The question of how to use keywords in press releases gets asked constantly, and the answers have changed a lot over the years. This post is the 2026 take: what still matters, what doesn’t, and how to think about keywords in a release without turning it into spammy SEO content.

The short version

Press releases are primarily communications tools, not SEO tools. The keyword work you do should support clarity and extraction, not classic search ranking. Google has discounted press release backlinks and keyword stuffing for over a decade, and AI products care about specificity and credibility, not keyword density.

That said, a few keyword decisions still matter. Done right, they help AI products extract the right facts and help the release rank for its own brand and news terms. Done wrong, they make the release read like spam and reduce the chance anyone takes it seriously.

What keywords actually do in a press release

Three things. That’s the whole list.

1. They help reporters find the release

Reporters search for terms when they’re writing stories. If your release includes the terms they’re searching, it’s more likely to show up in their results.

2. They help AI products extract the right facts

When an AI product ingests a release, clear and specific language makes extraction reliable. Vague language makes extraction fail.

3. They help the release rank for brand and news queries

If someone searches your company name plus the news topic, a well-written release should show up in the results. This is low-effort SEO but useful for documentation.

Everything else people claim keywords do in press releases, like ranking for competitive terms, driving organic traffic, or building backlinks, is mostly wishful thinking in 2026.

The primary keyword

Every release should have one primary keyword: the specific topic of the announcement. Examples:

The primary keyword appears in:

That’s it. Don’t stuff it into every sentence. Use it where it naturally belongs.

Secondary keywords

Two or three secondary keywords support the primary one. They cover adjacent terms that reporters or AI products might use.

Example: for a Series B funding release, secondary keywords might be:

Secondary keywords appear naturally throughout the release. Don’t force them. If they don’t fit the sentence, leave them out.

The headline

The headline is the single most important place for keyword work. It should include:

Example:

“Acme Corp Raises $40M Series B to Expand European Operations”

That headline has the company, the news, the primary keyword (“Series B”), and secondary keywords (“European operations”). All natural, all informative, no stuffing.

Bad version:

“Acme Corp Announces Exciting News About Their Fundraising Journey”

This one has no keywords, no specifics, and no information. It’s a marketing headline pretending to be a press release headline.

The first paragraph

The first paragraph is the second most important place. Include:

Example:

SAN FRANCISCO, April 25, 2026 — Acme Corp, a provider of workflow automation software, today announced it has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital. The round brings total funding to $62 million and will support expansion into the UK, Germany, and France over the next 12 months.

Every keyword is present. Nothing is stuffed. The paragraph reads as a news lead, not as SEO content.

The body

In the body of the release, keywords should appear naturally as you describe the news, quote executives, and provide context. Don’t count density. Don’t force terms where they don’t fit.

The test: read the release aloud. If any sentence sounds awkward because of a forced keyword, rewrite it.

Anchor text for links

Links in press releases should use natural anchor text. That means:

Not:

Over-optimized anchor text in press releases has been a spam signal since the early 2010s. Natural anchors look normal and don’t trigger anything.

What to stop doing

A few tactics that used to work and no longer do.

Keyword stuffing in the boilerplate

The boilerplate (the “About” section at the end) used to be a place to cram keywords. Don’t do that anymore. Google discounts it, reporters skip it, and AI products ignore keyword lists. Write a clean, specific boilerplate.

Exact-match domains in anchor text

Linking “best [category] tool” to your website used to generate cheap SEO value. Now it looks manipulative and triggers spam filters.

Dozens of keywords per release

Releases optimized for 10+ keywords read terribly and rank for none of them. Focus on one primary and two to three secondary. Let the rest come naturally.

Paying distribution services to publish your release across hundreds of sites for backlinks is a declining strategy. Most of those links are nofollow or penalized. The value is near zero.

Writing releases specifically for AI extraction

Some people now write releases specifically to “rank in ChatGPT.” AI products favor natural, clear, specific writing. Trying to game them with keyword-dense, structured templates often backfires because the output reads generic.

What still works

Clear, specific language

AI products and reporters both favor specific language. “Acme raised $40M” is better than “Acme secured significant new funding.” Numbers, names, dates all help.

Named entities

Include named people, companies, and products. AI products use named entities to build context. A release that mentions “Sequoia Capital” and “John Smith, CTO” is more extractable than one that mentions “top venture firms” and “our executive team.”

Quotes from specific people

Attribute quotes to named individuals with clear titles. “According to Jane Chen, CFO of Acme Corp” is more valuable than “according to a company spokesperson.”

Location data

Include city, state, country. Location data helps local SEO and regional AI product responses.

Publication date

Clear publication date helps AI products judge recency. Include it in the release header, not buried in metadata.

A test checklist

Before publishing a release, check:

  1. Does the headline contain the primary keyword naturally?
  2. Does the first paragraph contain company, location, news, and primary keyword?
  3. Are secondary keywords used two to three times naturally?
  4. Are all links using brand or URL anchors, not exact-match?
  5. Is the boilerplate a clean description, not a keyword list?
  6. Are all claims specific (numbers, names, dates)?
  7. Does the release read like news, not like marketing?

If you can check all seven, the release is well-written for 2026.

The bottom line

Press release keywords matter, but not in the way people think. Their real job is to make the release clear, specific, and extractable, not to game search rankings. One primary keyword, two to three secondary, used naturally in the right places. Everything else is wasted effort or actively harmful. Write the release as news first and let the keyword work serve the writing, not the other way around.