Do Press Releases Help SEO? Benefits & Best Practices
When you write a press release, what do you focus on? Capturing your story and reaching the right audience are probably high on the list. But you might also be curious about how to use a press release to help your SEO performance. How does it work? What do you need to do? Let’s define why press releases are good for SEO, walk through the benefits and learn what it takes to maximise their value.
What Is a Press Release in SEO?
An SEO-focused press release is a powerful tool designed for two main purposes: sharing your news with media outlets and increasing visibility in search engines. SEO stands for “search engine optimisation,” and while a traditional press release tells a story, a press release optimised for organic search contains certain specific elements.
SEO press releases are written in a way that gives them a better opportunity to rank well in search engines for specific target keywords. By incorporating these keywords (the words and phrases your audience searches for) into various elements of the press release, properly structuring content and correctly using links to improve the user experience, SEO-focused press releases can help your content go even further.
The SEO Benefits of Press Releases
So, do press releases help SEO? When used effectively, press releases do have benefits that go beyond traditional public relations. Here’s how an SEO-focused press release can impact your brand’s online presence.
Quality Backlink Opportunities
A backlink is a link from an outside, third-party website to your press release. Backlinks to your press release help improve its search engine ranking by signaling credibility and relevance. When journalists and bloggers write a story about your press release and include a backlink to it or any other page on your site, that backlink creates a positive signal for search engines that boosts your SEO performance.
Increased Online Visibility
Press releases often boost your brand’s presence in search results because they’re indexed across multiple sites. For example, if you publish the press release on your own website, as well as on PR Newswire’s, both of those pages could rank in the search engines for keywords your press release is relevant to.
If third-party sites publish your press release once it’s been distributed, those pages could also rank. This is especially true for brand-related terms where multiple listings in search results are possible for the same press release. In some cases, your content might even appear in a featured snippet within organic search results, or on Google News or Google Discover. All of these will draw attention and increase engagement.
Brand Authority Signals
Press releases do help with SEO because they can increase mentions of your brand across the web, which signals expertise and trustworthiness and improves awareness. This is important because Google uses E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) signals as part of its ranking algorithm.
E-E-A-T signals are even more important when you’re targeting YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) keywords, which are search terms related to topics that could impact someone’s important life decisions – making accurate information essential. For example, press releases about health, finance or scientific topics might fall into the YMYL category.
Best Practices for Press Release SEO
Press releases are good for SEO only if you know how to optimise them. The first rule for how to write a press release that will perform well in search results is to ensure that it’s focused on your audience and tells a compelling story. (You shouldn’t create a press release for the sole purpose of ranking in search engines.) Then you can incorporate the following tips for press release SEO.
Optimise Your Headlines
Your headline is the first thing both readers and search engines see. From an SEO standpoint, the headline should drive engagement without using clickbait, plus contain keywords and keyword variations. Keep in mind that keywords do not need to appear in sequence. For example, the phrase “SEO Benefits and Best Practices” captures the keywords “SEO benefits” and “SEO best practices,” as well as other related keywords.
While the usual recommendation is to make the headline 100 characters or less, search engines generally only show 56 characters before they either truncate the headline or rewrite it. This means that for SEO purposes, it’s best to include keywords naturally within the first few words so that both search engines and readers can understand the topic up front.
It’s just as important for the headline to be engaging and attention-grabbing, so you may not be able to use the keywords naturally in the first 56 characters. You could still rank for those keywords – they just may not appear in your truncated headline. You’ll need to find the balance that both incorporates keywords and engages your audience.
Craft SEO-Friendly Content
Search engines and humans both value clarity, so simple, structured content is best. Start with a strong opening paragraph that tells the audience why they should care about your story, followed by supporting details in short, easy-to-read paragraphs or bullet points. This reverse pyramid writing style, where you present the most important information first, is a best practice because readers have a tendency to drop off a page the more they scroll down.
Use your target keywords naturally, not excessively. Too many keywords can make your press release feel spammy and actually hurt your SEO. Finally, add statistics, quotes, or data, which help press release SEO by adding authority and credibility. Press releases that contain these kinds of proof points are also better at attracting backlinks.
Include Visual Elements
The best SEO press release examples use multimedia elements, like images, infographics and videos, which make your press release more engaging and shareable. When you add visuals, optimise them for SEO by including descriptive alt text with a relevant keyword (4 to 7 words is a good length). Alt text helps search engines and screen readers understand the image. PR Newswire makes it easy: When you submit a press release for distribution, you can simply caption your multimedia, and the caption will appear as alt text on our site.
Image size also matters for SEO. Images should be a minimum of 60 x 90 pixels to be eligible for Google News. In Google Discover, large images that are at least 1200 pixels wide and enabled using the right HTML elements are more likely to generate visits.
Remember that the size of your images and videos affects your page speed – which affects your SEO results. Many press release distribution services have size limits. For example, PR Newswire has a limit of 100MB for video files and recommends they be no more than 90-120 seconds long. File compression can help balance quality with user experience.
In terms of file type, most major search engines support the following file formats: BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, SVG and AVIF, but press release distribution services have varying requirements, so always check with yours. Make sure your file extension matches with the file type and include your keywords in the file name to capture SEO benefits.
