What should I look for when choosing a good article directory for SEO purposes?

[Madlena]

I have been writing SEO content for blogs for the past year or so, but I am fairly new to article directories.

With SEO in mind, what makes a particular article directory valuable?  Currently I'm using EzineArticles and Squidoo; I liked Ezine in particular because of their thorough review process.  I saw that recently Squidoo also amped up their  checks for original content as a result of Google's stricter policies.

I was interested in using HubPages also since they are good about reviewing content.  I'm just curious how much factors like this reflect on an article directory SEO-wise.  Are there any additional factors that set a a good article directory apart?

[maestrosonrisas]

Anyone knows good submission directories but in Spanish language

[Chris.Menke]

The goal is to identify the audience, learn who their influencers are, create content that meets their needs as prospective customers, and which promotes sharing.  You have to be tuned in to the audience and you have to be tuned in to the business objectives and you have to be tuned in to the product to get the most out of content.

[ditoroin]

Chris, did you mean promoting the content?

[Mike_Davis]

I couldn't agree with this more.  The whole concept of "if you build it they will come" doesn't work 99% of the time.  A good content strategy requires a good social strategy.  They work hand in hand.

Well said Chris!

[Chris.Menke]

Remember Madlena, everyone says "It's all about good content" but what it's really all about is the social engagement that happens when good content reaches the right audience.  If you're not spending as much time working to get your content in front of the site's specific audience as you are writing the articles, you'll not achieve the results you're looking for out of that that content.

[ditoroin]

There are really few article submission websites which are useful. Some good ones are: EzineArticles, GoArticles, ArticleCity, SooperArticles

Keep in mind, that some of them does not allow to put links in the article, some of them add "nofollow" to your links, some allow to insert no more than 1-2 links in the article body etc.

Some of them require to post unique articles, for example Sooperarticles.com

Value of these web-sites might be that you will have some high PR backlinks and additional traffic source, if your articles are really useful.