Press releases use to be a must for SEO, but after Google’s algorithm updates, are press releases still worth sending out? Like with any other form of advertising, you expect a return on investment. And GOOD press release services (PRWeb, PRNewsWire, etc.) aren’t cheap, but are they worth the money in a day of age where it’s easier to interact with journalists via social media, email, etc.? With Google’s recent Link Schemes update, do they even have any SEO value (more on that below)? I’ve sent out my fair share of press releases, and I also have a fiancé who works for NBC in a top 50 market. I’ll share perspectives from both sides of the table and I’ll help you make the decision on whether or not you should be sending out press releases, and which service you should utilize to send them out. First, 3 point to keep in mind:

3 Things to Keep in Mind Before Sending Out A Press Release

1. Writing the Press Release – Choosing the service is the last of your problems, you actually need to write it first. Press releases follow a very specific format, and deviating from the norm could make your press release (and your business) look unprofessional. PRWeb does offer writing services, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Instead, write it yourself or hire a professional writer that’s familiar with your niche. PRWeb’s pricing for a SEO optimized press release will run you $500. that is in addition to distribution ($99-499).

2. There’s little chance your press release will actually get read. Here’s the problem with the press release. It’s overused, and in the wrong way. Services like PRWeb syndicate your press release to outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today, Associated Press, etc. It doesn’t mean that it’s actually getting read, they’re syndicated on a news wire buried deep in their websites, some journalists flip through their niche every now and then, but most are tending to the hundreds of emails they receive every day – these are usually much more relevant to them. Press releases are becoming less and less effective as almost anyone can purchase a press release.

3. Think About Going Direct to Journalists Before Publishing Your Press Release: Often times you don’t even need a press release for press. For example, two years ago I founder a startup (that I would eventually sell) that helped people find the best deals online. It was two days before Black Friday (you know, the crazy shopping day after Thanksgiving). I noticed that they were running a segment on “Holiday Shopping Survival Guide,” and figured this was the perfect opportunity to help people shop for the holidays.  Below is a copy of the email that would land me on ABC.

Hi Shellie,

I’m Jay Soriano, the founder of a company that helps people find the best deals online. I have a few ideas for your “Holiday Shopping Survival Guide.” They’re
separated by three potential headlines:

1.) Black Friday ‘Doorbusters’ to AVOID
2.) The Top 10 Tech Deals this Black Friday
3.) How to Tell if a Deal is Really A Deal on Black Friday

1.) Black Friday “Doorbusters” to AVOID – Personally, I think this feature would be most useful to your demographic. I’ve been on both sides of Black Friday (sales and a customer) and I’ve noticed that buyers are far too irrational during the holidays. I’ve seen the ads and can pinpoint a few “doorbusters” that should be avoided. For additional details checkout my infographic [redacted].

2.) The Top 10 Tech Deals this Black Friday – This is another piece I feel would be really helpful to viewers, again, the infographic references a few of the best.

3.) How to Tell if a Deal is Really A Deal on Black Friday – Buying a laptop or TV? How do you know you’re really getting a deal? Is it worth waiting in line for? Those are a few questions I can answer. As an avid online shopper I can even show you a few deals available online TODAY (or recently) that are comparable to many “doorbusters.”

Look forward to hearing your thoughts, Shellie. ABC would be great place to break this one.

Best,
Jay

You see what I did there? For most businesses, if your story is newsworthy, and relevant to people within their demographic, you don’t need to send out a press release. Go direct to the journalists where most requests will actually be read.

That’s an example that works for anyone. Now think about your niche? Let’s say your a technology startup, try approaching mainstream technology blogs such as TechCrunch, Mashable, etc. with an exclusive. Former Mashable editor Ben Parr, said it best, “We prefer to be in the first group for any piece of  news. Trying to give us news second hand long after somebody else has written about it isn’t going to win you favors with us.” Quora has a great thread with advice from both sides of the table on, “What are some tips for getting your startup featured on TechCrunch, Mashable and other tech blogs?” While most beneficial to startups, the tips apply to any business.

Also keep in mind that mainstream media gets hundreds of PR requests everyday. If you want to get into TechCrunch, your chances are slim unless your venture backed by known investors or your a well known entrepreneur. With that being said consider:

• Expanding your horizons, if TechCrunch doesn’t reply with regards to your exclusive within 24 hours, approach another source. Here’s a list of blogs and websites that a new startup should approach for press.
• Hiring a PR Company – I asked a well known entrepreneur in the technology space, Neil Patel, for his thoughts on avenues to explore for press releases, he mentioned something along the lines of “Press releases sound like a good idea, but most of the time they don’t get the results you want… I recommend hiring a PR agency for better results.” Getting press is like life, often times it’s not what you know, but who you know. Good PR agencies have connections with journalists that can get your product/service featured.

