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TL;DR - Key takeaways:
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For years, press release SEO followed a fairly dependable formula. Most PR teams knew the drill: find the right keyword, put it in the headline, and publish the release somewhere Google can find it. Ready, set, rank.
Most of that still applies. What’s changed is what can happen after your release gets found.
Search engines are increasingly generating answers themselves, while AI tools pull information from multiple sources, summarize it, and decide which facts - and which brands - are worth citing.
Press releases are already part of that mix. Muck Rack found that AI citations to press releases on major wire services increased 5x between July and December 2025.
That gives you a third audience to think about. Your announcement still needs to catch a journalist’s attention and make sense to search engines, but now it also needs to give generative engines clear, credible information they can confidently extract and reuse.
That’s the playbook to internalize in 2026: write one press release that works for all three at the same time.
In this article, we’ll show you how to do exactly that. We’ll cover the new SEO and GEO rules, break down the press release from headline to boilerplate, and show you what a fully optimized release looks like in practice. Let’s get started!
Do press releases help SEO?
Press releases still have a place in SEO, but their value looks different than it used to. It’s less about trying to game rankings and more about giving search engines a clear, useful source of information about something your company has actually done.
A strong release creates a clear, indexable record of a launch, partnership, leadership change, or other announcement. That can help the release itself surface in search, strengthen the body of content around topics your brand wants to be known for, and give journalists or industry publications something concrete to reference if they pick up the story.
But these days, search engines don’t have the last word. The same release that Google indexes and ranks can also become source material for an AI-powered search experience or generative tool, where individual facts, quotes, or claims might be pulled into an answer.
That addition can make it tempting to speak about SEO and GEO as separate disciplines competing for attention. But in reality, they’re closely connected. Many of the things that make a release easier for search engines to find and understand also make it easier for AI systems to interpret and reuse. Google’s own guidance reinforces this: its AI-powered search experiences still build on core Search ranking and quality systems.
So, it’s actually more helpful to think of press release SEO as the foundation, with GEO adding another layer on top. Below, we’ll show you how to cover both without giving your press release process an existential crisis.
GEO vs. SEO for press releases: what has changed?
So if we introduce GEO into the equation, what actually changes in practice?
Mostly, it comes down to how self-contained, specific, and verifiable your information is. That creates a few new priorities:
Research press release keywords for two types of discovery
You still want to know how people are searching for the subject you’re writing about and how to use that language naturally in places like the headline, lead, and subheadings.
But now it’s also worth considering: What might someone ask an AI tool that this release could answer?
Here’s how to find press release keywords for both and where they overlap:
- For PR SEO: Use Google autocomplete, People Also Ask, related searches, and keyword tools to find the language people actually use.
- For PR GEO: Search likely questions in tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity and note the facts those answers tend to include.
- Then compare: Does your release contain those facts clearly and in language people actually use?
For a company opening a new battery storage facility, that might mean checking press release keywords like “battery storage UK” alongside questions such as “Which companies are investing in battery storage in the UK?”
From there, compare the two. Use the keyword to shape how you describe the topic and the AI question to check whether the release contains the facts needed to answer it.
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Need a little more context on the SEO basics? Our guide walks you through 5 easy strategies you can implement to get your newsroom up to scratch. |
Write key facts to stand on their own
AI may only pull one sentence or statistic from your release. If that happens, the information should still make sense without the paragraph before it.
Take a look at the example below.
| Less useful: | Better: |
| “This brings the total to 12 markets.” | “Fintech company ClearPay will operate in 12 European markets following its launch in Denmark in October 2026.” |
The second version makes the context clear. We immediately know what the number refers to, which company it belongs to, and what changed.
For your most important claims, avoid relying too heavily on words like “this”, “it”, or “the figure” when you can simply name the thing you mean.
Put evidence next to the claim
If your release is making a strong claim, don’t make readers scour the internet for where it came from.
This rule applies to:
- Third-party statistics
- Proprietary research
- Survey findings
- Performance claims
- Market data
- Environmental or sustainability claims
Avoid saying:
“Remote workers are spending more time working abroad.”
And instead opt for:
“42% of remote workers worked from another country at least once in 2025, according to WorkAnywhere’s 2026 Remote Work Survey.”
The closer the evidence sits to the claim, the easier it is for journalists to verify and for AI systems to consider your information as credible.
Keep entity naming consistent
Your release probably contains more “entities” than you think. This could be everything from your company and products to executives and partners.
