Articles Submissions - does it take away from unique content?

[KeyDegree]

I know that unique content on your site is the major first step in developing a legitimate, search engine optimized site. I have many copy written, unique articles on my site which aids in my unique content goal. However, here is my question: By submitting these articles to article directories, does that in turn make my content, although it legally is mine, non-unique because now my content is being reproduced all over the web? Is it better to submit articles that I do not put on my site? or does it not matter? Thank you for any advice.

I searched the Daniweb archives for some info on this and did not find an answer to my specific question, so I do apologize if this question is redundant.

[stymiee]

Don't bother. Article submissions are dead. Thanks to duplicate content being filtered out by Google and possibly the other search engines those articles being republished on other websites will be virtually worthless. They won't be found in searches and thus will generate little traffic to send to your site. They will have little to no PR as no one will be finding them to link to them so you won't be getting any PR. Since they are filtered out as duplicate content links from them have virtually no weight whatsoever.

If you are going to write articles your best bet is to make them high quality and publish them on your website only. That way you get all of the credit (i.e. links and PR) and make yourself look like an authority on the topic your website is about.

[KeyDegree]

Stymiee, Thank you so much for your input. You always have wonderful information.

[bobchrist]

I agree with stymiee, best to use your article to your site or blog rather than throwing it to garbage.

[Hilton paris]

yeah,article content should be unique.Keyword rich and check the keyword density too
If we copy the content from other site,google spam your site ,sometimes it will be banned your site. Do article submission in ezines article,it is frequently cached .and there are other article submission sites too.
Please avoid duplicate content.

[beamup]

When doing article Submission, try using different anchor text, titles and variation of content. This will help you gain good PR and traffic too.

[microtekblue]

i have noticed when i keep my articles on my site, i rank better for them. i tried to write articles and submit, then the article was ranking higher than me. for my own article!

[beamup]

Maybe the page you submitted your article is of Higher PR than yours??

[KeyDegree]

I have the articles on the site but no rank to be found! I am at a lose, lol

[010081]

nope its better to put your articles in your own site.you could better submit to social bookmarking sites.this will generate links and traffic.

[stymiee]

Just keep in mind that those links will have no search engine value since they use nofollow on external links.

[WebDave]

Nowadays, there are hardly any article submissions done. Online trends change too quickly and one has to keep himself updated with it.

[KeyDegree]

I agree, there more reading i do on article submission the more i realize how dead it is. Its funny how one trend can be the big thing and everyone jumsp on it, and the next minute everyhting changes!

Always have to be on the ball in this industry.

[guinanie]

it is better to put article in your own website or different page from your site. it will help boost traffic from your site. but i think article submission is still important because it gives relevant information from our site. i think it is better to create article for your blog than to article submission. Article for blog is easy to indexed in the search engine than article submission. You need to wait for approval because it was seen in the search engine.

[Hirohurl]

It is a great idea to write your own articles and stick them on your site. It is not such a good idea to send the EXACT SAME articles to other sites for the reasons already discussed here.

HOWEVER, once you have written an original article it is not difficult to make a whole series of small tweaks and changes in word-choice, word order, sentence structure, as well as changing the title and then submitting THAT modified article to the article directories. Once you get used to doing it, you can modify an article several times over - also, as you work on a new version of the article, new ideas occur to you and so you can work them into the new version of your article.

The hard work is writing the FIRST version!

Another way to go about it would be to write the first version around a certain set of keywords and then choose a second set of related but different keywords for the second version and work them into it. That will automatically cause you to rewrite the article to accomodate the new keywords.

I don't think it is a case of "either original content on site OR article submission", but rather a case of "original content on site AND modified article submission"...

