The pros and cons of Google’s new press release policy

Google likes to keep us PR pros on our toes.

Last year the big update to search results came through the “nuclear bomb” that was Panda 4.0. The age of the keyword was essentially over, and proper storytelling blogs and press releases were in. Many claimed that SEO was on its way out completely.

Recently, Google made even more changes. Though the advent of Panda 4.0 made press releases seem borderline useless, the search engine has now revalued them. There’s one big alteration, though, that changes the way savvy PR pros should use press releases. Here’s a look at the bad and good things that come with Google’s latest amendment to the SEO bible:

Cons

What’s the big change? To sum up: Though Google now thinks that press releases are hip and trendy again, it only cares when your business issues the release through its own channels. Those will be the only results users will find. You can send the press release to other venues (blogs, etc. who print them word for word), but those will be buried far away from the first page.