Press Release Backlinks: We Checked 77 Links in 27 Wire Releases. All 77 Were Nofollow
We read 27 press releases on PR Newswire, Newswire.com, EIN Presswire and ACCESS Newswire and recorded every link back to the issuing company. All 77 were nofollow, and 53 went through the wire's own tracking redirect first. We also read 13 ranking guides on press release SEO: 9 still promise a direct SEO benefit. Here is what Google says, and where a press release can still earn a link that counts.
Press release backlinks are the links inside a release you pay a wire service to distribute. The pitch is simple: one release, republished on many news sites, each copy linking back to you. The catch is that Google's spam policies list "links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites" as an example of link spam, and John Mueller has said Google tries to ignore press release links.
We checked 77 links back to the issuing company in 27 recent wire releases. All 77 were nofollow.
In a hurry? Here's the rule. A press release won't build backlinks by itself. Wire links are nofollow, and Google ignores most of them anyway. A release only earns a link that counts when a journalist or blogger reads it, decides it's a story, and writes their own piece that links to you. So write and pitch releases for people, not for the links in them.
On November 9, 2026 we looked at:
- 27 press releases from 4 wire services: 8 on PR Newswire, 6 on Newswire.com, 6 on EIN Presswire and 7 on ACCESS Newswire. 26 were published that day; one older ACCESS Newswire release was added because we could also find a republished copy of it. Every release linked to the issuing company's own site at least once.
- 77 links back to the issuer in those releases, read in raw HTML for the
relattribute, the anchor text and where the link actually points. Links to the wire's own pages, social share buttons and phone numbers were left out. - 13 ranking guides on press release SEO, tallied for what they tell you.
- Google's own wording, from its spam policies, and John Mueller on the record.
Business Wire, GlobeNewswire and PRWeb blocked our requests, so they aren't in the sample.
What we found in 77 press release links#
Every one of the 77 links to the issuing company was nofollow. None was followed, and none used sponsored or ugc. That held on all four wires, for big companies and small ones.
Three more things stood out.
Most links didn't point at the company at all. 53 of the 77 links went through the wire's own tracking redirect before reaching the issuer. On PR Newswire, links run through an edge.prnewswire.com address. On Newswire.com, each of the 26 links went through two hops: a tracking address, then a pr.report short link, then a 301 to the company's site. So even if the rel attribute were removed, the link on the page would be to the wire's redirect, not to you.
EIN Presswire nofollows the whole page. Its release pages carry a robots meta tag set to nofollow, which tells search engines not to follow any link on the page, on top of the nofollow on each link.
Keyword anchors are still common. On Newswire.com, a Living Security release linked phrases like "Human Risk Management" and "AI agents" to its own site. A PR Newswire release from Impulse Space linked product names. That's exactly the "optimized anchor text" Google's policy describes, but because every link was nofollow, it does no harm here, and no good either.
We tried to follow the releases to their republished copies on finance and local news sites. Most of those hosts blocked automated requests, so we could check only one true copy: an ACCESS Newswire release republished on FinancialContent, where both company links were nofollow too. Treat the copies as unmeasured, not as proof either way.
This is a small, one-day sample, an illustration rather than a survey. But it matches Google's guidance since 2013, when press releases were added to its examples of link schemes.
What Google actually says about press release links#
There are two statements worth knowing, and they point the same way.
The policy. Google's spam policies list, as an example of link spam: "Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass ranking credit, or links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites." The same section gives the way out: "It's not a violation of our policies to have such links as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value to the tag." That's why wires nofollow everything: it keeps their customers inside the rules.
The engineer. In a 2018 hangout, transcribed by Search Engine Roundtable, John Mueller said: "So we try to ignore links from things like press releases because we know in general companies put the press releases out themselves. So any links in there are essentially placed by themselves." He went on: "I just wouldn't rely on kind of press releases as a strategy for building up links for a website because like I said we do ignore most of those."
Put together: a link in your own press release is an ad you wrote about yourself. You placed it, so Google treats it like one. It's nofollow, and even where it isn't, Google says it ignores most of them. The release itself isn't a problem. Google's site reputation policy even lists "Wire service or press release service sites" among the examples that are not abuse. What doesn't work is treating the release as a link source.
