Do you know of free (or low cost) software that scans your press release and tells you if it is optimized for search engines, or how to better optimize it for search engines? I believe the idea is that if your press release is optimized for the search engines, and then you submit it through the wires, that it is more likely to show up in Google News and such, giving your web site more traffic.

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Jay’s Answer: While it might seem to be a good idea to focus on your keyword density and the right keywords, I’m going to suggest that your focus on the value of the copy itself.

Yes, it’s a great idea to know what people are searching for. If you know that 1,000,000 people each month search for "new homes san diego", and there are 25,000 websites that already target these keywords, having your site rank well is likely to be a waste of your time (short-term).

Instead, focus on the "meat" of the press release. Remember a press release has a specific format. It’s not intended as a sales piece – it’s to announce something newsworthy. Make your PR newsworthy and you’ll get more than just search engines interested – you’ll get actual editors interested in giving you free space in their media.

If you had a SEO person, you could give them your high-value PR and let them tweak it slightly. But since you don’t, focus on what makes your company services interesting in the eyes of prospects.