How Press Releases Are Powering AI Overviews

In this webinar, Randy Rohde reveals how strategically crafted press releases are landing brands in Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other LLM-powered search results. He introduces his proprietary SCAN Framework – a four-part system for structuring press releases that AI systems love – and walks through real case studies showing results achieved for clients like Craig Campbell and Legiit. The conversation also covers distribution strategy, cloud stacks, engagement signals, local SEO impact, and how to repurpose press releases for maximum visibility.

Key Takeaways

• Google’s AI Overviews are appearing in 60%+ of informational searches and displaying above all organic results
• The SCAN Framework (Structure, Clear Focus, Authoritative Quotes, Numerical Specificity) is a proven system for crafting AI-optimized press releases
• Headlines should include three elements: your brand name, the product or service, and the benefit
• The first paragraph must answer the who, what, when, and where while weaving in long-tail keywords
• Authoritative quotes with full attribution (name, title, company) boost the legitimacy AI systems look for
• Numerical data, dates, and geographic specifics are what LLMs and AI Overviews prioritize when selecting sources
• Distribution across high-authority news sites (Yahoo, AP, Benzinga, Digital Journal) is essential – your own website alone won’t get cited
• Press releases can appear in AI Overviews in under 12 hours and remain cited for nearly a year
• Repurposing press releases as podcast episodes adds high-DA do-follow links and builds additional authority signals
• Cloud stacks create tiered link structures that boost news site articles and send engagement signals that extend article lifecycles
• Sending small engagement signals to press release articles on news sites can double their active lifespan
• Press releases with embedded Google Maps and geo-relevant entities can drive local map pack rankings
• The SCAN framework applies beyond press releases – it works for blog posts, LinkedIn articles, and any content targeting AI visibility
• The approach works regardless of B2B or B2C – the goal is always brand authority and visibility

Topics Covered

• Why AI Overviews are reshaping search and what it means for brands
• The SCAN Framework: Structure, Clear Focus, Authoritative Quotes, Numerical Specificity
• Case study: How Craig Campbell ranked as 2025 Best SEO Speaker in AI Overviews
• Case study: How Legiit appeared alongside Fiverr and Upwork in AI Overviews
• The three-pillar authority system: Content, Distribution, and Speed
• How press releases get distributed across 500–700 high-authority news sites
• Repurposing press releases as evergreen podcast episodes
• Cloud stacks and tiered link building with PR links
• How engagement signals extend article lifecycles on news platforms
• Joy Hawkins’ case studies on press releases driving local map pack rankings
• Using geo-relevant entities to boost local SEO through press releases
• How the SCAN framework applies to any content, not just press releases
• B2B vs. B2C: Why the approach doesn’t change
• Using press releases for affiliate marketing

Mentioned in This Episode

• How About Some Marketing – howaboutsomemarketing.com
• The News Guy – thenewsguy.com
• Craig Campbell SEO
• Legiit (freelance platform)
• Joy Hawkins / Sterling Sky
• Gamma (presentation tool)
• 11 Labs (voice cloning)
• ODYS 2025 Awards, Dubai
• Yahoo News, AP News, Digital Journal, Benzinga, Business Insider, Fox, NBC affiliates
• Sponsors & Partners
• Toronto Marketing Hub
• Level Up Media
• Aspiration Marketing
• Organic Growth
• Global Center for FinTech Innovation Canada
• Toronto B2B Marketing Community

Episode Transcript:

How Press Releases Are Powering AI OverviewsHow Press Releases Are Powering AI Overviews

[00:00:00] Emanuel: Yeah.[00:00:05] [00:00:10]
And we are live. Hi everyone, and [00:00:15] welcome to yet another webinar of the How About Marketing [00:00:20] series. My name is Emanuel, and we have a special guest today, Randy [00:00:25] rohde. How do you pronounce how, what’s your best way to pronounce the name?

[00:00:29] Randy: You, [00:00:30] pronounce it like Craig Campbell yeah, Rodie [00:00:35] Rodie. Yeah. Roll out there roadie. Yeah.
[00:00:39] Emanuel: Craig [00:00:40] is guilty of throwing all of us off.
[00:00:43] Randy: I know. [00:00:45] Yeah. He’s got a whole nother. Pronunciation. Yes.
[00:00:49] Emanuel: Many [00:00:50] people ask, me my clients ask me, Hey, how can I get your GPT and [00:00:55] Google and perplexity to feature me?
And then I [00:01:00] pull up a big book. I’m like this. But today’s topic is going to [00:01:05] tackle probably what’s the single most [00:01:10] important thing that you can do right now for your business, for your brand to get featured in there. Before I dive [00:01:15] right in, I just wanna remind everyone that there’s a section there’s a comment section, so [00:01:20] feel free to drop have some message there.
Say hi. Say where [00:01:25] you are tuning in from and all the others. Also, during the [00:01:30] webinar, if you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment there and we’re gonna tackle [00:01:35] them either as they go, if they make sense, or at the end bring your questions [00:01:40] and so forth. Right now I think we’re, good to like slowly, actually [00:01:45] start the webinar.
Hi everyone again. My name is Emanuel. I’m an SEO Digital Marketing Professionals from [00:01:50] Toronto, Canada. Founder of How About Some Marketing?. What’s How About Some [00:01:55] Marketing? I’m happy you ask How About Some Marketing? is a hub for marketers to get [00:02:00] better at theyr. Wait for it. Marketing. We tackle essentially all [00:02:05] aspects of marketing, digital marketing specifically SEO, organic [00:02:10] ai paid advertising, email marketing, social media and so forth.
We had [00:02:15] some traditional marketing guests that talk about traditional marketing as [00:02:20] well. And essentially, I’ve created this just. The way [00:02:25] I use, I wish I had when I was like either starting off or even if I wanna [00:02:30] learn more, because you know you are. It’s never ending in this one. I wanna be much of a marketer [00:02:35] myself.