Finally, if you submit to the better article directories, real people really do look at your articles and click through to your site, so no matter what the spiders are doing, you still get people to your site by submitting original articles!:icon_smile:

[KenNadreau]

I know that unique content on your site is the major first step in developing a legitimate, search engine optimized site. I have many copy written, unique articles on my site which aids in my unique content goal. However, here is my question: By submitting these articles to article directories, does that in turn make my content, although it legally is mine, non-unique because now my content is being reproduced all over the web? Is it better to submit articles that I do not put on my site? or does it not matter? Thank you for any advice.

I searched the Daniweb archives for some info on this and did not find an answer to my specific question, so I do apologize if this question is redundant.

If you're submitting the same articles that are on your site, you are in essence "shooting yourself in the foot," because you're putting your site into direct competition with the article directories who normally have a very high page rank.

It's far better to write a separate article for submission purposes.

One suggestion I make all the time is, to write an in depth article with detailed information for your site, then write another article with more of a "whet your whistle" slant that leads into it for submission. This way you're creating an interest in the topic with a link back to the article on your site with the greater content value.

This creates a logical flow whereas you start with interest through your submitted article, which leads to a navigation to your site for more information, which then leads to your readers being impressed enough to follow your recommendations and buy something from you :)

[mackone]

I agree with others here, make sure the article, as it appears on your site, is rewritten sufficiently to avoid any duplicate content penalty.

[KenNadreau]

I agree with others here, make sure the article, as it appears on your site, is rewritten sufficiently to avoid any duplicate content penalty.

Well you might want to reconsider "rewrites" too!

The idea is to lead people from the article directories to your site and then to purchasing something from you. If the article on your site is just a rewrite of the article on the directory, you're more likely to frustrate your readers who were interested enough to click on the link in your bio box to see what else you had to say on the subject.

If you say the same thing, or make the same points in both articles, your readers may conclude they were either conned into clicking, or that you really don't know anything further.

It's better to write an article for the directories that raises questions about your topic, and then give the answers in the article on your site. Then the ultimate solution could be the link to your product.

[ahmedwali]

Hi

Article submission is very effective way to lift your website. It should not be copy paste from someone else material. Mostly articles are helpful for others.

<snip fake signature>

[wmsolutions]

Hi,

All of the things you see mentioned here are good points.

One other very important concept is to start here:

You cannot get any one article (webpage) to fulfill all functions equally well. You need to choose what you are trying to accomplish with each article you produce:

1) Are you AIMING for Google Rank with that Article...?

OR...

2) Are you Getting that Article in front of people who are already there (different websites that have their own readers, already)?

You can't have both, so per article, decide the goal before you even write it.

How you think about it:

a) IF you are aiming for Rank... then do keyword volume searches (by using, for instance, the 'Keyword Playground' Tool at Webconfs. If you do that, you will find Keywords that have good or great traffic. Then do a Google search to see who the top entrants are. Then do a Keyword Density search on that page using a tool like oy-oy 'dot eu' on the top entrants. This tells you the keyword density that the top entrants use now. Make sure to stick with a keyword density of no more than 8%, and use the main keywords in combinations at least as many times (14, or 28, or however many needed) to get your content optimized. Make sure that your page has the right title, description, and url-extension keyword usage to blend all those elements of the ranking process.

THEN write your article... knowing that you need to have at least [25 or however many] instances of that phrase... no more than 8% keyword density... name the page right, use the right title and description... and finally, have links to other pages on that page which relate to that theme at different angles. Optimize those pages too, and link them together, and therefore the whole set of pages will all work together to support each other for rank.

The best way to accomplish that whole thing is to write a 'long' page first... going over aspects of the theme, and then break it into pages (related content) which you will each optimize (titles and such).

OR...

b) IF... you want to write about something that is being discussed in various forums or on various blogs, directories, etc. a great deal, then don't worry about optimization at all. Instead, write the 'human' message for those 'human' readers which are in those places already. Make sure they all have some route to your website for more info.

Now... notice that these are entirely different approaches to writing articles which each serve a direct function. You cannot fulfill the 'human' and 'rank' functions TOGETHER with the same article. The chances of hitting THAT nail on the head is way too slight. So...

