How to Use Digital Press Releases to Support Your SEO?

A digital press release is an online announcement that shares important news about a business, product, service, event, partnership, launch, or company update. It usually includes the company name, announcement details, relevant facts, quotes, images, links, and contact information. 

Unlike a traditional press release sent only to journalists, a digital press release is published online and can be discovered by search engines, journalists, customers, industry websites, and other online audiences.

Here’s an example of Tenet’s press release published on EIN Presswire:

In simple words, a digital press release is a news-style piece of content that tells the internet what your business is doing and why it matters. When published on relevant platforms, it can give search engines more publicly available information about your brand, services, locations, people, and areas of expertise.

A well-written release can also help people discover your company, give journalists material to reference, and create opportunities for legitimate mentions on other websites. 

When several credible sources describe your business consistently, they can contribute to a clearer online presence.

SEO is not only about ranking individual pages. Search engines and AI search systems also need to understand what a business is, what it offers, who it serves, and where it operates. A digital press release gives you another place to communicate this information.

For example, if your core positioning is "enterprise HR software for healthcare organizations," you should reinforce that positioning across your website, LinkedIn profile, industry profiles, relevant UGC platforms, directories, and press releases. 

The wording does not need to be identical, but the core brand, category, audience, and value proposition should remain consistent.

A press release can put a newsworthy announcement in front of journalists, publishers, bloggers, industry websites, and other relevant audiences. If the announcement is genuinely useful or interesting, those people may reference the company in their own content.

The SEO value comes from those independent mentions and links, not simply from publishing the same release across many websites. For example, a product launch may lead an industry publication to write about the launch and link to the company website. 

Your website is not the only place where people can find information about your company. Search results may also contain LinkedIn profiles, industry publications, business directories, interviews, news articles, reviews, and press releases.

A digital press release gives you another opportunity to establish your brand around important topics. A release about a new healthcare software feature, for example, can reinforce the connection between your company, HR software, healthcare organizations, and the specific problem the product solves.

A strong press release clearly connects important entities. It can identify the company, founders or executives, products, services, industries, locations, partners, and the specific announcement. This gives readers and search systems more context than a short promotional page would provide.

The key is consistency. If your website describes the company as an enterprise HR software provider for healthcare, but other sources describe it as a generic HR tool for small businesses, the online information becomes less consistent. Use press releases to reinforce your actual positioning rather than create new descriptions for every publication.

A digital press release should give search engines, AI systems, journalists, and readers a clear picture of your brand, what you offer, and where you operate. Keep the release focused on three core associations: brand, service, and location. 

Support these associations with relevant text, images, video, company details, and limited links. Most importantly, keep the content factual and avoid making it sound like an advertisement.

The opening should give readers a clear reason to care about the announcement. Start with the main news, rather than a long company introduction. Your hook should connect the announcement to the service, industry, location, or audience involved.

For example, a local cybersecurity company announcing a new security service could open by explaining what it launched, which businesses it serves, and where the service is available. This gives readers immediate context while naturally establishing the main topic of the release.

Your title should clearly connect the brand name, primary service or topic, and location when location is relevant to the announcement. This helps readers understand the story at a glance and creates a clear association between your company and the market it serves.

Here’s an example:

Do not force keywords into the headline. The title should still read like a legitimate news headline. Use the terms that accurately describe the company and announcement.

Include the publication date near the beginning of the press release. The date tells readers when the announcement was issued and gives the content important context.

Dates can also help search systems understand when an event or announcement took place. Use the actual publication or announcement date and avoid changing it simply to make an older press release appear fresh.

Images give Google another piece of content it can crawl and index. Google can use information from the image itself and supporting page signals, such as the surrounding text, image filename, alt text, and image metadata, to understand what an image represents. 

For example, a product launch could include a product image, while a company expansion could include a photograph of the new location or team. Keep your visual identity consistent with your website and other online profiles. 

This gives your brand another opportunity to appear alongside the services, products, and locations associated with your company.

👉 Learn more about Google’s multimodal generative AI search

Use your primary service, industry, location, and other important terms naturally throughout the release. The goal is not to repeat the same keyword as often as possible. Instead, make sure the content clearly explains what the company does, who it serves, and where it operates.

For example, a company offering "enterprise HR software for healthcare organizations" should naturally discuss enterprise HR software, healthcare organizations, relevant use cases, and the markets it serves. This creates a clear topic around the brand without making the release sound like an SEO page.

A press release works best when it has a clear focus. Avoid trying to promote every service, product, and location in one announcement. Choose the main service and location connected to the news and build the release around them.

If a pressure washing company is announcing a new service in Boston, for example, the release should focus on that announcement instead of adding unrelated location pages for Naples, Florida, and other markets. A focused release creates a stronger and more useful connection between the brand, service, and location.

Keep outbound links limited and make each one useful to the reader. Two relevant links are often enough for a focused press release. For example, one link could point to the relevant service or announcement page, while another could lead to a supporting resource.

Avoid filling the release with keyword-rich anchor text pointing to multiple service and location pages. That can make the content look promotional and reduce its value as a genuine news announcement. 

For local businesses, include the exact business name, address, phone number, website, and other relevant contact details in the press release. Keep these details consistent with the information on your website, Google Business Profile, directories, social profiles, and other trusted business listings.

This consistency is important for local SEO because search engines use business information from multiple sources to understand and match a local business. Small differences, such as a different business name, phone number, or address format, can create confusion about whether different listings represent the same business.

For example, for Tenet’s press release, we also embedded the GMB map, which supports local SEO:

End the release with a short company description that explains who the business is, what it does, who it serves, and where it operates. This section, often called the boilerplate, should reinforce your established brand positioning.

For example, if your company is positioned as an enterprise HR software provider for healthcare organizations, the boilerplate should describe the company in those terms. Keep this positioning consistent across your website, LinkedIn, company profiles, UGC platforms, directories, and other public sources.

Include a quote from a founder, executive, expert, partner, customer, or another person directly connected to the announcement. The quote should add context or explain why the announcement matters.

Want to create a digital press release that supports your SEO strategy? 

Use our ready-to-edit press release template to structure your announcement, brand positioning, service and location details, media, links, quote, company information, and contact details. 

👉 Download the free press release writing template and customize it for your next announcement.

If you want expert help planning off-page SEO activities, our team at Tenet can help you build a strategy around your business goals instead of chasing backlinks. 

Its SEO approach focuses on building relevant authority, strengthening brand visibility, earning quality mentions, and supporting the right pages with a clear off-page plan. 

Tenet can assess your current backlink profile, identify relevant opportunities, and prioritize activities based on your industry, competitors, target audience, and search goals.

Looking to build a stronger off-page SEO strategy? Explore our AI SEO services and SEO approach.

Request an SEO proposal from Tenet and get a plan tailored to your website and business.