How to Write an Effective SEO Press Release

Press releases play a crucial role in an integrated marketing campaign, but many of them don’t work properly, because they are written incorrectly. Without SEO optimization, your prospects may not see your company’s press release or even know that your business or a new product exists. Working with SEO for press releases is a proactive way of doing PR. At long last, proactive PR will help you impact the perception of your brand before the public makes their own conclusions about your brand image.

In this article, we will look at some tips about how you can boost your SEO with your press releases and content marketing. Before we dive in, let’s take a look at some reasons why creating SEO-friendly press releases matters.

Value of the SEO Press Releases

Are press releases still relevant for SEO? The answer is “still yes”. An SEO press release works very well for reputation management purposes but sometimes fades with time as the timeliness of the release recedes. By implementing an intelligent SEO-friendly press release strategy, you can index extra links and increase your search ranking. A well-structured, compelling press release that is naturally shared can serve your PR and marketing purposes well, in particular, the following:

Generates brand awareness

A good combo of SEO and press releases allows you to appear in front of your customers and keeps you top of mind among your target audience. A great press release boosts brand awareness by generating attention from large media outlets, influencers, and social media platforms. Point out your brand development as you write the release. A well-written press release lines up your brand strategy with your brand goals.

Gains links

You may use press releases as a good method for link-building. One of the main ranking factors used by Google and other search engines is the number of links a web page has referred to it. The more backlinks from quality websites your website has, the higher it should rank for the keywords you’re targeting.

To improve SEO rankings, you will need press release backlinks from high-authority websites. While backlinks from different websites can be helpful for your boost, it is better to receive them from websites with high domain authority scores to build up your company’s authority. This results in search engines taking notice and improving your rankings, thus helping you reach more customers. At the same time, more people will see your content online and might decide to mention (in other words link to) your company’s content on their website. As a consequence, you will continue getting fresh backlinks, which can benefit your SEO strategy as a whole. 

Boost credibility

Consumers tend to choose products and companies they can trust. You can leverage a publication’s credibility to establish your own. By showing your credibility online, you can also improve brand trust. Developing brand trust motivates more people to try your brand’s product or service. As a result, you will generate more leads and sales, which will provide your return on investment. Meanwhile, customers will start talking about your brand, building upland, and strengthening your brand reputation. As credibility grows, brand trust turns into brand loyalty, and sales increase.

Boost your online presence

A Press Release is one of the most effective ways businesses can tell about themselves and their offers. With distribution across the internet on high-profile sites, your brand can get instant exposure, gaining interest and giving your prospects a reason to visit your website and find out a little more about you.

Reputation management

News stories covered by prestigious media outlets build trust among your target audience. With more news stories featured in the press, your brand recognition and reputation improve and your image is affected positively. Press releases enable you to be considered an expert in your industry. Check out our article about how to manage your brand reputation SEO in effective way. 

How to Create Press Release for SEO

In order to make it successful and increase your media coverage, there are certain components that need to be included in a press release. Here are a few tips that can help you incorporate those factors in the next press release of your company.

Create catchy headlines

The first that your targeted users will read is a headline, the first 4 to 6 words. Thus it must be catchy and enhanced with keywords to be ranked by search engines.

Creating a catchy headline is crucial. Remember that the first impression is the last impression.

The elements in headlines must be:

• Problem-solving
• Intriguing and encouraging readers to the first line of the content
• With long-tailed keywords to specify your objectives

Read more: 20 Killer Press Release Headline Writing Tips

Add a summary that gives a clear overview

The job of a summary is to tell the whole story in a couple of sentences and make it convincing.

A good summary should do two things, repeat all the information that is already there on the headline, then disclose the secondary focus of the press release. The second item should be a slightly more direct form of self-promotion.

The reader should have a good understanding of what the press release is about and also know who is the main character of this story, which is your business.

Include clear intent 

Users need a story of your Press Releases, not just a generic statement or mechanical data. Consumers are interested in hearing something new or interesting about your brand and what you’re offering.

Today’s generation is interested in hearing how you can help them rather than what services you´re selling. Remember the formula of Feature & Benefits. You must show your audience the benefits they can receive and not the features your product or services has.

Optimize the first 250 words

A good press release should be short but attention-catching, meaning it should be interesting, solution savvy, and valuable to your target audience. Unlike other formats of content marketing, in press releases, it’s important to optimize the first 250 words. In other words, get to the important part of your message first. Remember the inverted pyramid principle of writing used by journalists and media outlets and use it: put the most important information (including your keywords) at the beginning of the press release.

There are multiple reasons to follow this method. First, it helps search engines understand the goal of your press release. And second, it helps your prospects understand and keeps them engaged so they will hopefully read the whole release. Even if they don’t, they will get the important information at the top.

To create an effective and optimized SEO press release, the initial 250 words must answer the five W’s of journalism. As press releases written in such a format grab more attention of target users to the content as well as the attention of search engines. As a friendly reminder, the five W’s are who, what, when, where, and why, and they form the basis of a good lead.

