The Truth About Press Release Distribution and SEO
Just a few short years ago a business owner could submit a press release to a distribution service and enjoy a nice boost in search engine ranking. As the release made its way to the various news sites, the content would be indexed.
This isn’t the case anymore. Search engines like Google literally ignore press releases with “no follow” rules on internal links. This has led many SEO experts to declare press releases as a bad SEO marketing tactic, and that you should shift tactics in your marketing and search engine optimization strategy to achieve better results.
Others, however, say that press releases still help boost SEO and can be a smart organic SEO tactic. What’s the truth?
You Can’t Game the Tactic
The reason that Google changed their policy on press releases was because people were gaming the system. They were stuffing press releases with keywords and using press releases as part of a link building strategy. Google says that optimized anchor text links are “unnatural” and implemented a “no follow” rule.
This doesn’t mean that anchor text links aren’t useful in your release. They can help drive traffic to your website by motivating your reader to click. Additionally, there are steps you can take to optimize your press release for the search engines. You can optimize…
- Headlines.
- Title.
- Description.
- Hashtags.
- Photos.
- Videos.
- Social media messaging.
The Real Power of Today’s Press Release
Today’s press releases have the ability to reach audiences far and wide. Distribution services can reach thousands of media outlets, blogs, and newswires. The social media functionality of a social media press release means that your message has the ability to increase exposure and awareness for your business like never before. When your release is shared and reprinted, and you’ve optimized your headline, description, and title etc… then you put your release in a position to organically drive traffic to your site.
Additionally, while search engines may have a no follow rule on anchor text links in press releases, they still index photos, videos, and graphics in your press release. It’s not uncommon for a press release graphic to hit the first page of the image search results.
The bottom line is that there is still huge potential with press releases to not only increase SEO ranking but to also reach a larger audience. Social media releases and distribution services help your press release marketing campaign achieve the business growth you desire.
