Guidelines for Press Releases
This document describes the formatting and structure your press release needs to conform to in order to be approved. Try to adhere to the guidelines as close as possible. Minor deviations will be accepted.
Your press release should have a news angle and be written in a "newsy" way.
It should look like you're describing news about something. Something that has newly happened or is about to happen and the world needs to know about. What happened, who was involved, when did it happen, where and why. Should be interesting for a reader.
Of course for some press releases you have to be "creative" to find a news angle. But there's always one. You can get some ideas by looking at the current press releases.
The press release should be written in a restrained way.
Press releases should be written in a restrained way from a 3rd person view. Write like a journalist/spectator describing something in an unbiased way. Don't be too promotional, it's better to be just slightly positive about something like in a review. Try to avoid using "I, you, we" in the text to address the reader personally as you often do when writing ads. Don't use phrases such as "By doing this you will get that ….." or "Do you need ....." or "We have a nice product that ....".
The exception to the above is if you have a paragraph where you quote someone e.g. "We care about our customers ......." says John, owner of the site.
If you absolutely need to write a more selling text, have that on a separate page on another website. Then write a moderate press release with links pointing to the selling page.
If you're still unsure of how to write take a look at the style of the current press releases.
The press release should be original - written in your own words.
The Body text
Do not just make a copy of, or minor changes to, a document that is already on internet. If you do, there's a risk it will either not appear on Google News at all, or end up in the dreaded "all xxx news articles" section, together with all the other copies, where no one will find it. Google wants NEWS and if your press release has been published before then it is not news.
The press release must be written in proper English. If it's not there's a risk it will be rejected.
The use of spinners is not encouraged. If you still have to use a spinner then publish the original version as a Google News press release and use the spinned ones on your own site. The reason for this is that a badly written press release rejects the viewers so they don't go to your site. A badly written article on your site do less harm. Once the users are on your site they can always look at your ads if they don't fancy your articles (Sniper sites are often built like that by purpose, the uglier the site the more the viewers click on ads).
The body text must contain at least 200 words. If it is shorter there's a risk the press release will be rejected by Google. It is recommended to keep the body text to 200-350 words. There are some beliefs that a PR ranks best having around 300 words. If it's too short it will be rejected by Google, but 200 words length is safe.
The body text must contain at most 600 words. If it is longer there's a risk the press release will be rejected.
The body text should be split up into several paragraphs. If you just write one big giant paragraph the Google bot will think your article is too short and it will be rejected.
No links are allowed at the top paragraphs. Put links near the middle or at the end of the press release. Check the "open in new window" checkbox.
Links in press releases must relate to the content of the press release. Also they must not point to Thin Pages (i.e. no content pages with just links).
URL shorteners must go directly to the linked page. Some URL shorteners stops at a middle page with ad links and a link to the final page. Google will see this as a thin page which is not allowed. Direct URL shorteners like bit.ly or goo.gl is fine.
If possible, try to convey a little about the who, what, when, where, and why of the story in the first paragraph, using a few of the keywords of the headline. Like a small summary of the body text. Google News will love you and your press release will probably rank better. It will also rank better as Google pays more attention to keywords at the top of the article.
Images to be added should not be larger than 1000x1000px (preferably about 500x500px)
H1 and H3 headings are not allowed. It is OK to use one H2 heading at the top or inside of your press release body text (after the image). Note: the headline (title) of the press release is automatically set to H1.
Using colors on words is not allowed.
Using all capital words is not allowed except for abbreviations.
Using bold and underline on words for SEO use is allowed but should be used sparsely.
The Headline (title)
The headline should be as original (differ from "the rest") as possible. That increases the chance to not end up in the "all xxx news articles" section of Google News if there happens to be many similar press releases articles around.
The headline must have a clear news angle. If it's not obvious, try to strengthen the news angle by adding words like "latest, today, new, now, recently, update, starts" where it fits in the headline. Accoding to Google headlines should "provide timely reporting on recent or near future events". E.g. "Garrison to release...", "Fantastic XPro launched today..."."New site XVisionPro offers..."
Try to make the headline contain the keywords you would use yourself if you were searching at Google for a product or service similar to yours. Adding a few well-known words related to the product (e.g Farmville, iPhone, Facebook) in the headline migh give more visitors. All keywords in the headline should be present in the body text too.
Also, it can help if the headline contains some power words that attract the attention to your press release. Compare e.g "Barryson to release new safer baby car seat." with "Barryson save lives with new safer crash-proof baby car seat!". You get the picture. Of course there must be some reality behind the words, they must be based on facts.
Avoid using words like "best", "the best" as a statement in the headline or the body text unless you can prove it (to FTC). A question "Is this the best ...?" is acceptable but it is recommended to use less definitive words".
Capitalize the first character of each word in the headline.
Keep the number of words in the headline to 6-14 and characters to max 90. Google doesn't show more than 66 characters in the search titles.
Use max 15 keywords. Assure the chosen keywords exist in the text. Try to put your main keywords in the headline and in the first paragraphs of the text. Avoid stuffing with keywords.
SEO
Using some SEO rules when writing the press release can increase the ranking of the PR in both Google News and the regular Google search. Here's some basic guidelines:
Here are a few SEO tips:
Note: with keyword (below) is meant either a single word or a phrase.
- Place your main keyword in the beginning of the title.
- Place your main keyword at (or close to) the start of the first sentence of your body text.
- Have your main keyword in one of the links.
- Have your main keyword in the text of the image “Caption” and “Alternate Text” fields.
- Have your main keyword in one of your Tags.
- Mention your main keyword a few times in the body text.
- If you have several keywords in the title, don't forget to repeat each of them in the body text a few times (or at least once) and also make a Tag for each. Don't have more than 2-3 keywords in the title or the Google bot will be confused.
- Don't overdo the tagging; it only confuses the Google bot and actually might decrease the SEO. 4-6 keywords as Tags should be sufficient.
Here's an excellent SEO article and video by Aaron Wall: Google & SEO Friendly Page Titles.
Do not submit a Press Release which:
1. Promotes a ‘thin affiliate’ website (i.e basically no content, just links and ads);
2. Contains links to, or is about, gambling related material, illegal activity, pay-day loans, malicious software or pornography;
3. Is shorter than 200 words (this page is more, so there’s an example!);
4. Doesn’t contain any form of contact information (at least a link to a website);
5. Makes unqualified claims (e.g. “best,” “biggest,” “longest,” “fastest” — without evidence);
6. Does not contain any sort of news;
7. Is not a press release (articles, faux reviews, letters — are not press releases, we don’t want them);
Forbidden Items
Items that are not allowed in Google News (will be updated, check now and then):
- Betting
- Gambling and related material
- Illegal activity
- Pay day loans
- Malicious software
- Pornography
- MLM (Multi Level Marketing)
Tips
Avoid formulations found in top news, hot trends (Google Trends) or major product launches. Especially in the headline. Using such formulations will increase the risk of ending up in the dreaded "all xxx news articles" section. Normal SEO thinking still rules, it is just that the competition in Google News is way less than in Google Search.
Spelling and grammar should be checked. There's a built-in spelling and grammar check in the editor.
Avoid long paragraphs. People get bored.
For keywords: Pretend you're someone desperately looking for a product or service like yours. What would you write in the Google search field? That should be included in your keywords list.
Avoid offensive words in the text (see e.g list-of-forbidden-words). Else there's a risk your press release will not get accepted by Google.
