Today press releases, sometimes shortened to PRs, usually refer to online releases as opposed to the traditional release sent to television stations and newspapers. Online versions are submitted to companies like PRweb, and that company distributes them online to different news outlets. There is generally a fee for this service, but it can be worth it because online releases can reach hundreds of thousands of people. When choosing a company that will distribute your release, be sure they use analytics in order to track where it is being picked up. Some of the areas that should be covered including the number of impressions, the number of reads, and the number of actual interactions where an individual clicks on one of the links within the press release. Keep in mind that once a press release is online, it sort of has a mind of its own. If a local paper or news station picks up the story, it is also nearly impossible to track, so the numbers you see might only be part of the story. Usually press releases have a “lifespan” of about one month and the majority of activity will take place within the first few days.
The ultimate goal of a press release is to be picked up by a news agency. When this happens it can be enormously beneficial to a business and is well worth the cost of the release. There are no guarantees this will happen though. How it is written, where it is released, and the timing are essential to getting the most bang for your buck.
Whether the release has optimization benefits or not has been debated. The answer is yes, but it is limited due to the short lifespan of a press release and the nature of how a press release needs to be written. To combat this, businesses can do regular press releases focusing on the same keywords and phrases, but even daily releases have a limited impact. The main goal of a press release should always be to increase awareness of your organization and to get picked up by news outlets. SEO in this case should only be a secondary goal.