Why Should You Send Out A Press Release?

“Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.” Google’s update to its link schemes are the latest explosion in the SEO world since Google Penguin and Panda. Press release services (at least the major ones) were quick to react by automatically no-following links within press releases in compliance with the updated Google Webmaster Guidelines. Since press releases should now bring limited SEO value, should you still send one out?

I do recommend sending out at least one press release, most notably for the launch of your business. It could be a small signal to Google that you are a legit business (would a black hat SEO spend $249+ on a press release that does not include a link that passes SEO value?). And the buzz around launching a new business is more likely to pick up links than most other types of generic press releases.

What’s the Best Press Release Service?

We’re going to touch more on this subject next week to find out what changes press release services are making after the link schemes update. But I have done hours of research on different press release services and I recommend the following two companies for news release distribution services; eReleases.com and PRLog.com (free). Here’s why:

• At the prices they offer with the amount of distribution they have, eReleases is the best value. If you only send out one news release, use eReleases and with the “Newsmaker Distribution” ($399). Once posted, download the final press release as a pdf and put it in a “media kit” which includes the press release, more information, relevant images they could use in posts they write about you, etc. and use that for direct outreach. Update: eReleases has just sent me an exclusive coupon to our readers. $100 off your first press release! At that price, they’re hard to beat!   
• PRLog.com is a free press release service, but don’t expect anyone to read it. With everyone and anyone allowed to post, it’s a magnet for spam and other uninteresting “news.” It is, however good for a single no-followed backlink (PR6) and can help local businesses rank in the “local 3-pack” on Google as press releases requires contact information (name, address, phone number, etc.). Their releases also rank very well, especially in non-competitive phrases… think about this when crafting the headline.
• Help A Reporter Out (HARO) – While not a press release service per se, HARO has been all the buzz for the past few years. HARO is a service that most news agencies use to find sources, they’re sent out in three daily emails (morning, afternoon, and evening) with requests from journalists looking for sources to help them out with a piece they’re working on. HARO states that, “From The New York Times, to ABC News, to HuffingtonPost.com and everyone in between, nearly 30,000 members of the media have quoted HARO sources in their stories. Everyone’s an expert at something. Sharing your expertise may land you that big media opportunity you’ve been looking for.” If you’re using Gmail, create filters for your niche and you’ll only get the emails with journalists that need your help.

With a myriad of press release distribution services, which should you use?  Especially now that Google has recently updated their Link Schemes to forbid overly optimized anchor text within a press release? Before we delve into that, let’s review the link scheme update, here’s the example Google cites:

When I first read the update, I didn’t think much of it because it clearly targets spammy press releases sent out by lazy SEO or PR agencies. Press release services, however, saw it differently and were quick to change its practices. PR.com, PRWeb, BusinessWire, et. al were all quick to automatically no-follow links within press releases distributed through them. But there are workarounds that do not violate the Webmaster Guidelines (more on that below), there are even a few small press release companies that still allow followed – even with anchor text (we wouldn’t recommend the ladder).

Why Does Google Hate Press Releases?

They don’t hate press releases, they just want you to use them as intended – to distribute news. Google actually has a problem deciphering what’s news, and what’s just a paid press release. They’ve even tried to deter you from using press release services for SEO. Google’s Head of the Webspam Team, Matt Cutts, has long said since 2005 that “the actual content of the press release itself doesn’t directly affect a site.” Further citing that, “For example, on http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/10/prweb296086.php those hyperlinks don’t help avatarfinancial.com (in Google).” In eight years, have his opinions changed? Nope, six months ago he stated on a Google Forum that, ” I wouldn’t expect links from press release web sites to benefit your rankings.” However, SEO’s have long proved this wrong, most recently by SEOConsult.com, who clearly illustrates that links within press releases do have SEO benefit. They crafted a press release and pointed a link with the anchor text of “sreppleasers” (an anagram of “press release”) to Matt Cutt’s own blog. Results below:

Why do SEOs love press releases?

Simply put, they were an easy and effective way to pay for links… and that’s not even considering if the release is actually newsworthy. But now they’re making the job of an SEO consultant a little tougher. Because let’s face it, it was pretty easy and relatively inexpensive to get links on PRWeb (PR7), PR.com (PR6), 24-7PressReleases (PR6), et. al, not to mention the partners they syndicate with. Oh and the oft chance that you do get covered from a journalist that does actually pay attention to newswires.

But in all actuality, what really changed? Remember that, Google specifically cited “optimized anchor text.”

