The Press Release: SEO's Booster Shot

In recent years Press Releases, traditionally one tool among many for media marketers, have taken on a whole new role in the world of Search Engine Marketing. The SEO press release is nothing less than a booster shot!

It is an invaluable strategy for new or struggling businesses to dramatically increase the visibility of their message, improve their rankings and build long-term authority for their business.

Visibility: Traditional press releases were distributed through major media, but the technology of new media is faster and reaches a wider audience. Online wire services such as PRWeb, Business Wire, or PR Newswire ensure your release will be syndicated on a host of popular and authoritative online news sites—Google and Yahoo News, among others--and their respective news feeds.

"Boost"ability: Strategically embedding your press release with links anchored by your targeted keywords boosts your search rankings for those pages and key terms literally overnight, as your links are desseminated among thousands of websites frequently indexed by search engines. Online wire services set a limit on links per number of words, so be sure to carefully choose your anchor text and link it to a relevant landing page with a strong call to action.

Authority: Even after your press release is "old" and is added to the news archives, the inbound links from these high-ranking news sources remain valuable, lending long-term credibility and authority to your site to improve your search engine rankings.

Crafting an SEO Press Release

Tactical benefits of distributing a press release aside, a good press release should have a purpose and convey a compelling message. You can use a press release to:

• Announce important news or events surrounding your business
• Promote new products, services or special offers aimed at a target audience
• Enhance your brand by responding directly to customers' questions or concerns about your product
• Offer a professional opinion about a current event or topic related to your industry

Finally, to get the most clicks for your message, include a short, catchy and descriptive headline utilizing strategic keywords relevant to your target audience. Most web consumers do judge a page by its title, and so do search engines, so be sure to make yours relatable and coherent!