Optimization appears a mystical mix of art and science to traditional PR pros. It's also an issue major wire services try and skate around because even they don't seem to get it. I'm here to tell you this is not rocket science.

First - what's the goal of optimizing a release? Simple: Make your news and related website findable through search.

How do people search? They type in search terms in a Google box and hit enter. You could also call these search terms "keywords." Surfers type in keywords and, if your release is optimized correctly, up pops your press release or website in the search results.

So obviously keywords are important; in fact they are the building blocks of optimization. Say I am launching a PR website dedicated to helping traditional PR pros transition to online pr. Common sense tells me "online pr" is a solid keyword to use in my release.

There are tools to help you gauge search volume for research; in this example "online pr" is pretty straight-forward. I think I'll optimize for that term.

Now I use my keyword in the release. I think I'll put it in the headline, and then sprinkle it throughout the body copy.

Let's see:

Area blogger launches online pr blog to help pr pros better understand online pr

Cleveland, Oh - Vince Bank recently launched a blog dedicated to explaining online pr practices as he learns them, and to help pr traditionalists better understand online pr.

Okay - not a bad start. I have my keyword, online pr, in my headline and use it two times right off the bat. Don't over-use keywords, strike a balance between keyword usage and good copy.

Next up: Anchor text. I should add a few hyperlinks in my press release, linking back to the web site I'm attempting to steer traffic to. Anchor text is simply hyperlinking your keywords back to a web page where you want visitors to land. Your destination web page should contain the same keywords for which you are optimizing. Simply put - match the keywords in your release to the keywords on your web pages to which you are steering traffic.

So the next paragraph of my release might look like this:

Bank realizes many pr pros want to better understand online pr, and has launched his blog to provide real-world examples, news and insight for the online pr community.

Finally I'd consider listing your hyperlinks at the bottom of your release in a straight forward fashion. Before your boilerplate I'd put:

Links:

http://www.darwinpr.com - and any other links you used in your release.

Those are the nuts and bolts of press release optimization. Just carefully select the distribution channel you use - you want your news sent directly to search engines as well as news sources. Many wire services also strip out your hyperlinks before even passing along your news - they can't possibly ensure your release is optimized as it hits the world wide web. Me, I like PRWeb.

I realize this is a superficial overview: based on interest and questions I'll gladly get into more detail. VB