Barry Schwartz of SearchEngineLand.com reports that in a recent discussion with John Mueller, Google’s lead Webmaster Trends Analyst, press releases have drawn akin to advertisements and recommends that you should no-follow links within a press release, even ones that aren’t overly optimized. Well… that wouldn’t be the first time Google has tried to dissuade SEOs from doing something.

Even after reading the aftermath from various sources, I knew their would be workarounds.

My early predictions:

• The most obvious, allowing a no-followed naked url.
• Allow businesses who use their service to create a profile on their page (Company X’s News Page)
• Allow a link outside of the press release.

Researching & Reviewing the Top Press Release Services

After researching the top press release services, looking for changes in their packages, reading their respective blogs, and scouring their news center for the latest releases to see if they no-follow every link, and I even straight up just asked them, “Do you, or will you have any packages that offer a a link that isn’t no-followed?” Here’s what I found out:

Note: If you’re just interested in companies who offer followed links, jump down to the press release services with followed links section below.

PRWeb.com – Let’s start with the most popular of the bunch. On their blog, they talked about Building the Press Release of the Future, along with automatically no-following links, here are other changes they have made:

PRWeb reaches your audience and makes your news visible. Our distribution network contains over 500 partner sites,tens-of- thousands of media outlets, journalists and bloggers, and unparalleled social visibility. In fact, we recently just added Twitter Cards, Google+ Authorship tags, and additional social markup to make sharing content across Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and Facebook better than ever. And, when that network (or a casual reader of news content) picks up your story and writes editorially, your site can still realize significant SEO benefits.

24-7pressrelease.com – Interesting, on their recent blog post (What’s all this talk about no-follow links? And  what does it mean for my press release marketing?) they state, “In order to remain in good standing with Google and follow best practices, we at 24-7PressRelease have immediately instated a policy in which all press release links will be no-follow.” However, each price package shows a new feature that they’ve added:

• Control NOFOLLOW of links (New)

I did however go through many of their latest premium press releases and each and every link was still no-followed. When asked about it, they responded:

We had this previously but have since discontinued it with the recent change with Google.

All links on our site are by default nofollow so it will comply with Google’s new linking standards.

BussinessWire.com – While at first glance, links seemed to be followed (using the MozBar), they’re actually being redirected to a page on their website that is blocked with their robots.txt file. They explain this in their blog post, “Discovery, Not Link Building, is the Objective of Your Press Release.”

What is Business Wire Doing About the Latest Algorithm Change?

Google Webmaster Tools says that to prevent PageRank from passing on anchor links within a press release you can do one of the following:

• Add a rel=”nofollow” attribute to the <a> tag.
• Redirect the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file.

When you use Business Wire, we do all of this on your behalf to ensure that your releases get the most online visibility and ranking benefit from our vast distribution network worldwide.

Business Wire uses the “Google-approved” method for carrying links when we activate what we refer to as “smartlinks” in a customer’s press release.

PR.com and eReleases.com switched to no-follow. Even free press release service, PRLog.com switched to no-follow.

Press Release Services that Provide a Followed Link

PRNewswire.com (PR8) – The oldest and perhaps most well known company of the bunch, allows for a followed link in the “related links” section below the press release.

MarketWire (PR7) – Allows a follow link in contact area, a boxed area right below your press release.

MarketersMedia.com (PR3) – While we wouldn’t recommend it, this small press release distribution company has not made any changes and still allows for anchored followed links within press releases.

PRLeap.com (PR6) – Popular for their monthly subscription plan, I wonder how switching to no-follow effects their attrition rate? Nonetheless, they still allow for a followed link in the contact area.

Send2Press.com (PR6) – Allow followed naked url’s and “contextually relevant” anchors. See below for their update:

Final Recommendation

Last week I answered the question, “Are press releases worth it?”, and the sentiment remains the same… I recommend sending out at least one press release, most notably for the launch of your business. I’ve always used eReleases, they’re simple, much more of an eCommerce model and you can send out a release relatively quickly without requesting a quote or talking to a sales team. Even though they’re no-followed, they do have a large distribution and I did have a few smaller websites pick up my news and write about it. Bang for buck, they offer the best distribution at the best price.

Looking at the list of press release distribution services that provide a followed link, I’d be tempted to try Send2Press.com, because they still allow url’s within the press release… which is a stronger ranking factor than a link in the contact area. But at that price, I’d lead others to a stronger link first… such as the Yahoo Directory (PR8) for $300. Even better, pay someone to write content for your blog to drive targeted traffic.

The point is, if you’re looking at it purely from an SEO perspective, I think there are other avenues to explore first. If you’re in a competitive niche, and you have the budget, it could be worth running a release from every service that allows for a followed link. I’d be curious to hear peoples results post Google update… let me know in the comments below. I’ll also post any updates I find.