Guide · Earned media
APress release vs. media feature: what's the difference?
By the S99 PR editorial team · Updated August 2026 · 6 min read
In short
A press release is content you write and pay to distribute over a newswire. A media feature is editorial coverage a journalist or contributor writes and publishes about you. Both can appear online, but only the feature carries independent, third-party credibility, and it is the kind of source search engines and AI tools tend to cite as authoritative.
Key takeaways
- A press release is owned, paid distribution. A feature is earned, third-party editorial.
- Search engines discount syndicated releases and reward unique, authoritative coverage.
- AI answer engines cite reputable features far more often than they cite releases.
- Both have a place: releases for announcements, features for authority.
In this guide
Side by side
The same web address. Two very different things.
| Press release | Media feature | |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes it | You or your team | A journalist or contributor |
| Editorial review | None; you control the copy | Independent editorial standards |
| How it reaches the web | Paid distribution over a newswire | Earned placement on the outlet |
| How readers see it | Usually labeled “press release” | A standard editorial article |
| What it signals | An announcement you made | Third-party validation of your story |
| Content uniqueness | Syndicated across many sites | Unique to the publication |
| SEO value | Limited; links are often no-follow | Strong; authoritative and often cited |
| AI visibility | Builds presence; seldom the cited source | Frequently the cited, trusted source |
| Shelf life | A brief news-cycle signal | A lasting reference |
| Best used for | Announcements and volume | Authority and long-term credibility |
Definition
What a press release actually is
A press release is an official announcement you write, or have written for you, and distribute through a paid newswire. It goes out to many outlets and aggregators at once. It is useful for putting news on the record: a funding round, a product launch, a new hire, a milestone. But because you control the message and pay for the distribution, it is owned and paid media, not earned. Readers and algorithms treat it as an announcement, not as independent reporting.
Definition
What a media feature actually is
A media feature is editorial content a journalist or contributor researches, writes, and publishes about you on a reputable outlet. It passes through that outlet’s editorial standards and appears as a normal article, not a labeled release. Because an independent party chose to cover you, a feature carries credibility a press release cannot manufacture. That is what makes it earned media.
Anatomy
You can feel the difference on the page.
Press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Company Announces Its Own Good News
A quote from your own CEO about how excited the company is.
An “About the Company” boilerplate paragraph.
Media contact · distributed via newswire
You wrote it. You paid to send it.
Media feature
By a staff writer · Reputable Outlet
An Editorial Story That Happens to Include You
Reporting and context the writer chose, framed independently.
Quotes and analysis selected by the journalist, not you.
Published as standard editorial · no “release” label
A journalist wrote it. The outlet stands behind it.
By the numbers
What the research actually shows.
0 +
pitches the average journalist receives each week, and 72% say fewer than a quarter are even relevant
Cision, 2026 State of the Media Report
0 %
of journalists will immediately reject a pitch that isn’t aligned with their beat or audience.
Cision, 2025 State of the Media Report
0 %
of journalists prefer a personalized, one-to-one pitch over blast distribution.
Muck Rack, 2026
~ 0 %
of US Google searches now return an AI Overview, up from roughly 15% a year earlier, so being a cited source matters.
Google & Similarweb, 2026
Press releases and features do different jobs, and both matter. A release builds presence and reach, putting your name into the data that search and AI read. A feature earns the citation and the credibility. The strongest visibility layers the two.
Why it matters
How search and AI decide who to trust.
For search (SEO)
Search engines reward unique, authoritative content and discount syndicated duplicates. Press-release links are frequently no-follow and repeated across hundreds of sites, so they pass little ranking value. A feature is unique content on a trusted domain, which is exactly what search engines weigh when deciding who to rank.
For AI answers (AEO)
Answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI Overviews build responses from sources they consider trustworthy. Wide press-release distribution can spread your name across the web and help these tools recognize that you exist, which is real presence. But when they choose a source to cite, they favor reputable editorial coverage. Presence gets you into the data; a feature gets you cited. Both matter, and the strongest programs build them in layers. Academic research points the same way: a Princeton-led study (GEO, KDD 2024) found that content rich in citations, quotations, and verifiable statistics can earn up to 40% more visibility in AI answers, exactly the signals a credible feature carries.
You can distribute a press release. You have to earn a feature, and that is exactly why search engines and AI trust it more.
Which do you need?
They are not rivals. They do different jobs.
Use a press release when
- You have a concrete announcement (funding, launch, hire, partnership)
- You need it on the record quickly
- You want broad, immediate, indexed distribution
Invest in a feature when
- You want credibility that holds up to scrutiny
- You want to rank and be cited over time
- You are building authority in your field
- You need coverage that AI tools and decision-makers trust
Bottom line: a release announces, a feature validates. The strongest programs use releases for news and features for authority. The one thing that matters is knowing which one you are actually buying, and being told the truth about it.
FAQ
Common questions.
No. A press release is content you write and pay to distribute. A media feature is editorial coverage an independent journalist or contributor writes and publishes about you. Only the feature is earned media.
Modestly, and mostly for indexed visibility rather than ranking power. Their links are often no-follow and the content is syndicated as duplicates across many sites, so a release passes little authority compared with a unique feature on a trusted outlet.
Press releases help you get noticed by AI. Distributed across many sites, they add mentions of your name to the data these tools read, which builds presence. But when an AI cites a source to answer a question, it favors reputable editorial coverage. Releases build the footprint; features earn the citation, so the strongest programs use both.
Yes, for presence. Wide distribution places your name across many indexed sites, which helps large language models recognize that you exist and what you are known for. That is the signals layer. To become the source an AI cites and trusts, you also need editorial features. The two work together, which is how our AI Visibility plans are built: press-release signals first, editorial features layered on top.
No. Because you write it and pay to distribute it, a press release is owned and paid media. Earned media is coverage a third party chooses to publish about you.
It depends on the goal. Releases are efficient for announcements and volume. Features build credibility, ranking, and long-term authority. Most brands benefit from both, used for different jobs.
Yes. A common approach is to announce news with a release and build authority with earned features, so each does the job it is best at.
Almost never on its own. Forbes editorial and contributor coverage is earned through a genuine story and editorial relationships, not wire distribution. A release can put an announcement on the record, but being featured in Forbes is earned media, and that is a different process.
Get the real thing
Want features, not just releases?
S99 PR does both, and always tells you which. Book a call and we’ll map the coverage that builds real, citable authority for your name.