🧭Press release backlinks — what does Google actually say about them?

"Google hates press release links." It's the most-repeated line in SEO forums. It comes from a single quote by Matt Cutts in 2013. It's used to justify everything from ignoring press releases entirely to charging extra for "safe" campaigns.

The truth is more interesting — and, if you actually read what Google has published since, surprisingly quiet on the topic. Here's what they've actually said, when they said it, and what it means for you.

The 2013 quote everyone cites

In July 2013, Matt Cutts told Search Engine Land that links in press releases should be nofollowed "like advertisements." The reasoning: press releases are, by nature, self-published paid content. Treating their links as editorial endorsements would be a bug in PageRank.

That quote became the wire industry's bible. Within months, every major press release distributor moved links to nofollow. That policy hasn't reversed.

What Google's official policy says today

Google's spam policies documentation still lists this as an example of a link scheme:

Two words in that sentence do a lot of work: optimized and anchor. Google isn't saying press releases are forbidden. It's saying that using them as vehicles for exact-match anchor text — the classic 2010-era link building move — is what triggers the violation.

John Mueller and Gary Illyes, more recently

Mueller has said, in multiple hangouts and social posts across 2018-2024, that Google's algorithms "ignore most of the links found within press releases" because they typically originate from the company itself. He's framed this as a technical reality rather than a rule: even if the link isn't nofollowed, Google's systems recognize the content pattern and discount it.

Illyes was more blunt in May 2024 at SERP Conf, saying Google "needs very few links" and has "turned down the weight of links as a ranking factor." Danny Sullivan followed a month earlier saying he doesn't think links are in the top three ranking signals anymore.

The 2024 site reputation abuse update

This is the newest development, and the one wire vendors don't want to talk about. In March 2024 Google introduced a policy targeting "site reputation abuse" — third-party content published on a host site to piggyback on that host's authority. Sponsored press release sections on major news domains are exactly the target.

The policy was clarified further in November 2024: even "first-party involvement" (the host site knowing about the release) doesn't excuse it if the primary purpose is manipulating rankings. Multiple large news sites have since deindexed their press release sections entirely.

What actually changed for practitioners

Publisher selection went from an afterthought to the entire game. In the old world you could run a release on any large domain and count the placement. In 2026:

• →Publishers with clearly-labeled "press release" or "paid content" sections are increasingly discounted or deindexed.
• →Publishers that mix sponsored posts into their normal editorial flow — with genuine editorial oversight — are what still work.
• →The remaining valuable placements are with mid-tier news domains where the content lives alongside editorial coverage, not in a walled sponsored section.

Myth vs reality

• →Myth: Google penalizes press release links. Reality: Google discounts many of them algorithmically. Manual actions against companies for press release use are extremely rare.
• →Myth: A single wire release will tank your rankings. Reality: No serious SEO has seen this happen. The worst case is that the links are ignored.
• →Myth: All press release links are worthless. Reality: Dofollow placements on non-obviously-sponsored sections of real news sites still carry weight. This is what a well-run campaign optimizes for.

How to stay safe under the current rules

• →Keep exact-match anchors under 2-3% of your overall profile. Detailed guidance in our anchor text guide.
• →Work with publishers whose sponsored content lives within normal editorial sections, not in walled "paid content" silos.
• →Write releases that would look at home on a real news site — quotes, dates, dateline, boilerplate. See the content guidelines.
• →Drip-schedule placements across days, not hours. A one-day flood is a footprint.
• →Vary the target URL. If everything points to your homepage with the same anchor, Google notices.