How to write a guest press release for optimum SEO impact?
Hi everybody 👋
One of our key clients - one of the largest investment management and financial planning firms, listed on the LSE and FTSE 250 Index - has asked me to write a press release on their behalf. They have a strong ahrefs Domain Rating , so I'm keen to ensure we make the most of the opportunity.
What 3 things should I ensure we do / include / avoid to get the biggest SEO impact from the Press Release?
Thanks! ✌️
When it comes to earning a backlink, studies have shown that guest posts are actually less valuable as a link building strategy.
John Mueller, the web trends analyst at Google and pretty much answer-genie for all things SEO took the stance that
"[Guest post] links have zero value. It's a waste of time if you're just doing it for the links."
You can view the tweet here
To unpack this a bit, the two phrases there that I find interesting - zero value and waste of time.
Your typical guest post link is a byline at the top of the article that links to your homepage- this is a link that is not contextual in the body of the article, likely does not use a keyword in the link text that relates to the linked content, and probably does not fit in with the links in the body content.
Google is pretty smart and can tell that this link is unrelated to the page content and as a result less SEO benefit will be passed on.
Guest posts are not without value though! You can still get referral traffic, which will drive more visitors to your website, which may result in more visitors frequenting your site which can drive an unintentional SEO benefit in the long run.
Can you link me to the studies that show guest post links matter less than other links? JM spreads a TON of disinformation for the reason you kinda indicated. If they don't say anything, 100% of people keep doing what they're doing. But, if they share some very vague sentiments, maybe 1-2% of people stop gaming the system and that's a net win for them.
Guest post links work like gangbusters, trust me. Are they worth the time if the other benefits you mentioned aren't there? Not so much.
Studies specifically for this is perhaps a strong word, going off of sources through the years from folks at Google (not just John but years prior), they've been encouraging website owners to shy away from guest posting as a link building strategy. Now that I look for it, there does not seem to be a dedicated study for the impact of guest blogging (perhaps there's a content opportunity there).
But what is a guest post link anyway?
It's usually a byline at the top of the post that links to the guest author's homepage, that's just not as high value as a link in the actual article body that is contextual and those links are given less weight. Now, if the author is linking to other content on their site throughout the article (and all of those links are relevant to the content and to the site they are linking from) that is a very different story.
I don't discount guest blogging as a strategy, but I also would not hinge hopes on it like you would with other link building techniques.
Totally agree that the folks that Google employs to tell us not to game the system, do in fact tell us not to game the system.
I put zero stock into what Cutts or JM say about guest posting because there is zero way their algorithm can tell a guest post that's done for a link, from any other post where a contributor writes. That's what they tried to get people to tag those posts (and nobody did/does because they don't want to get penalized or whatever).
I've built thousands of links for clients (and my own project) and can tell you that guest posts do absolutely work. Bylines still work as well, but really you want a contextual link in the post.
Hey Tyler,
This is super helpful. Thanks for sharing. 🙏
Steve
No problem!
Is there any search out there where a person really wants to read a press release?
I don't know, Brendan. That's why asked, I guess.
I'd wager that there isn't. When people are searching for something, they very rarely want what would fall into a press release. I wouldn't waste time trying to "SEO" the press release, but instead consider what people are searching for where you can tell that same story. I hope that helps!