Duplicate Content and Boiler Plates in Press Releases - Does it Matter?

[Pedram_SEO]

Hi All,

We are in process of syndicating a few press releases on company news over the next few months. These aren't fluff PRs, they are actual news and can provide some value for linking opportunities (woohoo).

Anyway, we are a public company, so there are some relatively strict guidelines as to what content we publish. A great place to place some flexible links is in the boilerplate of a release. However, we can't change that content around too much on each PR.

So, question is, are there any negative implications on pushing out that kind of duplicate content on the web. Clearly, it's not our intention to spam whatsoever. But, I can see how the same type of content going out on the web multiple times in coming months good send off a negative signal.

Takes/thoughts?

[Houses]

I would make sure if you also have the press release on your website that you have it on your site before you send it out to others. This makes you the source of the news.

[EGOL]

These aren't fluff PRs, they are actual news and can provide some value for linking opportunities (woohoo).

If I had content that is this good I would not be syndicating it.  I would want it exclusive on my own site.

Links in press releases are a good way to get Penguin problems.

[katemorris]

The point of press releases is to get the idea and news in front of writers to entice stories. They have since been bastardized into syndicated content on the web that does little for the end use or the company. I am with EGOL, don't syndicate releases like this. Use the stories to get the attention of journalists and writers.

If you must send them out, don't do so with the intention to link build. They are going to be copied over and over. Ensure you have it on your site first and try to get stories out of it, not just "coverage."

This is a longer and more involved process but it's the best one for everyone involved.

[peterthistle]

In my experience there are two kinds of public company news: either real-time "material information" (i.e. potentially market moving, monitored by regulators) or basically PR stuff that can be planned in advance. I'd deal with the two types differently. Wouldn't worry about widely disseminating the former in just about any manner, standard operating procedure, but would treat the latter differently as described above: establish on company website first, then press release, don't syndicate.

[EGOL]

I honestly think that "company news" has very tiny value compared with information about how to select products, how to use them, what can be done with them.

Nobody gives much of a crap about numbers, staff changes, store openings.... yawn...  .    Focus on evergreen content.

[Pedram_SEO]

Well, the information publicized is the kind of stuff that we have to disseminate to follow Wall Street regulation. Naturally, these things get picked up and placed on sites such as Yahoo Finance, CNN Money etc.

To my knowledge, we do syndicate through Business Wire but only after it is put on the company website first.

From an SEO standpoint, we are in need of quality links routing back to us. We have a plethora of inbound links. I am of course worried about any Panda penalties that could arise, but we aren't doing anything deliberately black hat. Our links that have been in these releases historically (prior to my arrival here in January), have all been links to social media or branded in the form of www.example.com. We also haven't seen any non-season changes in traffic.

So, lets say without syndication, reputable sites still pick up the release. In that case, should we still use proper linking?

[EvolveCreative]

Doubt it. Google has most syndicated press release services on a list of "don't allow these links to pass PageRank." I imagine for this very reason.

Being a big public company you don't really need to worry about penalties. Just ask yourself, "would I feel comfortable telling a search engine engineer what I'm doing to market my website." If you answered yes, don't worry about it. You're one reconsideration request away from getting out of the penalty if one were to ever arise.

[Houses]

Why the thumbs down when I said the same as Kate?:

"Ensure you have it on your site first"