A press release is an official statement that is made to the media about new achievements, new events, or launches. The primary reason behind issuing a press release is to gain positive media coverage and increase brand awareness. This positively impacts the brand's sales so the central focus should always be on getting the maximum impact out of your released content. However, if you are a startup or not many people already know about your brand, it is rather difficult to create a wide impact on the media. So here are some simple tricks and tips to help you out so you know how to write SEO press release which is impactful.
According to a report that was published on review24 around 300 press releases are released each day in the US. Now, this is just the US and the number is this big. So just imagine how many press releases are released around the world in a day. It is impossible to get noticed by reporters and journalists in this sea of reputable thousands of other companies. Unless you know the magic of SEO. Search Engine Optimization or SEO helps your content to rank higher in the search engines which increases your visibility by a hundred times. The first step to creating an impactful press release and submitting it to the media is to make the press release SEO friendly. But how can one write SEO press release? Or what does an SEO-friendly press release look like and have something different from other press releases? You don't need to worry much because you will get all the answers here.
But before going into the details on how you will write a press release that is SEO-friendly, you need to understand how exactly SEO can benefit you. A press release can help you in two ways, it can increase your brand visibility and awareness. The second way is by getting backlinks from reputable news sites which increases your website's or business's credibility. Before getting on how an SEO-friendly press release will help you and your business, let's discuss the essential parts of a good press release.
➔ A headline
➔ A dateline
➔ The body
➔ The call to action
➔ A boilerplate
Now if your press release is SEO friendly,
- It will help you get noticed in the sea of other businesses. When done right, it will improve your brand’s reputation, creating a good impression and attaining customers along with getting potential customers at the same time.
- It will also help your website to gain more attention from traditional and current media, and get featured on Google News which is necessary for online authority.
All of these benefits will make your business more popular, and credible, ultimately driving your sales.
So, let's move on to the essential tips that will make your press release more SEO-friendly and effective.
● Clear Intention
The first and foremost rule of writing a good press release and making it impactful is to give people something worth reading. The readers need a story from the content, not just a general statement or some mechanical data. You need to make the raiders fully invested in your company and interested in what you are selling. The readers are looking for any history or inspirational turn that supports the goals.
You have to remember the age of advertising and marketing is changing and press releases are an important tool for marketing campaigns. What interests today's generation in ways you can help them instead of what services you provide? Whenever you are creating a press release you need to keep in mind that you want to show the audience what benefits they are going to get. They are much more interested in that rather than what features your services or products have.
Thus the intention of your press release should always be clear. It should intend to help the audience which is the only way to get the readers hooked on your content. The professionals say that intent data is a huge requirement nowadays to make any marketing campaign successful. People remember stories more than any professional talk or technical vocabulary.
So make your content and the PR a bit personal and capitalize on the emotions which is a great way to make it more SEO-friendly.
● Make It Newsworthy
This is probably the most effective and essential tip in writing a press release that demands the content to be newsworthy. If your press release is newsworthy it will gain relevance among other competitive announcements. It will also attract readers and other users that will promote and feature your business.
You can make your press release more newsworthy by first thoroughly knowing the industry. If you are launching a new product and writing a press release about it then you can also include the customer experience as the description of the product.
You can also try to write about some industry-related topics like-
- New product launch or service launch
- Specific information sources
- Giveaways
- Awards and gifts
- Change in the hierarchy or other members of the company
- Any achievement of your company
- Charity and donations
- Events or any other highlights
These industry-related topics along with the elements will help you create the solutions for the queries searchers on the internet have. This is what makes this the most effective way to create and publish an SEO-friendly press release.
● Make the Headline Catchy
The first thing that the readers on the internet notice about content are its headline. If the headline is something that interests them they will take out the time to read the entire thing. A headline is the first 4-6 words that your target users will read so make sure that is catchy and infused with the relevant keyword. It will help it rank higher on the search engine results and get your website the maximum traffic. You have heard how "first impression is the last impression" and a headline is something that makes this saying true to its core.
There elements that you should include in your headline should-
- Have the intention of problem-solving
- Have “long-tailed” keywords that specify the intent
- Be interesting enough to encourage the readers to keep reading
● Do Not Forget the Keywords
SEO and keywords always go hand in hand and you cannot think of SEO-friendly content without the keywords. If your press release includes keywords it will help the content rank better on Google search results and other search engines. Using the right keywords will make your content relevant to the searcher's query over the internet and get the maximum traffic. But there are some things that you must remember while you are writing an SEO press release-
- Avoid keyword stuffing in your content
- Add the primary keyword on your headline, summary, and body
- Add keywords that are related to current and trendy topics
- Use branding keywords
- While you are researching your keyword, try to think like the searchers and what their query might be
● Make the First Paragraph Optimized
A good and SEO-friendly press release is interesting, solves problems, and is valuable to the readers. But one problem with this digital era of marketing and publishing press releases is that it is hard to attain the attention of the readers for a long period. On the other hand, an ideal press release must be attention-grabbing. So what is the solution?
The press release should be written in the third person and the first paragraph, meaning the first 250 words of your content must serve as the answers to the 5Ws. These 5 Ws are heavily used in journalism to grab the quick attention of the readers. The 5Ws are-
- What is happening?
- When did it occur? / When will it happen?
- Who is this about?
- Where is it happening?
- Why is it important?
Always make sure the content is short and add very specific details that are relevant.
● Prioritize Your Company
Whenever you are writing about a new product or service launch or any other changes it must contain the passion of your company. You must write the content in such a way that the launch is not completely about the product but is also about how your company thought of this problem-solving solution for your company’s target users.
● Add Appropriate Hyperlinks
A hyperlink in SEO content refers to a specific keyword that is highlighted and used as an anchor text. These hyperlinks have external linking with other content on your website. It specifically keeps the readers engaged with the content. But make sure that the hyperlinks and your texts are within the limit otherwise it can easily cause a distraction. The traditional way of doing this was using catchphrases like "see more" and "for more information" that does not go with the keywords anymore.
● Get the Timing Right
It is important to know what time you are going to publish your press release. Getting the timing right means at that time, most of the audience will be able to find your brand’s content online. Experts in the industry have analyzed that the best time to publish a press release is between 10 am to 2 pm.
These are the tips that if included in the content or used right, will make the press release more SEO-friendly and give you positive media coverage and visibility.
