Many SEO’s are using the press release as part of their link building campaign. While, Google’s Webspam King Matt Cutts said that press release backlinks will not benefit your website, many believe this to be untrue. Seoconsult.com did an interesting test regarding the power of press release backlinks and Mr. Cutts’ personal blog. While the test was by no mean perfect, it does show that press release backlinks do hold some weight.
Press Release Backlinks: Understanding Effective Techniques
In the era of Penguin and Panda, any link building campaign must be careful to avoid results that could be considered spam. Many times a press release will resemble these unnatural links due to media outlets simply re-posting content with the exact same anchor text over and over. With this in mind, we want to share Jennifer Van Iderstyne’s article on effective techniques for gaining press release backlinks:
5 Rules to Effectively Use Press Releases for Links
“The press release is still a valuable tool for online marketing in a number of ways. Using press releases effectively can still help get links, in a real way.
1. Keep Your Press Release About Real News
The real shame of the press release for links trend was all the sad attempts to drum up “news” or keyword stuff a headline. That’s done. Press releases won’t do anything for you in that respect.
But if you have an exciting acquisition, or are truly leading the way with a new idea, process or partnership that could affect others in a significant way, that’s worth it.
2. Don’t Over Optimize Your Press Release
Safe syndication practices would encourage you to go easy on the optimization in a press release. Brand names and URLs are pretty innocuous or a keyword that is more company than product related may also be a natural fit. But use an easy hand.
If you followed rule number one, and your news is really that good, you can get picked up by bloggers and other journalists that will re-write and re-reference your site in a different way. But if you rely solely on the duplicate prints, over-optimization could hurt later on.
3. Send Readers to Other Interesting Assets
Use the press release and the news as a draw to bring readers further into your site. Whatever it is you are announcing accompany the release with additional, in-depth information or a related asset on the site.
When you offer something to accompany the press release, an extra reason to engage the visitor you create a deeper user experience and create additional assets for linking and sharing.
4. Send Your Press Release to Specific Sources
Choose some individuals or local institutions to send your news to before you release it to the public at large. It will give these sources an opportunity to break the news which could be advantageous to them, and helps to form a relationship with your news source.
Strong press contacts can make for valuable assets. In addition to mainstream channels for news distribution, you can also become a go-to source for expert quotes on subjects within your industry which leads to links and potentially more exposure in the future.
5. Time it Right
I remember the first time I used a press release, the nice guy I talked to on the phone actually gave me the tip. He said that I’d be better off releasing my news on a Tuesday instead of a Monday morning. Now that may or may not be true or anecdotal, but it did make me think about when my target audience would be most inclined to be catching up on the news, writing about it and sharing it.”
Press Release Backlinks: Takeaway
Press release backlinks remain a valuable SEO tool for increasing traffic and adding rank to your website. Regular and consistent press release distribution should be a part of your overall backlinking strategy. The topic of the press release should be warranted and provide information of some value.
The focus of press release backlinks has changed from a mass tool to one that should be more focused on quality. By avoiding the appearance of unnatural link practices, the links from press release websites will either have a direct or indirect benefit.
