Are Press Releases Critical?

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Hey guys! Thank you for taking the time to read my article Who all has experience with press releases here on Warriorforum and who do you use to distribute such content? I've really have been considering purchasing a few quality Press releases however before I invest in such services I wanted to hear what you guys had to say.

Thanks for any information!
John
#critical #press #releases
  • Profile picture of the author nik0
    Banned
    Originally Posted by SEO Teammate View Post

    Hey guys! Thank you for taking the time to read my article Who all has experience with press releases here on Warriorforum and who do you use to distribute such content? I've really have been considering purchasing a few quality Press releases however before I invest in such services I wanted to hear what you guys had to say.

    Thanks for any information!
    John
    Close to zero SEO benefit.

    Might give some exposure but that's all about what you have to announce of course.
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  • Profile picture of the author Melissahoster
    Banned
    No ranking benefits for your site, but the releases themselves would rank - the paid ones I mean and that would give you more exposure and traffic. If you are considering paid PRs, Fiverr would be an affordable choice.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    I disagree with both the posters above. They can have a great ranking benefit, if you actually have something that is worthy of a press release. In other words, something news worthy that might get picked up by large publications.

    Most IM'ers though are just releasing rubbish press releases that have no real news value. The circulation is pretty limited for that kind of stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author realdealseo
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      I disagree with both the posters above. They can have a great ranking benefit, if you actually have something that is worthy of a press release. In other words, something news worthy that might get picked up by large publications.

      Most IM'ers though are just releasing rubbish press releases that have no real news value. The circulation is pretty limited for that kind of stuff.

      I second this opinion, press releases most def do have value when they are well written and actually providing some type of useful information. I have used a number of services over the years and although they don't work as good as they used to they still should be used. Especially if you are promoting a business with a physical address.

      I have had numerous people write me and ask me about the press releases that I have published. (ie editors of magazines and such) who want to do follow up pieces.

      This is not something you should skip if you are building an authority site in my humble opinion. And the potential links you can get from real people in similar industries is incredibly valuable.

      I might mention here, do not use the free press release sites. In my experience they don't do much and are a waste of time. There are a number of tricks you can use to not have to pay full price for a release but still get released. Ie: free trial for press release account etc.

      Feel free to pm if your interested ill point you in the right direction as to how to get some free releases or discounted rates on legit ones.

      Regards,

      RDS
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
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      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      I disagree with both the posters above. They can have a great ranking benefit, if you actually have something that is worthy of a press release. In other words, something news worthy that might get picked up by large publications.

      Most IM'ers though are just releasing rubbish press releases that have no real news value. The circulation is pretty limited for that kind of stuff.
      Good lucking coming up with ground breaking news for some plumber or dentist or some affiliate site, not easy.

      That's why I said it has close to zero SEO benefit as most won't be able to come up with something.

      Last year I asked 100+ clients to provide something news worthy, best they could come up with was discount or some coupon.
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  • Profile picture of the author bwh1
    I will be able to answer this to you in about a month from now.

    I got a PR published and distributed last week and 2 out of 3 rankings in Google dropped where 1 improved a bit.

    It's a long term thing I guess so I believe that I'll be back stronger than before.

    If your PR is really Newsworthy you can get a good boost from social sources, people sharing the PR.

    G.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Press releases can be beneficial for

    1. Diluting an over optimized link profile
    2. Padding a link profile, before targeting specific keywords.

    As for anchor text within the PR itself, forget it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Rush
    Sometimes press releases can rank for long tail keywords and drive some traffic back to a website. I primarily use them to make my backlink profile look diverse and natural.
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  • Profile picture of the author KingRoyal
    Thank you guys so much for all of your opinions. Has anyone used pr.com?
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  • Profile picture of the author seosuperstar2014
    Few months back, press releases were really effective in the ranking of sites, now a days, it has just become another source of backlink..
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  • Profile picture of the author Melody
    We do a lot of REAL press releases - and by that, I mean PR for true business events,: i.e., launching a new product, hiring new key staff, announcing a major new contract etc. The back links that stick and that seem to actually count come from where the PR gets picked up, not usually from the sites that the PR is posted to by the PR service.

