SEO Press Release for PR and New Media

This post originally held an SEO press release for my new media class, but I had to remove the content, as the hypothetical company name in question is actually used by an existing business, and I didn't want to complicate things for them if an actual search engine explorer happened across my fictitious press release and believed it to be accurate.

So I thought that in its place, I would write a few words on the importance of SEO in current pr practice. SEO, for those who have not yet encountered the term, stands for search engine optimization. It is a technique that hyperlinks up to 10 key terms (well, you can do more, actually, but best to keep it under 10 items for simplicity) in a press release or article that lead back to a particular company's main website.

And why is this important? Research shows that users of search engines such as Google generally select one of the top three to five websites listed in the search results. Gord Hotchkiss's eye-tracking software identified the most promising positions on a search results page for catching a surfer's attention in what is called the "golden triangle." The term gets it's name because the most looked at positions are colored in yellow, with the least looked at in blue. The position shows that the top left corner is most often looked at, and the bottom left corner is least. This is similar to the X-scanning theory of readers, which shows readers to scan a static page from the top left to bottom right, then the top right to bottom left. This is why, for example, that alcohol and cigarette warnings and other types of fine print on advertising is often located in the bottom left corner...try it out in a magazine!

Further research on search engine optimization and the "golden triangle" shows that the top 3 organic (not advertised) search results have 100% visibility, with the 4th position gaining 85% visibility, and 60% visibility for the 5th position. Google statistics show that click-thrus for the top organic search result are at 28%, falling to 12% by the third result, and a small 3% for the fifth position. Any position past five are really a shot in the dark for gaining attention, unless the searcher is very dedicated.

So what lessons can be learned? Optimizing your website's search engine results depend on gaining a strong rank and position on the page. The more trackbacks and mentions for your page generally result in a higher position. Thus, in order to capture the best position for attracting users to your site means that you up your chances in increasing traffic to your site. The best thing? It is an inexpensive way to increase your profile on the web!! And the good news? It is easy to learn how to do. Current software on the market, such as Microsoft Office, allows content-generators to highlight key words and right-click to hyperlink them to a website's URL. Then the content can easily be saved in HTML format (it's a save-as option) and uploaded to a website. You can even choose to produce the page as a blog post in Word and Publisher 2007! Even the least tech-savvy people can be taught how to do SEO press releases in an hour or two, given that they have a working knowledge of the aforementioned programs. After that, it's all about keeping up the practice and updating material on a regular basis to stay in the top 5.