Use Links Strategically
An SEO press release should include one or two relevant links to your website, ideally linking to specific, relevant landing pages. You can also add links to your social media pages to encourage additional engagement and shareability.
Thoughtful link placement gives your audience a natural path to learn more. While linking out to your website from your press release won’t influence its search engine rankings directly, including links can boost awareness for those pages and result in organic, third-party links.
For example, if you have a new product press release, your press release should include a link to the product page on your website. A journalist might read the press release, go to the product page and then write a story. If they link directly to your press release and your product page from the story, both of those pages now have backlinks that can improve their SEO results.
Don’t forget to also create links from your website to your press releases in order to improve the press release’s SEO performance. Creating links from relevant pages of your website to your press release (whether it lives on your site or PRNewswire.co.uk) will increase the opportunity for that page to rank for your target keywords.
Amplify Your Message
SEO press release submission is similar to traditional press release distribution, but you might want to narrow down your targeting. Use a syndication service to reach more outlets and get your news across multiple websites and platforms.
Be sure to target industry-specific platforms and communities to help you reach the right audience. Use social media to amplify the release, and don’t overlook direct outreach and media kits for journalists who cover your industry. A comprehensive yet targeted approach gives your news the best chance to be picked up and shared widely.
Measuring Press Release SEO Success
As with everything else in public relations and communications, you’ll want to know if your press release SEO strategy is working. If you publish press releases on your own website, you can set up Google Webmaster Tools or Bing Webmaster Tools. (They may not cover all of your press release analytics needs, but they can provide a lot of useful information.) Here’s how to measure your success using these tools and others.
Backlink Acquisition
Monitoring how many backlinks your press releases generate over time can help you understand how successful your press release SEO strategy is. Keep track of where these backlinks come from to gauge the quality and authority of linking sites. Tools like Majestic or Ahrefs as well as Google and Bing Webmaster Tools can provide this kind of link data. When you know what’s working, you can prioritise your initiatives and maximise the ROI of your campaigns.
Search Engine Rankings
Of course, press release SEO involves monitoring your search engine rankings for your targeted keywords. A boost in rankings shows that search engines view your content as relevant and valuable. Both Google Webmaster Tools or Bing Webmaster Tools allow you to not only see keyword rankings, but also give some visibility into the traffic that results from each keyword. In addition to these tools, you may want to use a third-party rank monitoring tool to provide additional insights into this data.
Referral Traffic
Referral traffic shows how effective your press release was, so track the amount of traffic each SEO press release gets. A spike in traffic following a press release can indicate that readers found your news engaging enough to want to learn more. Analytics tools like Google’s GA4 or Adobe Analytics can provide insight into the referral traffic that press releases generate for your site.
Brand Mentions
Count the mentions your brand receives across different platforms and websites and note the brand sentiment around each one. The more positive mentions your brand gets, especially from authoritative sources, the more credibility you build. Some SEO professionals disagree on the effect that brand mentions have on SEO performance, but positive brand sentiment has been correlated to better performance in search engines.
Social Shares
Look at the number of times your press release is shared on social media, as well as engagement metrics such as likes and comments. Social shares increase the reach of your content and help drive traffic to your website. High engagement on social platforms can indicate that your release resonated with your audience. In some cases, those social posts may even end up ranking in search results.
Media Pickup Rate
Media pickup is one of the strongest indicators of an effective press release. Track the number of journalists, bloggers or media outlets that cover your story. A high media pickup rate shows that your release successfully attracted attention.
Get the Most from Your SEO Press Releases
So, does a press release help SEO? The answer is yes, but don’t just start keyword-stuffing as many terms as you can into your press release. You need to learn SEO best practices and form a strategy. For the best results, we recommend hiring a professional partner like PR Newswire who can elevate your strategy and advise you on tactics that are specific to your industry.
PR Newswire offers editing, distribution and the support you need to help your press releases reach targeted media outlets and audiences. Sign up today to see how PR Newswire can help with your press release SEO strategy.
FAQs About Press Release SEO
Are press releases still good for SEO?
Yes, press releases are an effective SEO tool, even as the digital landscape changes. When optimised correctly, they help improve brand visibility, generate valuable backlinks and increase traffic. For the best results, focus on newsworthy content, natural keyword usage and strategic distribution. Distributing press releases on a site with high domain authority, like PR Newswire, can also positively impact SEO.
Do press releases help with backlinks?
Absolutely. Press releases can generate quality backlinks based on the awareness that is created when your content is shared on high-authority websites, like media outlets and industry publications. Over time, these backlinks improve your site’s authority and search engine rankings.
How do press releases improve website ranking?
Press releases give your content multiple opportunities to rank for targeted keywords because they’re often published across a number of authoritative sites, including your own. The high-quality, relevant backlinks they generate also tell search engines that your content is trustworthy and valuable. As your press release attracts attention, brand mentions, positive brand sentiment and site traffic increase, all of which contribute to boosting your website’s SEO performance over time.
SEO is important, but getting your press release noticed also requires out-of-the-box thinking. Download The Ultimate Toolkit for Getting Your Press Release Noticed to learn how to craft and amplify your news.