Are Your PR Materials Search Engine Optimised?

While we are swimming in content online, the press release is still a valuable tool for businesses and organisations. They are relatively inexpensive ways to distribute information, establish your authority in an area, boost your visibility, and keep stakeholders apprised of important updates. Here’s something else they’re useful for: search engine optimisation. The vast majority of journalists search these documents, and customers peruse them as well. How do you ensure that your press releases are primed for SEO?

Crafting the Press Release

• Make sure that you identify who your audience is and what exactly you want to tell them.
• Include targeted keyword phrases. The key is to be natural and to include them without forcing them. Use one or two per release and include keywords in your title and subheading as well.
• Watch your anchor text. When you link to landing pages, blogs, or other website pages, use a keyword phrase. “Click here” or “More information” is not going to help you in the SEO department, nor will it entice readers.
• Use related media, such as images, video, or audio clips in your release.
• It seems obvious, but release only noteworthy and newsworthy items! You will make no friends by announcing the most mundane events.

Distributing the Release

• Use wire services, such as PRWeb or Press Association, to distribute your release.
• Create a blog version of your release, as well as a social media version and include links to your press release.
• Use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Technorati, Digg, and other tools.
• Post a copy on your business website.

Monitor Your BUZZ

• Use trackbacks.
• Keep track of the position in SERPs, as well as social mentions, traffic, and other metrics.

The most important thing to remember is to write for your audience, though, and not for Google. The writing should be informative, relevant, and of use to either journalists or the public at large.