The Maine SEO Blog

What is the Goal of your News Release?

1. Communicate a message for public relations

• Choose broad key phrases
• Careful attention to submission categories (News sites and syndication networks use these categories to pick up releases)

2. Optimize content for search engines

• Choose broad key phrases for branding and reputation management
• Choose well-targeted key phrases for specific SEO effort

Goal -> Keyword -> Release Topic

Backwards from traditional news releases

• Goal – Public relations or SEO or both?
• Key phrase – Use tools for help
• Release topic – Decide how to frame your effort in a way that matches your goals

Don’t forget the “Triangle of SEO”

• Keyphrase
• Text backlink
• Optimized web page

Keyword Tools for Effectiveness News Releases

1. Google AdWords Keyword Tool

• Easy to use
• Important data
• Free
• From the source

2. The Wonder Wheel

• Visual representation
• Based on Google historical data
• Spawn new ideas

3. Market Samurai

• Great keyword research
• Quick, easy download
• Some other useful tools

Which key phrase should I use?

Keyword phrase profitability = High traffic & Low competition

• Don’t forget the art – it MUST make sense
• You know your business and your clients
• Look at the Top 10 – can you break into it?

Steps to finding a solid key phrase target…

• Google Keyword Tool – start broad and narrow
• Use Wonder Wheel to get ideas if necessary
• Plug phrase into Market Samurai for index and ranking competition
• Choose a phrase with: High traffic, low index competition, market viability, and accessible Top 10

Latent Semantic Indexing – What is it? Can it help?

• Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
• Latent – in the background
• Semantic – what does it mean
• Indexing – how the search engine organizes your content
• Don’t necessarily expect your target key phrase to be the most important
• The long-tail…again
• Where to find good words to help with LSI? Google!

How to use LSI?

Rule of thumb: Use one or two semantically related words (LSI) in your summary, and in your first sentence or two of the body copy. Use related word as a second link to an interior page.

Adding key phrases to your News Release

Headline

• Should you think like a robot or a person?
• Rule of thumb: Insert main key phrase

Summary

• Introduction and central purpose
• One or two sentences
• Rule of thumb: Insert key phrase and variation of your key phrase

Body Copy

• Variation of key phrase in first or second sentence
• Rule of thumb: Make sure key phrase is in first sentence or two and then forget about it!
• Rule of thumb #2: It’s all about the link (for SEO, that is)

Adding links to your Press Release

How many links?
Editorial guidelines allow for 1 link per 100 words of text

Really, how many links?
Match guidelines up to 5 (or 6) links

What links?
Rule of thumb: Make sure you have the following:

• Your company name linked to your Homepage
• A broad version of your main key phrase linked to your Homepage
• Targeted key phrase linked to interior page
• Targeted key phrase linked to interior page – LSI words!
• Fully qualified URL to your website

Your Key Phrase Plan – Your SEO Strategy

It all starts with your website content

• What key phrases are important to your content?
• What content will you build?
• Determine content and key phrase plan for 6-12 months

Identify your target key phrases

• Use various tools to find target key phrases

Your strategy should focus on the Triangle of SEO

• Get the key phrase, build the optimized page, get the targeted backlink

Use News Releases!

• Expert and authority source
• Backlinks are valuable
• You control the anchor text
• Own the SERP!
• Recommend minimum 1/month

Harry Brooks, President and Founder, Search First Internet Marketing

It’s no secret that getting more links results from creating more content.

Sure, a year-old article might still hold some importance. But what about that brand spanking new breaking story over at Mashable? Now that I have to link to.

Blog

Blogging is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to create link worthy content. It makes sense, right? Small, bite-size morsels of information that answer a specific question. Plus, blogs tend to be way less salesy than web sites, so folks are bound to link.

How can you get more link building bang for your blogging buck? Here are a few tips:

• Submit a guest blogpost
• Hit pain points with your blogpost
• Leave insightful comments on other blogposts
• Broadcast your posts in all the right ways

Press Releases

By their nature, Press Releases are spread all over the web. You, of course, pay for this service. However, it’s an easy and effective way to get news (and links back to your website) spread. Plus, local newspapers often pick these releases up.

Article Marketing

Likewise, article distribution is a paid service. However, the articles themselves are often glorified blogposts, are they not? Webmasters and bloggers link to the article, and with a link to your website in your signature, you’ll get the benefits of that link juice!

Social Media

The “shareability” of social media makes it a linking smorgasbord. No, these links don’t pass link juice, but you can only imagine the constant linking to pictures, images, video, websites, and blogs is bound to expose a website (or blog) to legitimate, powerful links.

Nicki Hicks
Content is king