Press Release or Advertorial: Which One to Choose for SEO

A press release and an advertorial are two different formats: the first announces news and stays at the newsroom's discretion, while the second is a paid article where you control the message. For SEO, neither is a shortcut to rankings. Links from both should be qualified correctly, and the value comes from visibility, brand mentions and referral traffic.

The two formats, defined without ambiguity

A press release is a short text written in journalistic style in which an organization announces something of public interest: a launch, an event, a study, an appointment, a partnership. It is sent to newsrooms, which decide whether to run it, rewrite it or ignore it.

An advertorial (from "advertisement" and "editorial") is a paid article, published in a media outlet, that promotes a company, product or idea. The text may be written by you, by the publication or by an agency, and publication is contracted.

The fundamental difference: with a press release, publication is editorial earning; with an advertorial, it is a purchase of space. Differences in control, cost and link treatment follow from that. For the wider picture of earning links, see our link building guide, and for the service itself, advertorial SEO on Romanian publications.

Comparison table: press release vs advertorial

How Google treats the links in each format

Google's spam policies are direct. Among their examples of link spam are advertorials and native advertising where payment is received for articles that contain links passing ranking credit, as well as links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites.

Google's documentation also says that buying and selling links is a normal part of the web economy for advertising and sponsorship, as long as the links are qualified with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Google's guide on qualifying outbound links recommends the sponsored value for paid placements.

What follows for each format:

• A release sent for free to a newsroom. If the newsroom runs it and adds a link on its own, that is an editorial decision. It is not paid, so it is not a "paid link" issue, but you cannot control it.
• A release pushed through paid services on many sites. Optimized anchors and ranking-credit links are exactly the pattern described as spam. If you use such services, avoid commercial anchors and expect qualified links.
• An advertorial. The paid link gets labeled. You do not lose the visibility value; you only give up the illusion that payment buys authority.

The right anchor in both cases is a brand name or a descriptive phrase. See the article on what a natural anchor text profile looks like.

When to choose a press release

Use one if you have news a journalist would want to report anyway. Topics that work:

• launching a product or opening a new location;
• original results with verifiable data (a study, an internal barometer, a report);
• awards, certifications, partnerships with institutions;
• appointing a specialist or launching a training program;
• events with an audience and a clear date and place;
• an expert position on a topic in the news.

A release works when it answers the question: "Why would this audience care about this today?" If the honest answer is "because we want a link," it is not a release, it is advertising, and it should be treated as such.

The structure of a useful release

HEADLINE (short, with the main fact)
Subhead: one detail that adds context

City, date – The first sentence answers: who, what, when, where, why it matters.
Paragraph 2: details and verifiable figures, with their source.
Paragraph 3: a quote from a real person, with name and title.
Paragraph 4: context (why now, who benefits).
About the company: 2–3 sentences, with the website address.
Press contact: name, phone, email.

Attach photos with clear usage rights and, if you have one, a page of your own with details a journalist can link to. Such a page is also an opportunity for well-planned internal links within your site.

When to choose an advertorial

Choose an advertorial if you have something useful to say that is not news: a practical guide, an explanation of your service, a brand story, a local campaign, a seasonal offer. The advantages are control over the message, guaranteed appearance and access to a specific publication's audience.

A good advertorial brief includes:

1. The objective (awareness, traffic to a page, quote requests).
2. The target audience and the chosen publication, with the reason for choosing it.
3. The main message and 2–3 verifiable arguments.
4. The page the link points to and the anchor (brand or descriptive).
5. The sponsored-content label and where it appears.
6. Writing rules: tone, length, images, who signs it.
7. Data to verify and sources for every figure.

The text should remain a useful article, not an ad pasted into a page. An advertorial that offers real information gets read, shared and sometimes cited by others. One that repeats slogans is ignored, whatever it cost. E-E-A-T, meaning experience, expertise and trust, matters here: a real specialist's byline and verifiable data raise its value.

Advertising labels: ethics and the legal frame

An advertorial must be recognizable as advertising. The EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC) lists, among practices considered misleading in all circumstances, using editorial content in the media to promote a product when the trader paid for the promotion and does not make this clear. EU member states transpose these rules into national law, and advertising self-regulatory bodies have their own codes.

Practical advice: ask the publication for a visible label ("Sponsored article," "Advertisement" or "Partner content") and a link marked rel="sponsored". For correct application to your case, consult a lawyer, especially in sensitive fields such as health and finance. If you are a foreign company operating in Romania, check both the local rules and those of your home market.

Same topic, two texts: a fictional example

Imagine a fictional dental clinic that introduces a free monthly checkup for children. Here is how the two formats would differ.

Notice that the advertorial does not repeat the release. It complements it with useful information, and readers walk away with something they can use even if they never become patients. The same logic applies to any company: if the text would be worth reading even without your name in it, you did it right.

What neither format can do

A press release or advertorial will not repair a weak target page, replace your own content or change rankings on its own. Neither guarantees that AI engines will cite you; public documentation describes no mechanism by which payment or distribution produces that. What you can do is create the conditions: a clear mention, repeated across independent sources, around a site that explains plainly what you do. For that frame, see GEO: appearing in AI answers.

How to combine them in one strategy

The two formats do not exclude each other. A plausible sequence for the fictional clinic launching a new service:

1. Publish a complete page of your own with verifiable information.
2. Send a release about the launch to local newsrooms.
3. If part of the press picks up the message, note the mentions and use them on the page.
4. Order an explanatory advertorial, labeled correctly, in a publication with readers from your area.
5. Track traffic and inquiries with UTM parameters, using the UTM link generator.

For local businesses this connects naturally to local SEO: mentions in regional press strengthen the geographic context.

Common mistakes

• Sending "releases" with no news, just for links.
• Repeating the same commercial anchor in all texts.
• Choosing a publication on price alone, without checking its readers.
• Hiding the sponsored nature of the advertorial.
• Not preparing a useful target page: the link leads to a weak page.
• Expecting guaranteed rankings from a single article.
• Not keeping records of publications, final addresses and terms.

Limits and cases where this does not apply

• You have no news. Then a release makes no sense; better to publish something useful on your own site.
• Regulated industry. In health, pharmacy, finance or gambling, promotion rules are strict; talk to a legal specialist.
• A very narrow audience. A general publication may not be the right place; a niche magazine or professional association may bring more.
• Expectations about rankings. No placement guarantees positions. If someone promises that, treat it as a warning sign.
• Variable prices and rules. Publication rates and rules change; check current offers.

Next steps

1. Write down the three most important real pieces of news your company will have in the coming months; those are potential releases.
2. Pick one useful, non-news story for a first advertorial.
3. Prepare the target page before any publication.
4. Require correct labeling and a sponsored-content note.
5. Measure mentions, referral traffic and Search Console trends. A monthly SEO KPI report helps you decide what is worth repeating.
6. If you have old problematic links to handle, read about toxic backlinks and disavow.

If you would rather delegate publication selection, briefs and reporting, our advertorial SEO team can take over the process, with correctly marked links and no promises about positions.