It’s all written by SEOs, for SEOs.

But what about the editors that receive hundreds of press releases on a daily basis?

I compiled a list of questions and asked several editors of major news websites and traditional media. The goal being to learn more about this subject from ‘the other party’: those who get it in bulk. How do they handle it?

So here is the second response by Rutger Betlem of Sprout.nl. Enjoy, learn, and tell me what you think!

General

1. Introduction: who are you and what is your business with Press Releases (=PR)?

Rutger Betlem, chief editor online at Sprout – a small business magazine (publisher: VNUmedia). I receive several dozen press releases a day – I filter and distribute among colleagues and freelancers

2. Please describe your organization

Sprout focuses solely on innovative small business entrepreneurs with less than 50 people employed – about 90 percent of our target group is higher educated

3. please give me your definition of ‘press release’

See 4

4. What is a good press release?

A proper press release informs a magazine or website with usable information. E.G. no attachments in a blank page, a distinct subject line, the news on top, the total press release in the body of the text (email), adjust/target the news to the medium (news can never be copied to all media), no officialese and other mumbo jumbo, make sure that contact persons can be reached at all times, make sure the press releases contains news (companies that send out press releases every week will be ignored), make sure older press releases can be found on the company website, always use the bcc-field in email, preferably there’s a story to be told, other than just ‘we have a new product’, it helps when a press release is sent out to specific editors rather than a general e-mailadress

5. Please provide me with some recent examples of good PR and tell me why you like them. This helps me to better understand your opinions

Those made by pr-professionals with knowledge of the magazine, the target group and the journalist they want to reach

6. Do you use a distinction between different kinds/categories of PR? If so, which ones? If not, why not?

nope

Statistics

7. How many PR does your newspaper/news website/blog receive on a daily basis?

Hard to tell – between 50 and 200

8. How much % of it actually gets published?

Between 1 en 4 percent

9. How do you think these numbers relate to newspapers/news websites/large group weblogs in general (worldwide, Europe, Netherlands)? What data or opinions is this answer based upon?

I think all media get badly written and dumb press releases. I have been an editor for 10 years now and the figure mentioned above was never higher than 4 percent at any of the magazines/websites I worked for.

Organization

10. How many people in your organization are occupied with PR? In what ways?

We all read and distribute the incoming press releases. Some are personal,
others go directly to our combined emailbox.

11. How do you receive PR? (specific channel, emails, technical format, etc.)

Mostly email

12. In what way(s) (channels and technical format) would like to receive them?

email

13. Do you only receive PR or do you (also) set out to find them? If so, where?

A little of both. News sites are important too – Interesting news makes me search for the source

14. please describe the process of PR publishing: from the moment you receive it to publication, to evaluation

1. reading the header
2. reading the news
3. looking at the attachments
4. contemplate
5. call the sender or discuss the release with colleagues (and delegate)
6. call other parties involved
7. write!

15. Do you alter the title of a PR? If so: how many % of PR are altered, how is this organized and why?

The pr-title is seldom used

16. Do you alter the text of a PR? If so: how many % of PR are altered, how is this organized and why?

100% – it is not always necessary – editorial objectivity forces me :-)

17. Do you alter links within a PR? If so: how many % of PR are altered, how is this organized and why?

Depends on the info the link refers to

18. Do you think there is a difference between different media types (newspapers, news websites, other) in the way they handle PR? If so, what is it?

Online media make more mistakes – they publish more (quicker) and are not as thorough as newspapers

19. Do you think your organization handles PR in a normal way or is it different? Why?

We are pretty average

20. Are PR evaluated in your organization? How?

We do try to educate professional pr-agencies in what info we would like to receive from them

SEO: Search Engine Optimization

21. Do you know what SEO is?

yes

22. Do you recognize the work of an SEO in a PR? How?

SEO in the press release isn’t that important, since most pr’s are sent by email

23. Do you regard PR that is optimized for search engines as an ‘issue’ or is it no issue at all? Why?

I think contacting the right media with fitting news is more important than being found in search engines

24. How much is a link (or reference to website if print newspaper) from a page on your website/newspaper worth? What data or opinions is this answer based upon?

