📋 Why Releases Get Held or Rejected

Every press release submitted for distribution goes through an automated quality check, with manual review for anything flagged — typically within 24 business hours. Understanding the rules below explains most rejection or hold cases customers ask about.

✍️ Format Requirements

Headline: under 80 characters, with an active verb and subject, accurately reflecting the content, and genuinely newsworthy.
Summary: 1–2 sentences, distinct from the opening paragraph.
Body: 400–2,500 words, written in third person with an objective, news-style tone — not written like an ad or sales letter, and not posed as a series of questions.
Images: up to 3 per release, each under 200KB, in jpg/png/gif format only.
Links: capped at 1 per 200 words, must resolve correctly, and no more than what's needed for a natural news piece — no link stuffing, hidden links, or affiliate/cloaked links.
The release must state the originating city (usually the company's HQ location), and email addresses cannot appear in the body text.

🚫 Common Rejection Reasons

Reads like an advertisement rather than genuine news — promotional language, discounts/coupons/sales language, or a "why you should buy this" angle.
Duplicate or near-duplicate content — submitting the same release (or a lightly reworded version) more than once. The original must be removed before resubmitting, and duplicates already sent into the system are still billed.
Unverifiable or misleading claims about the company, a sponsor, or a third party, or content alleging illegal/unethical behavior or threatening legal action against another party.
Topics that are restricted outright, including: loans, cannabis/CBD/vaping products, gambling, escort/adult content, political or religious advocacy, cryptocurrency promotion, unregistered stock tickers, device unlocking/jailbreaking, and pure opinion/speculation pieces.
Non-newsworthy announcements — a plain website or blog launch with no real news angle typically won't qualify.

⚖️ What Happens After Submission

Content must be legal to publish in all 50 US states. A release that's denied for a content violation still incurs its distribution fee — there's no refund for a rejected submission.
Once distributed, content can still be removed later if it's found to violate guidelines, and individual distribution partners may also remove it independently.
Repeated rule violations can lead to account suspension, and unused credits aren't refunded in that case.

🧭 Keeping This Separate from Search Atlas's Own PR Feature

These content rules apply to press releases distributed through Signal Genesys — which is also what powers Search Atlas's own Authority Building > PR Distribution feature behind the scenes, so the same standards apply whether a customer submits through Signal Genesys directly or through the Search Atlas dashboard.

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.