by, Lesa Seibert, President, Xstreme Media, LLC
In this three part series, we are going to look at optimizing press releases for online visibility. The first area we are going to address is SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
In order for news to be effective, it must be discoverable by those who want to read it. You need to optimize your news so that it can be found across the search engines for strategic keywords, giving you access to highly targeted customers.
Title Optimization
The most heavily weighted factor that determines for which keywords a press release will rank is its title. Putting your primary keyword phrase toward the beginning of the title will have the best impact on ranking for those keywords. However, the title needs to reflect the news being presented and written to generate click-throughs not only for the benefit of the keywords. It has to make sense to both sides to be effective.
Summary Optimization
The next most heavily weighted SEO factor is the article summary. The summary is the perfect place to introduce one or two additional keywords or phrases while fleshing out the news angle introduced in the title. Inside a well-optimized press release distribution site or news site, the title becomes the title tag and the summary becomes the meta description.
Keyword Anchor Text Linking
The ability to build strategic anchor text backlinks from trusted sources is one of SEO's most exciting reasons for publishing press releases. Because some press release distribution sites push full-page reprints of your press release out to additional partner sites, a single press release can net a significant number of backlinks using your chosen keywords and phrases.
Next week we will discuss optimizing clickthroughs.
In this three part series, we are going to look at optimizing press releases for online visibility. The first area we are going to address is SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
In order for news to be effective, it must be discoverable by those who want to read it. You need to optimize your news so that it can be found across the search engines for strategic keywords, giving you access to highly targeted customers.
Title Optimization
The most heavily weighted factor that determines for which keywords a press release will rank is its title. Putting your primary keyword phrase toward the beginning of the title will have the best impact on ranking for those keywords. However, the title needs to reflect the news being presented and written to generate click-throughs not only for the benefit of the keywords. It has to make sense to both sides to be effective.
Summary Optimization
The next most heavily weighted SEO factor is the article summary. The summary is the perfect place to introduce one or two additional keywords or phrases while fleshing out the news angle introduced in the title. Inside a well-optimized press release distribution site or news site, the title becomes the title tag and the summary becomes the meta description.
Keyword Anchor Text Linking
The ability to build strategic anchor text backlinks from trusted sources is one of SEO's most exciting reasons for publishing press releases. Because some press release distribution sites push full-page reprints of your press release out to additional partner sites, a single press release can net a significant number of backlinks using your chosen keywords and phrases.
Next week we will discuss optimizing clickthroughs.