Should You Use Press Releases to Push State-Level Pages Into the Top 3?

Press releases are not really a link-building tactic

This is where a lot of people get mixed up.

Yes, press releases can include links. But that does not mean the real SEO benefit comes from the links.

The bigger benefit is brand mentions. In local SEO and entity SEO, those mentions matter. They create citations and reinforce your brand across trusted news and media-style sites.

So when we use press releases, we are not using them because we think, “Great, here are some powerful backlinks.” We are using them to create brand signals and mentions on authoritative websites.

That is a very different goal.

If you use press releases only as a link-building trick, you are likely aiming at the wrong target.

Can press releases still help rankings?

Sure, they might help.

But they also might do nothing for that specific ranking problem.

If the thing holding your page back is weak topical alignment, bad page structure, poor internal links, or missing service-location signals, then adding press releases may not move the needle at all.

That is why asking “Will PRs work?” is not the best question.

A better question is:

What is the actual gap between my page and the pages already in the top three?

Start with a competitive link analysis

This is step one.

Before we decide whether a page needs press releases, authority links, topical links, on-page cleanup, or nothing at all, we run a competitive link analysis.

That process helps us compare your campaign against the pages already ranking for the same terms.

What we want to see in that analysis

• The current ranking performance of the target search queries
• The backlink profile of your page and domain
• The backlink profiles of the top-ranked competitors
• Averages across the competing pages
• The level of topical relevance in those links
• Any patterns that show what Google may be rewarding

Once we have that data, we can make a real recommendation.

Maybe you need more supporting links to the state page.

Maybe you need more relevant links instead of more links.

Maybe you do not need links at all.

Do not assume the problem is links

This happens all the time.

People say their on-page SEO is fine. They are sure the page is optimized. They are certain the issue is off-page. So they start buying or building links.

Then nothing moves.

And what happens next?

They blame the links.

But many times, the real issue was on-page SEO all along.

We have learned this the hard way over years of reviewing campaigns. A lot of SEOs say the same thing: “Our on-page is tight.” Then we look at the page and find major problems.

That is why analysis cannot stop at backlinks. We also have to look at the page itself.

What to check on-page before building links

If your state pages are underperforming, review the on-page factors too. Even a strong domain can get stuck if individual pages are weak or unclear.

Look at things like:

• Whether the page clearly targets the service plus state
• Whether headings support the topic
• Whether the content matches search intent
• Whether brand, service, and location entities are aligned
• Whether internal links support the page properly
• Whether the page is strong enough to compete with what already ranks

If on-page issues exist, fixing those first can save a lot of wasted link budget.

What happens when you build links to a weak page

If a page has poor on-page SEO and we start building links to it, one of two things usually happens:

1. The page barely responds
2. The campaign stalls and people decide the links were bad

That is not a link problem. That is a diagnosis problem.

We have to know the page is ready before we start feeding it external signals.

Sometimes the right recommendation is not “build links now.”

Sometimes the right recommendation is “do not build any links until you clean this up.”

How we approach recommendations

We do not like hard-sell SEO. We are not going to push a service just because someone asked a question.

If the data shows that links are the next best move, then fine. We will say so.

If the data shows that the page needs cleanup first, we will say that too.

The point is to recommend what is best for the campaign, not what is easiest to sell.

That might mean:

• Building a certain type of link
• Improving the page structure
• Fixing entity and topical alignment
• Adding stronger internal support
• Holding off on link building until the page is fixed

DIY option: run the analysis yourself

If you want to handle this on your own, there is free training available that walks through the full competitive link analysis process step by step. There is also a template that makes it easier to collect and compare the data.

If you want more local SEO help beyond that, you can also grab the Local SEO Toolkit or use the free GMB Process Checklist for additional guidance.

The point is not whether you do the analysis yourself or have someone else do it. The point is that you do the analysis before choosing a tactic.

So should you use a hub page or blog posts for location pages?

The title of this topic brings up site structure, and that matters too. If you are building local service location pages, you want a structure that supports a clear top-down relationship between broader pages and more specific ones.

In practice, that means you should be careful about how pages are organized, how they are linked internally, and whether the URL structure supports the site’s service and location hierarchy.

But even with the right architecture, ranking gains still come back to the same rule: do not guess what the page needs next.

Good structure helps. Clear service-location targeting helps. Internal linking helps. But when a page is already on page one and stuck just outside the top three, the next step should still be analysis, not assumptions.

The real answer to the press release question

If you are asking whether press releases will push your state pages from positions 4 through 10 into the top three, here is the short answer:

• Maybe
• Maybe not

And that is not a cop-out. That is the truth.

Press releases are useful for brand mentions and citations on authority media sites. They are not a magic SEO lever. If your pages need something else, PRs will not fix the real issue.

So before you spend money on press releases, links, or any other ranking tactic, compare your page against the top results and find the actual gap.

That is how you stop guessing.

That is how you make better SEO decisions.

FAQ