Press Releases. What are the reasons (if any) that I should even consider them?
-
For the last couple years, i believed common knowledge that press releases was NOT the way to go for SEO. So I avoided it like crazy!
Now, I'm doing some research and I realize that some (or alot) companies still create press releases to get the word out so that they can spread the message. I am going to be signing with some clients that are bigger brands and I want to do everything in our power to get the word out. I've done social outreach, commenting and cold emails to influencers before, but now I've been seeing some competitors using press releases with a little success, I want to ask the community, is there a method they recommend of testing efficacy of press releases?
My biggest fear is using press releases then months/years down the line be hit hard by a penalty just for testing different PR sites.
-
Hi Jason,
This is something I can't really give a confident answer on unfortunately. Our list of clients these days don't really lend themselves to legitimate causes for a press release so we haven't done one in a little while.
My best suggestion would be to look at them very closely before submitting and check for the usual quality factors (trust, authority, linking practices etc) and more importantly, try to find sites that actually have real traffic to amplify your efforts rather than just being launched into the ether to be seen by nobody
-
I've always actively avoided those PR sites if I'm honest, so I couldn't tell you my experience with them. As you say, it's a control thing.
-
Thanks for the response Chris! That's really reassuring. I had a feeling that'd it be okay, but just always want to make sure I get my facts straight from my peers.
I mentioned this to Ria (above) but do you have any experience/ or would you recommend dealing with the big PR sites like PR Web? I've handled Press Releases internally and sent them out personally to organizations/targets personally found. I'm sure there are targeted press release sites as well, but I'd just like to get some feedback on that aspect.
-
Ria, thanks for the response! I've utilized the strategy you have mentioned before and it is definitely one that has shown some effectiveness for us. Its much more of a manual but controlled method.
Thats why i'm so nervous bout the PR sites, PR sites your just spitting out generally. Have you ever worked with sites like PRWeb and the other big ones?
-
Just like so many things in this industry, press releases can be done just fine if they're submitted for their original purpose - to release information to the press!
If you're doing it just for the sake of the link then that's where you run into potential problems. Doing it for the right reasons means you're typically going to be placing it on a good site with well written and interesting information rather than just spinning some content to go through the motions.
-
I guess it depends on how you do it, and what it is you're promoting. I'm no PR expert (in the slightest), but one method I personally find effective is to write a press release that could easily be published as a blog post "as is" with different promo images attached. I will not publish this on any of my own platforms.
I will then hunt down and make a list of websites, bloggers, vloggers, etc, that are relevant to what I'm trying to promote. Then send them each personalised email attaching the PDF and images. I've found it a good way of getting it out there in front of the right audience and getting backlinks from relevant websites (especially when run with some sort of incentive like a competition). Many bloggers will thankfully re-write the original press release anyway.
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
-
Are bloggs published on blog platforms and on our own site be considered duplicate content?
Hi, SEO wizards! My company has a company blog on Medium (https://blog.scratchmm.com/). Recently, we decided to move it to our own site to drive more traffic to our domain (https://scratchmm.com/blog/). We re-published all Medium blogs to our own website. If we keep the Medium blog posts, will this be considered duplicate content and will our website rankings we affected in any way? Thank you!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Scratch_MM0 -
Is Syndicated (Duplicate) Content considered Fresh Content?
