The Best Paid and Free Press Release Sites
Our list of the best paid and free press release websites to submit your press releases for maximum SEO and traffic opportunities
On content-driven, information-rich websites we use press releases for more than the basic announcement. We also use them to release free white papers because we know they offer more opportunities for inbound links and the SEO benefits required to get a landing page ranked well in Google.
Since Google now holds us responsible for the inbound links that come to our site, we decided to update our annual guide to the best paid and free press release sites by completely eliminating the sites with low SEO scores. What started out as a 50-something list is now down to just nine.
These PR distribution services are deemed both credible and SEO-friendly, which are the only inbound links we truly value.
- Credibility: We determined credibility by checking the SEO industry’s most trusted metrics: Majestic Trust Flow [1]and Moz Domain Authority[2]. This process eliminated most of the free sites in our list. We think paid sites should offer more link credibility in addition to bonus features, so we slimmed down our list to include only those with high scores, also.
- Search Engine Optimization: We also took into account basic SEO functionality. These sites allow tagging, anchor text links, keyword data and other search elements. The paid sites typically allowed up to eight outbound links, whereas most free sites only allow one.
Our Top Paid vs. Free Press Release Sites
The differences between paid and free press release sites:
- Free press release sites are usually web-based and may or may not let you include photos, videos, or HTML formatted content.
- Paid press release sites usually have a press list that they will send your press releases to in addition to posting your release on their website and in their RSS feed. Many paid sites also offer extra SEO benefits like tagging, the option to edit your meta data, and grammar checking. They may also tweet your release to their lists depending on the level of service you choose. Robust analytics also come with the territory.
Free press release sites
I read recently about a test of 60 different free press release sites. The winner of their test was PRUrgent.com because it was the only one that got them in Google News. Unfortunately, that site had low ranking scores, and still does, so I didn’t include it in this list. It might be worth trying, though. The second place was OnlinePRnews.com,[3] which I’ve added to the list this year because it’s almost up to snuff with the others and lets you include a live link.
We’ve consistently found PRLog.org[4] to be the best free press release site. It allows links, tagging and branding for free, but most importantly, it has the highest ranks, unique traffic numbers and inbound links of its competitors. In our own comparative distribution tests, it also ranked higher than any other release.
As mentioned, we only included free sites with high ranks because you are who you associate with when it comes to search optimization and inbound links. Their ranks tell us about their SEO potential for any live links we put on their site. Over the years that we’ve maintained this list, PRLog has always remained at the top, but even sites like PR.com have lost rank across all search reputation monitors.
Paid press release sites
It’s a toss up between PRWeb[5] and PRNewswire[6] for the best paid press release site. PRNewswire has the highest score of all the paid sites and offers a huge arsenal of tools for optimizing your release. It’s reported to have the best overall distribution also, but it comes with a hefty price tag. The average cost of a release with all the bells and whistles can cost as much as $1,000 although they do have iReach, which starts at $129[7]. PRWeb offers a robust release around $200. Both offer activity and SEO reporting on press releases.
The list below started as a 20-something site list and has been slimmed down to four. After all, you only need one good distribution service, right? When PageRank was still active, we had removed all sites with a PageRank below 7 from the list because at these prices, they ought to offer high quality inbound links. I’ve stuck to that shorter list. The sites listed here are also known to cache your press release indefinitely. Some sites delete them after 90-180 days.
Tips for choosing the best press release distribution service
- Search Engine Optimization. Most press release sites are designed to allow you to optimize your press release for search engines using tags, anchor text links, header tags, etc. If you’re not sure, look on the PR website for a statement about press releases being optimized for search engines (SEO).
- Note NoFollow tags. NoFollow tags are inserted into website code to stop the search engine spiders from following the links. If the spiders can’t follow the links in your press release, there is little benefit.
- Seek Inbound Links. The more inbound links they receive, the more respect they will earn and the higher they will rank in search engines. The higher they rank in search engines, the more visible your press release will become, and the more traffic you will receive.
The “wire” isn’t the only way to get buzz out there these days, though. Try out some of these alternatives for unique and possibly even more valuable press coverage:
- Press.it [8]– Create your own newsroom, or just create a free social media press release.
- PitchEngine[9] – Pitch your customers / subscribers directly and create elegant press releases. Also try PRnob[10].
- Vocus[11] – Use a large media database to make your own contacts and distribute your release personally.
- Help a Reporter Out (HARO)[12] – Don’t let the journalists come to you, go to the journalist by answering queries asked by major news outlets.
Promoting freebies through press releases
Most of the time we use free press releases to promote our free downloads. When we launch new freebies, we want the world to know! Here’s how we recommend organizing this process.