Maximize Reach by Optimizing your Press Release for Search
Posted on October 24, 2011 by Sean Wolverton — Leave a Comment
OK, so you have written the perfect press release, now what? Chances are you are going to post it to a newsroom online somewhere, and send it for wire distribution. So how can you ensure you are getting the most exposure to your press release? Optimize it for search of course! By posting your press release to the wire, distribution services such as PR Newswire, PRWeb and Business Wire will post your press release to their websites and distribution networks. In turn, online news sources such as wsj.com, nytimes.com and news.yahoo.com will scour these websites for content to post to their newsrooms. Finally, search engines will scour these sites looking for relevant content to add to their search engine results pages (SERPs).
All these websites and newsrooms are potential readers of your news, so it only makes sense to optimize your press releases for search. Here are a few best practices you can follow to set your press release up for success.
Step 1: Determine your keywords
The first step in optimizing for search is determining what keywords and phrases you want to optimize your release for. Try to determine two or three phrases to keep focused. For example, if your press release is talking about the launch of the XYZ Phone from 123 Corp., then I think it is pretty clear what your phrases should be: XYZ Phone, and 123 Corp. Sometimes it can be a little tricky to determine what key phrases to go for, but there are lots on online resources out there — Wordtracker being one of my favorites.
Step 2: Write a clear and concise headline
Probably the most critical thing for optimizing your press release is having a well-written headline. Headlines are set off with the use of heading tags like <h1> and <h3> for example, so search engines can quickly spot them in the HTML code. Also headlines are often used in the Titles and URLs of webpages, greatly boosting chances for high rankings for those keyphrases. So after you determine what key phrases you are optimizing your press release for, make sure at least one of those phrases is in your headline.
Keep your headline short and to the point while you are at it. Search engines look at the keywords and the keyword density of your headline to determine what your press release is about and how important it is. So a headline with your key phrase along with six other words will have a higher keyword density then a headline with your key phrase and 20 other words. The higher the keyword density, the better.
Step 3: Use key phrases in your subheadline
OK, so using the examples above, you determined your main key phrase is XYZ Phone, and added that to your title, good work. So now, what about the other key phrase, 123 Corp.? Add it to your subheadline if possible. Use the same rules as writing your headline, keeping things clear and concise.
Step 4: Use bolding, italics and hyperlinking to your advantage
In the body of your press release, help search engines understand what phrases are important to readers by bolding and italicizing these words where it makes sense. Also hyperlinking these words is a good practice. For example, a hyperlink to a corporate website from the mention of the product makes logical sense, like so:
Today 123 corp announced the XYZ Phone which has a 12 inch screen, and reads your mind.
Step 5: Don’t be spammy
So with all this, keep in mind that more is not always better. Avoid the temptation to add your favorite key phrase to the headline of your press release three times, because if once is good then three times must be better. It’s not, and the search engines are smarter than that.
Yeah I hear you there are a million rules for search engine optimization, but keep these 5 steps in mind and you should be on the path to success. Your main focus should be to create strong content that has a clear and concise message. If you do so, search engines will respond and the visitors will follow.
