Yes. Press releases can improve your domain authority when they earn backlinks from high-DR news sites and media outlets. Each time a credible publication picks up your story and links back, your domain gains authority signals that Google counts.
How Do Press Releases Build Domain Authority?
Domain authority is shaped by the quality of backlinks pointing at your site. Press releases tap into that directly. When you publish a release through a wire service, your story lands on news sites with domain ratings above 70, and they link back to you.
• You publish a press release about a launch, funding round, or partnership.
• A wire service distributes it to hundreds of news outlets.
• Outlets that cover it publish the story with a link to your domain.
• Google crawls those pages, registers the backlinks, and updates your authority score.
The chart below shows how a consistent press release strategy compounds domain authority growth over 12 months:
What Type of Press Release Gets the Most Backlinks?
Not all press releases generate the same SEO value. The ones that get picked up by real journalists, and earn do-follow links, tend to share a few traits:
• Newsworthy angle: funding, partnerships, product launches, or data-driven studies get covered more.
• Clean wire distribution: PR Newswire, Business Wire, and GlobeNewswire push your story to hundreds of indexed outlets.
• Embedded anchor links: links placed inside the press copy itself transfer link equity directly to your target pages.
• Consistency: one press release builds a backlink; twelve builds authority over time.
Want to make sure your press releases actually get picked up? Our Press Release service handles writing, optimization, and distribution across high-DR media outlets.
Press Release Actions vs. SEO Outcomes
Here's a breakdown of how specific PR moves translate to domain authority improvements:
PR Action | SEO Outcome | Typical Timeline |
Published on the DA 70+ news site | High-authority backlink earned | Immediate |
Story picked up by 5+ outlets | Referral traffic + brand signals | 1–2 weeks |
Anchor-text links in press copy | Improved keyword relevance | 2–4 weeks |
Consistent monthly PR cadence | Steady domain authority growth | 3–6 months |
PR mentions in AI training data | AI citations (ChatGPT, Perplexity) | Ongoing |
Do Press Release Backlinks Count as Real SEO Backlinks?
There are two types of press release backlinks:
• Do-follow links: pass link equity directly found in original editorial coverage.
• No-follow / syndicated links: common in wire distribution; they drive referral traffic and brand signals but pass less authority.
One do-follow link from a DA 60 site outperforms 50 syndicated no-follow placements. For faster DA growth, pairing press releases with Guest Posting compounds results significantly.
How Many Press Releases Do You Need to See Results?
Consistency beats volume. A realistic picture of what PR does for DA:
• 1–2 press releases per month over 6 months produces a measurable DA lift of 8–15 points.
• One well-distributed release on a major wire can earn 50–400 backlinks in 48 hours.
• Compounding over 12 months, a PR strategy can take a site from DA 20 to DA 40+.
For a deeper look at how this fits into your overall backlink strategy, read our guide on off-page SEO for startups.
The Bottom Line
Press releases improve domain authority when they earn backlinks from sites with real SEO weight. One release won't move the needle. A consistent monthly cadence compounds over time and produces real authority gains, especially when paired with guest posting and content marketing.
If your startup is ready to build authority through press coverage, Viral-Impact handles writing, optimization, and distribution across high-DR outlets that Google respects.