Hey Matt, Links In Press Releases Do Impact Your Search Engine

Jan 23, 2013 - 8:32 am 40 by

press releasesRight after Christmas Matt Cutts said something pretty bold within a Google Webmaster Help thread that I covered as Google Says Press Release Links Won't Help Your Search Rankings. But is it true? An SEO tested it and found this not to be the case.

First, let me quote Matt Cutts of Google:

Note: I wouldn't expect links from press release web sites to benefit your rankings, however.

It is pretty clear - don't try to use press releases as a way to embed links within them and expect them to have a positive impact on your ranking goals within Google.

But the test this SEO ran showed that he was able to rank Google's Matt Cutts blog for the keyword [sreppleasers] with only creating a link within a press release pointing to Matt's blog. It did not rank for sreppleasers beforehand, only after there was a link to Matt's blog from a press release. And today, it still ranks:

sreppleasers

Why does this work if Matt said it shouldn't? Well, maybe Matt was talking about more competitive terms? Maybe Matt was thinking of a specific few press release distribution companies? Maybe Matt was confused?

Matt has been offline for a while, I hope everything is okay - but I have not heard from him in a while. So he has not addressed this directly. Maybe he will, but maybe he won't?

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: May 15, 2025

May 15, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google

Google Rethinking Search Stack From Ground Up With LLMs

May 15, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Doc: Link Position & Click Bias Ranking Bias Adjustment

May 15, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads New "Ads Funded By" Details

May 15, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Device Targeting Controls For Performance Max Campaigns

May 15, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Search Tests Vertical Search Labels In Autocomplete

May 15, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google Improves Handwrite Search On Mobile