Press Release Strategy

It is essential for companies to have their news releases appear in online news outlets and channels such as Google News. These placements are key for getting pick up in other outlets and helping improve SEO. If your press release is not getting picked up by Google News, there's a reason (or two). Below is a list of reasons for rejection (paraphrased by me) as put out by Business Wire and Google.

1. The article is too short with not enough words. According to Business Wire, the release should be at least 125 words.

2. The paragraphs are too short and don't contain a well thought out structure. Or, the sentences are too short and not written or punctuated correctly.

3. The article is too long and contains inappropriate press release content such as user comments. Releases that include extensive charts and graphs (such as lengthy IR releases) often fall under this category.

4. The date is too old or there is no date in the release.

5. The story extracted from the HTML page appears empty or is broken.

6. The story didnt have any links...Googlebot crawls HTML links rather than crawl image links or JavaScript links.

7. The title was too long or was set on the HTML page incorrectly. Headlines should be between 2 and 22 words.

There are several other formatting strategies that should be part of a strong news release. I recently drafted a release on behalf of a client, and secured 60 stories for that one release based on proper formatting. Be sure to spend the extra time on developing a writing strategy to achieve high placement and proper placement for your story.