If I wouldn’t ask: if you are not subscribed yet to go to, [00:02:40] how about some marketing.com and sign up for the newsletter [00:02:45] because that’s where you’ll get the latest and greatest information from us. [00:02:50] This webinar’s recording. Past webinars recording and we [00:02:55] had some amazing gifts and I still go back to some of those recordings to [00:03:00] watch and apply in my daily workflow.
And of course, announcements for future [00:03:05] webinars as well. So you know the site, How About Some Marketing?.com. Webinar [00:03:10] newsletter and that’s it. I will also to thank our [00:03:15] sponsors and some of our partners Toronto marketing hub, level Up media, [00:03:20] aspiration marketing, organic growth. Kevin, who is in the backstage with us in case something goes [00:03:25] the wrong way. And the Global Center for [00:03:30] FinTech Innovation Canada and Toronto B2B Marketing community. That was a long intro. Nevertheless, [00:03:35] thank you so much for joining. We just gave a couple of people the chance to actually join because you know [00:03:40] how these things are nevertheless. I
[00:03:41] Randy: know, I know.
[00:03:42] Emanuel: That being said, [00:03:45] questions in the comments.
Drop us a comment. I see we already have a few [00:03:50] here. You are cool. Somebody says we’re cool. We’re [00:03:55] gonna subscribe to us. Thank you. Thank you so much, Joseph. Thank you so much. Now I’m gonna pass [00:04:00] along the virtual microphone to our special guest today, not before [00:04:05] making a short introduction.
Randy Rohde is the [00:04:10] news guy, your go-to expert for telling stories into [00:04:15] spotlight, working media exposure. As a trusted press release strategist and [00:04:20] digital visibility consultant, Randy helps businesses, brands, and entrepreneurs [00:04:25] get noticed, get ranked, and get results. He has a proven track record of [00:04:30] landing clients on Yahoo News, Fox, NBC affiliates, and hundreds of other [00:04:35] media outlets, and I can attest to that because Randy is my go-to guy [00:04:40] when it comes to press releases as well through his press release systems powered by his [00:04:45] company, 38 Digital Market, Randy Blends, SEO, precisions Media [00:04:50] Distributions and Compelling.
Storytelling to boost Google’s rankings, drive [00:04:55] traffic, and build brands at scale. The news guy.com is the website. [00:05:00] That being said, Randy, welcome.
[00:05:03] Randy: Hey, thank you. I have to tell you, I [00:05:05] love the t-shirt. Can I go onto your site and order that t-shirt as well?
[00:05:09] Emanuel: [00:05:10] Not yet. It’s only for some special members, but it’ll come soon.[00:05:15]
[00:05:15] Randy: I do like that. I know I, have got a bunch of [00:05:20] press release or news guy t-shirts and I’m horrible at wearing [00:05:25] them on when I should on shows like this. Yeah. Pure market. We have [00:05:30] this t-shirt that
[00:05:30] Emanuel: I see.
Yes. Thank you.
[00:05:34] Randy: Thank
[00:05:34] Emanuel: you. [00:05:35]
[00:05:35] Randy: Yeah. Very nice. Very nice. All right I’m excited to be here, to be with your [00:05:40] audience.
It’ll be fun.
[00:05:42] Emanuel: What do have we, what’s the topic [00:05:45] of today’s conversation?
[00:05:46] Randy: What’s the topic? Is we’re gonna talk [00:05:50] about how press releases can [00:05:55] effectively and efficiently land you in [00:06:00] AI overviews and I’ll go over a specific kind of framework that [00:06:05] we’ve created. And if you apply this framework, it’s [00:06:10] almost assuredly going to land you in [00:06:15] the AI overviews.
[00:06:16] Emanuel: I hope everybody have their pen and pen already. I [00:06:20] do for sure. I’m gonna take a lot of notes.
[00:06:22] Randy: All right. All right. That’s good. All right. [00:06:25] Want me to share my screen?
[00:06:28] Emanuel: Please do. [00:06:30]
[00:06:30] Randy: I will do it. I will do it.
[00:06:31] Emanuel: And I’m gonna mute myself and feel free to I’m gonna check [00:06:35] the comments. If there’s any questions happening, I’m gonna throw them on the screen.
[00:06:39] Randy: All right. [00:06:40] Sounds good. All right. [00:06:45] Here’s I don’t know if you’ve ever used Gamma. Gamma is great for pulling stuff together. I [00:06:50] just I, absolutely love it. So as I [00:06:55] introduce, so we’re gonna use talk about press releases and fueling your [00:07:00] AI visibility in the age of AI search. [00:07:05] And essentially we’re, as I mentioned, we’re gonna go through this three-part system.
All [00:07:10] right, so the first thing is as [00:07:15] I say, we’re gonna show in that cell. So if you were to pull out your phone or on [00:07:20] your desktop and you did this search right here, the 2025 [00:07:25] best SEO speaker, right? And see what you come up with. [00:07:30] I just did it right before we went onto the show here, and it’s still, [00:07:35] I got Craig Campbell.
I’m gonna tell you about this in a second, but I still have got [00:07:40] Craig Campbell listed as in the AI overview. And [00:07:45] it’s all because we did an article for Craig, and here it is over here, back in, [00:07:50] this is April of 25 that we did this press [00:07:55] release for Craig. And it’s still being cited, still being linked, and still being [00:08:00] cited as well as another.
News site that [00:08:05] landed on that press release. That shows on [00:08:10] TMX news file, right? And then here’s a beautiful thing, not only if we’re gonna [00:08:15] get into this thing, but not only if you write the press release appropriately. [00:08:20] And I think that we do, and I’m gonna show you how to do this scan framework. [00:08:25] But it not only pulls Craig as the best speaker.
[00:08:30] But look at who it also affiliates him with. [00:08:35] Lily Ray, who arguably is as well, a [00:08:40] fantastic speaker, and a notorious SEO [00:08:45] notorious in a good way, right? Neil Patel, Rand Fishkin. Really [00:08:50] some heavyweight. SEO Boom. This is what we did with Craig, right? [00:08:55] Putting them in that kind of audience, which is always.
