Best way to link from press releases
-
I'm wondering what people recommend for linking from press releases; specifically, what kind of tracking parameters people add to their links, if any.
My first thought is to add UTM tracking parameters for Google Analytics, but I have a few concerns:
- bloggers that copy our link from the release include the tracking parameters in the links from their site, which would only identify the traffic as coming from the release and not the specific sites
- UTM parameters in the link may make it look less natural to Google
Also, I've considered using shortened URL's without parameters in the release that get 301 redirected to the relevant pages, which I thought might have a few benefits:
- the links look more natural (no tracking parameters)
- UTM parameters could be added as part of the redirect after the fact
- if the release attracted links from spammy sources for some reason I could kill the redirect, which I'm hoping would effectively kill the link
My company doesn't rely on press releases for link building, which we understand to have been ineffective for a long time, but we do send them out occasionally and want the most effective links for tracking and SEO.
I'd love to hear if anyone has thoughts on these assumptions, or if anyone has different linking strategies that they have found strike the right balance of SEO and tracking considerations. Thanks!
-
I think UTM is one of the best methods to track all of your Marketing Campaigns. It has helped me a lot in reducing the complexity of securing a network.
You can find the below link helpful to you.
https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/t5/Google-Analytics-Reports/UTM-tracking-Removal/td-p/1276751
-
I found some tools online that address some of my concerns about using UTM codes that I think will help a lot.
First, this poster developed a script that removes UTM codes from the URL in the address bar of a user's browser so they are gone when a user copy and pastes the link from there. Doesn't help if people copy the link directly out of the press release but my feeling is that more people get it from the address bar anyway. That should go a long way to make sure there aren't links out in the wild with inappropriate UTM codes attached.
https://websiteadvantage.com.au/Google-Analytics-UTM-RemovalSecond, this poster created a script that dynamically replaces the utm_source code with the name of the referring site any time it processes a link where the utm_source code is set to the word "dynamic". That means any traffic that comes from sites that have UTM codes on the links will still have their source tracked properly.
https://www.bounteous.com/insights/2014/06/11/campaign-tracking-dynamic-source/Now that I have these tools, I'm planning on including UTM tags in my press release links. To build links conservatively per the Whiteboard Friday I mentioned earlier, I'm going to point the links at canonical versions of my pages or at URL's that are 301 redirected to the relevant pages. Still not sure if this is a great strategy so I'd love to hear people's thoughts, but I will try it out and see how it goes in the meantime.
-
Thanks John. That post does include a good tip about keeping UTM tags SEO-friendly, although it doesn't address whether or not UTM codes are good way to track press release traffic. The issue with UTM codes that concerns me the most is that anyone that copies and pastes links with the UTM codes elsewhere on the web does not have their traffic source tracked properly.
-
Hey Kyle! Roman had a great answer to this when he answered a previous question - https://moz.com/community/q/do-long-utm-codes-hurt-seo - take a peek.
-
Yes we moved to https in the last year and I just confirmed that all properties and views are set to https. Good thought, though!
-
Hey Kyle,
Another side question before I answer (sorry for the delay). Have you moved your site to https and have you changed the admin parameters to https in property settings and view settings?
Most change the former but some miss the view settings. We saw similar things with organic traffic over this year and the issue was that the view was not set to https.
Let me know and I'll give you feedback on the link question after.
Thanks!
John
-
Hi John,
I feel like over the years more and more of my traffic is incorrectly showing up in Google Analytics with a "direct" source and have confirmed that is the case with some of my referral traffic, so I've been using UTM codes more often to correctly credit referrers in my reports.
Ideally the only UTM parameter I'd use would be the "Campaign" parameter so I could easily see aggregate statistics about traffic generated by the press release in GA regardless of source. However, I believe you're required to include source and medium parameters when using UTM codes, which is what makes all traffic look like it's coming from the same place when the link is copied to other sites. If I could just set a campaign parameter and let Google fill in the blanks for source and medium that would be great. Does anyone know if that works?
Alternatively I'm considering creating new pages on my site that are duplicates of existing pages with appropriate canonical links and linking to the new pages in my release. I was inspired by the concept of "canonical burn pages" that I first heard in this Whiteboard Friday.
https://moz.com/blog/risk-averse-link-building-whiteboard-fridayThis method would address quite a few of my concerns:
- links look natural
- traffic from any source that ends up using this unique URL will be inherently aggregated when viewing reports for that URL
- Google should report accurate "source" data
- can kill the page if I end up with a lot of spammy inbound links
The only downside I can see is that we'll have to maintain duplicate pages, but I suppose we could put a 301 redirect on the URL at some point down the road and abandon the duplicate.