Name them clearly once, and then stay reasonably consistent.
If a new platform is officially called ‘Atlas Workspace Intelligence’, avoid jumping between:
- Atlas Workspace Intelligence
- Atlas
- Atlas Intelligence
- The Workspace platform
- Our new AI solution
A human reader will probably piece it together, and an AI system probably can too. But there’s little benefit in making either of them work harder than necessary.
Apply the same rule to people. If you introduce "Maya Chen, Chief Product Officer at Atlas" in one release, make sure her title matches the rest of your newsroom.
Make the release machine-readable
Behind every good press release is a technical layer telling search engines and AI systems exactly what they’re looking at.
Think of it as giving machines the admin details they need to properly file your story: what it is, who it belongs to, and when it was published.
If you want your release to rank well and give AI systems the best chance of citing it accurately, getting these technical basics right is a must:
- A clear headline
- Publication and update dates
- Authorship and publisher information
- A canonical URL
- Appropriate article structured data
- Clean indexation settings
Ideally, your newsroom platform takes care of this for you. Presspage newsroom software handles technical essentials like structured metadata, canonical URLs, and indexation behind the scenes, leaving your team to focus on the story itself.
Favor factual, descriptive language
Naturally, you’re going to be excited about your announcement. If you weren’t, there probably wouldn’t be much point in announcing it. But there’s only so much a journalist, or an AI system, can do with words like “groundbreaking”, “industry-leading”, and “exciting”.
Here’s the same sentence written two ways.
| Promotional: | Factual: |
| “GreenBuild today proudly unveiled its groundbreaking new headquarters, setting a bold new standard for sustainable offices.” | “GreenBuild has opened a 14,000-square-metre headquarters in Copenhagen powered entirely by renewable electricity.” |
The problem with the first version is that almost every important word is subjective. “Groundbreaking” and “bold new standard” tell us very little unless the release can prove them.
The second version gives the reader something measurable: “14,000 square metres”, “Copenhagen”, “powered entirely by renewable electricity”. Those are the details that make the story useful.
That’s usually the stronger approach: swapping claims about significance for the facts that demonstrate it.
And there’s some data behind that. Press releases cited by AI contained around 2x more statistics, 2.5x more bullet points, and 30% more objective sentences than non-cited releases, according to Muck Rack.
The press release skeleton, optimized both ways
The easiest way to see how these principles work together is to apply them to one release from start to finish.
Let's try with a fictional example:
FreshMart is a UK supermarket chain preparing to send out a press release about a nationwide reusable packaging scheme across 420 stores. The release needs to clearly explain how the scheme works, show the scale of the rollout, and back up why it matters with solid evidence.
1. Headline: say what actually happened
The first job is obvious: make sure the headline tells people what actually happened.
A vague headline might sound polished but hide the actual news. Swing too far the other way and you end up with something that looks suspiciously like a keyword list wearing a press release getup.
The key is striking a balance:
| Approach | Example | What’s happening |
| Human-only | “FreshMart takes major step forward in sustainable retail” | It sounds good, but hides the news behind generic brand language. |
| SEO-only | “Reusable packaging UK: FreshMart launches reusable packaging scheme for UK shoppers” | It ticks the SEO box, but at the expense of natural, readable language. |
| Optimized for all three | “FreshMart launches reusable packaging scheme across 420 UK stores” | It gives journalists, search engines, and AI the core facts in one natural sentence. |
The strongest version leads with the story while naturally including the language people might search for. It also gives AI a clear statement of who did what without needing the rest of the release for context.
Pro tip: Claims like ‘first’, ‘biggest’, ‘fastest’, or ‘most sustainable’ can make a headline stronger, but only if you can prove them. If FreshMart wants to say it is launching “the UK’s first nationwide reusable packaging scheme,” make sure that claim is clearly defined and backed up before it goes anywhere near the headline.
2. Lead: give the answer before the backstory
The lead should answer the obvious questions straight away: who, what, where, when, and why it matters.
In other words: news first, mission statement later.