Like, [00:09:00] how great can you get, right? So you do this kind of stuff. Look at how fun [00:09:05] it is. And we’re gonna talk about how [00:09:10] we made that happen for Craig. So what’s [00:09:15] really happening in search and these numbers. Actually I did this [00:09:20] presentation; I have to be honest with you, I’m doing a repeat presentation.
[00:09:25] So don’t don’t give me a a hard time about this. I didn’t [00:09:30] necessarily retool this, however, I did check it just to be sure, like I did with that, [00:09:35] with the listing for Craig. I wanted to be sure it was still there. [00:09:40] But a AI overviews as of this time, and I think I did this back in [00:09:45] October.
With 60% of informational searches, I think it’s actually even [00:09:50] a little bit higher than that right now. And they’re displaying above [00:09:55] everything else. It is, if I go back to this, it is [00:10:00] the very first thing before you see any kind of [00:10:05] organic so it is the first thing that people are [00:10:10] going to see, which is good, bad, or otherwise.
It is what it is. [00:10:15] And it is putting a squeeze on [00:10:20] traditional SEO and organic search results, [00:10:25] by the way, so back to our [00:10:30] organic page here is our press release that is [00:10:35] showing up in that top 10 organic search there. [00:10:40] AI overviews, LLM searches. [00:10:45] These, this is the world that we’re living in today, right?
Here’s another [00:10:50] example. We did a press release. Chris Walker, a good friend of mine, [00:10:55] wanted to get Legiit, which is a, I don’t know what [00:11:00] exactly. A freelance platform for all different types of services. [00:11:05] And he wanted to get Legiit to rank and to [00:11:10] show for best online SEO gigs.
And so we did a [00:11:15] press release specifically about that. And [00:11:20] this was the result that we nailed. We did a release form and we [00:11:25] showed Legiit. Popping right there in the AI overview. [00:11:30] We’ve got a couple of our different [00:11:35] press release news sites landing right in there as well. And [00:11:40] here’s the great thing as well.
And nothing against Legiit. I love Legiit. Chris has [00:11:45] done an amazing job. There are some other platforms that are much, much [00:11:50] bigger than what Legiit is, specifically. Fiverr. [00:11:55] Upwork, right? Those are some very big, platforms. [00:12:00] But here’s Legiit. That is right in there, in [00:12:05] that same company, landed with a link in that same company and talking [00:12:10] about best gigs SEO gigs online.
So they may not be number [00:12:15] one, but the object is to get there in the AI overview, the press [00:12:20] release is what enabled that thing to happen. So we were pretty excited to get that result for [00:12:25] Chris as well. So now, there we go. [00:12:30] Oh, and this was fun. So I was on a group with Chris when we first [00:12:35] started doing this test for him, and, in this group, [00:12:40] there’s people from all over the world, and we were just sharing in this group Hey [00:12:45] we, this is what we did and people were doing it [00:12:50] in different languages. I don’t know if this thing could blow this up, but it’s [00:12:55] to see and you can see what it did even the way that describes [00:13:00] to you.
So I don’t know where this guy Previn is from, but [00:13:05] even in his language. Boom, there was Legiit. [00:13:10] So it doesn’t even matter where you are, [00:13:15] that it absolutely showed up, right? Even with his $20 [00:13:20] chat GPT. [00:13:25] Exciting I think in the, in as far as a result of kinda seeing what [00:13:30] begins to happen with the [00:13:35] effective and well structured.
Press release for you. So we’re gonna look [00:13:40] through and we’re gonna talk about the three pillar authority system that I think that [00:13:45] makes this effective. We’re gonna talk about [00:13:50] structure and there’s four components. As I said, I kinda mentioned it early [00:13:55] on. We built this and created this scan framework.[00:14:00]
And we’re gonna hit each one of these things, and I’ll show you some different [00:14:05] examples of all of this. But it really is around structure, clear [00:14:10] focus, authoritative quotes, and numerical specificity, [00:14:15] numerical data. The LLMs Google search, AI [00:14:20] overviews love data. The more you can do drive into that, the better.
So let’s [00:14:25] take a look at this and we’re gonna give you a few different examples and some [00:14:30] different things that we’ve. Done. So both from AI [00:14:35] overviews obviously that we’ve been doing and with our, as you can kinda see over [00:14:40] here with our press release results that we’ve done with them [00:14:45] and how it lists.
So back to the original of the [00:14:50] scan framework, the very first thing, structure that AI [00:14:55] loves, and so keep this in mind. What you wanna think about is that your [00:15:00] headlines needs to have three elements. Now we’re talking specifically about [00:15:05] crafting press releases. But this [00:15:10] scan framework actually can work very well with any [00:15:15] kind of article or piece of content that you want.
Put [00:15:20] out there. So regardless of whether it’s your article on your website or [00:15:25] a LinkedIn article, but this kind of a structure works [00:15:30] very well and as we employ it with doing our press releases [00:15:35] perfect though, the headline needs three elements. I think your brand [00:15:40] name, your product or service and the benefit.
And as an [00:15:45] example, this is from a press release that we did and you can kinda see we [00:15:50] do, we’ve got the bear introduces right bear is this [00:15:55] medical health. Spa. And BARE is the [00:16:00] name of that health spa. And the product or service is, hey, the press release we’re [00:16:05] announcing, they introduce this Thermage RF system, right?[00:16:10]
And then the benefit is the anti [00:16:15] aging. Nice. I could go for that at some point myself, right? And [00:16:20] then, so here’s the, headline. This is what the article looked like in news file. [00:16:25] All right. Boom. Let’s move on. And then the [00:16:30] next piece is you wanna have that clear singular focus. So the [00:16:35] first paragraph also talking about the [00:16:40] structure, but also around the singular focus is you wanna answer the who, [00:16:45] what, when, where.
The Interrogatives, the Ws [00:16:50] and you wanna weave in some long tail keywords so you can begin to take a look at [00:16:55] what’s better. Maybe this is still a better, is what we [00:17:00] do. And I just highlighted some of the things. Bare Essential spa, that is the [00:17:05] who and then superior hair, laser hair [00:17:10] removal, skin treatments in Windsor, Ontario.
