 -
'Nofollow' footer links from another site, are they 'bad' links?
Hi everyone,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | romanbond
one of my sites has about 1000 'nofollow' links from the footer of another of my sites. Are these in any way hurtful? Any help appreciated..0 -
Can Press Releases Be Beneficial for SEO?
Can it hurt your website if there are thousands of links to your website from multiple websites with identical content? Is there a right way to use PR for SEO?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sbrault740 -
What to talk about when building relationships
Hello, I'm assessing what to do to build relationships in my client's niche. For each possible backlink provider, I'm thinking 1. Like them on facebook 2. Follow them on Twitter 3. Add them on G+ 4. Read their recent blog posts. 5. Comment in their facebook account about what I liked about their latest blog posts and tweet (though I don't know what to tweet here) 6. Post helpful blog post comments 7. Get the conversation going, then talk to them introduce my content to them that will help them. (though I don't know how to make the transition) I'm marketing a PDF that is helpful for their site and an HTML article (same content as the PDF) that has been non-commercialized. This is for an ecommerce business. My biggest void is not knowing how to lead a good relationship conversation into a conversion. I don't want to be salesy. But I'm looking for general comments as well, like what to tweet and anything I've left out in the list.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0 -
% of the time you find email addresses - broken link building
Hello, What percentage of the time do you find an exact email address of the person to contact when doing broken link building? And what do you do if you can't find an email address? Always interested in more tools if I need them, my last post here brought out several good tools. Thank you.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0 -
Building A Forum
I want to build a forum, and I was wondering, can anyone please help me find an open source platform for building it? I want it to be custom and I want to create my own rules. Also I want this forum to be about all topics, is that going to be an issue?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SEODinosaur0