18 replies to this topic

[janell]

I finally had someone create my first press release and we sent it out using PRWeb just over a week ago. Yay! I didn't expect a huge boost in the search engines from it, but I thought I might see a little something.

Now, I check my rankings for a bunch of the popular keywords I'm shooting for about twice a week. For a long time, for many of them, I've been languishing in "N/A" land, meaning I'm out past the 200th position. But today, all of a sudden, I'm ranking for about 14 of them! Not great numbers or anything, but not off the charts anymore. For many of them, I've showed up for a few days for the keywords before and then dropped off again.

Is this a coincidence, or is something as simple as a press release with its resultant backlinks really going to push my rankings up for all those keywords in my site all of a sudden? My backlinks have never been all that great. But many of the keywords have nothing to do with the press release I submitted. I'm just really curious about whether or not I had really been missing an important piece of the puzzle by not submitting a press release earlier. I can think of a few other things that could have happened to help my site, but it sure is a conincidence.....

Janell

p.s. I know, I know, it's probably too early to really tell whether or not I'm even going to stay at these rankings. But I know that if I didn't ask the question now, I'd forget....

[Michael Martinez]

People read PR Web's press releases, but it's hard to prove that the timing of any one event actually influences your rankings. There are so many possible other things that could have happened -- all beyond your control -- that there is just no way to know.

I think worthwhile press releases are important, and I consider PR Web to be a good source of content. A lot of major corporations distribute standard, non-SEO press releases through PR Web. It's a reliable source of industry-related news for many industries.

What you really need to do at this point, now that you're ranking, is watch your traffic. If you don't see significant improvement, you need to do more keyword research.

The most frustrating thing for me is to get new rankings I've targeted only to find that the rankings generate little to no traffic. I try to make sure, well in advance, that I know what people are searching for.

Of course, search patterns can and do change.

[Jill]

I would have to guess it was a coincidence, but who knows!

[janell]

What you really need to do at this point, now that you're ranking, is watch your traffic.  If you don't see significant improvement, you need to do more keyword research.

I actually did get an increase in traffic, but a lot of that is directly related to the press release. My rankings for those keywords aren't in the top 20-30 yet, so I still have some work to do before I'll actually get traffic from them, but at least it's something! (though now that I think about it, I do see a slight increase in the "tail.") (Where's a tail smiley when you need one! )

Janell

[Randy]

My experience with press releases is that you may see a short term bump in rankings right after it gets picked up Janell. We're talking anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. A single release isn't going to keep you up there though since it'll normally fall off the front page (so to speak) pretty quickly.

The exception being if your release actually gets picked up by a couple of print publications who feature it, or you get calls for interviews a week or two down the road from media outlets.

In other words, don't treat press releases as any sort of link building campaign because they just don't work that way. They might if you actually had something important enough to put into a press release each week, but that's just not realistic and abuses the system. Do however treat them as a way to get the word out and cross your fingers that they get picked up so that you can get some real publicity and real visitors that are looking for what you have to offer.

[Directory_SEO]

Actually nothing to say but Congratulations.

As Jill mentioned, could be a coincidence

[janell]

Thanks! So really what I want to do is hope that it was a coincidence, so that I won't lose the rankings again when the press release falls off the radar. (because, you know, hoping helps.) Which is pretty much what I expected to hear. I just know I'm missing 2-3 important steps in the whole process, I'm just trying to figure out what they are.

(psst - Randy - don't say link building campaign around Michael! )

[Michael Martinez]

(psst - Randy - don't say link building campaign around Michael! )

If all else fails, try getting more links. I don't shoot people for advocating good linkage.

[janell]

If all else fails, try getting more links.  I don't shoot people for advocating good linkage.

Oh, don't take me wrong...I should have put a wink there or something else instead of the lol. I think you have an interesting hypothesis. I spent some time today looking for and reading your high quality linkage blog post and the followups, because I'm getting ready to go after some more linking. Very interesting.... (now I feel bad. But really, I don't give people a hard time about things unless I like them. So, see, it's a sign of respect!)

Janell

[Randy]

Michael doesn't shoot people for suggesting good linkage. Just stupid linkage and over-emphasis on linkage as if it's an end all, be all solution for every possible problem.


OFFTOPIC:

He did however once tie me up, slap a gag on me and toss me in the corner just so that he could beat me to posting something.

[Michael Martinez]

Oh, don't take me wrong...I should have put a wink there or something else instead of the lol....

I appreciate your sense of humor, but sometimes I do seem a bit heavy-handed, more so than I should or intend.

... I think you have an interesting hypothesis.  I spent some time today looking for and reading your high quality linkage blog post and the followups, because I'm getting ready to go after some more linking.  Very interesting....  (now I feel bad.  But really, I don't give people a hard time about things unless I like them.  So, see, it's a sign of respect!)

All respect is appreciated, but don't feel bad. I don't share everything. I give people just enough rope to hang themselves...er, come back up over the cliff edge.

[janell]

Sometimes I think in this industry you have to take an extreme position to get through to people who are so set in their ways, so I can appreciate that. It may not convince them of anything, but it hopefully at least makes people think....

[torka]

or you get calls for interviews a week or two down the road from media outlets.

We sent out a press release in January 2005 (yes, 2005, a year and a half ago) about an employee fitness program my employer sponsors. We just got a call last week from a reporter doing a story on corporate wellness programs who wanted to interview a couple of employees participating in the program. Our company may get a mention in a major national print publication as a result. Granted, it won't be specifically talking about our products and probably won't include our web site URL, but we figure from a branding standpoint it can't hurt to have our company name mentioned anyway.

Point is, those press releases don't actually go away. They may become less prominent, but if a reporter is looking for something specific to what your release was about, they can pop back up to the surface later. In some cases, much, much later.

--Torka

[janell]

Maybe this is what I'm seeing! That would be great.

Wow, a year and a half! Not bad....

Janell

[chompy]

OFFTOPIC:

He did however once tie me up, slap a gag on me and toss me in the corner just so that he could beat me to posting something.

even more

OFFTOPIC:

sounds kinky.. sorry folks, I've been out of the radar for almost a month, and I feel like I went light years away.. starting to read up again and drink from the fountain of seo knowledge.