John Greer recently posted the question about the best day to issue a press release on his blog Catching Flack, and I thought I would post the comment I left on his blog here as well:

I think it ultimately depends on what the press release is about and what your goals and expectations are for issuing it.

If you have a significant announcement to make then I think what’s more important than the day that you release it is the groundwork that you lay prior to its release:
- putting together a well written release that clearly explains the broader importance of whatever it is that is being announced
- having the necessary collateral ready: images, videos, executives available for comment, etc…
- researching and then reaching out to the key influencers ahead of time
- delivering on your promises

Doing the above will have more of an effect on the success of the release than whether it was was released on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.

Though for what it is worth…we shoot for Tuesday as a general rule.

Inherent in SEO is an assumption that there is a difference between what attracts humans and search engines. The flip side is that a press release with maximum SEO may not be optimized to attract the editors, analysts, customers, etc. While press release immortality through Google is a great goal, we have yet to find a client that would prefer a higher search slot to media coverage.

At Vantage, we are very conscious about striking the right balance. To use a cooking analogy, we use a SEO as a seasoning. Adding a bit of salt to the dish brightens the flavor, and makes it tastier. Too much salt is a turn off for most people.

For writing press releases, this means adding links and tags only where they can allow readers to go more in depth. A small number of well-chosen links gives readers confidence that the author has taken the time prioritize. Additionally, Google and other search engines now treat too many links as the equivalent of SPAM.