Pros and Cons of Links in Articles
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My question pertains to articles that I'll be submitting to certain article directory sites.
What are the pros and cons (If any exists) of adding links to the body of an article for certain keywords vs. just adding a link to the website at the bottom (i.e. visit us at www.somewebsite.com) ?
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There are no pros of using article directories. Short term gains might look like a pro, but they aren't.
Value in these sources of links has gone down over the years, and they'll continue to slide. A better use of your time might be with publishing a few selective guest posts on related sites. With regards to your question, use links wherever it feels natural. If the link is forced or looks out of place, you probably shouldn't be doing it.
...and remember the links you use, don't all have to be pointing to your site alone.
I did a guest post recently which was later re-published on Forbes. In addition to my own, I linked to two other sites which I was not affiliated with. One of them emailed me to say thanks and I took the opportunity to ask for a link from his PR6 site which I got. I emailed the other one, and after several exchanges it was clear that the only thing that moves him to link out is money. So there ya go.
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