Press release optimization can be used effectively to aid in extending exposure of your company’s press releases, if approached correctly. I’ve compiled an overview here to give you an idea of the benefits and limitations and how to find free press release distribution sites that suit your needs. Keep in mind that free press release distribution is meant to supplement your press initiatives, which should also include efforts to target your audience directly.

Online Press Release Distribution Overview

Online press release services generally function by allowing you to post your release on a page on their site. The pages of these sites are optimized structurally to rank high in search engines, so your release can show up for keywords it is targeting in the copy. Rankings may show quickly and last for 30 days or so. Sometimes, other news sites may syndicate your release posted on the service, resulting in your release showing up in other places, too. However, this is rare with unpaid services. Wire services are much better for this, as many industry news services draw all their feeds from wires (Businesswire, PR Newswire, MarketWire), so your release can end up everywhere and rank for much longer. However, the free distribution sites will allow you to gain a few spots in top rankings without the $200+ fee of wires. These sites usually offer optional increased exposure for paid posting, but I have yet to find one that is as effective as a wire service or PRWeb (which is now $80+).

Evaluating Free Press Release Distribution Services

Free press release distribution sites can play an important role in your press release optimization strategy, especially as a supplement to other ongoing efforts. Look for press release outlets that offer the following benefits, and keep in mind that you’ll need to constantly evaluate their offerings.

Are links supported?
Some services will activate http-format links included, others will support text links (even better). It’s a great value to have the backlinks, as it not only lets people follow them to your site, but it helps with overall search engine rankings for your site. Sites that allow you to post html are best for this, as all of your links will be activated automatically.

Presentation
How does your release look on the site? Are there any damaging factors like ads within the text? Some allow you to upload a logo image, but many charge for this. Some services may allow you to log in and edit releases even after submitted – great if you spot an error at the last minute or see that something is displaying funny.

Exposure
Does the service usually rank high in search results? Does it support standards that increase likelihood of inclusion in news engines like Google News? Are there options for targeting industries/geographic areas? Are stats available? Does it support social bookmarking/tagging? With many free services, these may be available as optional add-ons for a fee. However, with fees like $30/link to activate text links and $30 to select a geographical target on PR.com, the benefits of using a “free” service soon disappear. You’re better off using a wire service when you start paying for these add-ons.

Lead time
Many require a 2-day lead time, others publish immediately. Some may not even publish your release if the operator abandons the service – and you won’t receive notice.

Effort required
Posting can be very time consuming, as extensive web forms are required for each service. I usually prepare a file containing all the required information beforehand (headline, summary, body, contact information, keywords, links, html version), but each service may have different requirements, such as maximum headline length, that require modification of the release. Targeting 3 services should give a good balance of time cost versus benefit.

Ongoing evaluation
The services may change what they offer for free as they attempt to move toward a paid model or their operators abandon them. Each has its pros and cons, and sometimes new services are discovered that offer good value. Some of the press release distribution sites I had preferred until just recently have introduced new constraints, such as limiting number of words allowed for free. So this means that the 3 services you used for your last release will need to be evaluated the next time you go to use them for press release optimization, as well.

The Winter print copy of Search Marketing Standard magazine contained an article on press release optimization that provided some great tips for using your keywords, even showing a sample release. I couldn’t find the article on their site, but you may find it useful to subscribe to their publication to get their print issues in addition to reading posts on the site.

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