I often get asked if a press release can help with search engine optimization (SEO). A related question is, “Does press release distribution help your SEO?” The best answer to the question “Do press releases help with SEO?” is, “Yes, but…” I know. It’s not very satisfying, but it’s reality. Let’s explore this issue, because it’s a bit more complicated than it looks at a glance.
A press release can help improve search outcomes in one of two ways. If you write a press release and publish it on your website, it becomes a new piece of content that search engines can index. This should contribute to improving your SEO. Alternatively, or in addition, you can distribute the press release, e.g., through a service like EIN Press Wire.
A third way a press release can help SEO is that it will spur a reporter to cover your story. Having a story published in a media outlet will help with search. It’s not a guaranteed outcome, however.
Press release distribution is an automated syndication process that publishes your press releases on multiple news sites. The distributor, also known as a “wire service” in reference to the very old days of press releases going out over telegraph wires, has partnerships with media outlets, such as radio and TV stations. These outlets’ websites are integrated with the distributor’s platform. They automatically pick up press releases and put them into a news feed.
How does press release distribution affect SEO? The benefit to SEO comes from search engines indexing the syndicated editions of the press release, e.g., when your press release is published on a radio station website.
Ready for more “Yes, but…”? Sorry, but yes, you can embed URLs into a press release. They will show up in the syndicated editions of the press release if you distribute it. However, in almost every case, the URLs you embed in a press release are converted to “no-follow” by the distributor’s syndication platform. This occurs because, as happened with many SEO tricks, people overdid it with press releases, and Google started to penalize them as duplicative content. The no-follow links are for your own good. They avoid getting dinged by Google for being repetitive.
Are no-follow links in a distributed press release any good for SEO? People might wonder what the point of press release distribution is if it doesn’t provide real backlinks. Here’s the thing: It’s the wrong question to ask. Press releases help with SEO for reasons other than backlinks.
A press release creates what SEO people call “unlinked brand mentions.” If a reputable news site mentions your brand—by publishing a press release about your brand—that counts as an unlinked brand mention, which helps your SEO.
The caveat here is that the brand mention needs to be of high quality to be maximally effective. In the best case scenario, a good press release, distributed on reputable sites, will contribute to your brand’s Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT) profile. A press release is part of your brand’s totality of public-facing content, all of which contributes toward EEAT. Again, the better-written and more authoritative the press release, the better the EEAT impact and SEO benefits will be.
A well-written press release that you distribute should have a positive impact on SERPs. That said, a press release cannot do everything you need for SEO. It should be just one element in a broader SEO strategy. On-page SEO matters, as do other types of content marketing.
The ability of a press release to affect SEO will depend to a great extent on the competitive context. If you are in a competitive SEO category, a press release will have limited impact, if any at all. For instance, I recently wrote and distributed a press release for a cosmetic dentist. He complained that the press release did not help his SEO. I tried to explain that cosmetic dentistry is a very competitive area of search. It will take a lot more than a single press release to move the need in that competitive context.
To learn about Comms Factory’s press release writing and distribution services, visit https://commsfactory.net/product-category/press-release-distribution/
Photo by Min An: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-vintage-typewriter-1425146/
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