stuntdubl - 5:50 pm on Sep 28, 2004 (gmt 0)

In my experience, you may get a couple small links out of the deal, but they normally don't justify the time or cost involved in writing a release solely for the link pop value alone.

This is not to say I don't think Press Releases are not a good thing, only that you would probably hear this topic discussed quite a bit more if it were actually working to improve link pop and rankings. I have seen some value in the traffic boosts resulting from a press release.

If you are only concerned with boosting your links, spend the time writing something that is informational and has optimized copy. You will more likely get links to that if it is something others can use. Aside from that you are probably spending your time better just searching for decent value directories or sites that will offer sale or trade of links.

In the releases I have done, there was a link back to the site the release referred to, but it is normally just the name of the site (www.mysitehere.com) with no anchor text. The releases are also somewhat buried in the overall information architecture of the site. They may be on a top level page for a short amount of time, but probably not long enough to get indexed there(unless you are quite lucky).

Perhaps I am missing some of the services available, but the only PR services that I have seen offering optimized link text were a bit pricy, and the money could probably be better spent else where.

Can anyone share any non-specific details (great oxymoron huh?) of positive experiences they've had with press releases for link dev?

<added>Speaking of simultaneously...was writing this at the same time MB</added>