Are PR releases good for Link Building?
-
I'm having a bit of a conundrum with Press Releases:
I recently sent a press release on PRWeb (which I personally think is just "average" compared to others as it focuses mainly on the CBS network and is not focused at all unless you pay for an expensive release) and got over 100 incoming links from high PR news sites (according to Webmaster Tools) but these links had PRWeb in subtitle, so for all I know these were syndicated releases and not "Pick up By" as PRWeb reports.
- Will this affect Page Rank value or rankings for any keywords?
- Are these links treated only as temporary links or permanent back links? (I know sometimes they appear in Google News or Yahoo News, but disappear the next day)
Was it valuable to the company?
Our business is in health sector exclusively on East Coast U.S. and the release was seen all over the world and not one of the links coming back was from a health-related section. They were high rank online sites, but is there value in such links?
added 11/30: I was reviewing competitors' link backs I found they did a lot of press releases and gained a high-level link back from each one. These were the best/highest-authority links they had. The syndicated releases were not even listed anywhere. And then I reviewed their SERPs... and guess what, their ranks increased with each one. (So I don't think "duplication" is an issue. If anything only the syndicated copies were penalized, but not the original one)
-
Do you have some reference?
Here's what I found out last night which is contradictory to what you said:
added 11/30: I was reviewing competitors' link backs I found they did a lot of press releases and gained a high-level link back from each one. These were the best/highest-authority links they had. The syndicated releases were not even listed anywhere. And then I reviewed their SERPs... and guess what, their ranks increased with each one. (So I don't think "duplication" is an issue. If anything only the syndicated copies were penalized, but not the original one)
-
Nope, new landing page is not that much required. However, since it is a paid promotion kind of thing, you need to add no follow tag against the anchor text if you wish to be on the safe side.
-
That's a great point about anchor text. Would you recommend linking to a different/new landing page?
-
_I hate the idea of considering Press Release as another form of Link Building. It has a simple and straightforward purpose and that is – helping you promote a new service or product. So, when you are trying to promote your website via Press Release, you need to make sure that you are not making any kind of compromise on the quality front. And for God’s sake do not use exact matched anchor in the press releases as it may make your website more vulnerable to algorithmic updates. _
-
The backlinks from the duplicate content press releases that were reposted by a network of news sites will not help you. That is unnatural duplicate content with the lack of natural anchor text variances. The recent Penguin and Panda updates targeted this exact sort of thing.
Now, if you can get real editorial links from reporters that makes the whole thing worth while!
-
David, like I said though... we did get an additional 100+ link backs from high PR sites (6+7) that were in the PRweb network where the release was distributed to.
Yes, we did get interest from reporters and got interviewed but I was asking about those 100+ links from the PRweb network.
-
The short answer is those links are useless and will not benefit your company in any meaningful way.
Press releases by themselves should not be considered a good link building tactic. Press release ARE effective when you use them to promote something you have done that is newsworthy. In this case, the press release is a hook to catch a journalist and hopefully get positive PR and interviews that link back to you. It is not the link from the press release that helps you, but the editorial link from a highly authoritative site that helps. Unless you have something exciting enough to share with a friend at a bar, you probably should not be using a press release for it.
If you would like to read additionally on this, check out this article:
http://searchengineland.com/how-prweb-helps-distribute-crap-into-google-news-sites-140597
-
If they got picked up by media and reworded then that is great for seo if they just got picked up as is it doesn't help seo so much.
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
-
Is there a good website builder that can gain links?
I made the horrible mistake of using GoDaddy website builder and just found out that I have 3 homepages with a 302 temporary redirect on one of them. GoDaddy says I have only one homepage and no redirects which is not true as far as both Google Webmaster and Mozpro are concerned. I am not able to change anything structurally on the Godaddy site. Is there an economical alternative to having a website built that I can work with myself (with little knowledge) and that I can do some link building that will be effective. Thank you, I will refrain from commenting on GoDaddy Scott
Link Building | | ScottR.0 -
Anyone have experience with AdTaxi for link building services?
Recently a client of ours received a proposal from a local newspaper for search related services, including link building. I believe the name of the company the paper is working with for some of these services is AdTaxi, which i had not heard of before. Anyone have experience with these guys from a link building standpoint? I know that here we are more "do it yourselfers" and for the most part, we handle all of the on-page and technical SEO for our client's sites, but link building as a dedicated service isn't something we have the resources to offer so I'm just looking to do some research. Thank you! -William
Link Building | | AudigyGroupDigital0 -
SEO Link building from zero in a practical world
Hi, I'm a web developer with good knowledge of SEO friendly web development etc. When it comes to link building Im not quite sure where to start. I have read heaps of articles about building links, but can you guys please tell me how to start building links from 'zero' in a practice world? Im not even sure whether I have anyone who can link to my website or my client's website either 🙂 Thanks heaps.
Link Building | | Uds0 -
Link Building with Widdgets and Tools
Hi, We run a affiliate program and as part of that program we offer free tools that our affiliates can take in order to help them promote our product. We have also used these tools as a link building method as we provide highly useful information. We have seen on Google Link Schemes page (http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66356) the following part which we believe has only just been added: Links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites, for example: Visitors to this page: 1,472
Link Building | | MotoringSEO
car insurance Our tool basically consists of a link of JavaScript with a link outside of the tool as per the following example: this super widget was provided by <a>mydomain.com</a> We are now concerned that a link building process that we have used for many years is now considered to be gaming Google. We also do something similar with badges that we give out to approved suppliers. These would look something like the following: Approved Supplier http://mydomain.co.uk/ Any recommendations on whether or not the style we are using would now be considered as wrong to Google, even though they add value to our partners sites. Thanks for any help in advance.0 -
How much should a link building program cost?
Hi All, I am relatively new to the world of SEO but it is vital to our business that we improve in this area. I believe our site architecture is good although we have a new site coming in the next few weeks which is effectively a re-skinning of the existing one that makes the user experience more relevant. What I would like to know is how much a link building program shoudl cost from an SEO provider and how they quantify what they charge - is there some kind of indicative cost per link or is it just "give us some money and we will do our best?" We have started writing daily articles on our news site and our natural listings are already pretty good. What I am looking to achieve is top three status for the London area (where we work) accross a broad range of keywords. I know this is what everyone wants but we are already front page and top 3 for many keywords and the back link building would appear to be where we are weaker compared to some of our competitors. Thanks James www.morganpryce.co.uk
Link Building | | Jcoveyduck0 -
Which link building method is most effective?
I have been looking at different seo companies for link building. I found a ranked list on Topseos.com. Many of them offer the same services as offshore SEOs, namely: Article marketing blog comments forum comments/profiles bookmarking PR directories Link acquisition by contacting relevants sites and negotiating a fee for a link I know that custom link acquisition is the most effective, but it gets very expensive. And, you don't know what each link is going to cost you. Here are my questions: Of the other methods (other thank custom link acquisition), how would you rank their effectiveness? The other methods seem kinda gimmicky, is it worth the time/money? Have you seen sites rank well for competitve keywords using articles/bookmarking/blog comments/directories etc? How do you know i a company is going to them manually as they claim? as opposed to using some automated software. Thanks
Link Building | | inhouseseo0 -
PR-7 Domain - NoFollow Links
Will the NoFollow link in this article help my rankings in Google? http://www.inc.com/articles/201109/business-intelligence-software-for-small-business_pagen_2.html
Link Building | | b4tv0 -
Link building tools
hello all Please can you suggest the top 5 link building tools that an agency can use? Thank you 🙂
Link Building | | vijayvasu0