Press Release Sites

[loopyal]

There has been a lot of discussion about press releases.

You can't only do things that you consider give you pagerank power.

(well you can, but that's not the real world)

If press releases were dead, why do the big PR companies still charge $300+ for a press release and issue 1000 to 2000 of them every day?

Press releases work. They get your name out there, and if other sites pick them up and publish them, you get access to their readers. If a journalist or blogger picks it up, you get more coverage.

Yes, my site publishes press releases, but thats not why I'm  saying this. I'm telling you because it works. If it didn't work, I would stop. I have press releases that get hundreds of readers every day, so if you have a story to tell that is worth reading, you could get those readers.

[A_Q]

Hi Alan,

Nice to see a counter argument - it helps to understand the other side!

Agreed that press releases work in terms of getting your name out there and perhaps they do get you in contact with bloggers etc but there are other ways of doing this, which in my opinion are better. I'm not saying I'm correct, this is all just from experience.

In respect of Mathew's question....

Do Press Releases sites still worth to engage in terms of link building and domain authority building? I heard they don't deliver link authority anymore?

No. The links you get from press releases are usually poor quality and you rely on the fact that you will get many in order to see any benefit. This is not a sustainable link acquisition method and you can make far better use of your time, money and effort than press releases.

Press releases have their role to play in digital marketing but not as a link building tool.

Thanks,

Elias

[AlanMosley]

Ask yourself, why would someone read you press release?

Will they gain you links?

will they drive traffic?

My guess is that no one will read them, and the answer to the other 2 questions follows.

i would put my time and effort into somthing else

[mdrussell]

It also depends just how newsworthy the press release is. If it is newsworthy and gets picked up by more major news outlets and they keep the links intact, it'll definitely help.

We have still seen some positive impact with less newsworthy press releases but as others have pointed out, this was not that long-lasting.

Matt

[loopyal]

"Press releases have their role to play in digital marketing but not as a link building tool."

"My guess is that no one will read them"

Not a link building tool?

Nobody will read them?

I always think you have to split hearsay and measurement before you can say something as definitively as that. In the SEO world, there is a lot of BS. As a newspaper editor, I see a lot of BS - and don't worry, I am just as capable as anyone else of producing BS. So you have to do some real research and then you have a basis for what you say.

So check this 2009 press release:

http://shar.es/pRBBd

And look at the traffic this one press release has received since 2009. (attached image)

Check out the social sharing that it received over the past few months since that was added,

and if you believe in pagerank, look at that too.

So now we know - press releases do not drive traffic, have no link power, and nobody reads them.

I'm thinking about writing a YouMoz post.

wLqu5

[AlanMosley]

17 likes since 2009?

12 tweets?

It seems like not even the owners family and staff could be bothered.

Where is the evidednece here that news releases work?

No one is claiming that they never ever work. so even if you could produse a few good examples, it is hardly evidecne, but It is my opinion you are better placeing the content on your own site.

[Court_H]

So I am fairly new to SEO  (doing it for about 2 years now) and still trying to understand the best way to produce linkbait. Seems like this has been an ongoing debate for years now and what I have gained is that unless you are releasing a new product, a new development, or restructure, money could be better spent elsewhere.  Doing a pr release to gain backlinks  to a specific page using kws could just as easy be established using guest blog posts or your own blog?

[loopyal]

Yes, only a few but, here are some things to think about

1. those social media buttons were only added 6 months ago and by now that release is suffering on my site from Panda, so when I recover, and if I didn't believe I could, I wouldn't be here, then I will again have better stats to show than I have today.

2. That press release is on 100 other websites. That means it can be search results and it can be seen when visitors to those sites are looking at other things.

If you don't want a link and possible traffic from 100 different websites, then maybe a press release is a bad idea.

Every press release is different. If you write an uninteresting press release, you will still get some links and activity. If you write a great press release, lots of different things can happen. I'm not saying press releases are everything, but if you are writing them off, and you are a business person, you are doing yourself a disservice. If you are an SEO and you have written off press releases, then you are also doing your clients a disservice.

As with everything we do, if you do it right, you can create a fountain of traffic.

Elias thinks they are short terms.

OK, they are short term, its only been six years since we did these:

Have you ever heard of "The Dead Body Guy" ?

Using press releases and a couple of stories at NewsBlaze, he got national attention, got on the TV, got movie parts. His stories and press releases sent him 3 million human visitors one year. Those stories and press releases are still sending him visitors, six years later.

What else can I say that shows press releases work?

If you only did reciprocal links, those are now dead. If you only did profile links, most of those are dead. ... If you do a range of things, you can reach more targeted or untargeted people.

A press release is one of the ways to get targeted traffic.

Thats my view. Feel free to discount it, but I have stats to prove it. Will every single release work wonders? No,  but can anyone tell me that every other thing they do hits a home run? Even heavy hitter SEOs have failures with things that usually work for them.

[rodnic66]

Full disclosure - I work for PR Newswire.

First I'd suggest thinking 'content' rather than 'press release' and apply all the best practice to it that you would to content on your own website, i.e. who is the target audience, what problem are you solving for them, do they value text or multimedia, is the content unique and compelling, and what do you want them to do with it?

Second, use online distribution as part of a strategy to create a broad link profile; too much of any one thing can be bad for you.

Lastly, look for distribution services that publish your content widely and to relevant and authoritative media as this will give you the best spread and likelihood of reaching your target audience.  Online PR works and we've had success using it to promote our own content and growing the audience for our blog.

[randfish]

Hey Rod - thanks a ton for jumping in. I totally agree with you that diversity is required and that press releases are most valuable when they reach their target and achieve broader press and distribution than merely the PR sites themselves.

[JonathanRolande]

Just found this through the search and wanted to say it was really helpful, saved me the time of asking myself and waiting for replies

[KeriMorgret]

Thanks for letting us know Jeff, that's great to hear!

[nyanainc]

Hi,

I just create my site in English. Site is 7 months about, site was in Greek before but I decide to expand on the international market. I didn't start to build links yet, I need also to add some content. At moment have only a blog post. You will suggest the press release as first step? I should wait when I put more content? I can add content, links and after do a press release?  Any advice will be helpful.

Thanks in Advance