Why Press Releases Get Rejected: 8 Reasons From the Review Desk

We review every press release submitted to Concierge Press Wire before it publishes, and we reject a meaningful share of them. Almost always for the same handful of reasons. This is that list, written from the review side, so you can fix the problem before you submit rather than after.

1. There is no news in it

The most common rejection by a wide margin. A release that announces your company exists, that your service is excellent, or that your website has been redesigned is not an announcement. Nothing changed.

The test: could a stranger read the headline and say what happened, on what date? If the answer is no, there is nothing to publish yet.

What passes instead: a launch, funding, an acquisition, a named partnership, a senior appointment, a licence or certification, an award, an expansion, or original data you are publishing.

2. It is an advertisement wearing a press release costume

Second person, calls to action, pricing tables, “contact us today”, “our team is passionate about”. These are marketing copy, not news writing, and they are visible in the first paragraph.

A press release is written in the third person throughout, except inside direct quotes. It reports; it does not sell. If your release tells the reader to do something, rewrite it.

3. Claims with nothing behind them

“Leading provider”, “world-class”, “revolutionary”, “industry’s best”. Every reviewer has read these ten thousand times, and they signal the opposite of what the writer intends: that there is no fact strong enough to state plainly.

The same applies to statistics with no source. If you cite a market size, a growth rate or a survey, name where it came from. Your own internal data is fine, as long as you say it is yours and how it was measured.

Rule of thumb: delete every adjective you could not defend if challenged. What survives is the release.

4. It was written to carry a link

Recognisable immediately: a thin announcement wrapped around three or four keyword-rich anchor texts pointing at commercial pages, often to unrelated sites.

One link to your website is normal. Two, if the second genuinely supports a fact. Anything beyond that, or anchor text that reads like a search query rather than a company name, gets the release rejected. Links to gambling, adult or unrelated commercial sites are rejected outright.

5. Unedited AI output

We are not against using AI as a drafting tool. We reject first drafts that were never edited, and they have a texture that is easy to spot: every paragraph the same length, transitions like “in today’s fast-paced landscape”, confident sentences with no specific facts in them, and a conclusion that restates the introduction.

The fix is not to avoid AI. It is to put your actual numbers, dates and names into the draft and cut everything that survives without them.

6. The quote says nothing

“We are excited to announce this milestone in our journey” will not be quoted by anyone, and it is a wasted paragraph in a document that only has five.

A usable quote contains a decision, a number, or an admission. “We were turning away contracts because we had no room” is quotable. Enthusiasm is not.

7. Missing the basics

Mechanical, easily avoided, and still frequent:

• No dateline — city and date belong at the start
• No company boilerplate — three or four sentences on what the company does
• No named contact, or only a generic inbox
• No image, or one that is a logo on white where a photograph was needed
• Wrong length — under 300 words usually means the detail is missing; over 800 means padding

8. It is already published somewhere else

Submitting identical text to many sites was standard practice once. It produces a set of duplicate pages that add nothing, and we check. Publishing the same release on your own blog first has the same effect.

If you want the release on your own site too, publish it after distribution and link to the published version.

A ten-second pre-submission check

1. Does the headline say what happened?
2. Does the first paragraph work as a complete story on its own?
3. Is there at least one number a reader could verify?
4. Would a person actually say the quote out loud?
5. Are there two links or fewer?
6. Is there a named contact with a monitored inbox?

Six yeses and it will almost certainly publish.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if my press release is rejected?

If we reject a submission for a guidelines breach, you receive a full refund within five to seven business days through your original payment method. You are told the reason, so you can fix it and resubmit rather than guess.

Can I use AI to write my press release?

Yes, as a drafting tool. What gets rejected is unedited output: uniform paragraphs, generic transitions and confident sentences containing no specific facts. Put your real numbers, dates and names in, cut anything that reads fine without them, and it will pass.

How many links can a press release include?

One to your website is standard, two if the second supports a specific fact. More than that, or anchor text that reads like a search query, means the release was written to carry links and it will be rejected.

Do free submissions get reviewed as strictly as paid ones?

Yes. The same editors apply the same standard, and free submissions are rejected for the same reasons. The difference between the tiers is publishing speed, link type, images and how long the page stays live, not the editorial bar.

Can I republish the release on my own website?

Publish it after distribution rather than before, and link to the published version. Posting identical text on your own site first creates duplicate pages and can cause the submission to be rejected as already published.

Ready to submit

If your release clears the six checks above, it is ready. Submit a press release, start on the free tier if you want to test the process first, or see what each plan adds on the pricing page.