Is that [00:17:15] close to you? Emanuel. It’s Canada. Anyway. I don’t know where
[00:17:19] Emanuel: [00:17:20] it’s closer, not where I am specifically, but it’s somewhere in the middle between [00:17:25] myself and you.
[00:17:26] Randy: Yeah. At least it’s in your country, right?
[00:17:29] Emanuel: Yes. [00:17:30]
[00:17:30] Randy: So, we’re trying to hit in what it does, it’s skin tightening, [00:17:35] anti-aging machine, right?
And this great name [00:17:40] Thermage RF system. So we’re all like driving in these long tail [00:17:45] keywords, weaving in the things that the product does and the benefits, [00:17:50] right? To target visible signs of aging. So this is what we’re trying to do [00:17:55] in this first paragraph of the press release. [00:18:00] We wanna use authoritative quotes, right?
So we hit structure, [00:18:05] clear focus. Now a for authoritative quotes. And so back to [00:18:10] Craig example where we have him in our article in regards to [00:18:15] the best 2025 SEO speaker. [00:18:20] We’re gonna go in and go ahead and then here’s the quote that we have [00:18:25] from Craig. From starting out as a freelancer to building my own agency, [00:18:30] it’s been an incredible ride.
This recognition at ODYS [00:18:35] 2025 represents years of work passion and showing [00:18:40] up for an industry I love. Great authoritative quote from the [00:18:45] source. Craig Campbell, right? And a couple of things that I [00:18:50] wanna highlight that we did in the quote and as well, something that [00:18:55] we could have done better, right?
So sometimes we always nail it. Sometimes [00:19:00] yeah, we probably should have done this one a little bit better. But we [00:19:05] actually add like a numerical specificity. [00:19:10] To the quote itself, and we’re going to, that’s the n right in the [00:19:15] framework, but we hit this ODYS [00:19:20] 2025, right? So we’re adding like what it was.[00:19:25]
And what the year was. Now, we could have made this better by [00:19:30] we could have said the, full ODYS [00:19:35] 2025 do by SEO awards, I think is what the [00:19:40] full event was called. So we could have actually done [00:19:45] that a little bit better by actually having that full citation [00:19:50] of the ODI. YS award in there.
The other thing that we could have [00:19:55] done, and what I tell people to do now especially, is when you’re [00:20:00] doing a quote, give that full attribution. So give the name, the full name. [00:20:05] Their title and the company. So in this, we should have said something [00:20:10] like Craig Campbell founder of [00:20:15] Craig Campbell, SEO shared Boom.
So we wanna give that [00:20:20] full citation or full attribution to that because [00:20:25] what we’re trying to build on. Is that authority of [00:20:30] the article and of [00:20:35] feeding that into the LLM and the AI overviews, right? So that [00:20:40] full attribution to help strive that authority. It’s [00:20:45] a real person saying something very specific that feeds [00:20:50] into the the Legiitimacy of the article.[00:20:55]
And then back to again, the [00:21:00] numerical specificity. So this was the full headline, [00:21:05] right? The 2025 Best Speaker Award at [00:21:10] Dubai’s, ODYS awards. And I think that was the full name of the [00:21:15] award. It’s at the Dubai. So we talked geographic [00:21:20] specific. We say it’s the 2025 best speaker award, [00:21:25] right? So we’re driving the specificity and it adds [00:21:30] to exactly what the LLMs are looking for and what [00:21:35] the AI overviews are looking for.
And then if [00:21:40] you look at, even in, just from this example again, how we’re applying the [00:21:45] scan framework. In our, first paragraph, we’re repeating, [00:21:50] we’re hitting this stuff again. Craig Campbell, dynamic founder of Craig Campbell, [00:21:55] SEO. So we’re giving him attribution, won this award. [00:22:00] Specifically the best SEO speaker award.
[00:22:05] Where driving specificity, again with some geographic [00:22:10] locality, the 2025 ODYS awards in [00:22:15] Dubai. Bam. So we’re driving the specificity, we’re, [00:22:20] we’ve created the structure, we’re clear focus. We’ve got that authoritative [00:22:25] quote, and we’re driving this numerical specificity in [00:22:30] the article as well.
Boom, [00:22:35] the next pillar. So that’s the first pillar, right? Drive it into that scan [00:22:40] framework. The next thing is you wanna drive a fabulous distribution around it. [00:22:45] If you come to the news guy, I’m gonna start talking a little bit about the news guy, [00:22:50] obviously, but this is a part of what you wanna do, if you wanna [00:22:55] hit in this AI overview, you’ve gotta have a really good [00:23:00] distribution to feed.
These LLMs it, [00:23:05] requires more than just being on your own website. The [00:23:10] LLMs AI overviews want to pull content, pull informa [00:23:15] information from third party high authority [00:23:20] websites. So press releases are a fabulous source for [00:23:25] this because we’re distributing to like high authority news sites, podcast [00:23:30] episodes.
Love being on this podcast because I know it’s gonna [00:23:35] build my authority. It’s going to build my voice, my credibility. [00:23:40] That’s gonna feed the AI overview. So this is why we’re [00:23:45] gonna talk about distribution that matters, that dominates. So what do we do? [00:23:50] We did this press release for Craig, right? This is how we got him there.
We, here’s the whole [00:23:55] thing. I showed you the headline. Boom. This is the number of pickups that I got. [00:24:00] Boom. And this is what it looked like Associated Press. We got ’em on news [00:24:05] file. EIN, associated Press, digital Journal, Benzinga [00:24:10] Business Insider, Yahoo Finance, some really heavy hitters that are going [00:24:15] to get cited again in the AI overviews.
Look it [00:24:20] right there. Boom. These right there. Yahoo Finance news file. [00:24:25] Here they are over here in the link as well, right? This is exactly [00:24:30] what you wanna see through a distribution. [00:24:35] Boom. All right. Next is speed. You really [00:24:40] want to drive this thing. As quickly as possible and [00:24:45] as fast as possible. So the great thing about doing this with press releases is that it [00:24:50] gets this information and we actually got this citation for Craig or the, [00:24:55] in the AI overviews, I think it was less than 12 hours after we published the [00:25:00] press release.