This strategy is still a work in progress so I'd still love to hear anyone else's thoughts about the best ways to link from press releases.
-
Hey Kyle,
This is also a good question. I'm curious as to why you would want to add the UTM parameters as you could just look at the referring source of traffic and attribute it to the specific site that the e-release is on. I'm looking forward to the discussion as I know some others will provide good feedback.
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
-
2 tier links campaign
I want to launch a 2 tier campaign, I have been building high-quality backlinks to my site, that means sites relevant to my niche, quality content ( more than 700 words), high domain authority and so on. But making an in deep research I realized the half of my backlinks are almost invisible to Google and the other ones have just a few links and traffic. So I decided to take some actions Build 2 tiers links to my backlinks in order to make them visible Boots their social signals with the same goal in mind ( social shares, likes, comments and so on) So my questions are Does anyone have experience with that? What kind of results did you get in the past? Is this useful? Thanks and regards
Social Media | | Roman-Delcarmen0 -
How to see who shared my link on twitter
I post many blog posts on twitter, but How to see who shared my link on twitter? What I need to search to find out this?
Social Media | | varunrupal0 -
Pinterest Link Value
Hello, First of all I know that all the links which come from Pinterest are no follow. However about 4 years ago we made a campaign to pinterest for one of the websites we are managing. Although the thing was going well we had to stop it for various reasons. Right now, 4 years later, this thing has grown big without any move for us! All these years our pins, which were great in many aspects, were continuously reppined. This has lead to the point where the Google Search Console is reporting that about 500.000 links are linking to our website from Pinterest. We know how this has helped us or not concerning the actual refferring traffic from Pinterest but our main question, and this where we want the Moz's community help, is how is this helping from a SEO aspect. Thank you!
Social Media | | Tz_Seo1 -
Best Twitter for SEO Accounts
Every few months I clean out my Twitter account to cut the noise and refocus on SEO. Please help me by leaving feedback for your top five SEO related Twitter accounts to follow!
Social Media | | RLG0 -
Trying to link a Legacy Youtube account to a Google+ Page, the option isn't available...
Hello,
Social Media | | allstatetransmission
I am working on one of my clients projects and would love some advice before making some changes to their Google+ and Youtube account. We created the youtube account before Google+ and Youtube combined so we have a seperate name for the Youtube and Google+ Profile. They were created using separate emails, but both emails are managers of each others "account." We can't combine the two as it won't give me the option, only the option to create a new Youtube channel based on the Google+ Profile. But I already have videos loaded up on the Older Channel that I would like to keep and use for my current Google+ Profile. I have tried to disconnect the Youtube channel to hopefully get the option to link the two, but it just says it is a unavailable option. So my question is:
What advice do you guys have with any of this type of Youtube and Google+ mismatch profile/channels? I am not finding much online besides links to unattaching accounts but that is giving me a message saying that it isn't possible. Or would creating a new channel linked to the Google+ page and just reuploading the videos/transcripts be my best bet? Thank you for your feedback, and if you want anymore details (I know this description when not looking at the accounts might not be enough info, feel free to ask.) I really appreciate it. J0 -
Buzz Bundle by www.link-assistant.com
Does anyone have some feedback on Buzz Bundle software? I am wondering whether using this package to create 100 personas to create your own social media buzz is really going to help with rankings. The idea "feels wrong" but ... Regards, Andrew http://www.link-assistant.com/buzzbundle/
Social Media | | andrewjd0 -
Lots of youtube videos, but no links.
Hi, I have more than 100 videos on youtube with thousands of visits. This videos are often inserted in other websites, but I don't get links from them. How to take advantage of it?
Social Media | | ociosu0 -
What are different strategies to achieve a strong social presence for clients in multiple industries? How do you best leverage your time?
I just finished watching the mozinar on "The End of Search Without Social" mozinar, and I have so many points that I want to implement for our agency. The problem I see is that we have clients in about 20 different industries. How do you create strong social relationships in each of these industries for your clients? It seems that you could have more influence if you built all into your own personal profiles or your SEO company's to create that great fan base. Anyone have success in doing it across the board? Thanks!
Social Media | | esztanyo0