Why You Should Consider Press Release Indexing
People ask me regularly if press releases are worth it in terms of SEO, or Local SEO. My answer is and always was pretty simple – Is Google indexing your press release?
Consider this a follow-up to The Definitive Guide To Getting Backlinks Indexed, but with a deeper dive into press release indexing.
Obviously, backlinks are the core ranking factor in Google, but if Google doesn’t index the link there’s no point in creating it, right?
You’re just wasting time, effort and money.
And honestly, most press releases are crap for retention on the Index Coverage report.
We’ve had great success in the past indexing press releases, and I like to keep my SEO tests running so we can share what’s working and what’s not. Plus, we like to make internal updates to our processes with the information we collect.
Press Release Indexing Case Study
I paid $150 to a press release vendor to get this press release written and submitted. I added extended distribution to my order and used this assignment to test some new service providers.
Indexing Results
Day 2 – 79 Indexed
Day 4 – 73 Indexed
Day 5 – Ran Index Autopilot
Day 7 – 109 Indexed
Day 8 – Ran Index Autopilot
Day 10 – 195 Indexed
**** Sidebar: 79 releases indexed from the get-go is night and day better than most press release vendors we’ve worked with. Definitely a keeper on the Rolodex (or speed dial)!
Actions & Reactions To Our Indexing Data
On day 4 I had a bit of a what the hell moment. How was the indexing already falling? Just four days after our press release was submitted and links were dropping from the index. Seriously?
Day 5 came and we took matters into our own hands and ran Index Autopilot.
Day 7 saw a nice little bump with 36 more indexed links. That’s nearly 50% more than the original number indexed. Not too shabby!
Day 8 we ran Index Autopilot again.
Day 10 shows 195 indexed. BIG WIN!
Press Release Indexing Lessons Learned
If you’re going to all the trouble of paying for a press release to be written up and distributed anyway, you might as well get the most bang for your buck. Get the copy up on your website and pay an indexer to get that URL found on Google.
Test out various press release and indexing vendors, and when you find one or two who gets you decent results, keep them close. And, even the best indexers who can really rock results for you can use a little help from time to time. In that case, consider Index Autopilot when numbers start to slide. And remember:
- ALWAYS track you’re indexing!
- After you get the release done submit the links to your favorite indexer
- Wait up to 2 weeks for the links to get indexed
- If links aren’t indexed in 2 weeks resubmit again to your favorite indexer
- Make sure the URL you submit for indexing is correct! if it’s a 404, or has some crazy long query string it’s not gonna index 😉
Now that you’re in the know on how to handle indexing on press releases, here’s EVERYTHING you need to know to about indexing everything else!
Great info, thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it Jon 😉
Ok. My brain is totally not working. How do we track indexing?
I think I used to know that, but am drawing a big fat blank…
Great info though. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Richard, you do cache: or info: on the url in Google. To do this at scale you could use a tool like Scrapebox or you could use Greenlane’s Indexation Tester for Google Sheets. I talk about Indexing and the tools in much more detail here: https://digitaltriggers.io/…
Been publishing PRs for a long time. IndexAutopilot increases indexing but over the last few months, indexing has shrunk from 300+ links to just 2-3 links a week or two after IndexAutopilot. Links don’t even stay in Google’s B-Index. The reason: PR pages have a short shelf life. Media outlets remove them from their site shortly after publication. Google finds no value in keeping 404 errors indexed, so from an SEO standpoint there is practically no value to press releases outside of a quick caffeine shot to your listing.
Hey Phil PR pages definitely have a short shelf life! Completely agreed. I have found though that the more premium releases like this have links that actually get retained. It’s not volume – ie:300 links. I have often stated publicly that press releases dont have a TON of SEO value. I believe press releases can be valuable for a blast or caffeine shot as you mention… I do find they can be very helpful for getting internal links VERY easily. And often can be all thats needed to get some deeper internal pages ranking in Google.
Great info Joe. What PR service are you using?
Lone time no talk Jane! Hope all is well… I’ve tried em all Im sure. Just going with services that I can upgrade for further distribution.
Yes! Hope all is well on your end! You always deliver awesome content!! I appreciate it [and you!]
Appreciate the awesome comment 😊
Really good insights, Joe. I spent a few years as Chief Evangelist at PRWeb (when David McInnis was still pioneering Direct to Consumer PR), and we had exceptional distribution and do-follow linking.
It wasn’t unusual to launch a well designed and written release (with an image embed, a linked callout and 2-3 keyword links), and get 250-400 PR-3 to PR-8 backlinks within a week or so (via syndication and secondary distribution).
Ahhh, the good old days!
I haven’t used the service in years, but you’ve encouraged me to start checking out distribution channels again. Any preference in online PR platforms at the moment?
Many thanks for your detailed insights. My team and I really appreciate your level of experimentation and detail. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Hey Hey Mark love me some web nutrients 😉 Had to get that out of th way first… Honestly I have no preferences at the moment on particular networks. The biggest value I’m seeing is the add on syndications. They seem to stick longer than anything else in the long run.