Press Releases benefit from having an author
-
We just started doing some Press Releases and want to maximize the benefits of them to our full potential.
Would it be beneficial for our PR to have an author? We know Google likes real people and was wondering if attaching the author to the PR will provide more strength to that particular author?
-
Adding on to what Peter said, a press release is not a news story, it's a statement about a newsworthy item. The purpose of a press release is to grab the attention of journalists/bloggers so that they will want to to contact you (the press contact) for the information they need to craft their own news and feature stories.
A press release should be concise and scannable. Leave out the details. They will get those after contacting you.
While I agree with EGOL that distributing content authored by Christie Christie on bridge traffic would definitely garner a ton of attention, I would consider that an article meant for syndication if widely distributed to publishers --- not a press release. Including a direct quote from Chris Christie would be one way to grab attention with the press release, as would mentioning an opportunity to interview Chris Christie in a press conference, for instance. And yes, press releases are often released solely to let journalists know about press conferences and other PR events.
I hope that helps!
-
Would it be beneficial for our PR to have an author?
Maybe.
Depends who is the author.
Although most press releases are written for an organization that is not a law or a requirement. Imagine a press release written in the first person by Chris Christie on bridge traffic... or by Dr. Richard Besser on a new measles vaccine... or by Pope Francis on "Who am I to judge". Those would get awesome attention.
Now, if Joe Schmoe is writing about any of those topics... people will not care about it.
So, if you have somebody who is somebody who will be doing the writing it might be to your advantage to use them.
And, if you are thinking about this from a google authorship perspective a sleepy press release written by a schlepper might have negative value compared to something inspiring written by the nameless author.
-
Typically, press releases are issued by companies not people, unless the person is representing their own brand.
So in the case of a company, I would say no, because whilst you may have written it a press release is really a statement and not something you would consider as 'authored'.
For blog articles however, definitely yes. Link the article to the individual's Google+ account in the page code by using the rel=author tag in the page to do that.
I hope that helps,
Peter
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
-
Switch to naked domain that has higher page authority
Brilliant Moz community! I just started here and find it so helpful and am confident that I can get an answer to this. Our domain is currently https://www.example.com. I have been wanting to move to https://example.com just for a cleaner URL. To my surprise, https://example.com has the same DA but a significantly higher page authority than our current https://www.example.com. Of course my immediate reaction is to 301 to the https://example.com but I wanted to get some advice and anything we should consider before doing this. My other question would be - how is this possible? I don't remember that we ever used that domain but we also had some rather bad developers a couple of years back. Thank you so much in advance!
Branding | | kris-fannin0 -
Niche sites migration into one authority site
I have multiple websites within the health niche. All 3 sites are about different topics: protein powder, superfoods, and sustainable products. I am thinking about migrating those 3 sites into 1 big site, to establish more authority and for branding purposes. But since those domains are exact match domains, and those exact keywords are pretty high volume, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. Will this be a good idea from a traffic/conversion/seo standpoint? Or should I make a header on top where people can 'switch' between those 3 sites? Or just leave them seperate?
Branding | | mrdjdevil0 -
Wikipedia and Domain Authority?
Hi there, my company is an online publisher of Theater news and reviews. We also sell theater tickets. We presently don't have a Wikipedia page. Would creating one generally help our search rankings?
Branding | | TheaterMania0 -
No Domain Link In Press Release, What About Yelp?
Hi Moz, I understand that using a PR for SEO benefit is old-school, black hat, and largely outlawed by Google. We are simply trying to get our name pushed further into the local market, i.e., using a press release for it's natural intention. Our company offers free quotes through our site and the scheduling of jobs with new clients is largely done online. I think it seems silly NOT to have a link to our URL in the press release, but rather than poke Google, we're fine omitting it. However, would linking our Yelp near the end be a big deal? Yelp no-follows their URLs back to the company site so there isn't a risk with pumping up a support link through PR and we can provide SOME clickable link to our information. Thoughts?
Branding | | kirmeliux0 -
High authority brand expanding product line, domain question
Hi MOZers, I've been given a handy little domain puzzle to deal with and would love insight from the community. Here's the situation: We're retailers of one specific, big, nationally known product. Let's pretend it's the Snuggee (IT'S NOT). People search for it and buy it from our site, or from Amazon or other retailers that we distribute it to. We're about to expand to carry a bunch of related, but different products - so from a one-product brand to 5 or 6 different items, relating to different keyword searches. Imagine Snuggee people want to start selling a whole bunch of products that solve the same needs of warming the front of your body and making you look silly. The owners want to change the main domain from [specific product] to [name similar to specific product, but is more general]. What concerns me is how to handle the fame of the branded product in terms of domain names. Current domain, based on that product, has a ton of links and a decent age. Owners are thinking to redirect everything to fresh new unestablished domain. While I know 301s will pass most link value, it will also be a home page that will be about a bunch of products - not just that main known one. In fact, we're considering making a URL for each product as landing page, of which old famous product would be one of 5 or 6 pages. Two main options we're considering right now: Keep old domain as a doorway page featuring just old product, with same look and feel, and from which any links would point to the new domain. Try to keep this as ranking for top result for this search, which should be easy. Unify everything under new domain, with old product being featured on a separate page / subdirectory. Hope that new home page still can rank pretty well for our old product, even though it will be talking about other products now as well. What we'd stand to lose would be the SERP for old products featuring too many big box retailers that sell our stuff and take a chunk out of our margins. The goal is to help us become known for many things, while still being always the best search result for what we're already known for. Which of those two options seem best, or is there another I'm missing altogether? Thank you!
Branding | | advancedSemiotics0 -
Should I create a Google + account for the brand for Rel=Author
Hi, What I meant is should I use the above mentioned account as rel=author for category pages etc? It seems to me improper to use my account (with my picture) in a category page and to show my face in the SERPS for searches like "Toshiba Laptops". On the other hand, if in the SERPS it will show our Logo it might increase CTR... Any thoughts? Thanks
Branding | | BeytzNet0 -
Questions about Press Releases
Are sites such as Marketwire, PRWeb, PRnewswire, BusinessWire, e-Releases and PitchEngine good for editorial back links? Also, if I have a press release on PRWeb, for example, can I have the EXACT same one on Martketwire, etc or do I need to worry about duplicate content?
Branding | | tutugirl0 -
Has anyone had success with product page rel=author? Can I protect the content but dump the face on the SERPS?
Hi, Is there a way to get the benefits of rel=author for protecting site content but to disconnect that from the face photo on the SERPS? We added rel=author to our unique and individually written product descriptions and reviews. This has led to a decrease in click thru thus far. I suspect this is because when searching for a product to buy the user sees the face and thinks "review" or at least "not corporate". I don't nec. want to dump rel=author in the sea yet for our ecom pages, has anyone had success with product page rel=author? Four our keywords, we are the only company of 10 well known travel sites that have the face in the SERPS, far from improving our CTR, it has trashed it. Any ideas?
Branding | | xoffie0