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Are
Press Releases Still Good For SEO?
Press
releases are a great way of garnering media attention,
but do they still influence search rankings? If you
do them the correct way, then yes.
By
Loren Baker
Every
PR professional knows the power of the press release.
Whether
you’re launching a new product, announcing a
merger, or have any other notable information you
want to share, the press release is a great way to
distribute that information.
But
does it have any impact on your SEO efforts?
If
you’ve been around long enough, you may remember
when search engine optimizers used them as a way to
pack keywords into their sites. Does that still work?
And
what’s more – if there is a link between
search rankings and quality press releases, how do
you walk that line between optimizing them for search
engines while still adhering to journalistic guidelines?
Obviously,
these are not simple questions to answer, but have
no fear; we’re here to guide you.
Read
on for more information about press releases and how
to employ them as part of your online strategy.
What
Is A Press Release?
You
probably already know that a press release is an official
statement giving information to journalists about
a noteworthy event.
It
allows you to quickly distribute news (and help shape
the narrative around it) to a network of journalists,
with the ultimate goal of having it featured on a
reputable news platform.
Here’s
an example of a press release from Google
Cloud:
*click
here for full article
(Search
Engine Journal)
Social
Media
Greg
Tingle
Another
excellent article by Loren at SEJ. As a media and
sports agent, with a background primarily in journalism,
online news (and subscription television business
development, sales, bundling and retention), I fully
appreciate the wise advise here which I believe is
right on the money. There are some subtle differences
between a press release written for the web, as to
one done for print, but they are essentially done
for the prime reason of getting news.. ideally of
a positive nature, or at least balanced, and as covered,
as a way of damage control in the event of a crisis.
Some PR's have been known to hype things up a bit
too much at times, and I'm not going to pretend that
I never did that in a career in media spanning two
decades +. But, there is a limit to what is acceptable
and too many agencies started to unethically exploit
what were loopholes in the online press release sector.
The embattled Bitcoin and cryptocurrency biz was further
tarnished from the shady practices. It was more the
dark art and black hat practice that was often more
the real news and not the shiny new Bitcoin or NFT
toy. So, the likes of Google caught up with the "bad
actors" and have taken some affirmative action,
effectively halting the culprits!
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