Back to Basics: Article Directories :)
-
Does anyone do this?
I don't any more but what I used to do is:
Find 20 article directories I thought were good, register to all and note down in a excel sheet.
Generate 1 article (500 words) and make a byline to go with it containing my anchor text link.
I would then systematically go through my excel sheet submitting my article to each one.
2 weeks later repeat the process.
This is something I used to do a few years ago but stopped because it was duplicate content across the directories but I think I was probably going about it the wrong way.
Anyone?
-
Yeah, I'd agree with you. I wouldn't touch traditional article sites. I certainly have nothing against posting content on external sites that are high quality. I have seen, for example, a lot of really good industry-specific "article" sites that have a strong editorial review, high quality standards, and real readers.
Especially for small site, it can definitely be worth posting some good content to quality external sites, whether the site focuses on articles, blog posts, or something else.
-
Like I said something I used to do but stopped purely because its 'crap'.
I still think it is, but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a trick here and actually could benefit from it.
I take it you don't touch it then?
-
Article links - meh.
If they accept crap, your article gets lost in a sea of spun or just low-quality crap. Link juice is so diluted that you might not even get indexed.
If they accept good stuff, think about whether a site called "directory" is really the best spot for it. The answer isn't always no - there are some content networks where you can actually build followers and links around good content.
Re: submitting it 10 times... Google discounts links coming from syndicated or duplicate articles, and it's against the terms on most article directories to submit content that has been published elsewhere. This is why spinning was invented in the first place.
Article Marketing - Mostly a Scam if you want a second opinion.
-
Definitely. I would also suggest varying anchor texts. Think what would be most natural. Don't always get the perfect links
-
Yeah helpful,
So basically your saying:
10 keyword anchor text links + 10 brand links, will benefit rankings more then 20 keyword anchor text links?
-
For any link building profile, they key is diversity of links. If there are lots and lots of Article Directories, Guest Posts, Niche Directories, Blog Comments....in other words too much of any one linking technique and specially anchor text links is a pattern that is easily detectable and stands out from the crowd. We all know links help. We do need links. However, If you lots of article directory links in your back profile and not much of others, I would look into other oppurtunities.
In your words, every 2 weeks, when you want to essentially repeat your process of gaining links...do it...except use a completely different anchor text, maybe don't use anchor text at all...use the domain name, use the brand and so on. And try to use a complete different technique every time.
Invest that time and effort of the 500 words of content into a very useful piece of content and put it on your main-website or as guest blog posts on industry related blogs.
I hope that helps.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Basic Guidelines
Hi, Is there a a place in this website where i can find basic guidelines for how to: for example: How to write a good meta description Whats is important when i am writing a blog(or any other back link source) that would link to my website What is important when creating a site tree etc... Thank you SEOWiseUs
Link Building | | iivgi0 -
Is it safe to submit the same article to multiple sites?
Hello, I am just getting into SEO and I need some guidance with article submissions. I have read in many different places that submitting articles to other sites (EzineArticles, Digg, Etc.) is a great way to build links back to your site. My question is, can I submit articles already posted on our site to these sites or is it best to write new articles?
Link Building | | ScottReinmuth9 -
About Paying 300$ to "Best of The Web Blogs" Directory
Am Planning to pay 300$ to http://blogs.botw.org/ a seomoz recommended directory to get my website listed there plz suggest if this is a wise decision from SEO perspective or not thanks in advance
Link Building | | ksbnok0 -
Should I abandon directories?
To say I'm new to SEO would be an understatement. I am heading up marketing for a firm and they have zero web presence. I've used Alexa.com to check out our competition and one site in particular has about 150 sites linking to it. I dove in deeper and created a spreadsheet. The majority of these links are sketchy, paid directory listings (or what look sketchy to me). The confusing part is, they rank first on Google when I search for industry keywords. Is it because of these directories? Should I follow them or avoid them completely? I'm planning on creating content and pushing that out to reputable industry sites. I figured getting links/mentions from these would help SEO. Should I only target these high value sites or would submitting articles to the directories with "article" sections offer any assistance? It seems as though my SEO knowledge is limited to less-than admirable tactics, although not by choice. I am planning to dive into paid search in the coming weeks but wanted to know of any "ground work" I could do aside from pushing content and paid search. It seems like there are 1,000's of these paid directory sites and I find it hard to believe they will offer me a benefit...it's just the competition is on them and something is working. Sorry this is so remedial, but I need to figure out where to go!
Link Building | | InfabCorporation0 -
What to look for in paid directories
I was looking through some of the directories in the seomoz directory list and a lot of them are paid directories. What should i be looking for to decide if these directories are worth paying for a link? obviously if the page my link is listed on is in fact indexed by google. What about the following questions: 1. what about page rank of the page that it's on? Does that matter? i've heard that one page rank 5 link carries the weight of hundreds of page rank zero links. Is this true? 2. What does it mean if the page rank is unranked? Is it worth paying for a link if the page is old and is unranked? 3. i read in an SEO forum that there are many other things i should look at in a directory besides page rank. Obviously traffic is one but what about other not so obvious things? 4. How many directory links at one time is too many? how many is too many over a long period of time? THanks in advance for your help Mozzers! Ron10
Link Building | | Ron100 -
Why are major directories missing from link report
Why are back links like dir.yahoo.com not listed in the link report for sites that are listed in dir.yahoo.com? For a site with 18 back links and a DA of 28, how much affect, if any, would a paid listing in a directory like yahoo have on the sites DA?
Link Building | | ChristopherGlaeser0 -
Link Directory
I am not an SEO expert by any means, just trying to improve the ranking of my own personal real estate site. Are directory links good for backlinks, or are they a waster of time?
Link Building | | CalgaryRealtor390 -
How does Google interpret articles or prepositions in languages where it's attached to the (key)word?
Hi, All! This is for any foreign language SEOs where articles or prepostitions such as "the" "to" "in" or anything else are actually part of the word they are modifying and not a separate word, as in English: How does Google understand those words on-page and in anchor text? If you want to optimize for the word "house", and your content/anchor text says "the house" or "in the house" (again, all one word) - what does Google count that as? Does it count toward "house"? Does it count toward "in the house" only? Does it count toward "house" but not as much as if you had just put "house"? I end up sometimes writing slightly grammatically-off content because I want to optimize for the keyphrase - but is that necessary? Obviously different languages might be different, but you can probably project a little from one to the others. Thanks in advance!
Link Building | | debi_zyx0