Paid Press Release Site - Our competitors do it... and it seems to work?
-
Hi
Im seeing our competitors use sites like 24-7pressrelease.com to release rather uninteresting and dubious press releases and it seems to be, looking at their link profiles, the lions share of all links to these particular landing pages. Yet since I've joined SEOMOZ all i've seen is that PR sites don't work and arent worth it.
So far, I've resisted doing any PR stuff and have just kept on creating and promoting content which is severely time heavy work. Is there really 0 value in these? If i have 0 PR currently and add just a couple is that worth it?
The co. we compete against are at it every week with this site and similar paid sites. Are they making a mistake?
-
The true power of Press Release submission is not in spammy press releases but in having a real issue to write a press release about and then making sure it gets printed and posted online by a real news site. If you can do that then you will get a coveted journalistic link that google loves. What your competitor is doing is not a long term strategy. Even if it is working now, at some point google will catch them and they will spend a lot of time fixing the issue. Just continue posting legitimate content on your blog and site and every now and then do something news worthy so you can then get a media mention online, in papers, radio and on tv. Charitable giving and actions go a long way.
-
Hi Guys
Actually we have done, we've started to produce really good video guide content that is involving a local community and we feel it's a real value/content play compared to the competition. So I'll push that one as far as i can first before the press releases.
-
LOL at "I hope that all of my competitors are working their asses off doing press releases." Me too, especially ones that actual media professionals laugh at.
My guess is that you'd be better served by taking the same content you would try to form an exciting press release out of, and crafting a great guest post instead. Find a respected blog in your field to post that on, then repeat with another (original) guest post, and you will SPANK the press release competitor in the SERPs in no time.
-
Three things come to my mind about your situation...
-
links posted on mass press release sites are worth very little
-
if you submit one you might get a tiny tiny amount of credit, if you submit two the second one gets even less credit and if you submit twenty the most recent 10 combined might get less credit than the first.
-
if I want to beat my competitor I will try to do something superior rather than mimicking his methods
What can you do that is superior?
Honestly... I hope that all of my competitors are working their asses off doing press releases.
-
-
Well, I guess I will add a couple of press releases and measure what happens. As long as it's not hurtful I'm happy (apart from the $400 burned of course)!
I'll make sure they are relevant and interesting. Thanks for all the comments.
-
I agree with CharlotteWorks, it really is useless as in generating traffic and buzz unless it is news worthy.
Case studies, product releases would be some good reasons to use PR, if those categories are attractive.
But I do believe it is possible that PR sites can help with link building, but might just be an expensive link. I've looked at places like PRweb(have not used any PR places yet), and they offer PR and submission to NYtimes and AP, for about like $400.
Now I am not sure if these links from NYtimes and Associated Press are actual 100% guaranteed but if they are, it might be worth it just in a link building perspective.
-
I agree in theory with Charlotte, however in real world dynamics, I'm seeing a lot of our competitors using the same PR tactics you describe to inflate inbound links. Clearly this must be a better choice than using the over abundant link directories that are spam saturated.
I would think using PR services in moderation to distribute decent content would be more helpful than relying entirely on them for linking purposes.
-
I tend to think that unless there is actually something exciting or newsworthy to report, a press release is inappropriate, and probably not going to do much for you in terms of a link building boost.
I also tend to think that paid press release sites know there are plenty of people who think press releases DO work to their advantage, and capitalize on that by charging for publishing them.
Unless you have something the world really needs to know about, and therefore a chance of writing a press release that will actually draw some attention from the media, I would focus on other avenues, like maybe guest posting.
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
-
Website is flagged by Google as Compromised Site
Hi everyone, We have been running Google Ads for a while now and last week all of our Google Ads were paused with reason Compromised Site. We reached out to Google and they identify this page as one of the affected page: https://manpower.com.vn/vi/dich-vu-san-dau-nguoi-and-tu-van-nhan-su-cap-cao? The malicious links they found are:
Paid Search Marketing | | ManpowerVietnam
• googie-anaiytics[.]com
• vty68[.]net We have asked our Website vendor to scan and they found nothing. We would be greatly appreciated if you could help. I tried Google Search Console and even the tool Google Safe Browsing that Google itself suggested but both the tools showed that our website does not have any malicious links at all. And yet Google Ads support team keeps telling us our page contains these links. I am wondering if anyone in the community has experienced this before and how did you address this issue. Or could you guys please help to share any tools that you know can do a deep scan on this page and if possible our entire website to help us identify where the links are located? Please let me know if you need any additional information from us and I would be happy to provide it.1 -
AdWords Device-Level Bid Adjustments for Tablet not working for me
Yesterday Wordstream announced that AdWords rolled out device-level bid adjustments for tablet for everyone, but when I go into my campaign settings, it's the way it's always been, with no ability to adjust for tablet. I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this, or is there perhaps some kind of setting I have to turn on? http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/07/26/device-level-bid-adjustments I am so excited about this change, seeing as our cost-per-conversion on tablets is always twice what it is on desktop, and not having control over it was maddening.
