Search Engine Optimization in Press Releases; SEO and PR
Posted: January 10, 2012
The evolution of the internet, now supercharged by the meteoric rise of the social media, has provided huge opportunities and challenges for the Public Relations industry.
The evolution of the internet, now supercharged by the meteoric rise of the social media, has provided huge opportunities and challenges for the Public Relations industry. Now, PR professionals have the power to appeal to the masses directly, without having to go through traditional media journalists in print and broadcast
Traditionally, press releases were announcements designed to transmit newsworthy announcements to journalists about an organization, individual or event. The goal was to obtain media coverage of the subject and name recognition from a credible news source.
Adding the internet and social media to the mix, press releases now are a key tool used by SEO Professionals and Public Relations firms to generate fresh content for the purpose of driving link-building strategies for the purposes of Search Engine Optimization, Google Rankings as well as establishing relevance, credibility and authority.
Tips and Examples
To optimize your press release and make it an avenue to drive traffic to your website, it’s important to have relevant content, images and/or videos, strategically placed keywords and thoughtful distribution. Following are specific tips and examples of news releases that have been optimized for search engines.
Use Keywords in the Headline
It’s a very basic concept but easy to miss. Press Release writers are burdened by having to write headlines that are brief and attention grabbing. In fact, many PR professionals are former newspaper and magazine journalists that have jumped into this profession because print media is in serious decline, possibly on the road to extinction. If you’re a former journalist, it might be easy to omit keywords in your headline because you’ve been writing headlines focused on the news rather than the strategy. Make sure to add the keyword at the beginning of the headline rather than the end.
Before writing the press release, think about the keywords that you think your targeted audience will use to find information related to your press release. Identify four or five terms and strategically place one or two of them in the headline. The rest you should incorporate in the body of the release.
Keep Headlines Short
The optimum length for a headline is 30 to 140 characters. This shouldn’t be too difficult now that we communicate in the era of tweets and status updates. The Google Snippets in search results will display up to 70 characters (including spaces) in a headline. So it’s better for the link to your press release to be read completely and not supplemented by ellipsis, which might convey the message that the headline is such a long title that it doesn’t fit the display. This can be interpreted as your information being too long, which might discourage potential readers.
Another reason to keep it short is that it makes it Twitter friendly. A short headline is easy to re-tweet and allows for the re-tweeter to add his/her own comment and intro within the 140-character limit.
Read the remaining tips on Search Engine Optimization in Press Releases; SEO and PR.
Biz Tip Provided by: Optimum7.com