May 14th, 2009 by Andy Merchant
Today we have a guest blogger posting on behalf of Liberate Media - his name is Ian Howie, Account Director, at 1upSearch, which was one of the first ever UK companies to become a Google Website Optimizer (GWO) Authorised Consultant, making it one of an elite group of Website Optimizer specialists.
How to SEO your Press Release
An essential part of your PR strategy should be optimising your press release for Google.
Optimising for Google will also help you to build awareness on Yahoo and other smaller search engines.
Instead of just dropping copy in your release and hoping it will be picked up by the Search Engines, simply follow my five tips to make sure that your online press release works harder for you.
1. Optimise for your Audience not the Search Engines…
This may sound counterintuitive - but optimising a Press Release is all about writing copy that is going to appeal to your audience. Simply stuffing your Press Release full of words that are popular will stop your Press Release from making sense to both your audience and to Google.
I’d suggest using Keyword Tools (see my next point) to find the right Keywords - and then using them in your Headline and at least two or three times in the body copy and again in your About section.
2. Use Keyword Research
So, for my example, I have a Press Release about a new service from Pressitt.
You can use these free Keyword Tools from Google and Wordtracker to help you workout which keywords to put in and in which order.
Let’s have a look at the Google Keyword Tool:
You can either enter the Keywords you want to research into the top box or you can enter a URL from your website if you want to research a subject area.
The second half of the screen shows the actual Keywords being searched in Google, the competition on Google Adwords and an indication of Search Volume (how many Searches per month).
Now, rather than peppering the Press Release with all the phrases, I’m going to combine them into one:
Social Media News Release Service
Covering the Keywords:
Social Media News Release
News Release Service
By doing this, the release will optimise better since (a) it includes both phrases, and (b) it describes more of what the service actually is.
Here is the Optimised text applied to the Press Release:
Social Media News Release Service in Public Beta - From Pressitt
Xx April 2009
Social Media News Release Service - Pressitt - today launches in public beta, following a successful month of private beta testing.
….
Wendy McAuliffe, director of Liberate Media and Pressitt, says: “The private beta phase has been incredibly successful, and we’re delighted to be coming out of it after just one month of testing. The Social Media News Release Service has been a hot topic within the global PR industry for a while, and we’re pleased to see that businesses and brands of all sizes are eager to trial this up-to-date press release format. Early user feedback has been constructive and encouraging, and we’re making service updates as quickly as possible to ensure we’re continually innovating and responding to the needs of our users.”
….
About Pressitt
Pressitt is a Social Media News Release Service, provided by digital PR and social media consultancy Liberate Media and web development company Best Served Cold.
Pressitt allows you to create your own social media news release (SMNR) - also known as a social media press release (SMPR) or social media release (SMR) and publish it to an online community of journalists, the blogosphere and the general public.
…
The full release is just over 3,500 words - however we repeat the optimised terms only 7 times. The context of where you put your Keywords is very important - in the headline (which carries the most weight) and the first line. And is then repeated again within the body and the about section.
3. Use Wordle
To see how a Search Engine would see the words within your release, you can use a clever little site called: Wordle.net. You can cut and paste your copy into it. If I put in my Social Media News Release text, I get this visualisation:
Ideally, the Keywords that you want to be indexed should show up in the largest text in the Visualisation.
4. Embed links
Put links into your copy that link to the relevant parts of your website, you can also link to client/partner websites. These links will help people reading your Press Release to find out more about you and also tell the Search Engines which of your clients’ pages are related to this Press Release, e.g.:
Social Media News Release service Pressitt today launches in public beta, following a successful month of private beta testing.
Developed by digital PR and social media consultancy Liberate Media and web development firm Best Served Cold, Pressitt has already been trailed by an impressive list of high-profile and challenger brands and organisations. These include Johnson’s online parenting community BabyCentre, the Government’s Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, online music provider Napster, digital creative agency Collective, digital entertainment and internet solutions firm iBAHN, digital engagement agency Kerb and LED lamp producer Greengage Lighting.
5, Clear Online Path Back
Name, email address and phone number are now not only ways you can be found online you can also add links to an online version of your Release, as well as your homepage URL, Twitter address, Linked In Group and your blog.
Press contacts:
Wendy McAuliffe
Director
Liberate Media / Pressitt
Tel: 07900 886791
Email: wendy@liberatemedia.com
Online:
Web: www.pressitt.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Pressitt
Blog: http://pressitt.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pressitt-Social-Media-News-Release-SMNR/77338107702?v=wall
So here are the results: the press release is third in the Google Results ranking, after being posted on Pressitt’s sister site Liberate Media:
And ranking at number one and two on Yahoo UK:
This post was written by Ian Howie Account Director at 1upSearch
Twitter: ihowie
Web: www.1upsearch.co.uk
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhowie
Tags: press release, press release optimising, press release seo, SEO, social media news release service
May 15th, 2009 at 8:19 am
You just need to refer the specialized consultant who can advise you what kind of future promotion activities your company requires. Keep in mind that investment in SEO services is still considered as crucial aspects and nothing is certain as search engines rules and algorithms keep on changing time to time and only an expert SEO Advisor with the background of their precious experience can guide you.
May 15th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Text links to deeper pages in your website are also extremely useful in SEO for keyword relevancy and thus search query results. Point being, by adding relevant keywords in your text links that correspond to the page you’re linking to, you’re sending a signal to the engines that this is a relevant page for said keyword. Thus, when a query is run for that keyword, those keyword text links will only help that page rank better.
cheers!
adwords ken
May 16th, 2009 at 8:49 am
[...] Continued here: How to SEO your Press Release | Online PR and social media … [...]
May 18th, 2009 at 10:10 am
[...] How to SEO your Press Release - An essential part of your PR strategy should be optimising your press release for Google. Optimising for Google will also help you to build awareness on Yahoo and other smaller search engines. Instead of just dropping copy in your release and hoping it will be picked up by the Search Engines, simply follow my five tips to make sure that your online press release works harder for you. [...]
May 24th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
SEO VERY useful for web