Do press releases help SEO in 2026? Nofollow links and mentions

The honest answer: the links are not the point

For years, press releases were sold as a cheap way to build backlinks. That stopped working a long time ago, and Google has been explicit about why.

Google's spam policies list "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites" as an example of link spam. The same policies say such links are not a violation if they're marked rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" (Google spam policies). Google's guidance on qualifying links says sponsored is the preferred attribute for paid placements, with nofollow still acceptable (Google Search Central). A 2017 Google post made the intent test clear: informative articles are fine, but the problem starts when the main purpose is building links at scale back to the author's site (Google Search Central Blog).

The SEO community reached the same conclusion from the other side. Long-standing industry analysis holds that syndicated duplicates of the same release text add little search value (Bounteous). That analysis is dated, but nothing since has reversed it. More recent forum replies call press releases for backlinks "not as effective as it once was" (Local Search Forum).

Any provider that promises rankings from press release backlinks is selling the one thing Google's policies are written against.

What each kind of link actually gives you

Not all release links are equal, and none are worthless. Here's a plain comparison.

The pattern is clear. The parts of a release that hold value are the page itself, the words on it and the people who might read it. The link attribute matters least.

Where the SEO value does come from

Brand mentions on trusted domains

A release placed on a recognized news domain creates a page on that domain that names your company, says what you do and dates the announcement. That's a third-party description of your business on a site with its own reputation. A copy on a free release site doesn't carry the same weight. This is why Word Got Out places releases on news domains: for an indexed page that names you, not for link juice. For more on how named news placements work, see our guide to "as seen on" placements.

News results for branded searches

When people search your company name, they often see more than your homepage. Recent pages about you on news domains can appear in those results, which gives a prospect or investor a dated, third-party page to read. This depends on indexing, which is why per-link indexing checks matter. Nobody can guarantee a page will appear.

Indexed pages that describe the company

Each indexed placement is another page in Google's index that says, in your words, who you are and what you announced. Pages that aren't indexed don't do this job at all, so check them. Our guide to reading a distribution report shows how to do it with a site: search and Search Console.

Referral traffic

Some readers click through. Usually not many from syndicated pages, and you should expect that. One buyer of a guaranteed-placement package reported "0 new visitors or clicks from any news story" two months after ordering (Trustpilot). The only way to know your own number is to tag your links with UTM parameters.

The chance of journalist pickup

A release can put your news in front of reporters, and a reporter-written story is worth far more than any syndicated copy. But it's a chance, not a deliverable. As one distribution guide says, none of the wires "can guarantee that a journalist writes about your announcement" (presspilot).

Inputs for AI answers

AI assistants increasingly answer branded and category questions, and they lean on news and editorial sources. Muck Rack found earned media made up about 84% of AI citations, with journalism alone at 27% and paid or advertorial content at about 0.3% (Muck Rack). Meltwater found press releases were just 0.2% of citations and called distribution's effect "usually indirect", working through pickup by journalists, trade titles and local outlets (Meltwater). Loganix, which sells its own AI-focused release product, found wire domains appeared in 0 of 100 category queries, while releases on Yahoo Finance /news/ pages were cited by ChatGPT and Gemini (Yahoo Finance; Loganix). The lesson is that where the release is published matters. We cover the data in detail in Do press releases get cited by ChatGPT?

The risks: what to avoid

"Backlink packages"

Some sellers market press releases mainly as backlinks, bundled with other link products. Reviews of backlink-led sellers describe links with a high spam score, "sometimes above 20%" (Trustpilot). Industry writers warn that many syndication sites are "low-quality, quasi-news sites that programmatically publish the same content" (Practical Ecommerce). Hundreds of identical copies on sites like that add a big number to a report. They don't add trust.

Free press release sites

Free sites are tempting for SEO, but industry commentary says Google treats many free press release sites as web spam (SHIFT Communications). Their own search visibility can fade too. One competitor's Semrush-based estimate puts a well-known free release site's organic keywords down about 81% from its July 2023 peak. That figure is a competitor claim we couldn't verify (InstantPress). In fairness, free sites are cheap and easy, and some include a Google News option on paid upgrades. Just don't expect SEO value from them.

Deleted and disappearing releases

A placement only helps while it's live and indexed. Reviews describe releases "deleted after a few months" with "no SEO or AI value" (Trustpilot), and one buyer reported 8 paid releases deleted (Trustpilot). In link marketplaces, buyers say that once a guarantee window ends, "no one will refund your money" if a link disappears (Trustpilot). Ask how long placements stay live, and re-check them yourself at 30 and 90 days.

Keyword-stuffed anchor text

Writing "best cloud accounting software Denver" as a link in your release is the exact pattern Google's policies describe. Use your brand name or a plain URL instead.

A practical checklist for getting SEO value from a release

Links

• Use one to three links. Point them at the most relevant page, such as the product page, the announcement on your newsroom, or the report you're releasing.
• Use your brand name or a plain URL as the anchor text, never a keyword phrase.
• Expect syndicated links to be nofollow or sponsored. That's correct, not a fault.

UTM tags

• Tag every link, for example ?utm_source=press-release&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=product-launch.
• Check your analytics at 7, 30 and 90 days, and compare landing pages, not just visit totals.

A newsroom page on your own site

• Publish the full release on your own site the same day, at a clean URL such as /newsroom/product-launch.
• Check its indexing with the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console, which works for sites you own.
• Add links from the newsroom page to the placements once they're live. Your newsroom copy outlasts any syndicated copy.

Consistent entity naming

• Use exactly the same company name, product names, spokesperson names and job titles in the release, on your website, and on your LinkedIn and other profiles.
• Reuse one boilerplate paragraph that matches your About page. Consistent descriptions make it easier for search engines and AI assistants to connect pages to the right company.
• Include specific, dated facts: what launched, where, when and for whom. Vague claims give nobody anything to cite. Our guide to writing a release AI assistants will quote goes deeper.

Timing

• Release when the news is real and current, such as the launch day or the day a deal closes, not weeks later.
• Go out when someone can answer reporters' questions that day.
• Space releases out. One real story beats several thin ones, and Google's guidance flags large-scale campaigns whose main purpose is links.

Follow-up content

• Write a longer post on your own site that expands on the announcement, with details the release didn't have room for.
• Share the placements with customers and on social channels, labeled honestly. "Our announcement on [outlet]" is accurate for a syndicated release. "As featured in" suggests editorial coverage.
• Pitch the story angle directly to a few relevant reporters. Journalist coverage is where links and citations with real weight come from. See press release vs sponsored article vs earned media for when each fits.

How to tell if it worked

Measure the things a release can actually change: how many placements are live and indexed, how many referral visits arrived, whether branded searches show the new pages, and whether AI assistants mention or cite you for a fixed set of prompts. Don't measure it by backlink counts or domain-authority scores. Our post on how to read a press release distribution report has a checklist and a sample report.

That's also how Word Got Out frames the work. We place releases on news and editorial domains, and we're plain that syndicated placements are not journalist-written stories and that many of their links are nofollow or sponsored. Our coverage report shows live links, per-link indexing status and any AI citations we find, and we re-check links at 30 and 90 days. We don't guarantee rankings, traffic or citations. See what a placement is worth for the longer version.

If you want us to write the release and check indexing and AI citations, the Launch plan is the place to start. If you also want named news domains, Authority adds AP News, Business Insider, StreetInsider, NewsBreak, Big News Network and Inter Press Service.

Frequently asked questions