How to use press releases to support link building efforts and drive visibility for your brand
Ah the press release… an effective PR tool when used in the right way, but sometimes they get a bad rap.
A common misunderstanding is that the press release is a catch-all for anything a brand wants to put in front of the media. This in reality is not the case and straying from a press releases’ intended usage has oftentimes resulted in fluff being shoehorned into a medium that is meant to deliver concise and topical news.
So to understand how a press release can be effective as a tool for SEO, first we need to remind ourselves of the proper use for a press release.
What is a press release?
In essence, a press release is a tool all PR’s must get to grips with.
Structuring a press release is different from other mediums of media relations such as direct pitching, mailers, or case studies. It has a defined purpose and a set structure to achieve the end goal.
A press release should be a short, compelling, news-driven statement issued to the press of behalf of a brand or business, usually by a public relations or marketing team. Its objective is to achieve coverage in target publications. This could be in print, online, and even sometimes on social media.
To do this, a press release needs to succinctly deliver a punchy, topical, and digestible briefing on an attention grabbing item of news. Be it an event, announcement, launch, opening, white paper or appointment, it must be newsworthy, and it must have a why.
But where does SEO come in?
Alongside traditional PR, press releases are a go-to mechanism for many digital PR campaigns.
If the aim of a press release is to drive coverage with reputable news sources, having those news sources also link through to your website is a no brainer. Not only it is a win-win for tracking and driving conversions but is also an essential part of improving the accessibility, visibility, and authority of your brand.
As well as delivering the need-to-know facts, a press release can be used to drive backlinks to key content or category pages on a website, alongside your homepage.
Attaining backlinks from reputable news sources and niche specialist publications in your sector all support wider SEO objectives – as well as being great PR visibility!
How to include the right links in your press release
Alongside keyword stuffing, link stuffing became common practise in the early days of digital PR and the suitability of hijacking a traditional press release to support SEO objectives is still a subject up for debate and sometimes abused.
As a result, many publications now take a strict no-follow stance, and that’s if they include links at all!
Many of the big news sources (think national publications and newspapers) won’t include links as a standard, and many other consumer facing publications will try to charge brands for the privilege – which is somewhat frowned upon depending on the context.
So not only is writing a killer press release essential for making the cut in securing coverage in the first place, but selecting the right links to include within it, those that have relevance to the audience of the publication you are pitching, could make or break an editor’s decision to sign off on a release-generated article with links in it.
Why a homepage link is not the holy grail for SEO
While a press release may use a call-to-action link to its advantage, it doesn’t automatically guarantee a nice a bump to your SEO ranking. Links in press releases need to add value.
While great for PR visibility – many SEO’s will agree that a big-ticket homepage link may not actually help you achieve your overall goals. This is where natural linking to key category pages and carefully crafted SEO-informed content comes in.
Well placed category page links can help to build a holistic relationship with a brand for a reader; allowing them to interact with your brand through a trusted source and then continue their journey via value add links that expand on their initial query or area of interest.
Relevant, well-placed links will encourage readers from the publication source to your website to continue their journey.
How to measure the success of a linked press release?
As many published links are likely to be no-follow, it is important to think about the wider benefits of a link being included in release-generated article.
Measuring the success of press release through number of links it achieves will give a poor assessment of the impact of your work. As is measuring it’s success by number of pieces of coverage alone.
Brands should see merit in the visibility a particular piece of content will secure for them and contextualise this further with the authority that securing said coverage has for a brands’ reputation, and therefore the positive impact it could have on consumer consideration and conversions.
Linked coverage, whether including a follow or no-follow link, has a vital role to play in the overall success of a brand’s PR.
Making a linked press release work for you
When done right, a linked press release is a reliable means to an end, securing not just coverage, but coverage that drives backlinks.
To make sure your linked press releases are working for you, it is important to remember these three rules:
One. Quality over quantity.
Both in relation to the press release as a whole (the hook, the content, the timeliness, the length) and also in the seamless inclusion of priority links (use fewer, more relevant links to drive traffic to SEO informed category pages).
Two. Use your niche to your advantage.
Pitch the right people. As well as going for the big news desks, look at building contacts with the relevant section editors and staffers, or better yet, expand your horizons by targeting smaller but more topically relevant publications.
Three. Follow up, but don’t go begging for links.
On the off chance your cracker of a release was missed, don’t rest on your laurels, get creative with your re-pitch. After all, no body likes a ‘did you get my press release’ email.
But if your release has run as an article but without links, see this as a win for the brand, rather than specifically for SEO. The algorithm is ever-changing and brand name recognition in SEO is not a far cry from the horizon.
To conclude
Topical press releases front-loaded with a newsworthy hook and priority links will do wonders to support your SEO objectives.
Want to find out more about how PR and SEO can work together for your brand? If you are looking for support with digital PR campaigns or search engine optimization, please get in touch: [email protected]