    To clarify:

    When you see that a PR site will get you on CNN, ABC etc - it's not on the news part of the site. It's either on the 'community' or press release section of the site, or an area that they in essence 'lease' from the news sites for posting their news. We see very little if any impact on ranking from these postings.

    However, if you also take the time to submit your PR manually to industry-related news sites, and get your PR posted there - those back links seem to have a significant impact.

    But overall - use PR to build authority for a site or a client, or to get traffic and visitors - the purpose that PR was originally intended for, because as rank builders - just not as effective as it used to be.

    But as a business builder? Still good, if the PR is good!

    Melody
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
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      Originally Posted by Melody View Post

      To clarify:

      When you see that a PR site will get you on CNN, ABC etc - it's not on the news part of the site. It's either on the 'community' or press release section of the site, or an area that they in essence 'lease' from the news sites for posting their news. We see very little if any impact on ranking from these postings.
      Same here after 100+ premium PRweb releases, guess Google just treats that as paid links and automatically discounts those links.

      Originally Posted by Melody View Post

      We do a lot of REAL press releases - and by that, I mean PR for true business events,: i.e., launching a new product, hiring new key staff, announcing a major new contract etc. The back links that stick and that seem to actually count come from where the PR gets picked up, not usually from the sites that the PR is posted to by the PR service.
      That's the whole problem, most business are way too small to being picked up cause they hired new staff or closed a new contract, at most some local newspaper might pick it up, but not much of a chance if you don't contact them yourself about it, which kind of kills the whole idea of paying to have a company like PRweb distribute it.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEMResource
    In our experience, Press Releases rank high in search results and in driving traffic to the site. It depends on which service you use that gets high ranking. We've used PR Web and recommend it the most because it gets high ranking, helps with SEO ranking on the site when you link the keywords in the PR, and increases traffic.

    We've also used SB Wire and PR Log and recommend all of them. Our clients regularly get Press Releases and their traffic goes way up. It also helps their ranking results for keywords. We've notice that after linking the keywords in the PR, they get better traction in Google.

    Clients love doing the PRs because some get up to 1000 visits for the initial PR launch and it tapers each week, but there are long term results from the placement of the PR in Google. They've remarked about getting clients and more press attention from the PRs.
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    • Profile picture of the author keithb89
      Originally Posted by SEMResource View Post

      In our experience, Press Releases rank high in search results and in driving traffic to the site.
      Press releases should have NOTHING to do with getting a high search rank. They are supposed to be source material to help bloggers/journalists to write a story about your business or website.
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  • Profile picture of the author Houston32
    Hello, Press release is very effective , if you submit newsworthy and Unique content , your news must be with quality content .
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  • Profile picture of the author gokhlesh
    Press release promote your services in market and boost the traffic of your website.Now a days it is used as a source of back-links
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  • Profile picture of the author dgui123451
    Press releases are not critical but they are very beneficial and can provide high quality backlinks.
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  • Profile picture of the author PBMax
    I have a pretty decent PR service provider that offers both potential for rankings and exposure. The news doesn't have to be groundbreaking to get picked up by 200-250 news sites, some with up to an PR8. ( I know the page my release is on is not the PR8, but the trickle effect is at play here.)

    Mainly the exposure is what I'm after. I had a release written for a client, they had no idea, and they somehow found it two days later. The mere fact that they came across the small release amidst a sea of information (Google) means the exposure is happening.
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  • Profile picture of the author JackeyRoe
    I think PR is a powerful way for your site's building and rank, in Google's eyes, a site which is powerful or high quality, PR to announce its new service or products every week or month is nature. Of course, PR on the paid sites better than the free sites.
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