It was there and it, it’s [00:25:05] almost a year, not quite 11 months since we did the publication and it’s [00:25:10] still there, still holding as evidence by this right here. I [00:25:15] love it. So when you’re talking about the [00:25:20] three pillars, again, the scan, I think I might have a slide actually that [00:25:25] even.
No, that is the… oh yeah. Yeah. That’s good. That is the, my [00:25:30] last slide. So we talk about the scan framework, we talk about a massive [00:25:35] distribution, and then just doing it quickly, get the information out as fast as you can [00:25:40] and then begin to help boost those [00:25:45] things. A thing that we could have done, we didn’t need to do it, Craig could have [00:25:50] done this, is take this story, the press release article, and then [00:25:55] reframe it as a podcast and distribute it across either your podcast [00:26:00] platform or we have a podcast platform called the News [00:26:05] Guy Podcast and we can distribute this article across [00:26:10] podcast platforms, which are fabulous, right? To be on Spotify [00:26:15] or iHeart, or Pod Chaser or Amazon. [00:26:20] Because again, it’s that third party high authority site that’s [00:26:25] gonna give you tremendous visibility and push you. Again, [00:26:30] if your objective, I wanna get into the AI overviews, boom.
This [00:26:35] is how you can nail it. Yeah. So there we go. That’s what I got brother. [00:26:40]
[00:26:41] Emanuel: Thank you for saying that you’re on this podcast to, [00:26:45] I’ll help you with the authority. I like to think that’s the only podcast you need to be, and then [00:26:50] nothing else afterwards. Doesn’t matter. They, it won’t be anything more [00:26:55] authoritative.
Thank you so much. Although you were the guest, I was the host. Craig somehow [00:27:00] made it the star of the episode.
[00:27:01] Randy: It’s always about Craig,
[00:27:03] Emanuel: yeah.
[00:27:04] Randy: I’m
[00:27:04] Emanuel: assuming he’s hiccuping [00:27:05] a lot during this
[00:27:08] Randy: yeah.
[00:27:08] Emanuel: During our [00:27:10] webinar. Thank you so much for sharing this. I do have a couple of questions, but I’m gonna [00:27:15] first quickly review the comment section so we see here [00:27:20] Devin loves Gamma. Thank you. Devon. Yes. [00:27:25] We do not surprise Neil Patel in the rider. He made a comment in the. [00:27:30] There. Same here. And [00:27:35] he says he’s in Guelph. So Windsor is a little bit closer to Guelph [00:27:40] than Toronto, where I’m tuning in from. We got a [00:27:45] questions, but before that, Phil says, great interview guys.
Thank you so much Phil. [00:27:50] You Phil, we can end stream now. No, but we have an [00:27:55] excellent question.
[00:27:55] Randy: I know that’s good for
[00:27:57] Emanuel: Charlene. Is the PR distribution [00:28:00] direct to media or through CloudStack? That’s it.
[00:28:04] Randy: [00:28:05] Good question. No. Our distribution, we distribute [00:28:10] directly out. So we have a newsroom we publish [00:28:15] our article.
So like in this instance with Craig’s article, we publish first on our [00:28:20] newsroom, and then we push out two, we feed directly to [00:28:25] other news organizations, like all of those ones that I showed, the Yahoo [00:28:30] AP news, blah, blah, blah. So we feed it out to the news [00:28:35] sites directly. Now you bring up cloud stacks [00:28:40] and this actually, I love this people always ask me so I did this press [00:28:45] release, what should I do now? What, whoa, what now what? That’s always the next question. Now [00:28:50] what? So one thing that I said you can take that [00:28:55] article and this is something that we do as a service as well, but we take [00:29:00] an article, we can craft it as an e evergreen podcast episode.[00:29:05]
I use my by the way, if you haven’t used [00:29:10] 11 Labs, they’re pro, clone. Really good. [00:29:15] And so I use that to clone my voice and then we push out. I [00:29:20] read that Evergreen article that we [00:29:25] use for the podcast, and then that’s what we make the podcast out and we push it across my, [00:29:30] the News Guy podcast.
And it goes out across really like the [00:29:35] 14 or 15 major podcast publications. Lot of those as [00:29:40] well. We always put in the show notes, links, whatever is in the press release article. [00:29:45] We also put those into the show notes because a lot of those, [00:29:50] platforms give you live, do follow [00:29:55] links which are like 80 to 85 DA.
[00:30:00] These are like. Easy win links for you, for your client. [00:30:05] But the big piece though is that it helps drive that authority [00:30:10] again for getting in the AI overviews. But the [00:30:15] other thing that I wanted to mention is about the cloud stack. So one of the other things that we do is that we can.[00:30:20]
Take all of those new site links. [00:30:25] In the presentation I showed, I think this particular article got just under [00:30:30] 600 new site pickups. So we would take all 600 of those [00:30:35] new site links linking specifically those new sites, [00:30:40] that article on those new sites. And then we build [00:30:45] out a, we do ’em as a cloud stack.
So we build [00:30:50] out across multiple cloud platforms and HTML [00:30:55] page or website and then. We interlink all of those, [00:31:00] all together. But what we do is that we embed the [00:31:05] live links of all 600 of those new site article [00:31:10] links in that cloud stack. So all of a sudden, all of those cloud [00:31:15] stacks become tier two, tier three, tier four.
