Ever wished you had your own in-house search engine strategist? I have and today we do.
Thanks to Bob Tripathi for contributing this guest post on how to write an optimized press release. Bob and I met in the press lounge at Ad-Tech, we worked collaboratively to promote a SEMPO event and we met up at SES Chicago. Bob Tripathi works as an in-house search marketing strategist with Discover Financial Services. Bob also does In-House SEO Training and online marketing training at Instant E Training.
Five Ways to Write an Optimized Press Release
• Headline – Most important part of your release so use your most relevant keywords here
• Sub Heading – Use secondary keywords in the subheading
• Body of Press Release – Use primary & secondary terms here
• Use of Hyperlinks – (link to other pages on website)
• Post Image with each release
In 2007, Google unveiled a new way of showing results from user search queries and named it Universal Search.
What universal search essentially was a new way of pulling information from various sources like video sites, social network sites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, from blogs, and press releases. What this created was a new way to optimize all your sources of content. Traditionally, in order to rank higher in search engines we would go and optimize the content on our site and voila!
One of the biggest changes that have taken place is in the traditional role of Corporate Communications.
The early days of writing a press release and then faxing or emailing the story over to a list of journalists is long gone. Instead, journalists today are used to subscribing to RSS feeds, searching Google and Yahoo news sources among others as new methods of finding stories. As such, optimizing press releases becomes a very important step in this whole process of internet news optimization.
Optimizing press releases ensures that your story gets wider coverage in the marketplace and the one that stays fresh and in circulation for a longer period of time.
It is imperative that all press releases that you send out are optimized for search engines. Lets look at all the important elements of a press release.
The Anatomy of a press release
The headline and the sub-headline are the most important part of your press release. Make sure you are using the right keywords in this section.
Ideally, you want to target 2-3 keywords and use in both headline and sub-headline. Here your goal should be to use the language that the users would type in the search engines and not the language that YOU use to describe your product or services. I like to call that as alignment of languages. Later on we will also look at using keyword research tools to find the right keywords.
The press release body is the place where you want to use your primary and secondary keywords but at the same time ensuring that you are not diluting your content by stuffing (overusing) your keywords. I would suggest not using your each keyword more than twice. This is also the place where you want to use your press releases with links going back to your site. Again, hyperlink your strategic keywords as search engines follow the anchor text trail to rank pages.
To give you an example:
Our CEO had more to say about this issue. Click here to learn more…..
The common fallacy here is to make the “Click Here to learn more” part hyperlinked.
Instead try writing it this way…..
Find out more on what our CEO has to say about Educational Toys…
In here you would hyperlink the words “Educational Toys.”
As a rule of thumb use 1-2 links within your press release going back to your site.Using more and chances are your press release might get flagged by some news agencies.
Your footer is another place where you should use links to your company site and also internal product or services page.
Remember, a well optimized press release will not only help you in build great search engine visibility but also help to build links.
Keyword Research to Optimize Press Releases
Keyword research is all about aligning your language with the language of your target market. Online marketing has given marketers the edge by knowing what prospects are thinking and searching and targeting them accordingly.
I would suggest using Google’s free keyword tool as a good starting point. You can also learn more on how to use Google Suggest for Keyword Research. The best part of this tool is it will give you a good estimate of what keywords drive the highest volume in terms of search queries.
You can customize based on your country as well as keyword preferences. Once you enter a keyword in this tool it should give you results like the one below
On the top right there is a match type drop-down and depending on what you select your search volume estimates could vary. More information on match type can be found in Google Help Center. I like to keep it at Exact match type as that is a better predictor than the broad match type. Also, remember that Google keyword tool includes estimates from Google’s content network partners too so your search volume numbers would look little inflated. Google would not disclose the percentage of their content network partners but my guess is around 30-35%.
Press Release Image: screen shot of a PRWeb press release from How can a press release be an all-in-one marketng tool?
What do you think? What’s your experience with writing online press releases?
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36 thoughts on “5 Keys to Writing a Press Release that gets PR [Page Rank]”
Hi Barbara, Bob – You’re passing along some very good information here. I’ve been doing optimized press releases for clients for several years, and they almost always refer a good deal of highly qualified traffic – along with creating quality inbound links. I continue to feel that online press releases are one of the undiscovered secrets of b2b marketing.
