Measuring Press Release Success: Why Website Traffic and Placements Aren’t Enough

I came across a thought-provoking video by Rand Fishkin that stopped me in my tracks. In just four minutes, Rand articulated a shift in marketing that many of us have felt but struggled to put into words: "website traffic is no longer the ultimate measure of success."

Rand's insights perfectly capture why PR pros, not just marketers, need to rethink their content marketing and press release distribution strategies in 2025—and beyond.

Because let’s be honest: if your marketing strategy still revolves around driving clicks to a landing page with a form, it’s time for a wake-up call.

And if your press release distribution goal is simply "how many placements or backlinks did we get" or "did I get into Google News", it's time for a second wake up call.

Website Traffic and Press Release Placements are Vanity Metrics. Here’s Why.

Marketing teams tend to focus on outcomes like ROI, conversions, and customer journey optimization, using data-driven strategies. But a lot of marketers overemphasize the importance of website traffic.

PR teams, on the other hand, prioritize building relationships, shaping narratives, and securing media placements—often valuing quantity over quality. But a lot of PR teams are obsessed with how many websites published the exact same copy of their press release (plot giveaway - it doesn't matter).

While website traffic and media placements look good on paper, neither translate to meaningful business outcomes.

Why? Because traffic alone doesn’t tell you if you’re reaching the right audience. Nor does the sheer number of placements. It doesn’t tell you if your message is resonating. And it certainly doesn’t tell you if you're driving real engagement or conversions. Ditto for those colorful newswire clipping reports displaying all the well-known media brands that your press release was distributed to (and that nobody saw).

Incidentally, this is why at Newsworthy.ai David and I have remapped our press release clipping reports to move away from duplicate placement metrics and focus more on unique coverage, impressions, views, and engagement.

Rand said in his video message: “Our top of funnel has nothing to do with website traffic. Traffic to us is a vanity metric. What we really think about is whether our messages reach the people that we want to reach in the places that they pay attention.” Same goes for news distribution.

The Press Release Metrics That Matter: Impressions, Views, and Engagement

If traffic is no longer the gold standard, what should marketers focus on instead? The answer lies in metrics that reflect true audience engagement. Think impressions, views, and interactions—metrics that show your message is being seen and absorbed by the right people.

Here’s why these metrics matter:

1. 'Meaningful' Impressions: It's not only about how many times your content is being displayed. That's spray and pray. It's are you getting your message (or news) in front of the right eyes across multiple platforms - not just web search. Big difference.
2. Views: This goes a step further. It tells you how many people are actually consuming your content. Are they watching your video, reading your press release, or scrolling through your carousel?
3. Engagement: This is the ultimate indicator of resonance. Are people liking, commenting, sharing, or saving your content? Engagement shows that your message is not just being seen—it’s being acted upon or remembered.

As Rand Fishkin said in his LinkedIn post, these metrics might have been dismissed as “vanity metrics back in 2015", but today, they’re the backbone of effective marketing measurement because they reflect the reality of how people interact with your content.

The digital landscape has changed dramatically, and user behavior has shifted. Here’s what we know:

• Traffic from Google is declining: With the rise of AI-powered answers in search, users are finding answers without ever visiting a website.
• Duplicate Content Penalties: Publishing the same version of your news release to hundreds of sites doesn't mean that news will surface on search - fact is, only a few will, if any.
• Platforms are disincentivizing links: Social media platforms are increasingly prioritizing native content. They don’t want you leaving their apps, so they’ve made it harder for links to gain traction. This is why, when sharing content or press releases on social, you want it in zero-click format. In other words, you need to make sure the format of your content is adapted to the channels that you are sharing it to. Especially for press releases.

How NewsRamp.com is Built for the Future of Marketing

More press release newswires agree that this is the future of press release distribution, and they are using NewsRamp.com to address these challenges.

Recognizing that most internet activity occurs outside of search, NewsRamp curates press releases into multiple unique content formats and publishes the content to a wide variety of places. This approach ensures visibility across platforms where audiences actively engage, and in formats tailored to each channel. The result is improved impressions, views, and engagement, creating a more effective and meaningful content experience.

Here’s How NewsRamp™ Does It:

• Adaptive Content Formats: NewsRamp transform press releases into multiple UNIQUE formats—news articles, blog posts, persona-based TLDRs, videos, audio, and Zero-Click content—ensuring your message resonates across diverse platforms.
• Proprietary Distribution Network: Your content is distributed through NewsRamp's curated network of news sites, blogs, forums, podcasts, video platforms, newsletters, and social media channels, reaching audiences where they’re already engaged.
• Global Reach: With translations in up to 12 languages, your message breaks through geographical barriers, connecting with audiences worldwide.

The result? Improved impressions, views, and engagement—metrics that truly matter in today’s landscape. By meeting audiences where they are and delivering content in formats tailored to each platform, NewsRamp.com creates a more effective and meaningful content experience.

The Future of Marketing is Contextual and Conversational

The future of marketing isn’t about driving traffic—it’s about creating meaningful connections. It’s about understanding where your audience spends their time and delivering value in those spaces. It’s about measuring success not by the number of clicks or placements, but by the depth of engagement.

Traffic and the volume of placements might look good on a dashboard, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. What really matters is whether your message is reaching the right people, in the right places, and inspiring them to take action.

Remember your classic marketing theory AIDA. It still matters:

Attention: Grab your audience's attention.
Interest: Encourage them to learn more about your brand.
Desire: Motivate them to want your product.
Action: Encourage them to take action, such as buying your product or reaching out to you.

Maybe not all at once but if you accomplish the first two, they'll remember you. That's gold.

What do you think? Are you still chasing traffic and colorful press release clipping reports, or have you shifted your focus to more meaningful metrics?