No idea

25. Let’s assume you receive a PR you like and want to publish. You also see the text is optimized for Search Engines: it contains keywords and links. How do you respond?

I still rewrite – our SEO criteria might differ from those of the sender

26. Regarding the previous question: is publishing a link with a keyword rich link text an explicit choice? (in other words: do you explicitly think about the link and its link text and decide to copy it or not?)

yes

27. Do you ‘nofollow’ links in PR? (if you don’t know what ‘nofollow’ is, skip this question)

No

Tips

28. In general: which kinds of PR shall always be published and which never? Why?

Press releases that are well written and well targeted might be published. Others never

29. Regarding the previous question: what are the three most important tips you can give to those who write PR?

See 4

30. Do you have some specific tips for SEO consultants like me?

Since most journalist are fast readers and well acquainted with the web, you might consider writing more web based press releases, followed by the full article. A saw a great example a few days back on Slate.com: “how we read online“

Rutger, thanks very much for this interview! Your answers are published completely, but in the end, when I received all interviews, it will be integrated into a post that summarizes it all.

SEO copywriting: Searchwritten - A Study in Content SEO

below you see the result of some questions I sent to several people in the media business. The goal of this was to learn more about SEO optimizing Press Releases.

There is much, much information on the web about how to write Press Releases, and I’ve read quite a few articles about the subject. I wanted to know however, how the people that receive SEO optimized Press Releases think about this.

So I asked them, you see the first response below. There is more to come. Enjoy and learn!

General questions

1. Introduction: who are you and what is your business with Press Releases (=PR)?

Jeroen Mirck, managing editor of Emerce, business magazine on internet marketing. As an editor, I receive up to a hundred press releases a day, many of them being badly focused or written.

2. Please describe your organization

Emerce is a business magazine on internet marketing, published by VNU Media in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

3. please give me your definition of ‘press release’

A press release is an article sent by a company, institution or individual (maybe via a PR agency) to inform media about a specific subject matter.

4. What is a good press release?

A good press release answers all the questions that arise for journalists and are based on facts (many press release fail on these issues). It is well written in a smart editorial style which makes it easy to edit it for publication.

5. Please provide me with some recent examples of good PR and tell me why you like them. This helps me to better understand your opinions.

Mostly press release written by PR companies. Press releases have to be made professionally.

6. Do you use a distinction between different kinds/categories of PR? If so, which ones? If not, why not?

Not really.

Statistics regarding placement of Press Releases

7. How many PR does your newspaper/news website/blog receive on a daily basis?

Several hundred.

8. How much % of it actually gets published?

5%? That’s a guess, because this is very hard to measure.

9. How do you think these numbers relate to newspapers/news websites/large group weblogs in general (worldwide, Europe, Netherlands)? What data or opinions is this answer based upon?

Internet has the ability to publish more, but popular websites receive the most press releases. The % can be seen as an indication for all media.

Organization of Press Release publication

10. How many people in your organization are occupied with PR? In what ways?

The whole editorial staff of Emerce handles incoming press releases.

11. How do you receive PR? (specific channel, emails, technical format, etc.)

Mostly email, but many organisations also send letters.

12. In what way(s) (channels and technical format) would like to receive them?

Email with informative title/header, press release pasted in the mailform itself, with maybe an attachment with the same text too. Images are welcome, but not too big. It is better to place them on the corporate website or an ftp server with a deeplink.

13. Do you only receive PR or do you (also) set out to find them? If so, where?

If I see other media publish information that must come from a press release, I search for it on the corporate site of the company, to have the information from the original source.

