Almost every other business organizations and individuals opt for press releases due to their paramount importance in the growth of the businesses. Crafting and distributing press releases is considered one of the most effective digital marketing strategies that help create brand awareness and improve its online presence and identity.
Though there are many people aware of PRs, most of them do not recognize them as a marketing tool that can be used for Search Engine Optimization. Press releases are authentic and official documents that describe brief and specific information regarding a newsworthy event whether it’s a product launch, discount offers, or rebranding. However, a good press release should make readers interested in order to get picked by the media outlets and news platforms.
SEO Press Release is one of the valuable assets of every company that can create a potential buzz in the market while improving the online presence of the company on the search engine result page.
SEO Press Release and Its Value in Search Engine Optimization
Creating a smart, unique, and attention-grabbing PR is crucial for the organic exposure of a business. With its indirect value, you can dig up ample internet marketing gold. The power and potential of the press releases are determined by their organic capabilities and how they can bring more potential customers or clients to the business.
Organic capabilities are defined as bringing traffic from a blog or a website through reputed media channels or search engines. Someone might think that creating numerous low-quality press releases and distributing them on various platforms is a good idea to get more backlinks. But in reality, it just becomes spammy press releases with irrelevant keywords stuffed that readers do not want to read.
So, How do Get the Real Value of an SEO Press Release?
If you are looking forward to getting great results, spammy PRs are not an option to opt for. It can hamper your company’s reputation on the internet. If you do it,
- Google is most likely to penalize you for the attempt and so your website would not get a boost in ranking.
- Online readers including journalists and reporters skip your content
Surely, you don’t want that. In order to churn out the real value, you need to share more newsworthy information which can be considered high-value content. You need to focus on strategic keyword placement as well.
How to Create an SEO Press Release?
In today’s constantly evolving digital marketing landscape, SEO is not just filling content with specific keywords but the proper usage of links, image descriptions, citations, alt tags, and many other elements. Generating high-quality backlinks from credible and reputed sources is the goal here.
Craft the Press Release for Your Readers
Nowadays, online readers are impatient and judge the readability of content by skim-reading it. So here are some effective tips to keep in mind.
- Create a catchy headline that can easily grab the attention of the readers. The headline is the first thing a reader is going to notice and so it should convey what the PR is about.
- Answer the 5Ws (when, where, what, who, why)in the first paragraph of the PR
- Explain the facts from the position of authority
- Include valuable information regarding the subject but make sure to avoid boring facts
- Keep the content informative and helpful
- The ideal press release length is 350 – 400 words. Try not to create too long content which can make readers skip it
- Offer an honest and simple approach that can captivate the target audience
But first, you need to understand the target audience who you are writing for. Figure out their demographic and the language and tone they prefer. Try to create a hook through your press release which makes the reader care about it. Stating reasons helps to govern newsworthiness.
Do Your Keyword Research
As you already know keywords play a vital role in SEO press releases, researching and selecting the right keywords is an important step. Let’s check some effective ideas on how to incorporate them,
- Select at least one primary keyword which will be incorporated in the title and first paragraph of the press release. Make sure it is relevant to the topic and has a high search value
- You can also look for secondary keywords but make sure not to stuff the release with it
- While researching keywords, think from the readers’ perspective and focus on what they are looking for
- Keywords that reflect a current affair or recent news, such as hot topics are more suitable for search engine optimization. If you are unable to figure out such keywords, take the help of Google Trends and find out the trendiest topics in your industry. If your PR consists of keywords related to recent news and topics, more online readers are going to read about it.
- You can also use branding keywords that showcase your brand tagline or trademarked phrases
You can utilize Yahoo! News Search Assist to find exciting news which helps find more relevant keywords just like Google trends.
Formatting Headlines Properly
The headline of the press release is supposed to work within character limits without sounding awful. Here are some tips that can help you out,
- Craft meaningful headlines that target the audience, not the search engine. Un-natural sounding headlines dim the creditability of the PR and readers immediately reject it.
- Put some data in the title which makes it more appealing. For example, a 50% reduction in price sounds better than a ‘Huge discount offer’.
- Craft a headline that depicts a brief picture of what the PR has to say.
- Utilize transitions by using the features of punctuation. It is a creative input that makes the readers more interested.
- Last but not least, incorporate the primary keyword in the headline which helps to improve the visibility of the press release on the search engine result page (SERP)
Just like keywords, headlines also play a vital role in SEO. So make sure to craft them carefully.
How to Distribute an SEO Press Release?
Creating a well-written and newsworthy SEO press release is only half of the work unless it is distributed over other platforms. The SEO marketing battle is quite high and it requires an effective and consistent approach to push the rank on SERP. There are many ways you can distribute your press release. Let’s get to know the effective ways of SEO press release distribution.
Use the Distribution Channels – A lot of people might think that social media platforms are great distribution channels but that is only partial truth. These platforms are great to communicate with the audience but that might not include the target audience you want to reach. That is why the best option is to proceed with professional distribution channels like, Newswire, Presswire, PR Newswire, etc to name some.
- Reach Out to Journalists and Reporters – Find out journalists from your niche industry and pitch them personally. Also, state to them how genuinely you like their newswire and why you are opting for it. If your PR is attractive enough, they will definitely feature it. However, journalists and reporters receive a ton of press releases every day and if you want to get featured; you definitely need to stand out among all.
- Try out Different Mediums – The newsworthiness of press releases makes them a part of many distribution mediums. Just like websites and media platforms; you can also approach local TV stations, radio stations, or local newspapers in this case. However, the approach depends on the need for exposure; whether it is global or regional.
- Hire a PR Distribution Agency – There are many press-released distribution agencies that help to distribute content over reputed media and news platforms. Usually, professional agencies possess a huge network and offer guaranteed placements over potential platforms. Hiring a distribution agency is also fairly reasonable. The agencies offer various packages of Press Release writing and distribution based on the requirements and budget of the clients.
The distribution process can take some time to reach the desired amount of exposure and popularity. So, if you are willing to check the progress; you can always do that with the help of analytics. It will show you useful insights that you can use in your future distribution.
Wrapping Up
SEO press releases work remarkably for the growth and exposure of the business. It helps to generate more leads, and sales while improving the online visibility of the concerned businesses. It is also one of the most reasonable and effective marketing tools, highly recommended for every individual and business organization who is looking forward to creating a buzz in the market. So, do not create spammy PRs, instead follow the aforementioned tips and witness the change in business.
