Part of your website optimization lies not only in the page’s content, but rather, in your assets. While your pages give a great deal of relevance to Search Engines, people often forget about assets such as images, videos, podcasts, PDFs, and press releases.
An optimized press release gives you the upper hand in the search engines, before a visitor even comes to your page. Here are 7 ways to optimize your press releases for the search engines:
1. Target keyphrases. If you have optimized your website, you have identified a list of targeted keyphases that you believe your customers will search in order to be found in the results pages and come to your site. You then defined authority pages for these phrases throughout your site.
Just like web pages, your press release should have a message that ties to one or more of your targeted keyphrases. It helps to have the phrases handy in a document you can refer to when writing any content, be it blog post, web page, or press release.
The target keyphrase should appear in your press release headline, sub headline and around 2-3 times in the body of a standard length press release.
Targeted keyphrases should be in your headline, subheadline and in the body of your press release.
2. Anchor text. Within your website, you have links to either other pages within you website, to assets on your website, or else links to external sources on the Internet. The words used in the actual link are called “anchor text”. Similarly, you should be using your targeted keyphrases in your press release as anchor text to send people to the most relevant pages for that keyphrase on your website. Keep the anchor text links in the body of the press release, and try not use the same keyphrase more than twice as anchor text.
3. Backlinks to website. As previously mentioned, you should be utilizing your targeted keyphrases as anchor text to the relevant page on your website. This link is known as a backlink. Other backlinks in your press release can include a link in your “About [My Company]” section going back to your home page, or to other relevant pages as reflected in your description.
An example of targeted keyphrases in the anchor text backlinking to the website.
4. Multimedia components. Make your press release stand apart (and be highly sticky in your social media outlets) by adding multimedia components. These can include basic images, video, slides, or a podcast. Additionally, each multimedia component can be optimized with your targeted keyphrases as well, adding even more relevance.
5. Tracking codes. A step that is often missed in optimizing a press release is to create trackable links back to your website. These tracking codes can be created using Google’s URL builder tool . A full description of the advantage of this tool can be found in one of our previous posts on measuring your social media ROI with Google Analytics: Campaign Tagging.
Using tracking codes allow you to see how people are arriving at your site, and which campaigns (or press releases in this instance) are successful.
6. Wire Service Distribution. Once you have completed all the optimization techniques above, an inexpensive and effective way to drive traffic to your website is to submit your press release to one of the press release online distribution networks, like PR Newswire or PR Web. These services can, for a nominal fee, give you tremendous reach with your press releases.
7. Press Release as a web page. Finally, your hard work on your press release deserves being seen right on your website. By placing your optimized press release on your website, you gain a tremendous amount of volume in relevance and cross-linking power.
I would suggest, however, removing the about us section of the press release, as it can be somewhat redundant to your visitors. They are on your site, so they should know who you are, right?
Lee Schwartz, Online Marketing Strategist
What other techniques do you use to optimize your press releases?
