Why Paid Press Won’t Boost Your SEO (And What Will)
Did you know that paid or sponsored features do NOT perform the same as organic ones?
I’ve been saying this for years but didn’t have the technical knowledge to back it up. Now I do.
Thanks to my digital PR and content marketing specialist friend, Kristyn Pilgrim, I finally have the facts — and it’s something every brand investing in visibility needs to understand:
Paid press and organic press are NOT created equal.
Here’s the tea:
What Happens When You Pay for a Feature
When your brand lands a sponsored or paid article — meaning money exchanged hands to be included — that feature often includes tracking tags or metadata like:
rel="sponsored"rel="nofollow"UTM links with tags like
utm_source=paid&utm_campaign=feature
Those tags aren’t just there for analytics. They tell Google: “This is a paid link. Don’t treat it like a vote of confidence.”
And that’s exactly how SEO works — every organic link back to your website is like a thumbs-up to Google that says, “Hey, this site is valuable and trustworthy.” Paid links don’t count in that way. They’re essentially ignored by the algorithm when it comes to boosting your rankings or authority.
Why Organic Editorial Press Is the Gold Standard
On the flip side, when your brand is covered in a genuine editorial feature , written by a journalist or editor without payment or sponsorship, the link to your website is more likely to be what’s called a dofollow link.
That dofollow link = SEO gold.
It tells Google, “This site is credible enough to be mentioned and linked to, without money involved.” That kind of link:
Boosts your domain authority
Improves your search engine rankings
Builds long-term organic visibility
It’s why digital PR (the kind I specialize in) is not just about press for press’s sake — it’s a long game that actually supports your marketing strategy, brand growth, and discoverability online.
So, Are Paid Features Worthless?
Paid placements still serve a purpose, especially if they align with your business goals such as:
Social proof (being seen on major platforms)
Audience exposure (if the outlet promotes it heavily)
Sales alignment (if part of a sponsored product round-up or affiliate-driven campaign)
But if you’re investing in press for the SEO value alone, paid media won’t get you there.
What You Should Do Instead
If your goals are tied to organic traffic, search discoverability, and long-term credibility, you need to be investing in:
Earned media (unpaid, editorial features)
Digital PR strategy (targeting outlets that link back with dofollow)
Content partnerships that don’t trigger Google’s paid link filters
It’s not just about getting featured — it’s about how that feature is structured behind the scenes.
So, the next time someone tells you “press is press,” or offers you a guaranteed feature for a fee, ask yourself: Will this actually help people find me online a year from now? Because not all press is built to last, but the right kind of PR is.
