The search engines are constantly trying to delivery current and relevant news to the searcher. Therefore online press release pages are often given a boost and are sometimes easier to rank than regular site or blog pages.
Case in point: I have been trying to get Best Performance Systems to rank for keywords like Workplace Ergonomics for some time now without much success. But recently I helped to craft a news worthy article, with quotes from the expert and well optimized for the keyword “workplace ergonomics”.
I used a free service called PRlog.com and submitted this release using all the same strategies I use for any other page: balanced content, keyword at beginning and end and related terms throughout. The very next day, this post was on page 2 of Google and with just a little boost from some social bookmarking sites, this competitive term is now on page 1, currently #7, out of 270,000 websites. Not bad!
Another key advantage to press releases is that they can be syndicated by other press and news sites that may have more authority in the eyes of Google than the original PR site. This happened recently with a press release on Truck Wash Wastewater
The original release dropped off the rankings for this term, but a water news site picked it up and is now at #5 for this article, which links to the clients website.
If used correctly, press release services, even the free ones, can get high rankings and help you get the word out about your product or service.