Save the grand vision for paragraph two.
| Approach | Example | What’s happening |
| Human-only | “FreshMart has spent the past several years exploring new ways to make grocery shopping more sustainable and convenient for customers across the UK.” | It sets the scene, but the actual news is still missing. |
| SEO-only | “FreshMart reusable packaging UK scheme launches across UK supermarkets with reusable containers for FreshMart customers.” | The topic is obvious, but the wording feels engineered around keywords rather than written to communicate the news. |
| Optimized for all three | “FreshMart will roll out a reusable packaging scheme across all 420 of its UK stores from October 2026, allowing customers to buy 150 own-brand products in returnable containers and return them to any FreshMart location for a £1 deposit refund.” | It gets straight to the announcement and packs the important facts into one clear statement. |
Then use the next sentence to add the evidence or context that makes the announcement more meaningful:
“The national rollout follows a 12-month pilot across 25 stores, where 78% of reusable containers were returned within 30 days.”
Now the reader gets the news first and the proof straight after it, without having to dig or skim.
Pro tip: Write the lead so someone who reads only the first one or two sentences still understands the announcement. If the core news only becomes clear in paragraph three, move it up.
3. Subheadings: make the information easy to find
Once the lead has done its job, the next challenge is helping readers find the detail they care about without digging through the whole release.
Clear, descriptive subheadings do a lot of that work for you. They break the story into logical sections and tell everyone exactly what information sits underneath.
FreshMart might be tempted to write this heading:
“Reuse made easy”
But this is too vague. An easy improvement would be:
“How FreshMart’s reusable packaging scheme works”
The second version may be less clever, but it is much more useful. It clearly names the company, the topic, and the purpose of the section.
Other useful subheadings might include:
- What FreshMart learned from its 12-month pilot
- When the reusable packaging scheme will launch
- Which FreshMart products will be available in reusable packaging
Pro tip: Don’t aim to win copywriting awards with your subheadings. If someone can predict what they’ll learn before reading the section, the heading is doing its job.
4. Body copy: make every section easy to scan and extract
Once readers land in the right section, make the information itself just as easy to process.
Use short paragraphs when a point needs explanation or context. If you have several distinct facts, such as dates, figures, or product details, bullet points can often make them clearer.
For example:
How FreshMart’s reusable packaging scheme works
- 150 own-brand products will be available in reusable packaging at launch
- Customers will pay a £1 deposit per container
- Containers can be returned to any FreshMart store in the UK
- FreshMart plans to expand the scheme to 300 products during 2027
Each bullet contains one complete fact and can be understood without relying on the point before it.
FreshMart’s pilot results, on the other hand, might be better introduced with a sentence explaining what was tested and why before moving into the findings.
Pro tip: Front-load the good stuff. Put the key fact at the start of the paragraph or bullet, then use the rest to explain it.
5. Quotes: add something the facts can’t
Press release quotes have a bad habit of sounding important while saying very little.
Take this example:
“We’re incredibly proud to launch this exciting new scheme for our customers,” said Sarah Malik, CEO of FreshMart.
It’s as perfectly pleasant as it is removable.
Instead, give the spokesperson something only they can really add:
“The pilot showed us that customers are willing to reuse packaging when returning it is as easy as buying it,” said Sarah Malik, CEO of FreshMart. “That’s why customers will be able to return containers to any of our 420 UK stores, rather than only the store where they bought them.”
That quote earns its place. It tells us what FreshMart learned, how that influenced the rollout, and why the scheme works the way it does.
It also contains enough context to make sense if it gets quoted somewhere without the surrounding paragraph.
While writing press release quotes, remember to ask yourself: If I remove the quote, will the reader lose anything? If the answer is no, it probably needs another pass.
Pro tip: Use quotes for the things the body copy can’t say as naturally: what you learned, why you made a decision, or what the announcement means for customers or the wider industry.
6. Supporting proof and data: make every number mean something
Numbers can make a release much more useful, but only if readers can tell what they actually measure. A statistic without context can look impressive, while still leaving everyone with questions.
Here, the context is missing:
“64% of customers said they preferred reusable packaging.”
It raises more questions than it answers: Which customers? Where? When? What exactly were they asked?
A stronger version is:
“In FreshMart’s 12-month pilot across 25 UK stores, 64% of participating shoppers said they would choose reusable packaging more often if containers could be returned at any FreshMart location.”
This clearly explains what was measured, by whom, and what the finding means.
Pro tip: Treat every statistic like it could become a headline. Make sure the wording can’t be misread or stripped of an important qualifier.
7. Boilerplate: make the company easy to identify
You made it to the end - and with any luck, so will your readers. When they get there, it should give them a stable, factual snapshot of the organization behind the news.
Just make sure to avoid turning it into one last burst of brand messaging. Something like:
“FreshMart is one of the UK’s most trusted retailers, helping millions of customers make better choices every day.”