[00:31:20] Links to those new site links, which then fire all of those [00:31:25] things up and that does multiple things, but then obviously juices as [00:31:30] well, pulls through the new sites and juices your own [00:31:35] money or links within the article itself. But the other thing, and this [00:31:40] is a, killer activity, is when you.[00:31:45]
Bring engagement signals to your press [00:31:50] release articles. So say you’ve got your article, it’s on digital [00:31:55] journal as an example, and you just give a little bit of, and that you can’t. [00:32:00] Blow it up because they’ll just pull your story down, right? So in [00:32:05] this instance, a little goes a long way. But if you give a little [00:32:10] bit of engagement, a few links, a few visibility, a little CTR activity, [00:32:15] what will happen is that news platform recognizes [00:32:20] that article is getting engagement and will automatically [00:32:25] extend the lifecycle of that article, the visibility [00:32:30] of that article. And usually almost all, new [00:32:35] sites have some duration of a lifecycle before they begin to [00:32:40] archive them. And generally it’s anywhere from six to 18 months. [00:32:45] What I have found over the years, and we’ve been doing this for [00:32:50] 10 years now, is that when you send over those little [00:32:55] engagement signals, what they do is that they automatically just like [00:33:00] flip. Whatever their lifecycle [00:33:05] meter is, if it’s 12 months, they’ll just flip it and just double it. They’re like, okay, [00:33:10] boom. Let’s, instead of 12 months, let’s give ’em another 12 months. And so all of a sudden you’ve [00:33:15] extended the life of that link.
So that’s why I love it kinda gives you that [00:33:20] twofold benefit or multi. Old benefit of sending a little bit of engagement. That’s why I [00:33:25] love doing cloud stacks with your PR links because it provides a [00:33:30] tiered structure of link building. And as well, it provides engagement signals [00:33:35] to the new sites. And those cloud links, by the way, are like [00:33:40] another good solid DA [00:33:45] sites.
Out of the. Soon as you create that [00:33:50] website on a cloud platform, it’s already like a 50 55 DA [00:33:55] and another great link that you can use for your site. So [00:34:00]
[00:34:00] Emanuel: some people would kill for such a,
[00:34:02] Randy: right? Yeah. You’re gonna pay good money for those things. [00:34:05]
[00:34:06] Emanuel: We have a couple of questions, but before that I, we should have probably started with this, [00:34:10] but just in 20 seconds, how would you, what would be definition of a PR because [00:34:15] of a press release?
’cause let’s say people might not know, [00:34:20]
[00:34:20] Randy: A press release at its very basic function. And you gotta remember, press [00:34:25] releases have been around for, I don’t know, a hundred years longer, something. [00:34:30] But the very definition though of a press release is [00:34:35] a company. Or the source is making [00:34:40] an announcement, of something, right?
And it could be [00:34:45] as simple as, Hey, we’ve updated our website, or to the example that we [00:34:50] just showed you won a major award. If [00:34:55] you’re a you’re doing SEO and you’ve got clients or you wanna do it yourself, [00:35:00] I always love, because I think it feeds very well [00:35:05] into the purpose of AI overviews. I always love, what we [00:35:10] call industry expert press releases. So if you’ve got a [00:35:15] great piece of content on your website an article, a blog that you’ve [00:35:20] created that’s talking about Hey, Randy, the plumber [00:35:25] and I’ve got a great article on my website that gives you three [00:35:30] ways to prepare your hot water heater for the winter season.[00:35:35]
I don’t know if there’s such a thing, but but that’s [00:35:40] a great purpose to do a press release because then we would craft the press release and [00:35:45] we would apply the scan framework so that we’re talking. Randy’s Plumbing [00:35:50] shares critical insights on preparing for the [00:35:55] winter season. You are positioning you as an [00:36:00] industry expert in your particular niche.
And then we go into [00:36:05] the full function of the scan framework. So [00:36:10] there’s countless ways that you can use a PR to [00:36:15] make a announcement, quote unquote for your company. [00:36:20] And
[00:36:20] Emanuel: we know that many large organization enterprise I, won’t go [00:36:25] say manipulate, but influence significantly the stock price of a of a
[00:36:29] Randy: yes.[00:36:30]
[00:36:31] Emanuel: Of stock because of a press release and whatnot. [00:36:35] Charlene here has put, the information prs have been around 190 years, according to, [00:36:40]
[00:36:41] Randy: yeah. See, I know I’m not quite that old I, knew it [00:36:45] was out there.
[00:36:46] Emanuel: No. I would argue that even before think medieval times or even [00:36:50] ancient Rome. Even when the King Heralds would go would go into the [00:36:55] public market and read something like, exactly, or No War Against Spain, war [00:37:00] Against France, or whatever those territories were like, that’s like a pr, right?
The [00:37:05] King Charlemagne released a press list saying that we’re going to war [00:37:10] against the, because Excellent. Description. Yeah. Yeah. Thank
[00:37:14] Randy: [00:37:15] you
[00:37:15] Emanuel: so much. Not related necessarily. To today’s topic, but [00:37:20] an interesting question from Devon. Thoughts on AI agent [00:37:25] visibility optimization.
[00:37:28] Randy: In regards to press releases?
I’m [00:37:30] not sure.
[00:37:31] Emanuel: Or general,
[00:37:32] Randy: I get the question. [00:37:35]
[00:37:35] Emanuel: Let’s
[00:37:35] Randy: visibility optimization. I’m not even sure I quite understand [00:37:40] the question. I don’t, maybe you do.
[00:37:42] Emanuel: I might give it a try. I’m assuming [00:37:45] give how, essentially you think visibility optimization would be [00:37:50] to basically speak the language of, the AI agents.
[00:37:55] And make sure that they get your brand, your information, not necessarily [00:38:00] through the pr, but I’m assuming your size, your own properties as well. Social or [00:38:05] website. That’s being the most important one. Okay. Okay. And we can tackle that probably later on. If Devin wants to [00:38:10] give additional context to that question, we can tackle it because Phil here has [00:38:15] a excellent,
[00:38:16] Randy: let me, going back to Devin though [00:38:20] if I, think what he’s saying is so the AI agentic [00:38:25] visibility and how do you optimize for it? That’s essentially what [00:38:30] we’ve tried to tackle with, [00:38:35] the scanned framework where we’re trying to feed very specific [00:38:40] inputs in for the AI agents or the AI visibility, [00:38:45] right?
