How to Write a Press Release for SEO
Writing a press release takes a little bit of persuasion mixed with information to educate or inform a person that reads the press release. Most PR agencies have this technique down pat. Writing press releases for SEO is very different and requires structure as well as optimized content that will be used to manipulate search engine results without boring readers. Successful Internet marketers know how to do this correctly and learning the skills of an SEO press release writer can take your website traffic from single digit hits each day to triple digits or more.
The Elements of an SEO Press Release
• Keyword Optimized Title
• Keyword Optimized Summary
• Primary Keyword with Anchor Link
• Tags
1. Keyword Optimized Title
Google, Bing and Yahoo are big believers of keywords in titles. There are two things to know when writing a keyword optimized title. The first is that the title that you create should be written in a newsworthy way and in the third person. This means avoid using You, I or We. The second thing to know is that your title must always start with your primary keyword. No text can come before your primary keyword in the title if you want it to rank in search results.
2. Keyword Optimized Summary
Free and paid press release distribution websites often require a summary of your press release. This serves a dual purpose. It informs readers of what your press release is about and it serves up keyword rich content to search engines. When writing a press release summary, always start the summary with a primary or secondary keyword and make the content unique to what is included in your press release. Every press release website uses the summary differently. My personal experience has proven that search engines rank summary and title keywords first and rarely index what is contained in your press release.
3. Primary Keyword with Anchor Link
This should be included in the lower portion of the first paragraph or the middle of the second paragraph. Many press release distribution websites will not accept an anchor link within the first 75 to 100 words of the body. The anchor text should always be your primary keyword linked back to the homepage of your website. Deep linking is usually not necessary with a press release anchor link. Article directories and blog posts make better use of deep linking.
4. Tags
Tags are not just for blog posts anymore. Press release distribution is making good use of tags to help users find content in search engines. Just like blog post tags, any tag that you include in an SEO press release should be related to your content. The tags should also be short one or two word tags. My own experimentation has helped to prove that primary, secondary and related keywords work nicely for tags but should not be overused. A good rule of thumb is to use three to five tags for a single press release.
Writing press releases for SEO will make a difference in the web traffic that you get on your website. This format is used successfully to market my own network of SEO websites and has yet to be affected by Google algorithm updates.