Hi all, I've been asking quite a bit of questions lately and sincerely appreciate your feedback. My co-workers & I have been discussing content as an avenue outside of SEO. There is a lot of syndicated content programs/plugins out there (in a lot of cases duplicate) - would this be considered fresh content on an individual domain? An example may clearly show what I'm after: domain1.com is a lawyer in Seattle.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | ColeLusby
domain2.com is a lawyer in New York. Both need content on their website relating to being a lawyer for Google to understand what the domain is about. Fresh content is also a factor within Google's algorithm (source: http://moz.com/blog/google-fresh-factor). Therefore, fresh content is needed on their domain. But what if that content is duplicate, does it still hold the same value? Question: Is fresh content (adding new / updating existing content) still considered "fresh" even if it's duplicate (across multiple domains). Purpose: domain1.com may benefit from a resource for his/her local clientale as the same would domain2.com. And both customers would be reading the "duplicate content" for the first time. Therefore, both lawyers will be seen as an authority & improve their website to rank well. We weren't interested in ranking the individual article and are aware of canonical URLs. We aren't implementing this as a strategy - just as a means to really understand content marketing outside of SEO. Conclusion: IF duplicate content is still considered fresh content on an individual domain, then couldn't duplicate content (that obviously won't rank) still help SEO across a domain? This may sound controversial & I desire an open-ended discussion with linked sources / case studies. This conversation may tie into another Q&A I posted: http://moz.com/community/q/does-duplicate-content-actually-penalize-a-domain. TLDR version: Is duplicate content (same article across multiple domains) considered fresh content on an individual domain? Thanks so much, Cole0 -
Is there any reason to Nofollow Internal Links or XML Sitemap?
I am viewing a new client's site and they have the following nofollow(S) on their site homepage. Is there a reason for this? Also, they people who originally built their site have a footer link on every page to their company (I guess to promote their work). They didn't "nofollow" that link lol... What are the thoughts on footer links? About Us Privacy Policy Customer Service Shipping & Returns Blog Contact Us Site Map Thanks James Chronicle
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Atlanta-SMO0 -
Link profile heavy with press release syndication links caused drop at Penguin 2.0
I'm wrestling with something that I'm hoping members of the community can provide input on.... I've working with an enterprise level client that is in the business of data capture and distribution. I've diagnosed a clear drop of traffic on May 22nd, i.e a loss of search visibility post Penguin 2.0. Their link profile is big! Discussions with internal stakeholders who have been with the company 10's of years confirm that no "link building" service providers have ever been hired and no over-zealous employee is ever likely to have tried to "do" link building internally. They are just one of those lucky companies that by their nature publish information that people want to link to and share. As a first port of call I've grouped links by anchor text and can see groups of hundreds of matching anchors based on their brand URL and specific page titles. The matching anchors have resulted from big take up of interesting data that they have marketed via press releases. NOT for link purposes. My question is this.... Does the community think or have evidence (or can point me toward any case studies) that show that Press release syndication alone could result in: a) a penguin penalty or...
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | QubaSEO
b) a devaluing of press release type links during Penguin 2.0 that could have resulted in a loss of search visibility and give the impression of a penalty Your thoughts are much appreciated!0 -
Can a domain name alone be considered SPAM?
If someone has a domain that is spammy, such as "http://seattlesbestinsurancerates.com" can this cause Google to not index the website? This is not our domain, but a customer of ours has a similar one and it appears to be causing issues! Any thoughts? Thanks for any input!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Tosten0 -
My site has disapeared from the serps. Could someone take a look at it for me and see if they can find a reason why?
my site has disappeared from the serps. Could someone take a look at it for me and see if they can find a reason why? It used to rank around 4 for the search "austin wedding venues" and it still ranks number three for this search on Bing. I haven't done any SEO work on it in a while so i don't think i did anything to make Google mad but now it doesn't even rank anywhere in the top 160 results. Here's the link: http://austinweddingvenues.org Thanks in advance Mozzers! Ron
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Ron100 -
What Google considers to be a branded keyword?
We can set our own keywords as branded in SeoMoz campaign, but Google would not necessarily see them like branded. After reading the Blog post at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-wpmuorg-recovered-from-the-penguin-update I had a question: Are there known rules (or at least guesses) what Google considers a branded keyword/anchor text? I guess the first one would be your website domain. So bluewidget.com for example would be a branded keyword for bluewidget.com website. How about Blue Widget or Blue Widget Company?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SirMax0