So we wanna give structure, we wanna have a very clear focus. [00:38:50] We wanna provide authority. We’re trying to do that [00:38:55] through the quotes with a real person the [00:39:00] CEO, the founder of Blank Company. And then also [00:39:05] giving that numerical specificity data [00:39:10] geographic specifics. So those are all things that are driving [00:39:15] or feeding that ai or agentic visibility. And that’s [00:39:20] the, that scan framework is how we’re trying to optimize it,
[00:39:24] Emanuel: yeah. [00:39:25] I think Devon was referring to entire LLLM, so how you get the feature there. And just so [00:39:30] then the language also is important. That’s a topic that we’ll dive [00:39:35] probably another time.
But long story short, PRS and how you [00:39:40] write those prs can make a difference significantly because just being published [00:39:45] on Yahoo News and Benzinga obviously makes a difference because they’re [00:39:50] highly authoritative sites. But if you craft it correctly and use Randy’s [00:39:55] framework, that can help a lot.
Phill here. As an interesting [00:40:00] question. Can you talk more about the Google embeds and are they more [00:40:05] influencing brand name and trust or certain keywords in the press release? [00:40:10]
[00:40:12] Randy: Google embeds? Are they more [00:40:15] influencing brand name and trust or certain keywords in the press release? [00:40:20] The embeds. [00:40:25] Lemme, I’m trying to think, are, so when [00:40:30] you’re saying the Google embeds, are, you think, are [00:40:35] you saying meaning the citations within the, news articles?[00:40:40]
[00:40:41] Emanuel: I would tend to think so. [00:40:45]
[00:40:46] Randy: Back to that point is why I think that the press releases are [00:40:50] getting a lot of attention. Why they’re so effective right now is because of. [00:40:55] Utilizing [00:41:00] the new sites, so Digital Journal, AP News, Yahoo, [00:41:05] because they have authority. And so as you [00:41:10] get cited or mentioned on those high authority sites.
It’s going to [00:41:15] impact have a positive, visible impact on your brand. So I see [00:41:20] you’re saying like Google Maps and stuff? Yeah, you can absolutely. We embed if, you’ve [00:41:25] got a GBP profile yeah, [00:41:30] absolutely. If Craig’s not a local business, but in many of our [00:41:35] local services press releases, we embed the map and [00:41:40] give that full soft citation.
And then that [00:41:45] goes across 500, 600, 700 new [00:41:50] sites. Yeah, that’s fabulous. I think it helps [00:41:55] in a lot of different ways in regards to ranking both [00:42:00] AI visibility or aios, but as well [00:42:05] local pac rankings. And to give you [00:42:10] an, idea about that let me, while I’m talking about it, I’ll [00:42:15] even go find it.
Is joy [00:42:20] Hawkins, I don’t know if Joy. Are, you familiar with [00:42:25] Joy Emanuel?
[00:42:26] Emanuel: Yes. Telling, she’s Uxbridge, Ontario and [00:42:30]
[00:42:31] Randy: yes.
[00:42:31] Emanuel: One number one source of local SEO.
[00:42:34] Randy: Yes. [00:42:35] Let me go find I [00:42:40] gotta go find
[00:42:40] Emanuel: the blog.
[00:42:42] Randy: You What’s that?
[00:42:43] Emanuel: I, think I know the blog that [00:42:45] you’re referring to.
[00:42:46] Randy: Yeah, So she did an article [00:42:50] that really even just talked to this and. [00:42:55] Okay, good. Yeah. So lemme, you want me
[00:42:57] Emanuel: to put it on the screen?
[00:42:59] Randy: Yeah, [00:43:00] there you go. Go. You can go ahead and throw that up here. So she did a great article. [00:43:05] She’s got a nice agency, great agency Sterling [00:43:10] Sky, and she did a great article really in throwing up in regards, we [00:43:15] do now a self selfish plug.
We do all of their press releases [00:43:20] and. But she did [00:43:25] a a great, she has three case studies that she showed [00:43:30] specifically about after [00:43:35] being in a press release and what did it do in particular, right? So [00:43:40] jump on the map pack in the map pack rankings. [00:43:45] Then she says, Hey, it was a slow burn effect, but not only did it [00:43:50] after a while.
Heavy, competitive, right lawyer, [00:43:55] heavy competitive, niche. But it did start driving [00:44:00] the uptick in the map pack. But as well, she says man, and it [00:44:05] also as you can see here. Improvement in the map pack [00:44:10] there as well. But and as well in the AI overview, so [00:44:15] in her article she really talks about that and, I know just because we [00:44:20] do their prs is that the way that we structure, we utilize [00:44:25] that scan framework and how we’re building, but we’re also putting in the [00:44:30] embeds of the map pack or the the Google map. [00:44:35] And as well that soft citation and kinda how we drive in when [00:44:40] we’re writing a, press release. Really, you should think about, okay, [00:44:45] what’s our objective? In this particular case, we’re trying to rank for a local service or [00:44:50] for influence, local SEO.
So we really are gonna [00:44:55] even pull in more specific geo relevance [00:45:00] into the article. As an example, we’re gonna start talking [00:45:05] about if it was Randy’s Plumbing in Cleveland. We’re gonna pull in [00:45:10] additional Cleveland entities, so not only talk about Cleveland, obviously, but we’re gonna [00:45:15] or mention Cleveland.
We’re also gonna bring in a few other neighborhood [00:45:20] entities we’re gonna talk about, and maybe mention the Rock Hall of Fame [00:45:25] that’s in Cleveland, or the Great Lakes region or something like that. But we’re gonna start [00:45:30] tying in other geographic relevant entities [00:45:35] into the content of the press release to drive [00:45:40] contextual relevance for influencing map ranking.
But [00:45:45] this is a great case study, so if you, wanted to go look at some of the different things [00:45:50] that she pulls out. But I love this article. And then I love all the way [00:45:55] down. She does some great stuff as well build out an info [00:46:00] deck that helped drive the ranking for this.
[00:46:05] And then somebody like, Hey, then we use, I gotta love this. Boom. [00:46:10] Yes.
