Are press releases that could end up being published with duplicate content links point back to you bad for your site ?
-
With all the changes to the seo landscape in the resent years im a little unsure as to how a press release work looks in the eyes of Google (and others).
For instance, you write up a 500 word press release and it gets featured on the following sites :
- Forbes
- Techcrunch
- BBC
- CNN
- NY Times
- etc ...
If each of these cover your story but only rewrite 50% of the article (not saying these sites wouldn't re write the entire artcile, but for this purpose lets presume only 50% is rewritten) could it be negative to your backlink profile, ? Im thinking not, as these sites will have high authority, but what if once your press release is published on these sites 10 other smaller sites re publish the stories with almost no re writing, either straight from the press release or straight from the article in the mainstream news sites.
(For clarification this Press release would be done in the fashion of a article suggestion to relevant journalists, rather than a blanket press release, via PR Newswire, mass mail out etc. Although i guess the effect with duplicate content backlinks is the same.)
You now have c. 50 articles online all with very similar content with links pointing back at you, would this have a negative effect or would each link just not carry as much value as it normally would.
By now we all understand publishing duplicate content on our own sites is a terrible idea, but dose have links pointing back to your self from duplicate (or similar) content hosted on other sites (some being highly authoritative) effect your site 's seo ?
-
As far as I know, you can always tell Google to ignore links when it's hurting you in Webmaster Tools, right?
-
Not harmful, I just have a theory that they don't count.
-
Thanks, what do you think of the trickle down effect regarding smaller publications who (who may still have decent DA say 30-40) who may just chose to copy and paste the press release, all the way down to the bottom rung publications that will just be rss aggregating content from other sites.
These are the sites im more worried about as there are more of these, between them all there may be 20 - 30 copies of the original press release hosted on different sites.
Can this still be harmful as they will have links back to you within duplicate content ?
-
Great question Sam-P. I am fighting with this in Czech Republic too.
In our segment (ERP systems for production companies) there is no real chance that big press-houses will publish our press releases. And in first place you want them to be published in segment relevant magazines that unfortunately have lower autority in Google's eyes. And even worse - very often they don't rewrite our PRs at all.
It's some sort of paradox for me - you write a good press release, and press loves it so it gets published. But in the end it could do more harm then good, I guess.
-
Sam -- if you get a link to or brand mention of your site on any or all of these powerhouse publishers, it will do far more for your SEO (not to mention your traffic) than any duplicate content penalty that could possibly ever be imposed. Think holistically about your content engine rather than focusing on specific penalties and you'll see why you can't go wrong getting mentioned on Forbes.
-
nope - you would be fine.
As these sites have very different audiences, why not spend the time writing individual articles to meet there readership (thus more likely to be used), for techcrunch, focus on the tech element, for CNN, the news part of it.
whats more likely is that most of the sites won't cover it especially BBC unless it is really news worthy.
Would be worth reading http://moz.com/blog/tips-from-a-recovering-journalist-how-to-write-effective-press-releases-that-help-seo
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
-
New website content before or after new webdesign launch?
Hi, We are planning a full website redesign and rewriting the content of the key pages. The new contents will be ready sooner than the new website, what is the better solution? 1. Replace the content of the old site with the new (better) contents
Content Development | | Jozsefodor
or
2. Waiting until the new website will be ready (over months) and launch it with it?0 -
Duplicate Content
I have a service based client that is interested in optimizing his website for all the services that he provides in all the locations that he provides them in. For example: Service 1, location 1 Service 1, location 2 Service 2, location 1 Service 2, location 2 He wants to essentially create an individual page for each of the above, but i'm concerned that he will be penalized for duplicate content. Each of the pages would have the keyword in the url, page title and within the main body of content. We would certainly alter the content somewhat, but not sure how much a difference this would make. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Content Development | | embracedarrenhughes1 -
Would adding a news page hurt my site ranking ?
Hi Mozers I was thinking about adding an industry news page where we would post articles written by others but give proper citation and linking. Would a page like this hurt my SEO ? Thank You
Content Development | | Pzabarko1 -
Duplicate Content From Huffington Post Blog
A client who writes blog posts for Huffington Post also wants an identical version of the blog posted to his personal site. Do you think there could be a problem of being punished for duplicate content? Would a better SEO practice be to have the client do an on-site blog just linking to the Huffington Post blog and providing information about it?
Content Development | | EmarketedTeam0 -
Are there quality blog sites allowing guest blogging ?
hi can someone guide me the right direction for guest blogging ? i m looking for quality blog sites that allow guest blogging especially for ecommerce related sites. Thank you Nick
Content Development | | orion680 -
Any article sites that actually still rank welll?
Hi All! After the havoc of Panda and Penguin - are there any article sites that still rank decently for the articles within? I'm not talking about using articles to get backlinks - I want to attract visitors to the articles themselves because of the message within the article. Yes, I know that for lots of reasons my own blog would be better. In addition to that, if you want to spread the message - which sites are recommended? Thanks! Aviva
Content Development | | debi_zyx0 -
4 sites - 4 keyword sets?
Hi, I have 4 domains and 4 keyword sets i.e. penny stocks mutual funds stocks day trading My question is: what is the better approach: Have each site around one set e.g. everything about "penny stocks" Site A - penny stocks Site B - mutual funds Site C - stocks Site D - day trading Create 4 categories in each website about each set of keywords? Site A - penny stocks | mutual funds | stocks | day trading and the same.. Thank you, Alex
Content Development | | pwpaneuro0