Do Press Releases help ranking?

[Mase]

Sorry to bring up this question again. I have done a ton of reading on it and most of it shows me that it is not a good idea:

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-press-release-links-16136.html
http://authoritylabs.com/blog/press-releases-seo-strategy/
http://www.theclinegroup.com/2014/07/09/google-killing-seo-press-releases/

But then there are a few articles showing some semblance of it having an affect.

http://searchengineland.com/links-from-press-releases-do-have-ranking-benefit-despite-what-google-says-145139

Here are some from my company that were done by our last marketer. We're trying to determine if we should continue doing these. Probably launched close to 200 of these.

http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/chicago-business-lawyers-weigh-if-motorolas-gift-to-city-violates-antitrust-laws-579439.htm
http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/new-york-attorneys-will-be-in-high-demand-if-data-security-law-passes-579440.htm
http://www.abnewswire.com/pressreleases/chicago-business-lawyers-weigh-if-motorolas-gift-to-city-violates-antitrust-laws_23357.html
http://www.abnewswire.com/pressreleases/new-york-attorneys-will-be-in-high-demand-if-data-security-law-passes_23358.html
http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/california-intellectual-property-lawyers-battle-to-protect-clients-ip-579154.htm

What's your take?

[RyanPurkey]

Excellent. Glad I could help Mase. It sounds like you have the right perspective on this as well.  Cheers!

[Mase]

Thanks Ryan.

I fully agree on the approach of trying to put out a press release with the intention that it will get "picked up" and covered by some other news / media outlet where we get an original and unique article discussing the topic, rather than just reposting the same exact press release.

We have been doing this under one effort - as we expand. And then there are the releases I pasted in my question where we were doing it for the sake of SEO and I didn't like that once I figured out why / how we were approaching it.

[Mase]

Thank you everyone! You have confirmed my thoughts on the matter in every way. I think as we try to understand why SEO is doing well (yay!), we want to do our best to figure out which things had the most impact. It seems nearly impossible to answer that well, and so we end up questioning things and want to try to get to the bottom of efforts like this.

[taryn_s]

You have some good answers from Ryan and Hutch there. Press releases should be used as part of a larger overall strategy and not be the only thing you're doing to build links and/or drive traffic.

As Hutch said, by all means, if you have something useful to say, why not do a press release? If you're just doing it for the sake of it, you'd need to consider what the benefit is.

Ryan said it better than I could but definitely steer clear of spun press releases as this all this will do will give a short cut to getting yourself a penalty.

I'd look to invest in a more complete content strategy if you haven't already. If you're still looking for more traffic and have the budget, have you considered using a content distribution network such as Outbrain or Taboola? This can be a great way to get more eyeballs on your content and also build links. Here's a great post on using content distribution networks written after a test carried out by Seer Interactive. Rand also did a Whiteboard Friday a few weeks back on how paid media can have SEO benefits. This is something I've done in the past with really good results.

[Hutch42]

Look at your press releases how you look at content, if your press release is worth while and either ads value or answers a question then it can be useful as it will be picked up by relevant sites and used properly.  If you are just putting out press releases across sites which are spammy, then as Ryan said, they will not be helpful, or even have a negative effect.

[RyanPurkey]

Hi Mase. The type of press release that gets the best benefit regarding rankings is when it's sourced via the press side. In situations like that, you have news based sites that are receiving large numbers of visits sending referrals to your site along with the associated links. The release from your side of it may be a new product, service, personal interest story, local news, business profile, etc. You'll be wanting to pitch various aspects of your site to the press for them to do the write up and publish to their network. Those are still, and will remain, really great sources of links / referrals.

The commoditized form of spun press releases across a network of press release sites is a bad route to go. Google has taken on several algorithmic changes to discount these.  Cheers!

[abiondo]

I am getting ready to test this myself using PRWEB and would love to hear feedback from other folks too.  It looks like the links from PR Web are no follow, but I am not sure if the News Sites they distribute to add nofollow.

Anthony