The concept behind press releases is that they should be used to share newsworthy content with interested parties. Press releases can also be used to complement your existing SEO strategy which may already include a social presence, blogger outreach programs, blogging, or content marketing.
That being said, press releases today no longer hold the same SEO value they did several years ago, as Google started recognizing that some companies were using them principally to gain backlinks, rather than for sharing news topics.
Before You Start
Before you start writing, submitting, or sending out a press release, there are two important questions to ask:
- Do people outside the company need to know about the topic?
- Recall the saying from growing up: “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all.” Keep this in mind for press releases as well — “If you don’t have anything newsworthy to say, don’t write a press release at all.”
- Is a press release the best way to share the topic or information?
Once you can move past these two questions with the right answer (hint: the right answer should be “yes” to both questions), the next step is to start writing!
What Are the SEO Benefits of a Press Release?
Simply put, the biggest SEO benefit of a press release is indirect value! In today’s SEO world, press releases provide more indirect value than direct value.
Direct value comes when the press release URL itself is ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs), which is possible, albeit rare. For example, a press releases that appears in the “News” section of a Google search can drive organic traffic to your website, generating buzz and brand awareness. You can also get direct value from the link of the press release site.
That said, the real gold of a press release lies in the indirect value it generates. If your press release is unique, eloquent, valuable, and attention-grabbing, then a newspaper, media outlet, or other blog is more likely to pick it up and champion it. When they do so, your company gets that golden link, mention, citation, buzz, referral traffic, etc. from all of these outside sources, not just from the submission site.