I guess you don't give Google's eggheads much credit...

Myself, I'd guess that they are smarter than this.

Heh. Actually, my original assumption had been the same as yours, jtara!

But then I read some posters talk about just modifying the title and lead paragraph. And I wondered if I should be spending a little more time on the fluff press releases.

Frankly I'd like to ignore them if I'm not missing out....

I change the title some, and cut out the press contact details, but what else? A little pruning of the first paragraph, or does it need to be dramatically different?

Based on my own experiences, I have learnt that rewriting headline and introductory paragraph (the standfirst) is essential for success, particularly when seeking to feature press releases in Google News.

Even just doing this small amount of editing can separate your version of a story from the herd, which is what you want.

Ideally you should look to rewrite the whole release so that the re-drafted content is original to you, but I appreciate that's not always possible. However, if you can reword a few sentences here and there, especially those carrying the key words to the story, then so much the better.

Syzygy

I wouldn't do this except on a throw-away site.

Google (and others) have a memory, and they keep getting better.

Where they are lame today, they will be excellent tomorrow.

And they have a memory...

How many tales of woe have we seen when SEO tricks are used, and then the search engines later catch on? "Whah, wah, wah, I can't get back into the SERPs."

It's not just a matter of then removing the tricks. They know the past. And even if they don't they will.

I'd think that in the long term, the way into Google News is excellent writing that stands above the crowd.

Most "of the moment" SEO tricks are best utilized by the million-domain club, who practice constant shape-shifting using borrowed (tasted) domains. They don't have to worry about Google's memory.

(But they do need to worry about Google's wrath. Google's decision to exclude domains less than 5 days old from Adsense for Domains threatens their industry.)

I wouldn't do this except on a throw-away site.

Hmm, it works on financially secure and industry-leading news sites. I know that from first-hand experience, and from the shared experience of peers...

News is a major part of the online world and we must take it as a matter of fact that multiple versions of the same story exist. Witness:

Google Search: News.

Results = 4,910,000,000

Google Search: S*x

Results = 844,000,000.

With so much content devoted to "news", regardless of what form it comes in, it's obvious that the more unique it is the more it will be heard above the roar of the crowd.

However, it can still be surprising how even just a few seemingly minimal tweaks to a news item can, as I say, separate it from the roar of the herd.

My suggestion is to experiment and record and see what works for you/your site/sector/niche.

Syzygy

Thanks, guys. Both perspectives are very helpful.

I think I'll keep the "fluff" pieces (the 75% or so of releases that don't warrant effort to turn into real news) and continue to do a little editing, but saving my time for the rest of the site.

My rationale is that (a) news is just a fraction of my overall site content, and (b) after reviewing my Google Analytics stats people actually do spend time reading "fluff" I didn't think anyone cared about: "Acme Widgets is having a(nother) contest!" -- good grief, people wasted whole minutes of their lives reading THAT? When they could have been reading WebmasterWorld?! ;-)