Paid Search Marketing | | UnderRugSwept0 -
Trademarked words in in Google Adwords ads - Why do competitors get to use them?
Hi, The keyword I want to use in my ad is trademarked, so they disqualified my ad. The trademark was specifically cited as the reasoning. I tried this across maybe 5 different ads. All disqualified The thing I don't understand is that there are like 10 other advertisers who are actively using this "trademarked" word in their ads. It's not like 1 scooted past Google, there's a ton of advertisers doing it. So how do I get past them or were they grandfathered in or something? FYI... I tried dynamic insert to see if that could my "trademarked" word in the back door, but no luck. Any other ideas? Thanks!
Paid Search Marketing | | marketingcupcake0 -
Do organic penaltys affect paid prominence?
This is a hypothetical question, we're pitching to a potential client tomorrow and I noticed they currently rely almost entirely on AdWords but engage in some pretty sketchy link building schemes. And so that got me thinking, is there any evidence to show that when a site is penalised for their organic results it has an affect of any kind of paid searches?
Paid Search Marketing | | AndieF0 -
Paid directory submission
Hi, i run a small company and provide SEO services to clients. is it worthy to buy paid directory submission?
Paid Search Marketing | | tpt.com0 -
Bought old site. Two weeks later, rankings burnt... could this be why?
Hi all, Just joined SEOmoz. Good to be here. I bought an amateur business directory site (not a web directory, but actual profiles of professionals) started in 2004 with page 1 rankings for the top 2 keywords in a professionals niche. Very stable rankings for years and super clean link profile. However I fear I have killed the asset in a matter of weeks, hopefully it's not terminal... here's what I did: #NOTE: I have reverted all changes 2 days ago, but still going down in the rankings. **A) Added Google Analytics:**I think this is what killed it. Why? I didn't realize the analytics account I used had been previously used for a website that was burnt by the search engines, I believe because of duplicate content (I copied a full glossary from a book, didn't know better at the time).Looking at my AWstats the traffic started going down slightly the same day I put the code. It's gone from 170 to 80 visitors per day in 1 week, steadily going down. I rank page 4 or 8 now for what I was page 1 before :(Could it be Google all of a sudden linked that blacklisted (I suppose) Analytics account with the newly purchased site and decided to doom it as well?How can I redeem it?I have taken out the analytics code snippet and deleted the url from the account.OTHER CHANGES: B) On-site SEO: Added H1 in homepage with main keyword (only had H2s before)- Added H1 in each professional profile page "[Professional type] in [Region]" (only had H2s before)- Changed title "[Professional type] - Region: [Region], Professional [Name]The idea behind the changes was to add H1 which in my understanding is very important and was missing, and to include the location in the title, as many searches are of the type "[Professional] in [region]".I think what could have hurt it is now many pages have the same H1.I have reversed all changes.C) I launched a Google Adwords test campaign.In the campaign, because it was a quick test to see how much traffic I could get from the kws, not an attempt to get new sign ups, I simply copy-pasted a landing page from another site and tweaked the text so it made sense to my audience. I run the test for a day or two.
Paid Search Marketing | | Demosthenes
D) Added Hellobar.There was no correlation in time between adding the hellobar and rankings going down, so I don't think this mattered. I have taken it out too.**THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!**I really want to develop a long term asset I can focus on full-time but I fear I may have stupidly doomed the whole website already.0 -
Preparation of website before Submitting to Paid Directories?
I am reading that submitting to premium directories is a good way to get a jumpstart on SEO rankings. I have noticed that most of the good ones take a while in order to be approved and that many do not guarantee a listing, even if you pay $299 (Yahoo). So my question is, Do directories turn you away if you have bad web page optimization on your website? Because if they do then I definitely need work done there first. Any advice on getting accepted into the premium directories the first time? Boo
Paid Search Marketing | | Boodreaux0 -
What are the best sources for finding competitor PPC spending by category?
Can anyone provide sources for gathering paid search advertising spend for competitors, preferably by category? Thank you.
Paid Search Marketing | | JoeAmadon0