Duplicate Content and Boiler Plates in Press Releases - Does it Matter?
-
Hi All,
We are in process of syndicating a few press releases on company news over the next few months. These aren't fluff PRs, they are actual news and can provide some value for linking opportunities (woohoo).
Anyway, we are a public company, so there are some relatively strict guidelines as to what content we publish. A great place to place some flexible links is in the boilerplate of a release. However, we can't change that content around too much on each PR.
So, question is, are there any negative implications on pushing out that kind of duplicate content on the web. Clearly, it's not our intention to spam whatsoever. But, I can see how the same type of content going out on the web multiple times in coming months good send off a negative signal.
Takes/thoughts?
-
Why the thumbs down when I said the same as Kate?:
"Ensure you have it on your site first"
-
Doubt it. Google has most syndicated press release services on a list of "don't allow these links to pass PageRank." I imagine for this very reason.
Being a big public company you don't really need to worry about penalties. Just ask yourself, "would I feel comfortable telling a search engine engineer what I'm doing to market my website." If you answered yes, don't worry about it. You're one reconsideration request away from getting out of the penalty if one were to ever arise.
-
Well, the information publicized is the kind of stuff that we have to disseminate to follow Wall Street regulation. Naturally, these things get picked up and placed on sites such as Yahoo Finance, CNN Money etc.
To my knowledge, we do syndicate through Business Wire but only after it is put on the company website first.
From an SEO standpoint, we are in need of quality links routing back to us. We have a plethora of inbound links. I am of course worried about any Panda penalties that could arise, but we aren't doing anything deliberately black hat. Our links that have been in these releases historically (prior to my arrival here in January), have all been links to social media or branded in the form of www.example.com. We also haven't seen any non-season changes in traffic.
So, lets say without syndication, reputable sites still pick up the release. In that case, should we still use proper linking?
-
I honestly think that "company news" has very tiny value compared with information about how to select products, how to use them, what can be done with them.
Nobody gives much of a crap about numbers, staff changes, store openings.... yawn... . Focus on evergreen content.
-
In my experience there are two kinds of public company news: either real-time "material information" (i.e. potentially market moving, monitored by regulators) or basically PR stuff that can be planned in advance. I'd deal with the two types differently. Wouldn't worry about widely disseminating the former in just about any manner, standard operating procedure, but would treat the latter differently as described above: establish on company website first, then press release, don't syndicate.
-
The point of press releases is to get the idea and news in front of writers to entice stories. They have since been bastardized into syndicated content on the web that does little for the end use or the company. I am with EGOL, don't syndicate releases like this. Use the stories to get the attention of journalists and writers.
If you must send them out, don't do so with the intention to link build. They are going to be copied over and over. Ensure you have it on your site first and try to get stories out of it, not just "coverage."
This is a longer and more involved process but it's the best one for everyone involved.
-
These aren't fluff PRs, they are actual news and can provide some value for linking opportunities (woohoo).
If I had content that is this good I would not be syndicating it. I would want it exclusive on my own site.
Links in press releases are a good way to get Penguin problems.
-
I would make sure if you also have the press release on your website that you have it on your site before you send it out to others. This makes you the source of the news.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
If other people copy your content, is really GOOD or BAD for SEO ?
Hi MOZ friends. Last week, when i was following up the backlinks linking to my domain, i detect that a new website from an unknown administrator copies the content of an entire section of my website. The administrator of that webpage did not remove the internal links on the post, so i could find.
Branding | | NachoRetta
My website has a better domain and page authority and we focus every day on create new content, but when we found people that only copy content from another, i feel disappointed. But then I got to thinking that could be good that people copy our content, although they did not quote us. If they do not remove the links either by mistake or on purpose, we receive new backlinks. ¿What do you think about this? ¿Is really good that a website copy our content? If they remove all backlinks, Is risky that Google detects that the content owner is another? ¿What do you do in this cases?1 -
Are there any legitimate ways to do press releases?
In the past month, we won a "Small Business of the Year" Award and the managing partner is up for "BusinessWoman of the Year Award" for the greater Tampa area. I would like to send out two press releases, because I think these are appropriate uses of press releases. However, I'm nervous because I don't really know what all the implications of using press releases are. I don't want us to get hurt or flagged as doing something spammy. I also don't know which company to go through if they are still a good idea. PRWeb looks good to me, but then again, I don't really know. Any thoughts on either aspect of this question would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ruben
Branding | | KempRugeLawGroup1 -
Ecommerce // indexation and duplicate
Hello moz community, We have 3 website that are e-commerce based that go as follow : 1.0 www.product.com ( french ) 2.0 www.anotherproduct.ca ( for the canada english ) 3.0 www.anotherproduct.com ( for the usa market in english again ) Those 3 website are configured inside WPML ( wordpress ) and are build with woocommerce. Most of the pages beetween anotherproduct.ca and anotherproduct.com are identical or close to be. We want to have a good indexation and to absolutely avoid duplicate content. Any help would be appreciated ! CHeers,
Branding | | ydesjardins2000 -
Looking to create a Press Release - Any decent sites out there?
Hey guys, I'm wondering whether you could point me in the right direction of a reputable PR site to use? I realise that many of these sites have been devalued over recent years but I wanted to produce something for a client after they struck-up a fairly notable connection with another company in their industry. Or should I just avoid PR sites altogether? Oh, and I'd prefer them to be free if possible 🙂
Branding | | Webrevolve0 -
What To Do With Content From SEO Perspective
With all the SEO focus now on creating and sharing unique and high quality content I ensure that is exactly what we do, however... All we seem to do is add this content to our blog with some good quality images to break up the text. Our articles are at least 800 words in length and they are always informative... Once added to our blog we share the content across the 'big 3' social platforms (Facebook, Twitter & Google+) I also do a little bit of 'internal linking' from the blog post to a relevant page on the main website - the blog is actually part of the website! So, my question is... in light of the recent 'guest post' scaremongering and the fact that every blog owner I seem to 'reach out' wants payment should I look at Web2.0 platforms such as; Squidoo Hubpages Quora Triberr ...and the many other similar sites that exist to add some of our content to? Also what about Article Directories? Ezinearticles GoArticles I know this seems like a 'throwback' to 2-3 years ago but I just wondered whether the above still have any credence? Obviously I would be very selective with regard to 'back linking' and would ensure that I vary the anchor text - to be honest, as much as a link would be useful, it's more about brand exposure ... Any advice \ recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Andy
Branding | | TomKing0 -
Press Mention with No Link
Hey guys, I have a client who got a nice little mention recently in her local news online, but the news site (like many I notice) does not link any content in their articles. Anyone have a creative idea for leveraging this type of mention? She is an attorney and the article mentioned her as the defense attorney on the case. Any ideas would be much appreciated!
Branding | | RickyShockley0 -
Advice on Content Publishing
Hi, I was rather hoping for a little advice on how to best get my content out there. I made a simple, and pretty poor quality (though funny I hope), guide on making homemade slippers for Father's Day - you can find it here http://appointedd.com/blog/homemade-slippers-for-fathers-day/ I guess my question would be, where would you put it up? Being fairly new to this kind of content creation (and this was only something I did in my spare time), I'm still trying to get my head around some of it. thanks!
Branding | | LeahHutcheon0 -
Press Release Company
I'm wanting to submit press releases to PRNewswire, BusinessWire and MarketWire.... but I dont want to take the time to fill out forms and fax them back, or pay the initial membership fees. Are there companies that just take the press release that you've written, and then send them out to these services? Where can I find such a company?
Branding | | JABacchetta0