Press releases can have a long search shelf-life.   Some releases are simply amazing with their ability to drive traffic.   This press release, from Leatherup.com, for example, is more than two years old and continues to draw traffic in the thousands.

Part of this traffic appears to be from paid search, for example the company seems to be using this release as a landing page for paid search campaigns, but a substantial portion also comes from organic search.  One key to organic search is finding the right key words to include in your release – words your audience uses to search for content.

One tool to help you identify the right words is Google Trends.  Let’s say my target audience is public relations professionals, commonly referred to as PR professionals.  Should my key word be “PR” or “public relations”?

Google Trends, shown below, gives me a pretty clear answer:  searches for “public relations” are trending downward, while searches for “PR” are trending up.  PR should be my primary choice for a key word.

This principle can be applied in a different way – that it might change how we describe our products or services to ensure they can be found in search.

Here’s a hypothetical example:  genetically modified foods.

The term “genetically modified” might have a negative connotation – who wants to eat that?  As such, marketers and PR professionals might prefer to refer to this as “agricultural biotechnology” because it connotes innovation without the baggage.  However, the dilemma that’s presented is this:  which term is more often used in search.  I’d venture to say it’s the former, which means if the latter is included in a press release — it’s less likely to be found in search.

Filed under: SEO, Tips and Tricks by Frank Strong