Shooting Fish in a Barrel: SEO for Press Releases Dana Todd Executive Vice President, SiteLab SEMPO Board of Directors Presented for: Online Marketing Summit

What is the “New PR”? Identifying the online opportunity Using SEO tactics to increase visibility of press releases and news articles in news search engines “ Pitching” social media and blogs along with traditional media channels Leveraging feeds and other interactive technology to expand news coverage quickly and build links Expanding success metrics to more than just number of “clippings” or pickups

Identifying the online opportunity

Using SEO tactics to increase visibility of press releases and news articles in news search engines

“ Pitching” social media and blogs along with traditional media channels

Leveraging feeds and other interactive technology to expand news coverage quickly and build links

Expanding success metrics to more than just number of “clippings” or pickups

The Opportunity Corporate communications professionals and PR agencies now have the ability to bypass traditional media “journalist/editor” pipeline Go straight to the masses with your story via search engines and syndication Journalists often set Google and Yahoo News Alerts on keywords – double whammy!

Corporate communications professionals and PR agencies now have the ability to bypass traditional media “journalist/editor” pipeline

Go straight to the masses with your story via search engines and syndication

Journalists often set Google and Yahoo News Alerts on keywords – double whammy!

95 million unique visitors visit online news sites each month Source: comScore Media Metrix, Dec. 2006

Press Releases are in News Search

Bloggers Are New “Editorial Targets” There are over 70 million blogs, 140 times more than 4 years ago!

Blogs Rival Mainstream Influence

Case Study: Christian Science Monitor With a compelling story and a broadcast deal with ABC News, the editors at The Christian Science Monitor knew their online multimedia package, “Hostage: The Jill Carroll Story,” would generate a lot of visitor traffic But, even they were surprised by exactly how much and from whom… Case study courtesy SEO-PR (www.seo-pr.com)

With a compelling story and a broadcast deal with ABC News, the editors at The Christian Science Monitor knew their online multimedia package, “Hostage: The Jill Carroll Story,” would generate a lot of visitor traffic

But, even they were surprised by exactly how much and from whom…

Want Coverage? Get Visual 90% of journalists say visuals are somewhat or very important to them 41% of journalists said that visuals could dictate their content Source: Bennett & Company 16th annual media survey, August 15, 2006 “ A release emailed with a jpg or tif file has a much better chance of making it into our newspaper.” - Tom Wharton, writer Salt Lake City Tribune

90% of journalists say visuals are somewhat or very important to them

41% of journalists said that visuals could dictate their content

SEO-PR Posted Video to YouTube, added Multimedia to Release

They Pitched Bloggers & Mainstream Press

Generated 1,710 Stories + 393 Blog Posts for “Jill Carroll” Sources: Google News and Google Blog Search, Sept. 7, 2006

Record Traffic to CSMonitor.com 450,000 unique visitors flooded site on Aug. 14 New visitors: 7x the normal daily average! Much of the visitor traffic came from CNN and Yahoo News, which provided excerpts of the series and links back to the newspaper’s web site Sources: Alexa, Sept. 7, 2006, and WebSideStory, Aug. 17, 2006

450,000 unique visitors flooded site on Aug. 14

New visitors: 7x the normal daily average!

Much of the visitor traffic came from CNN and Yahoo News, which provided excerpts of the series and links back to the newspaper’s web site

Biggest Surprise: One Blog = 3.4x More Traffic than ABCNews.com! Sources: The Huffington Post, Aug. 15, 2006, ABC News, Aug. 14, 2006

Strategy: 11-part Series Series included Podcasts, Videos and Image Galleries Page views broke the 1 million mark 1 st day and soared to over 1.5 million page views on 2 nd day The multimedia series proved extremely sticky, with 65% of visitors finishing each multi-page story, up to 5 pages Sources: Alexa, Sept. 7, 2006, and WebSideStory, Aug. 17, 2006

Series included Podcasts, Videos and Image Galleries

Page views broke the 1 million mark 1 st day and soared to over 1.5 million page views on 2 nd day

The multimedia series proved extremely sticky, with 65% of visitors finishing each multi-page story, up to 5 pages

Generated 4,081 new links from 763 additional blogs Source: Technorati, Sept. 8, 2006

4 Months Later…

WOW! How Do I Get Some? Start by “optimizing” your press releases with keywords in primary fields and body copy Map a keyword strategy over time, like an editorial calendar Add photos and multimedia where possible Use feeds and wire services for distribution Use social/viral mechanisms to promote the news (Digg, De.liciou.us, RSS feeds, etc.)

Start by “optimizing” your press releases with keywords in primary fields and body copy

Map a keyword strategy over time, like an editorial calendar

Add photos and multimedia where possible

Use feeds and wire services for distribution

Use social/viral mechanisms to promote the news (Digg, De.liciou.us, RSS feeds, etc.)

“ SEO PR” is Easy to Do Conduct keyword research Include target terms in headline and first few sentences Add hyperlinks inside the release (hyperlink keywords wherever possible) Use press release distribution service Measure results of campaign

Conduct keyword research

Include target terms in headline and first few sentences

Add hyperlinks inside the release (hyperlink keywords wherever possible)

Use press release distribution service

Measure results of campaign

Link Building with PR Not all wire services support hyperlinks in releases, and some may strip formatting Buy “online distribution” circuits Hyperlink a few keyword phrases in the document Don’t spam! Penalties do occur Use a few different wire services Use an RSS feed to enable fast link population (most wire services also provide their own feed)

Not all wire services support hyperlinks in releases, and some may strip formatting

Buy “online distribution” circuits

Hyperlink a few keyword phrases in the document

Don’t spam! Penalties do occur

Use a few different wire services

Use an RSS feed to enable fast link population (most wire services also provide their own feed)

Advanced Concepts

Keyword Seasonal Planning Map a “flight plan” of your keyword strategy Anticipate future news triggers by reading editorial calendars and knowing your industry seasonality Campaign January February March April SEM keywords -Search marketing -Search engine optimization -Search engine marketing -SEM -Google -Yahoo Trade shows -Online marketing summit -OMS SES NY -Search engine strategies -Adtech -Ad:tech -Ad-tech

Map a “flight plan” of your keyword strategy

Anticipate future news triggers by reading editorial calendars and knowing your industry seasonality

SES NY

-Search engine strategies

Social Media Newsroom Template Courtesy Shift Communications

PR 2.0 News Release Template Courtesy Shift Communications New movement to change the press release format Breaks down release into more journalist-friendly components: Bulleted highlights Approved quotes Boilerplates Includes snap-ons for multimedia and social media Already in use ! Shift Communications created open-source template

New movement to change the press release format

Breaks down release into more journalist-friendly components:

Bulleted highlights

Approved quotes

Boilerplates

Includes snap-ons for multimedia and social media

Already in use !

Shift Communications created open-source template

Measurement in PR Use tracking software to track clicks to conversions Social media metrics count! Provide to client/boss Use Feedburner, Technorati and link measurement tools to get before & after benchmarks Set a Google News alert and Yahoo News alert on your keywords to watch for pickups/blog comments Measure ENGAGEMENT – the real value of PR

Use tracking software to track clicks to conversions

Social media metrics count! Provide to client/boss

Use Feedburner, Technorati and link measurement tools to get before & after benchmarks

Set a Google News alert and Yahoo News alert on your keywords to watch for pickups/blog comments

Measure ENGAGEMENT – the real value of PR

SiteLab is a full-service Interactive Agency. We develop, manage & promote Web sites to bring integrated marketing success to medium and large companies around the globe. www.sitelab.com San Diego - New York