The SEO Benefits of Press Releases

Search engine optimized press releases are still relatively new in the field of SEO (during some research I found an article from 2004 claiming they were the new "secret back door to top search engine ranking"), but they are incredibly beneficial to an SEO campaign.

Some of the most frequently asked questions I get from clients are "Why does my company need to do press releases? How will press releases benefit my SEO campaign?"

Part of the answer is in the anatomy of an optimized press release. A properly optimized press release will include your top keywords as well as links to your website.

Backlinks:

Once the optimized press release is distributed, it gets picked up on various sites and channels including news search engines such as Google news and Yahoo! news. Every time another website picks up the press release, it reproduces the release along with all of your keywords and links. This has the effect of generating widespread backlinks (links back to your site).

These backlinks are one of the factors Google uses for determining a website's search engine ranking. Google looks at how many backlinks you have, and where they're coming from, so add in the fact that most of the backlinks are coming from news websites which have very high page ranks, and you have a good amount of quality backlinks that will increase the page rank and link popularity of your website.

Increased Keyword Rankings and Visibility:

News stories on the web are considered more time sensitive than regular web pages, so when your press release is distributed, it will be linked very quickly, giving you early visibility in news sites, news searches and standard search engines. Many news web sites also archive stories which can help to deliver long term link value, rankings and visibility.

In addition, online news search queries are generally much more targeted than standard web searches. In other words, people searching for news related to your industry are more likely to search for the terms that are used in your press release, which gives you a better chance at increasing the ranking of your website for popular and competitive search terms.

Credibility and Increased Traffic:

Last but not least, well written content will always add credibility to your website. The more information you show that you know, the more trustworthy you become. When your press releases start appearing in Google news and Yahoo! news for your keywords, potential customers searching for your product or business will see that you are a credible source of information in your industry and that you can be trusted. Those with Google alerts for your keywords will automatically receive your press release in their inbox, which will generate interest and relevant traffic to your site as well.

Bottom Line:

So bottom line, "Why does my company need to do press releases?" Because search engine optimized press releases are one of the quickest and easiest ways to start generating more backlinks, visibility and traffic for your website, and are a beneficial addition to any SEO campaign, no matter what your industry.