B2B public relations professionals who are strictly focused on maximizing opportunities with traditional journalists are missing an opportunity to drive traffic to their websites with press releases.

Online press releases can be optimized for search, just like your website. Carefully craft your release utilizing those keywords you want to rank for. Include keywords in anchor text and you will drive traffic to your site. Consider linking back to relevant content rather than simply your home page. Place the link as close as you can to the beginning of the release. Remember to include your keyword in your headline.

Distributing press releases online allows you to expand your influence beyond B2B trade journalists, to a growing audience of industry bloggers, investors, and potential employees through search engines and other online news sources. Make your press releases shareable by including social network sharing buttons and posting press releases on blogs and other B2B online communities.

Many PR distribution services have a limit on keywords, so avoid keyword stuffing. Remember to include at least one complete hyperlink back to your website because some news sites do strip out active links. Hubspot offers a useful Press Release Grader to help you optimize the release for search. The Grader will test the readability of the press release, identify overused words, provide an analysis of links and more.

We’ve found success generating inbound links using press releases both for ourselves and our clients. A press release Content for Biz distributed earlier this year increased website traffic by 220 percent over the prior week.

If you are in a larger organization, work with your marketing team to be sure you have the right keyword terms for your business. Share your success with us.

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