B2B News Release or Press Release Optimization for the Web
Online news releases, traditionally referred to as “press releases”, should be an important part of any business-to-business search optimization strategy. Distributing a news release has always been vital in spreading the word about your products or services. With such a high percentage of new leads now coming from the web - news releases are more important than ever.
Properly optimized news releases include targeted keywords in the title, body, anchor text in backlinks (inbound links to your web site), and “alt text” on optional JPEG images.
Use detailed keyword analysis to identify relevant search terms that your target audience is likely to use for a news search. As with any search engine optimization program - you can first run a test campaign with Google AdWords PPC (pay-per-click), analyze the impressions data (not just clicks), then write optimized news releases for the web using those keywords in the title, the first paragraph and sprinkled through out the body of the release.
Testing with PPC can be the fastest way to gauge demand for your key phrases and assure that you use the best words in optimizing your news release. Using the data to help optimize your news releases will provide the added benefit of saving money on your pay-per-click campaigns.
Use news release distribution services or web tools that allow you to track the number of times each news release is read, which search engines were used and what search terms were chosen to find your press release. Watch for the news release to show up in search engines and pay attention to the title and description. Google Alerts is a free tool you can use to monitor indexing of online press releases on Google or other search engines.
Alerts can be scheduled “as it happens”, once a day or once a week - and delivered by feed or directly to your email:
Example of Google Alert delivered to email:
Other good resources for optimizing news releases for the web:
99.5% of press releases aren’t optimized for the Web. Are yours?
DMNews.com article by Brian Halligan, founder and CEO, Hubspot10 Ways to Make Press Releases More SEO Friendly
Mashable.com article by Sarah Evans, director of communications at Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois. She also writes a PR and social media blog.How to generate sales leads with press release optimization
Greg Jarboe and Jamie O’Donnell, co-founders of SEO-PR
For assistance with online press release distribution or Google AdWords PPC guidance and campaign management - Contact NetBiz Concepts
Even in AdWords Dolphins Mean Miami
As we optimistically open another professional football season it might seem natural to notice references to the Miami Dolphins, even in a Google AdWords Help article titled “Will Google search rules affect my keyword choices?”
Example D: dolphins -miami
The user who enters this query is looking for search results featuring dolphins. The user also wants to exclude search result for pages that refer to Miami (including references to the Miami Dolphins sports team). In this case, Google shows search results with the term “dolphins” and without “miami. The AdWords system serves ads based on the keyword “dolphins” alongside those search results, but does not exclude ads that contain the word Miami.
What if you live in Miami and want to take the kids or visitors to see a dolphin show? Are you going to respond to ads for football tickets? As an advertiser, are you targeting football fans or Seaquarium visitors? Perhaps thinking in football terms helps AdWords advertisers understand more about what is displayed in search results and the sponsored ads.
Starting with a simple search for dolphins - notice the ad for Dolphins (Miami) tickets:
Running the search again, but this time with -miami, takes Miami out of the natural results but now ALL of the ads are for sports tickets:
Back to the searcher looking for dolphin show miami, still seeing ads for football tickets:
And again with -miami, STILL get ads for Miami Dolphins Tickets:
This means, as an advertiser, you should add the word Miami to your negative keyword list, if you want to advertise to searchers interested in dolphins but not the Miami Dolphins.
According to Google:
Negative keywords are a core component of a successful keyword list. Adding a negative keyword to your ad group or campaign means that your ads won’t show for search queries containing that term. By filtering out unwanted impressions, negative keywords can help you reach the most appropriate prospects, reduce your cost-per-click (CPC), and increase your ROI.
Not making Miami a “negative keyword” results in your ad impressions being higher, and your click-through ratio being lower, because your ad is appearing in results targeted to the wrong audience. As a Miami based AdWords consultant this example seemed to hit home. Future articles will include more examples of how negative keywords can effect your business related advertising campaigns.
What the Heck are AdWords?
Many of you are thinking: “Duh - who doesn’t know what AdWords are?” Well - not everyone knows all the latest Internet and marketing buzzwords. If “everyone” knows what AdWords are - why do I get so many blank stares when I try to explain that I manage AdWords and other online ad campaigns? Guess I should say: “I help companies like yours use the Internet to find new customers.” Google’s AdWords program is just one of the tools we’ll use, together, to achieve that goal.
AdWords, and other PPC (pay-per-click) advertising programs can be very effective in bringing new customers to your business - whether you sell to consumers or other businesses. It’s not difficult, or expensive, to get started with AdWords. You can open an account yourself, pay just $5.00 and then the costs per click. The clicks come from search engine visitors who enter keywords which correspond with phrases you set up in your campaign You don’t pay for “impressions” (when your ad appears in search results) but just when someone clicks on your ad.
Where things start to get more complicated is in the monthly maintenance and improvement of your AdWords campaign. It’s not a one-time thing that you set up and let run. The rewards come when you effectively monitor your campaign, split out your keywords and set up new ads, A/B test your ads and landing pages, track your “conversions” and determine how to use the campaign to bring even more customers to your business. You can also use stats and results of your AdWords campaign to help optimize your web site - so you won’t always have to pay for traffic.
As a business owner - do you really have time for all of that? It’s fine if you do. Many business owners do manage their own ad campaigns. Others prefer to delegate or outsource to specialists. Future posts on this blog will include tips, what to look for in an ad campaign manager, links to expert blogs and many more resources. Feel free to post comments or contact me with any questions you may have.
AdWords(TM) is a Trademark of Google Inc., Mountain View, California.
NetBiz Concepts is an independent consulting firm, and is not affiliated with Google.
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Miami AdWords Management Consultant
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Steve Peck, VP Business Development |
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