Sorry, but press releases are not an SEO tool. They should not be used as one. Perhaps you have PR confused with article marketing.

Press Releases are a part of proper corporate compliance, and – used properly – are still a good way to communicate with journalists and bloggers.

At http://www.your-story.org/ we don’t allow in-release web-links. We hand moderate out all the junk and spam attempts. This means that many journalists, bloggers and investors subscribe to the service for a quick “heads-up” on what’s new from our service. Yes, you could try to create a relationship with journalists in your field, but a good, timely press release issued through a credible outlet will always have an impact. What’s more, with the Your-Story.org site going out in Google News (and Google Finance) direct, as well as Moreover (i.e. BBC related links) your press release will show up when journalists, bloggers and news consumers themselves are doing research, or reading about, your industry.

Your press release gets read, your company gets mentioned in a news article.

Most journalists and bloggers pick up items via Twitter and Facebook using Your-Story.org – and this is where we come to the key point. It’s where traditional meets modern. Social media. Write a press release, put it onto a credible outlet (like Your-Story.org) then fire the shortlink at a few journalists you think might be interested. Easier, and less irritating than emailing journo’s you don’t know personally.