Not much, if you mean the release by itself. Domain Authority is a score Moz created, Google doesn't use it, and the links inside a distributed press release are rarely the kind that raise it. What a release can do is get your news in front of writers and site owners who might link to you on their own. Those links are what move the number.

What Domain Authority actually measures

Domain Authority (DA) is a score from 1 to 100 that predicts how likely a site is to rank compared with its competitors. According to Moz's own explanation of the metric, it's calculated mostly from backlink data, with the number of separate websites linking to you (linking root domains) and the quality of those links weighing heavily. It's also relative, which is why Moz says it's easier to grow a score from 20 to 30 than from 70 to 80.

The detail most sales pitches leave out is that DA isn't a Google metric. Moz states plainly that it isn't a Google ranking factor and has no effect on search results. Google makes the same point from its side: its guidance on third-party SEO tools says those tools don't have access to Google's internal ranking data, and any predictions they make are their own.

So a higher DA is a side effect. It tends to rise as more good websites start linking to you, and a press release can only raise it by producing links like that.

Why a distributed release rarely moves it

Distribution republishes the same text on many sites, so it's tempting to count every copy as a new backlink. Google sees those links differently. The link spam section of Google's spam policies lists “links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites” as an example of link spam. The same section says paid links are fine as long as they're marked rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored".

That leaves the links in your release with two possible outcomes. Publishers that follow Google's guidance mark them nofollow or sponsored, which tells Google not to pass ranking credit through them. Links that go out unmarked with keyword-stuffed anchors are the risky kind, since Google says sites that break its spam policies may rank lower or disappear from results.

Neither outcome builds lasting authority. The published copies still earn their keep in other ways, covered below, but a DA boost usually isn't one of them.

Check your own links. Open a few live copies from your publication report, right-click the link to your site and choose Inspect. If the tag includes nofollow or sponsored, the link still sends readers your way but isn't meant to pass ranking credit. With distribution through PR Zen, every package includes a report of where your release went live, so this check takes a few minutes.

What a press release can do for your authority

The links that raise DA are editorial. A reporter or newsletter writer covers your news and links to you because it helps their readers. A release is a practical way to put a story where those people look, and it brings a few other benefits along the way.

Coverage that links on its own

When a writer picks up your announcement and builds their own piece around it, the link is theirs to give, and it's exactly the kind DA is built on. Pickup is never guaranteed. One article from a respected site in your industry, though, usually does more for your link profile than a long list of syndicated copies.

Brand searches and mentions

People who see your name in a few credible places start searching for it. Branded searches and unlinked mentions don't feed DA, which is built from links, but they show your news reached people who then went looking for you.

Referral visits

A nofollow link still works for human readers. Some of them will click through from the published copies, and those visits are traffic you can measure.

Facts on the record for search and AI

A release published across news sites leaves a consistent, dated account of what your company did. That can help search engines, and the AI tools that draw on them, connect your brand with the right facts. The writing side is covered in how to write a release AI assistants can quote. Nobody can promise a citation, but a clear, specific release gives you a better chance.

A reason to link

A release built on original research, such as a customer survey or an industry benchmark, points to something writers can cite, and citing usually means linking to the source. Moz's own advice for earning links naturally points the same way: original research and industry reports. Lead with the main finding, and publish the full results on your own site so writers have a page to link to.

How to get more links out of your next release

  • Start with real news. A launch, a hire, a milestone or new data. If a trade reporter wouldn't care, distribution won't change their mind.
  • Link to one useful page. Point readers to the page they need next, such as the product page or the full report. Use your brand name or the page title as the anchor text. Keyword-stuffed anchors are the exact pattern Google describes as link spam.
  • Publish a newsroom copy on your own site. Post the release at a stable URL on your domain on the day it goes out. Writers who cover it get a primary source to link to, and those links land on your site.
  • Pitch the story yourself. Distribution gets a release published. It doesn't put it in a reporter's inbox with a reason to care. Send a short, personal note to writers who've covered your topic recently, with a link to your newsroom copy.
  • Pick outlets whose readers fit. A markets story belongs in front of finance readers, and an Asia expansion in front of business readers who follow the region. Browse the premium outlets and their audiences, and add one only when it matches the story.

Frequency matters less than substance. A long run of thin announcements won't earn links, while a single release with real news might. If you're planning a schedule, our guide to monthly release volume helps match cadence to the news you actually have. For budget, choosing the right package for the story covers how much reach each kind of announcement needs.

How to measure what a release actually did

Skip the DA check the morning after. Moz notes that a score can rise or fall when competitors' scores change or when it updates its model, so a small swing says little about one release. Track these instead, starting the day the release goes live:

  • New referring domains. In Search Console's Links report or your usual link tool, look for sites that linked to you editorially in the weeks after the release. Leave the syndicated copies out of the count.
  • Branded search. The branded queries filter in Search Console separates searches that include your brand name from everything else in the Performance report. It only appears for eligible sites with enough search volume, so if you have it, compare the weeks before and after.
  • Referral traffic. Add UTM parameters to the link in your release so visits from the published copies show up as their own campaign in your analytics.
  • Pickup. Set a Google Alert for your company name and keep a running list of every article that wasn't part of the distribution. That list is your real link-building result.

What to expect from your next release

Send press releases to get news in front of people who might cover it, then do the follow-up that turns coverage into links. Don't send one to buy DA. We don't promise rankings or media pickup for any release, and our results disclaimer puts that in writing. What you control is how strong the story is and who hears about it.