It sounds nice, but it doesn’t give much factual information about the company itself. More useful would be:
“FreshMart is a UK supermarket group operating 420 stores across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The company sells grocery, household, and own-brand products in stores and online, employs 28,000 people, and is headquartered in Manchester.”
Now the boilerplate is doing what it should by clearly defining the company, its industry, scale, and activity.
Putting it together: one press release, built for both
Now that we’ve gone through every individual press release building block, let’s put the whole thing back together.
Below is the full FreshMart release, using the same principles we’ve just worked through:
- A clear headline
- An answer-first lead
- Descriptive sub-headings
- Structured supporting information
- Useful quotes
- Properly framed data
- A factual boilerplate
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FreshMart launches reusable packaging scheme across 420 UK stores National rollout follows a 12-month pilot across 25 stores, with 150 own-brand products available in reusable containers from October 2026 LONDON, 20 August 2026 — FreshMart will roll out a reusable packaging scheme across all 420 of its UK stores from October 2026, allowing customers to buy 150 own-brand products in returnable containers and return them to any FreshMart location for a £1 deposit refund. The national rollout follows a 12-month pilot across 25 stores, where 78% of reusable containers were returned within 30 days. FreshMart plans to expand the scheme to 300 own-brand products during 2027.
How FreshMart’s reusable packaging scheme works Customers will be able to choose reusable containers across selected food, household, and personal care products. Each container will carry a £1 deposit, refunded when it is returned to any FreshMart store in the UK. At launch:
What FreshMart learned from its 12-month pilot FreshMart tested the scheme across 25 UK stores between July 2025 and June 2026 to understand how customers used the containers and what made them more likely to return them. During the pilot, 78% of reusable containers were returned within 30 days. In a survey of participating shoppers, 64% said they would choose reusable packaging more often if containers could be returned at any FreshMart location rather than only the store where they were purchased. “The pilot showed us that customers are willing to reuse packaging when returning it is as easy as buying it,” said Sarah Malik, CEO of FreshMart. “That’s why customers will be able to return containers to any of our 420 UK stores, rather than only the store where they bought them.” [Link to resource: FreshMart reusable packaging pilot + methodology]
Measuring the environmental impact FreshMart commissioned an independent lifecycle assessment to compare the environmental impact of the reusable containers with equivalent single-use packaging. The assessment found that FreshMart’s reusable containers have a lower carbon footprint than equivalent single-use packaging after five uses, based on the manufacturing, transport, washing, and end-of-life impacts included in the study. FreshMart will publish annual data on return rates, average container reuse, and the number of single-use packages displaced by the scheme, with the first update planned for 2027. [Link to resource: FreshMart reusable packaging lifecycle assessment + methodology]
What happens next The reusable packaging scheme will launch across all FreshMart UK stores in October 2026 with 150 participating own-brand products. FreshMart plans to double the range to 300 products during 2027 and will use return-rate data and customer feedback to determine which categories are added next.
About FreshMart FreshMart is a UK supermarket group operating 420 stores across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The company sells grocery, household, and own-brand products in stores and online, employs 28,000 people, and is headquartered in Manchester. Media contact |
FAQ: Press release SEO vs. GEO
What is press release SEO?
Press release SEO is the practice of making a release easier for search engines to find, understand, and surface for relevant searches. That usually involves everything from using the right terminology naturally to linking related content and publishing the release on a technically sound, indexable page.
What is press release GEO?
Press release GEO is about making the information inside a release easier for generative AI systems to understand, verify, and reuse in an answer. In practice, you will want to write in self-contained facts, source claims clearly, and use specific, factual language.
Do press releases need different SEO and GEO strategies?
Not really. SEO and GEO overlap heavily, so treating them as completely separate strategies usually creates more work than value. Strong SEO foundations help your release get found and understood, while GEO adds an extra focus on making the individual facts inside it clear, credible, and easy to extract.
What makes a press release more likely to be cited by AI?
There’s no guaranteed formula, but useful source material gives AI systems more to work with. Clear facts, relevant statistics, meaningful quotes, credible sourcing, consistent names, and enough context for key statements to stand on their own can all make a release easier to interpret and reuse.
The takeaway
A good press release has to travel well.
SEO gets your release found, while GEO helps the information inside make its way into AI-generated answers and summaries.
All that means for PR teams is tightening the fundamentals you already know: lead with the news, structure information clearly, and make every important claim easy to verify.
Do that well, and one press release can work across all three audiences that matter now, whether journalist, search engine, or AI system.
