Guest Post vs Press Release?

Hello

I have a friend who works with Press Releases - he can publish free for me (just for me, we're childhood friends)

The question would be, how effective is a Press Release vs a Guest Post?

Is it great for backlinks as well?

Thanks,
Josh Saga

very difficult to say how effective is press release vs guest post. to some both are the same: a full article dedicated to your site coming from a authority site. some say press release is from news sites, and guest posts are from non-news sites... it does not matter how you define it.

both carry juice with them. one recommendation: if you can, have different press releases on different news sites. in other words, dont use the same press release on all the news site. each press release should be unique.

fb3003 said:

very difficult to say how effective is press release vs guest post. to some both are the same: a full article dedicated to your site coming from a authority site. some say press release is from news sites, and guest posts are from non-news sites... it does not matter how you define it.

both carry juice with them. one recommendation: if you can, have different press releases on different news sites. in other words, dont use the same press release on all the news site. each press release should be unique.

Click to expand...

Oh so it's basically the same thing only terms change from where it comes from (Press Release = News Sites)

Thanks for the input - well at least I get a free backlink from a News Site which is nice

Press release once in a while is fine, but don’t over do it, guest posts are any day better

If site is new then press release , if site is old then both
Press release do a lot of now follow link

Just judging by many of the AP press releases I've been seeing lately, AP (and I assume others) have really relaxed their standards

Getting a PR published used to be like pulling teeth.
Editors keep bleating out the same response: "Your PR has to be NEWSworthy"

Not anymore.

You might want to Strike while the iron's hot though

Josh Saga said:

Hello

I have a friend who works with Press Releases - he can publish free for me (just for me, we're childhood friends)

The question would be, how effective is a Press Release vs a Guest Post?

Is it great for backlinks as well?

Thanks,
Josh Saga

Click to expand...

Press Releases are good for branding purposes. You should also know that these links don't last forever, PR links usually get removed over time like any other news articles. A PR is basically the same article published on a bunch of news sites, only a few of them are worthy, the rest are just bs sites to be honest but they do not hurt your SEO. Get a PR from a reputable seller who can syndicate to some decent channels. You should also know that these links are no-follow, I seriously doubt they do anything for your SEO other than getting your website indexed and maybe (just maybe) throw some authority signals to Google as far as legitimacy of your website goes.

A guest post on the other hand is a double edged sword these days. The market is flooded with people doing outreach which has resulted in a bunch of low quality sites that are apparent when you view them right away. Usually low metrics, or good metrics (repurposed expired/auction domain) established to earn via link sales. So they're obvious link farms and usually do not have a specific theme. They will post content and link to whoever pays them.

Then there are a few sites that look high quality but really are garbage. These used to be legitimate sites that have now gone stale. They once had quality content and traffic (and they still might have traffic), but the owner realized that they could make 4 - 5x more with selling guest posts rather than promoting affiliate or earning via ads. They'll have a good UX, and will look legitimate but they're just link farms in disguise.

A good way to judge a Guest Posting site is to look at traffic, look at the keywords in ranks for, and also look at outgoing links. Does it have a lot of outgoing links with targeted anchors? You don't want a link from an obvious guest posting site that is just waiting in line to get an outbound link penalty. Also, do your own outreach, sellers charge 2x - 3x more for a guest post. You can send out an email to 100 targeted good sites on your own and acquire 20 solid links for $1500 - 2000 that would sell via a third party in the neighborhood of $4 - 5K.

Most of the press releases have made their external links n0-f0ll0w due to which they are not of much use for SEO purposes. Further, most press releases do not rank on Google even for low competition keywords. On the other hand, Guest posts give d0 f0ll0w links, so most of the time Guest Posts are better unless you compare them with press releases that give d0-f0ll0w links.