Press Release SEO Strategy

I work at a SEO company based out of San Diego, we gather a tremendous amount of data from our clients about what works in the world of SEO and what doesn’t. Recently we tried a new technique with one of our most competitive keywords and had some pretty outstanding results. Bouncing around from spots 2 – 4 for the competitive keyword we were wondering what we could do to move up and capture the number one spot. We figured to give a try to the good ol’ Press Release strategy one more time. We decided to try it out in paid Press Release directories and followed a very precise strategy in those press releases. We wanted to make sure that our story was newsworthy as well as to make the press releases as SEO friendly as possible. Here is what we did:

Consider Your Keywords

Remember that we are dealing with a press release here and not just some random article directory. Some keywords that you may be trying to target simply will not work for this type of SEO activity. So when you are considering your keywords make sure that they are press release friendly, as well as a highly searched keyword term. Remember I’m talking about PAID inclusion to PR websites, sure you could try this with free ones but we have some really great results from simply PAID inclusion sites. Thus you want to make sure you dot your I’s and cross your T’s before submitting a paid release.  Do a little background check on your targeted keywords and make sure the search volume exists for it before you go through with this method.

Choosing Your Title

Remember that we took this from a search engine optimization approach and not one for public recognition or brand building awareness. We wanted to have the most emphasis and ‘boost’ in our SERPs so we made the title short and sweet with all the emphasis on our given keyword that we are trying to optimize for. I suggest the same approach for all SEO purposes, the chances that someone will pick up your press release and contact you for media purposes is practically no existent. Make sure to target your keyword in your title

The Body

Again let’s get as much SEO juice out of this press release as possible, so we are going to need to sprinkle our keyword around several times throughout the body. Remember we are not keyword stuffing as it won’t benefit anyone and your release probably wouldn’t be published. Check with your potential press release directory for setting up your press release. Each directory has different rules for creating a release so make sure to follow them closely so that your release isn’t denied. If possible add a link with your keyword going to your page, this will add additional benefit to your keyword and will help with SEO purposes. Remember though that your body needs to flow and sound legitimate. People do end up reading them sometimes, so make sure not to ruin your reputation by putting out some chopped together release. You can mix both keyword inclusion and readability!

Distributing Your Press Release

There are hundreds of press release directories that you can submit your release to. Remember that there are services on the internet where you simply give them your press release and they will submit to so many directories. I personally suggest not to overdo it with those types of services and to submit your own press releases, with different variations to bypass any duplicate penalties.

What to look for in a directory? First start with pagerank of the domain URL. A good press release directory will have a pagerank of 5 or more and will generally be around $50 for inclusion. We tried the free directories with one competitive keyword and it didn’t result in much SERP change. Although when we included our press release for a different domain and as competitive keyword we jumped to the top! You get what you pay for I guess? So analyze each directory before submitting your release

Check the Rankings

After a few weeks be analyzing your results from that given submission. You will notice a small increase of visitors from the press release. Are those converting? Most importantly how are your SERPs for your given keyword that you were trying to target? Things like this are important to view and consider before you submit to additional directories!

[tags]press release submission, press release seo, press release search engine optimization, press release SEO help, press release for SEO[/tags]