[00:46:12] Emanuel: Oh that’s a very [00:46:15] deep answer for the [00:46:20] question. And Phil also says, also, can creative ways to repurpose press releases you tackle on that? [00:46:25] Still says he has some ideas. He feel, free to drop them [00:46:30] off in the
[00:46:31] Randy: man, there’s so many different ways that you can do it.
We use, [00:46:35] we, we love to do cloud stacks, and this is one of the things that I think as well that kinda sets [00:46:40] us apart a little bit, what we do with our prs. Obviously we’ve got [00:46:45] a great reporting structure. I kinda showed that a second. We use [00:46:50] I have a team of writers and editors that have been with me for [00:46:55] years, so we hand writer prs.
I have a team of editors then that edit [00:47:00] to do that fine balance between SEO [00:47:05] optimization and ensuring that we are getting as many pickups as possible. The [00:47:10] other thing that we do though, is on the backend. We have our own [00:47:15] internal group of cloud stacks, Google entity [00:47:20] stacks that we and other Google news sites [00:47:25] that we push out press release and reports [00:47:30] on.
So as an example, you could take your. We give you a [00:47:35] PDF report and an Excel report and you could [00:47:40] take that PDF report because they’re live active links on that report [00:47:45] and go embed that in another website [00:47:50] right? To, act as a boost for all of those. [00:47:55] All of those new sites. So that’s one of the things that we do on top of [00:48:00] as well, redistributing just in cloud sites and Google entity sites as well.[00:48:05]
Yeah, a lot of things. Take that PDF report and there’s probably about a [00:48:10] 300 or so, like free PDF publishing [00:48:15] sites. You can just go drop it on a few of those things as well. Give you a lot of [00:48:20] extra juice.
[00:48:21] Emanuel: Yeah. Remember the authority of each site. That matters a lot.
[00:48:24] Randy: [00:48:25] Yeah,
[00:48:25] Emanuel: I don’t see any other questions.
And to be honest, you tackle all the things that I [00:48:30] had. My perhaps only question would be something like, what’s [00:48:35] the main difference and how would you approach B2C versus B2B? [00:48:40]
[00:48:41] Randy: B2C? [00:48:45] I, would tell you, I’m not exactly sure that there is going to be a difference because what you’re [00:48:50] trying to do.
I think, especially right now in [00:48:55] today’s world, is that you are trying to build your brand [00:49:00] authority. So anything which goes beyond, whether it’s [00:49:05] B2C or C to C, right? So it’s okay, or [00:49:10] B2B, you are just trying to build your brand authority to give you [00:49:15] visibility. So regardless of who you’re.
Customer is [00:49:20] they’re still searching for you in their term [00:49:25] or in their particular way. And, having that brand visibility [00:49:30] and structuring that press release to give you that visibility is gonna [00:49:35] be successful regardless of who your customer target is. I think [00:49:40]
[00:49:41] Emanuel: Rodney, thanks us for the insights.
Phil thanks us also for the [00:49:45] information.
[00:49:46] Randy: You bet. You bet.
[00:49:47] Emanuel: I thank you Randy, for [00:49:50] being a guest today at How About Some Marketing. [00:49:55] Last promo would be if you enjoy this stock, then there’s plenty of others. I’ve [00:50:00] been doing this for almost four years already. I haven’t been pulling up a PR [00:50:05] for How About Some Marketing? , To be honest.
So that’s some food forethought to be happening.
[00:50:09] Randy: Yeah, [00:50:10] go.
[00:50:11] Emanuel: If you want to see previous [00:50:15] webinars and get the announcements for the future ones. Go to howaboutsomemarketing.com. [00:50:20] There’s a button there in the navigation saying newsletter. You’ll find a form sign up and [00:50:25] make sure you don’t miss anything else.
That being said, Randy, any final thoughts [00:50:30] you wanna share with your audience Live and for the ones that are watching the [00:50:35] recording and also how they can reach out to, if they have any questions, they want to do [00:50:40] a pr, stuff like that.
[00:50:43] Randy: Yes, very [00:50:45] simple. Hey, you can go hit my site thenewsguy.com.[00:50:50]
And you see everything that we offer right there. You can [00:50:55] hit the order button, go right there. We’re pretty direct and [00:51:00] pretty straightforward process. [00:51:05] And generally people always ask me like, how long does it take? [00:51:10] Once you submit your requirements to us, it usually we’re about [00:51:15] 10 days.
It can be even a little bit shorter depending upon how long. You take to [00:51:20] review and approve the the draft that we send you. But yeah, agenda,
[00:51:23] Emanuel: two more comments, agenda [00:51:25] on the end. So great event. Thanks for the invite. Let’s go watch Canada beat the US in today’s [00:51:30] woman’s Olympic hockey.
[00:51:32] Randy: Oh, man, that’s today, isn’t it?
Wow. Yeah. [00:51:35] Get tune
[00:51:35] Emanuel: minutes. 20 minutes. 20 minutes. Yeah. So that and Phil, last [00:51:40] question can this help with affiliate marketing with a bridge page instead of [00:51:45] linking to the direct affiliate link?
[00:51:48] Randy: We do [00:51:50] affiliate marketing prs quite a bit. Quite a bit of those. [00:51:55] Yeah,
[00:51:56] Emanuel: it helps. I
[00:51:57] Randy: know e-commerce almost everything, right?
So whether [00:52:00] you’re a local services business, affiliate business, you’re [00:52:05] doing e-commerce doesn’t matter [00:52:10] individual stuff. You just make it, work. You bet. It’s all around how we [00:52:15] structure everything.
[00:52:16] Emanuel: Thenewsguide.com. Hope you enjoy this [00:52:20] webinar. Go to howaboutsomemarketing.com to watch the recording, watch other webinars, [00:52:25] sign up for future webinars.
Maybe Randy will come back at a show maybe in [00:52:30] couple months. Comment from Devon. Do men’s hockey quarter [00:52:35] finals yesterday. Were wild. Indeed. [00:52:40] That being said, thank you so much everyone. How about marketing.com? Until next time, my [00:52:45] name is Emanuel. I had Randy. Thank you so [00:52:50] much.