The part most guides get wrong#
We read 13 ranking guides for "press release backlinks", "press release SEO" and "do press releases help SEO". Six other results were blocked, gone or failed to load, and we left them out.
Most guides get the real value right. 11 of 13 say the real payoff is coverage: a journalist or blogger picks up the story and links to you in their own article. That's correct, and it's the only route to a link that counts.
But 9 of 13 still promise a direct SEO benefit. Some of the same guides that say wire links are nofollow also say releases give you "link juice" or "authority backlinks". Seven tell you the links are nofollow; only two come close to quoting Google's actual policy wording, and both paraphrase it. Three mention John Mueller.
9 of the 13 come from companies that sell PR distribution, PR services or links. Only one, Semrush, points to its own research, and that's a citation, not a test of release links. None of the 13 shows what the links in a real release look like today, which is the one thing you can check in a minute.
Skip the nofollow links. Paste your site and GenLink's backlink agent finds relevant writers and publishers, sends each one a personal pitch and tracks replies. The free plan costs nothing to try.
How to get links that count from a press release#
If you have real news (a launch, a funding round, original data, a notable hire), a release can still help. Use it to reach people who might write about you, not as the link itself.
1. Have a story a writer would want. "Company updates website" won't get picked up. Original numbers, a first, a local angle or a strong opinion might. If you don't have that, a release is mostly an ad.
2. Pitch people before the wire. Send it to five to twenty journalists and bloggers who cover your topic, by name, a day or two before you distribute. A wire puts your release on news sites; a personal pitch is what gets someone to write their own story. Our digital PR link building guide covers how to find and pitch them.
3. Put the data and assets on your own site. Writers link to a source page, not to a wire copy. Publish the full numbers, images and quotes on a page you own, and point to that page from the release. See linkable assets for what earns links.
4. Keep links in the release plain. Use your brand name or URL as the anchor, not keywords. The link is nofollow anyway, and keyword anchors in releases are the pattern Google's policy names.
5. Track the coverage, not the wire. After distribution, search for your brand and the story's key numbers. Where a site mentions you without a link, ask for one; our link reclamation guide shows how. Count the editorial links you earn. Ignore the number of sites the wire says it reached.
Want the pickup without the wire? GenLink's backlink agent finds sites already writing about your topic, pitches your page from your own mailbox, and follows up. Start free with your site's URL; paid agents are $50 a month.
Frequently asked questions#
Do press release backlinks help SEO? Not directly. In our check of 27 releases on four wires, all 77 links to the issuing company were nofollow, and John Mueller has said Google tries to "ignore links from things like press releases". A release helps SEO only when it leads a writer to publish their own story that links to you.
Are press release links nofollow? On the wires we checked, yes: PR Newswire, Newswire.com, EIN Presswire and ACCESS Newswire marked every company link nofollow, and EIN Presswire also nofollows the whole page. Google's spam policy treats followed, keyword-rich links in distributed press releases as link spam unless they're nofollow or sponsored.
Can press releases hurt my SEO? A normal release on a wire won't. The links are nofollow, and Google lists wire services among sites that are not abusing its site reputation policy. The risk comes from paying for followed, keyword-rich links in releases spread across many sites, which is the pattern Google's link spam policy names.
Which press release distribution service is best for backlinks? None, if backlinks are the goal. Every wire we could check nofollowed company links. Choose a service for reach to the journalists and outlets your story fits, and judge it by the coverage it leads to, not by the number of copies.
Is a press release worth it for a small business? Only with real news and a personal pitch to writers who cover it. A release with no story is an ad that sits on wire pages. Local news, original data or a notable first gives a writer a reason to cover you and link to you.
What anchor text should I use in a press release? Your brand name or plain URL. The link is nofollow anyway, so a keyword anchor gains nothing, and "optimized anchor text" in distributed press releases is the exact wording Google's spam policy uses.
How do I get backlinks from a press release? Pitch the story to named journalists and bloggers before it goes out, host the data and assets on your own page, then check who covered it. Ask any site that mentioned you without a link to add one.
The short version#
A link in your own press release is an ad you wrote about yourself. All 77 we found in 27 wire releases were nofollow, and Google says it ignores most of them anyway. The links that count come from people who cover your news in their own words. If you'd rather spend the wire budget reaching those people directly, start on the free plan.
