Press Releases as Content

Is it good practice to use press releases as site content

[Marketer]

Like everyone else, I am always looking to add good content to my site. I was wondering if it is a good practice or even acceptable to use relevant press releases from other companies on your site?

For example, I sell Acme widgets on my site. Acme puts out a lot of press releases about their widgets which I could use. Should I?

I found some other threads that discussed the copyright issues which don't seem to be an issue if the release is properly sourced, but I don't want to offend anyone even if it is legal.

Any Thoughts?

[Fiver]

don't know from the legal/offensive side, but from an SEO point of view you may want to ensure you have some unique content before/after the press release.

if the press release is also used on a number of other sites, google wont exactly see it as unique content, and might just see it as duplicate content. I can't comment directly on the possabilities of penalties, but it's not a very effective way to build your content, from an SEO perspective.

[Marketer]

Fiver - Thanks for the info. I was considering the releases as supplemental to the other content to the site, as some additional information on the products. I hadn't considered the SE aspect of it. Definitely something I’ll have to consider.

[rogerd]

Don't construe this as legal advice, but I'd say if you present the press release as news, you are probably OK from a copyright standpoint. Generally, companies put out press releases hoping for wide distribution. They won't mind you using the exact text - they'll be more than happy to see it published just as they released it.

Of course, if your site is competitive, or might somehow reflect poorly on them, they might have a problem. Otherwise, you should be fine. I'd preface the content with "Widget Industry News" or similar just to put it in the right context.

To avoid dupe content from an SE standpoint, you can rewrite portions of it. That's what trade magazine editors do, except for the very laziest. Avoid changing the meaning, of course, to keep on the firm's good side.