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..Selling Social Media and the 3 B2B Mindsets =-.
Hi Barbara, Bob – You’re passing along some very good information here. I’ve been doing optimized press releases for clients for several years, and they almost always refer a good deal of highly qualified traffic – along with creating quality inbound links. I continue to feel that online press releases are one of the undiscovered secrets of b2b marketing.
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..Selling Social Media and the 3 B2B Mindsets =-.
Thanks Brad! Good to have another experienced viewpoint. Our clients get more traffic, but sometimes conversion isn’t always as fast as they’d like – especially when the buying process requires a series of decisions and actions. That’s why a call to action and a landing page that goes along with the press release is so important. There’s a lot of long-term value in this approach on many levels.
Thanks Brad! Good to have another experienced viewpoint. Our clients get more traffic, but sometimes conversion isn’t always as fast as they’d like – especially when the buying process requires a series of decisions and actions. That’s why a call to action and a landing page that goes along with the press release is so important. There’s a lot of long-term value in this approach on many levels.
Brad, thanks for the information on the keyword research. Press releases work great for self-promotion and can work on promoting one’s company much better than righting an article.
Brad, thanks for the information on the keyword research. Press releases work great for self-promotion and can work on promoting one’s company much better than righting an article.
I think this basic formula can also work for blogposts as well as press releases. When aiming for that long tail of search, the better we craft our keyword research, then structure it in our presentation of any sort of web content, the better our results will be.
I think this basic formula can also work for blogposts as well as press releases. When aiming for that long tail of search, the better we craft our keyword research, then structure it in our presentation of any sort of web content, the better our results will be.
Great tip about the use of hyperlinks in press releases. I’ve seen so many press releases without this vital element. Not only does it make it harder for people to visit your site, but it’s also impossible to track how much traffic is coming from the press release.
Great tip about the use of hyperlinks in press releases. I’ve seen so many press releases without this vital element. Not only does it make it harder for people to visit your site, but it’s also impossible to track how much traffic is coming from the press release.
Thanks for your comment, John! Most online release services recommend one release for every 100 words.
Keyword search aside if you don’t have something newsworthy to say in a press release, don’t bother sending it to news agencies. You’ll lose credibility.
Keyword search aside if you don’t have something newsworthy to say in a press release, don’t bother sending it to news agencies. You’ll lose credibility.
Hi Boomergirl – agree with you about having a newsworthy angle to capture attention -and media mentions.
Hi, thanks for writing a timely and relevant article. Great tips!
If possible I would like see or be able to visit a link to one of mr. Tripathi’s SEO optimized press releases. I could not find any under the various keyword phrases I searched for under Financial Services.
Thanks for sharing- Steve Johnson
Hi, thanks for writing a timely and relevant article. Great tips!
If possible I would like see or be able to visit a link to one of mr. Tripathi’s SEO optimized press releases. I could not find any under the various keyword phrases I searched for under Financial Services.
Thanks for sharing- Steve Johnson
Hi Steve:
Have to check with Bob on that.
For best results, we recommend distributing a new SEO optmized press release every 30 days. Of course, your story needs to be newsworthy.
Barbara
@wiredprworks
Helped me loads write my first online press release!
Thanks!
.-= mkt_newbee´s last blog ..Well hello! =-.
Helped me loads write my first online press release!
Thanks!
.-= mkt_newbee´s last blog ..Well hello! =-.
i am a newbie in Search Engine Optimization but i think that the submission of articles in article directories is one of the best ways to gain backlinks. ~
i am a newbie in Search Engine Optimization but i think that the submission of articles in article directories is one of the best ways to gain backlinks. ~
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@Noella Servino Good morning,k Ms. Servino, do you have a list of legitimate article directories. As a new Writing Works Press Web Site owner, I am interesting in building the interactive, creativity of my Web Site.
@Noella Servino Good morning, Ms. Servino, do you have a list of legitimate article directories? As a new Writing Works Press Web Site owner, I am interested in creating an interactive Web Site that is fun and safe.
@Noella Servino Good morning, Ms. Servino, do you have a list of legitimate article directories? As a new Writing Works Press Web Site owner, I am interested in creating an interactive Web Site that is fun and safe.