Press Releases - good or bad?

[Jez123]

Hi, what are the ramifications of releasing a press release? Does google frown on this type of syndication or is it a legitimate way of gaining a few possible links?

FUD has me wondering...

[textex]

In my niche google is ranking these pr high in SERPS for very competitive terms. Sure it won't last and may even impact the site being linked to once google waves it's fist regarding.

[engine]

Top end news services are accepted, but don't count on them for ongoing links, especially when so many are syndicated. The budget end of the market is swamped with clones of the top end and these have a much lower value. YGWYPF.

The real angle on this is the news traffic you'd expect to get in the short term.

[SevenCubed]

Press releases have been a staple of business promotion for decades. The real businesses out there wouldn't bat an eyelash on using them because they don't subscribe to the world according to google. How would a press release be that much different than a tweet, like, etc... If google wants to kill press releases then they also have to kill everything else that is similar in nature.

[Robert Charlton]

In my niche google is ranking these pr high in SERPS for very competitive terms. Sure it won't last and may even impact the site being linked to once google waves it's fist regarding.

Theorizing from the perspective of link profiles, I think where they may hurt is when done in large numbers for sites that have weak inbound profiles.

Asking the obvious follow-up question... does this mean, then, that for Google, a flood of press releases may be a bad way to start off a new site? They are not what I'd call "freely given editorial links".

A further consideration... are releases with targeted anchor text more likely to hurt now than to help? IMO, it may come down to a question of intent, if Google can determine such.

[crobb305]

In my niche google is ranking these pr high in SERPS for very competitive terms. Sure it won't last and may even impact the site being linked to once google waves it's fist regarding.

On at least one competitive phrase in the financial sector, press releases occupy nearly 30% of the top 100. My takeaway is that Google likes them (for now), but some of the websites linked from the press releases aren't ranking at all (but I haven't investigated the history of those linked sites -- they may be brand new). A few months ago, I thought about issuing a press release for the purpose of backlink development until I saw the proliferation of press releases in the Google SERPS. I now feel they are being abused, and Google may crack down on them; but as SevenCubed pointed out above, they are perfectly valid business-development vehicles.

[klark0]

-Avoid the cheap or free releases. A waste of time since they have little or zero reach. So expect to pay $100+ per release.

-Don't publish a release, unless you have something news worthy. The goal isn't to get links from Press release sites (regardless of their PR). It's to get attention (and links) from publishers, bloggers, etc.

-Don't use targeted anchor text in your releases. Stick with plain URLs and/or brand terms.