14. please describe the process of PR publishing: from the moment you receive it to publication, to evaluation

1. Reading the header, deciding wether it is spam, uninteresting stuff or a relevant press release;
2. Discussing the issue with colleagues, deciding who’s “on it”;
3. Reading the full press release, checking the given information with other easy sources;
4. Editing it to a news article, maybe calling for more info;
5. Publishing the article online.

15. Do you alter the title of a PR? If so: how many % of PR are altered, how is this organized and why?

A good title can survice the editing process, but this is no certainty. A bad title (too positive about the source, too subjective or simply not true) will ALWAYS be changed. If a news medium wants to accentuate its originality, journalists prefer to change PR-headlines.

16. Do you alter the text of a PR? If so: how many % of PR are altered, how is this organized and why?

I always delete the corporate info at the end. Most press releases are heavily rewritten. Nevertheless, a very journalistically written press release might not be changed much.

17. Do you alter links within a PR? If so: how many % of PR are altered, how is this organized and why?

In offline media, links are almost never used, unless it’s an article about a website. Online news media only use one link to the source of the press release (otherwise it looks like advertising…)

18. Do you think there is a difference between different media types (newspapers, news websites, other) in the way they handle PR? If so, what is it?

Online media act quicker, and therefore make more mistakes with not editing press releases enough. PR agencies know that… ;)

19. Do you think your organization handles PR in a normal way or is it different? Why?

Normal way.

20. Are PR evaluated in your organization? How?

Articles are evaluated: why subjects are selected, if the tone of voice is alright and wether the article doesn’t look too much like the press release it comes from…

SEO: Search Engine Optimization and a Press Release

21. Do you know what SEO is?

Yes.

22. Do you recognize the work of an SEO in a PR? How?

Some titles really fit perfectly for search engines. That’s important, because the organisation itself often publishes the press release on its website.

23. Do you regard PR that is optimized for search engines as an ‘issue’ or is it no issue at all? Why?

No issue, because a journalist should rewrite it.

24. How much is a link (or reference to website if print newspaper) from a page on your website/newspaper worth? What data or opinions is this answer based upon?

No idea. I think the PageRank or Technorati score will give information about that.

25. Let’s assume you receive a PR you like and want to publish. You also see the text is optimized for Search Engines: it contains keywords and links. How do you respond?

Links might be used, keywords normally not.

26. Regarding the previous question: is publishing a link with a keyword rich link text an explicit choice? (in other words: do you explicitly think about the link and its link text and decide to copy it or not?)

The link text is the most logical word in the article to put the link under. It doesn’t get special treatment, but chances are that the product or corporate name is used. That’s logical.

27. Do you ‘nofollow’ links in PR? (if you don’t know what ‘nofollow’ is, skip this question)

…

Got Some Tips?

28. In general: which kinds of PR shall always be published and which never? Why?

Evident self-promotion will never be published. Senders of press releases must always ask themselves one question: does the public wants to know this?

29. Regarding the previous question: what are the three most important tips you can give to those who write PR?

1. Keep it neutral en objectively (facts, no opinions and promotional talk);
2. Ask yourself if the audience really wants to know your story;
3. Write the press release in a style that’s “fit to print”.

30. Do you have some specific tips for SEO consultants like me?

A good news title can be SEO friendly, but don’t exaggerate the use of product and corporate names in the title.

And I want to add another sidenote. The diminishing size of redactions and a growing deadline pressure makes that Press Releases are less and less throughly checked, particularly on the web. Journalists should be very critical, but due to time and pressure restraints that canot always be the case. You might see that as an opportunity for smart SEOs…

Thanks!

Okay, that’s it. I want to thank you very much Jeroen. These answers are very valuable to me and the readers. Now we actually see what the people think of the Press Releases we send their way. After I’ve received the other ones (it may take a while, be patient) I’ll write a summary about what SEOs can learn from all this valuable inside information…

SEO copywriting: Searchwritten - A Study in Content SEO