Press releases and link building

Discussion in 'Link Development' started by caks, May 23, 2008.

  1. #1
    Is press releasing a good method of link building and can it hurt or harm your efforts.

    If I prepare one press release and use say PRWEB and other free press release sites to promote it will a lot of scraper websites pick it up and can those links hurt my Google ranking. - If they can? -

    Is there a better way of using press releases to build links?
     
    caks, May 23, 2008 IP
  2. salihpk

    salihpk Banned

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    #2
    yeah press release is good.but its heard to get a very good free press release sites list.can anyone have one ?
     
    salihpk, May 23, 2008 IP
  3. itcn

    itcn Well-Known Member

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    #3
    itcn, May 23, 2008 IP
  4. aftermarket

    aftermarket Active Member

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    #4
    I'd say yes it is a good link building method
     
    aftermarket, May 23, 2008 IP
  5. caks

    caks Peon

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    #5
    Agreed I will definitely DIGG that article very good read. And I strongly agree.
     
    caks, May 26, 2008 IP
  6. kingofsanda

    kingofsanda Peon

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    #6
    A press release is one of the most effective methods of building backlinks,
    and PRWEB is an excellent service make sure you use the paid submission
    rather than the free submission because you will get significantly better
    results with the paid service.
     
    kingofsanda, May 26, 2008 IP
  7. zk5182

    zk5182 Active Member

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    #7
    prweb.com is the most effective pr site online
     
    zk5182, May 26, 2008 IP
  8. Belome

    Belome Peon

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    #8
    Are press releases better than articles for link building?
     
    Belome, May 26, 2008 IP
  9. enigmanuma

    enigmanuma Member

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    #9
    I've discovered (through error of course) that you shouldn't use your target keywords early in your press release and definitely not in the title. Otherwise you will end up 2nd or 3rd on google to the press release sites posting of your article.
     
    enigmanuma, May 26, 2008 IP
  10. GreatDomainRace

    GreatDomainRace Peon

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    #10
    Press releases are also a away to get your brand out there from a trusted source.
     
    GreatDomainRace, May 26, 2008 IP
  11. enigmanuma

    enigmanuma Member

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    #11
    Are the press release sites really good sources for mainstream media? I guess if it were an exceptional article it may be, but I would be surprised if they actually use the sites for articles. I've done articles in the past and gotten posts on other websites but it would be difficult to tell if a paper, radio station or magazine picked it up.
     
    enigmanuma, May 26, 2008 IP
  12. dchelix

    dchelix Peon

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    #12
    I haven't heard much positive feedback from people that get press releases.. I think theyd only be good if they were really excellent articles...
     
    dchelix, May 26, 2008 IP
  13. websavy

    websavy Banned

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    #13
    websavy, May 26, 2008 IP
  14. Divisive Cottonwood

    Divisive Cottonwood Peon

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  15. itcn

    itcn Well-Known Member

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    #15
    If they are about valid newsworthy stories, press releases are an excellent method of advertising your website and/or brand. For SEO purposes, you should submit your press releases to as many sites as you can which will also allow you to publish links, thereby building your backlink count.

    If your press release is a valid, newsworthy story and follows the rules of release writing, you'll find it (and your link) gets picked up by hundreds of news sites.
     
    itcn, May 27, 2008 IP
  16. jhmattern

    jhmattern Illustrious Member

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    #16
    As someone who actually specializes in online PR, I'll tell you that yes, they can hurt you if you use them inappropriately (and in more than just link-building).

    Press releases can be a highly effective tool for building high quality, relevant, and permanent backlinks. But those come from using releases when you have true news, and you target your audience and distribution with a well-written release.

    If the idea is just to post crappy releases in the hopes of getting hundreds of quick backlinks, you don't understand press releases enough to be using them. I was actually chatting the other day with PRWeb's Marketing Manager, and we were talking a bit about this kind of release. Essentially, what I said is that I'm expecting to see Google eventually slam PR distribution sites (or more the people using them) sometime in the next several months to few years (I'm expecting to see article directories hit first, and Google seems to like hitting sites in niche waves). Look at it this way... people didn't think there was any harm previously in submitting to huge amounts of generic Web directories. Now they can be looked at as link farms and "bad neighborhoods" by Google. People didn't think there was anything wrong with building links by sponsoring wordpress themes... then there were issues with that (I even have a client who came to me recently to hire me to help build them legitimate links after these kinds of sponsorships hurt them in giving a bunch of irrelevant links - you have no control over where your link goes).

    Think of press releases similarly. You not directly seeing it hurt you immediately doesn't mean it won't seriously bite you on the ass later if you use them poorly now.

    Frankly, most of the links you'll get are crap anyway - from PR sites directly where you'll be buried in archives quickly, or from scraper sites. That's why you shouldn't waste time submitting to hoards of these free sites. Instead, choose one or just a few that will actually get your release into the news engines, and then manually target key sites that you'd like to see coverage from (this is where the truly high quality links come from in most cases - although it's possible to get real coverage from a distribution site if you have something truly newsworthy to say).

    One final point - don't forget that if you act like a press release spammer, your site or company name can be associated with that bad behavior in the future (and it's BIG news currently in the PR industry, with journalists, and with serious bloggers - you can read some of my recent posts over at www.NakedPR.com to get some background on that). If you send out lousy releases to too many sites just for quick links, it's going to be increasingly more difficult to get legitimately-earned links from higher quality niche sites and news outlets down the road when you do have something really worthwhile to say.
     
    jhmattern, May 27, 2008 IP
    itcn likes this.
  17. itcn

    itcn Well-Known Member

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    #17
    All good and valid points from jmhattern. I like to stress to clients that if you can't write, then don't try - hire a pro. One of the worst things you can do with a bad press release, whether it's poorly written or simply about a poor topic, is publish it. PR sites will pick it up and disseminate it, and then you can't take it back. And a year from now someone may be researching your brand and find this crappy release you put out there. Use them wisely as marketing tools, not as linkbuilding systems.
     
    itcn, May 27, 2008 IP