In addition, make your press release for SEO short, 500-800 words. The length of your press release directly influences its ranking, and publications that are too short or too long may have trouble being indexed in search engines.

Include correct keywords in your press release

Proper keyword research and their choice is important for optimizing a press release for SEO. An optimized press release should have at least one keyword target, and that keyword should be used in the headline, first paragraph, and one anchor link. At the same time, do NOT go overboard with keywords – Google will punish you for this. Some essential things to remember while doing keyword research:

• Use online keyword volume tools, such as Google AdWords Keyword Tool or SEMRush
• Find specific keywords as well as long-tail keywords
• Mind off keywords in the context of users, not search engines. Consider what people might be searching for, not what Google wants to see.
• Avoid keyword stuffing as much as possible.
• Include a minimum of one main keyword in your headline and subtitles.
• Add keywords that talk about current events and hot topics (but are connected with the topic of your press release or your niche).
• Also, try to use branding keywords as well.

Read more:

• How to Choose the Most Relevant Keywords for Positioning?
• The Art Of Choosing the Best Free Keyword Research Services

Use Hyperlinks Well

One mistake many copywriters and PR experts make when writing an SEO-friendly press release is inserting too many links. While you should definitely link your keyword the first couple of times, don’t over-link- If you do, it will make it complicated for your readers to read and catch your message, which defeats the entire purpose. It also makes search engines see your press release as spammy and it can actually worsen your SEO and link-building strategy rather than improve it.

Less is more. Add only 2-3 links for every 500 words in your press release. Since press releases should be kept between 500-800 words, this means 2-4 links of anchor text for the entire press release. 

Some other important points:

• Canonical tags should be used in the case when large blocks of text from your site will be pasted right into the press release, or you plan to place the press release directly on your site or blog.
• “Nofollow” all backlinks in press releases to avoid penalties by Google. For this, you have to add to each link’s <a> tag the rel=”nofollow” attribute. If you´re hesitating in following this rule, then you’re writing a press release for the wrong reasons.
• Avoid linking such phrases “read more”, “click here”, or from descriptive language (e.g. seems, feels). It´s better to insert links to keywords.
• Include your primary keyword target in the anchor text of your first link.

Read more:

• Local Link Building: Specification, Strategies, Tools
• Link Exchange: Do They Help or Hurt Your SEO?

Bold the important phrases, quotes, and statistics

Strengthening phrases quotes from the professionals in your niche, and statistics that are the most recent give your Press Release a boost.

These elements are other indirect values that provide authenticity and credibility to the message you transfer in a press release for SEO. In addition, you should bolden the key points of your announcement to attract the attention of your target users.

Read more:

• How to Get Better Quotes for Press Releases
• How to Cite a Press Release — Do It Stylish

Insert the visual and other media

As the SEO goes, besides being educational or useful, the content may be also entertaining and interesting. In this case, you may include in the press release a picture or short video that tells a story.

Now, this visual media along with Facebook, Twitter, emails, and other sharing buttons shows the optimized announcement to engage the target audience to share your content if liked. This could increase your algorithm ratings and build your online authority.

Read more:

• Top 5 Tips for Using Images, Videos, Logos in Your Press Release

Add contacts and links at the end

At the end of your press release, put your contact information, and the contact information for your brand, too. Don’t forget to include any appropriate links.

Keep it newsworthy

It might sound obvious, but make sure that your press release is actually newsworthy. If you write too many boring technical press releases, your audience won’t be interested when you post a new one. Consider the interests, needs, and desires of your target audience. Along with being SEO-friendly, the articles should be human-friendly first.

Pitch for your company

When you are providing information about your new product and service, your content must show the passion of your brand as well. It must show that your content pitch is not only for a new product but also for your company which is constantly solving the problems of target users.

Stick to the rules of writing a press release

A lot of different media outlets have their own standards and editorial team that is checking the quality and style of press releases. If you don’t follow their writing guidelines, your press release may be rejected from publishing. Even if you paid.

Be sure to check out the guidelines of the media source that you’re using, and try to create your press release following their rules. That will increase your chance to submit it smoothly and fast.

How to Distribute your Optimized SEO Press Release

You can save some time and effort, by giving out your ready press release for distribution to the specialized service.

The most convenient distribution service is PRNEWS.IO. We offer a full range of services: from writing to distributing a press release in any local or international newswire, magazine, or journal. Here at PRNEWS.io, we help publish over 2,000 press releases every month in various media outlets. Find out more about writing and distribution press-release service on our website.

Read more:

• Press Release Distribution As a Tried And True Way to Get Your Story Noticed
• How to Send a Press Release to Local Media

Wrapping Up

Despite the discussions all over the marketing community, a press release in SEO still has SEO value and must be part of your SEO strategy. Think of the press release as a booster to assist your link-building, outreach, SEO, and overall digital marketing efforts. Do not underestimate the importance of SEO for press releases, its benefits are worth paying attention to. Are you interested to improve your PR skills? Read more in our publication about Why SEO public relations is significant for promotion.

Read more:

• Press Release Best Practices for Effective PR Campaign
• Public Relations Calendar: How to Create a PR Calendar

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