Search Engine Optimization for Press Releases

Vocus White Paper
Search Engine Optimization for
Press ReleasesVocus White Paper 1Search Engine Optimization for Press Releases
Search Engine Optimization for Press ReleasesA Guide to Search Engine Optimization and Online Public Relations Strategies
The Evolved Medium is the MessageDriven by innovation, PR professionals are always on the look-out for that creative punch - how can you deliver your message in a content-rich, vivid way that attracts interest and remains relevant? Now that you know how color TV ignites the senses and commands attention, could you ever go back to flat, uninspired black and white? The evolved medium is your message. It's time to modernize the press release.
Once dedicated primarily to informing the media, today's PR is becoming part of a more integrated sales and marketing strategy. As the nature of PR has evolved, how professionals target their audiences, deliver their message and measure their success must also advance. And, like the communication mediums of the past, the loyal press release must evolve in order to remain relevant, interesting and profitable.
Public Relations and the InternetIt is increasingly vital for PR practitioners and marketers to achieve visibility on the Internet to build brand recognition and attract online traffic back to their company's Web site. But how can you ensure that your company has a superior online pres-ence?
Search engines are the key to navigating the often rugged and increasingly cluttered terrain known as the Internet. Without search engines, online news and information would be virtually adrift unless you knew exactly where to find it. Consumers and media are increasingly going online to find news and information and they are using search engines to help.
. More than 70% of Americans read their news online. Yahoo! News has the broadest Internet news audience - broader now than CNN Source: Nielsen/Net Ratings.. 80 million Americans use search engines on a typical day. 60% of journalists say they spend more than 20 hours a week on the Internet
When asked how journalists use the Internet:. 98% say reading news . 93% say finding news sources . 89% say finding story ideas . 72% say reading blogs
What can we take from these statistics? Consumers and journalists are using the Internet to find information. How will they be able to find your news amid all of the cyber clutter? Search Engine Optimization will make certain that your news is visible to search engines and easily accessible to the consumers and journalists who are actively searching for it.
What is Search Engine Optimization?Your marketing counterparts have known about and used SEO since its emergence in the late 1990s. Traditionally, SEO has been utilized in a marketing capacity to drive sales through increased Web site traffic, but as PR and marketing are becoming more intimately involved, the benefits of SEO have become applicable to the public relations sector too.
Search Engine Optimization is a means to empower your communications initiatives so that search engines can easily locate your news and list it prominently when performing user searches and retrieving matches. SEO increases your website's rank-ings in search engines, directs more targeted traffic to your site and extends the lifespan of your news on the Web.
According to 'Search Engine Results Pages Turn Into Destinations,' the number of U.S. Internet searches continues to increase. In 2006, the increase in search queries went up 20 percent. In 2007, there was a 30 percent increase to over 35 billion searches. That's an average of 52 searches a month per user in 2006 compared to 74 searches per month in 2007.
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN are the principal channels by which most Internet searchers find news and information on products and services, so it is vital that your news is easily accessible on these sites. SEO infused press releases are a decisive way to increase your company's web presence and brand visibility by making it easy for those search engines to find you. Vocus White Paper 2Search Engine Optimization for Press Releases
Traditional Press Releases vs. Search Engine Optimized Press ReleasesGone are the days of the straight text, flat press release. Press releases must now be interactive, creative affairs to pique the interest of consumers, media and search engines ali... [download for more]