I’ve composed quite a few press releases for my clients over the past few months. In fact, after Panda and Penguin, I noticed a sharp increase in orders for the news pieces.

If you’re a regular reader, then you’re likely aware that I’m a webmaster and SEO myself, so I’m always on the lookout for creative new (white hat) ways to market my sites and blog. That’s why my curiosity was piqued when the press release orders began rolling in immediately following the wave of algo updates. Did my clients know something I didn’t?

I decided to learn more.

Press Releases and Spammers: Two Peas in a Pod

Press releases are nothing new in the world of Internet marketing. SEOs have been using the tool for years to market their sites, and it’s worked quite well for a very long time. Then, as with all things that work well in the world of search, the bad apples barreled in and figured out how to manufacture press release spam.

Take, for example, the experience that one business owner had with press releases when he set up a Google alert for the latest news in his niche:

Obviously, Google got hip to this underhanded practice in a hurry, and the recent updates curbed the effectiveness of press releases to garner backlinks and improve search rankings.

So, why the resurgence?

Press Releases: The Comeback

In light of recent updates, press releases have made SEOs a bit gun-shy. I’m thinking that’s why the resurgence I’ve seen is much different from the PRs of days past. Before, press releases were meant to be read only by search engines, and they were designed with highly targeted gobbledygook and dripping with anchor text-rich links. Once Google devalued these kinds of links, the press release lost its luster.

But the recent press releases I’ve been writing are different. My clients are requesting high-quality content. They’re only asking for me to write about newsworthy events or announcements. They request one or two links max, and they instruct me to mix up the anchor text.

Now we have the new and improved version of the SEO press release.

It’s still effective. The format’s just different and the rules have changed.

The guys at SEOmoz agree. In a Moz forum, one member asked whether PRs were still an effective SEO strategy. Here was the response:

The point here, I think, is that press releases are most effective when they’re not just featured on the PR sites to which you distribute them. How do you make that happen?

Simple. Make darn sure the information you’re releasing is relevant, interesting, and above all – newsworthy. Do that, and the distribution should expand from the newswire sites naturally.

Keep a few key points in mind when you’re creating a PR:

• Quality over quantity. Don’t distribute press releases at the drop of a hat. Limit the PRs you release to one or two every few months.
• Press releases are a (very small) part of an overall linking strategy. Use them sparingly, opting instead to weigh guest posts on relevant and authoritative sites in your niche more heavily.
• Don’t link to the same URL more than once in the same PR.
• Mix up your anchor text, and don’t make it too keyword-targeted.
• Submit your PR to only the most reputable of PR distribution services – sites such as PRWeb, BusinessWire, PRnewswire, and Marketwire should get you started.
• Make sure your press release is actual news.
• Submit a different version of your PR to each distribution service. If you don’t, your site may be hit with a hefty duplicate content penalty.

Looking at Press Releases through a Different Lens

Press releases are not nearly as powerful for SEO purposes as they once were. However, they will still have the temporary effect of a nice traffic spike during their brief stay on the homepage of whatever submission service you may employ. In addition, if you truly have relevant news, Google News might just pick up your PR and syndicate the content directly to the inboxes of your target audience via a Google Alert.

When I was researching for this article, my overall impression from industry leaders was that press releases are indeed viable. They simply need to be a small part of your overall linkbuilding campaign.

That said, I would like point out something a little random. In the first resource I included a screenshot of above, the writer talked about setting up a Google Alert to “spy” on his competitors. This is a fairly common practice.

If you sign up for Google Alerts for relevant keywords in your niche, you could read your competitors’ PRs to find out what Google considers news. This would be a great way to discern whether new things about your service or brand are truly newsworthy in the eyes of the almighty G.

Here’s a final thought about how you can use PRs to your advantage. If you set up a Google Alert for your niche’s keywords, you can write articles or posts announcing news and events for other companies in your niche. This would increase exposure for the companies, and you could set up some serious linkbait – as well as position yourself as the go-to resource in your industry for all the hottest news and trends.

PRs still have a place in SEO. You just need to get a little creative and think outside the box.