Write for humans (on the one hand. Don't care whether those writings rank at all).

And on the other hand, produce optimized pages for your own website... and absolutely do the math first, before you start, so that those articles WILL rank.

Hope you find this helpful!

[KenNadreau]

"You cannot fulfill the 'human' and 'rank' functions TOGETHER with the same article. "

I have to disagree to some point with this. In the "old days" when keyword count was all that mattered to the search engines, this would be true. But now the search engines are more keen toward latent value of the content.

So the search engines are just as interested in finding good content with good information in it to display in their listings, as a reader would be in finding answers.

And this is the real point to all the algorithm changes Google makes. They want "organic" searches which they can display viable information for. They're wise to keyword stuffing and all the other gray hat SEO tricks. So they want the good stuff to show people.

This puts ranking on an even par with reader draw. So write for readers and the search engines will follow.

[wmsolutions]

Ah, you bring up an excellent point:

Keyword stuffing and black hat techniques are bad ideas, certainly.

But keyword density will absolutely help.

The difference I am trying to indicate might make more sense in an example like this:

If you're trying to sell a self-help book, then these are two concepts:

1) You're writing for 'humans'... because you're going to get your article published somewhere where readers are. In that case, you might go with a title like: 'Life a like a bowl of cherries...'

This could bring the readers directly, because you're appealing to them with analogies, concepts, constructs, examples and so forth that draw the relationship to your theme.

But your theme, in this case, is 'self-help'... 'self help book'... 'helping yourself grow'... etc.

Google can't be expected naturally to understand the relationship on your page of 'self help' and 'book' to the following: 'bowl', 'cherries', 'life', or 'like.'

And that is where it matters what you're trying to produce, and how you use wording.

If someone searches Google for...?

self help book and self help (and you want to first check and see how many folks do search for these, before you bother to write a topic you aim to get organic ranking on), then you will absolutely want to make sure that your natural writing includes those phrases... and instances of those words... and clearly-related variants of those words... as often as you can (density). Yes, write naturally. But use the right wording. Minimize the examples and analogies; put those on the next page, or create a landing page that is meant to be optimized that opens to the next page, where you can then continue with ideas like 'Life is like a Bowl of Cherries' (this being the second page... the one you're not trying to optimize).

When you see cases where perfectly natural writing (non-optimized) is being ranked highly, it's usually because either the writer has struck on a theme that is quite unique in relation to the related searches, and strikes home directly. However, that's extremely tough to find a market for anyway... you might have a page like that as a reference on your site to help your readers see your expertise, etc.

But otherwise, what can drive that page to the top is the amount of traffic coming to it from... self-help blogs, directories, etc. Google counts that kind of traffic, if Google can SEE that take place.

This is why it's very important to use Google Analytics on your webpages, because that is the best way for Google to SEE where your visitors are coming from. If it SEES visitors coming to your 'Life is like a Bowl of Cherries' page from various self-help avenues, then Google can say 'oh, I see... this page has to do with 'self-help.'

And how Google knows THAT is by doing the math on the keyword density and other page checks for those incoming clicks.

Keyword stuffing, by itself, is a bad idea. Even if you get a spike in traffic as the robots first submit your pages, those pages will later be dropped like rocks from the front page of... basically anything. ;)

[x3mario]

Hi

Article submission is very effective way to lift your website. It should not be copy paste from someone else material. Mostly articles are helpful for others.

<snip fake signature>

Not all the time.

[brandmantra]

write articles in your own words, then the chance of approval will be maximum which automatically effects your result in terms or serp or backlinks

[wmsolutions]

The ultimate issue is that any one webpage can only be optimized for a handful of keywords/keyphrases.

And Google does not like duplicate content, which causes the tendency to need to create content on the fly.

Yet, the websites that get the most traffic have the most pages, and by that, we mean 1,000's of webpages; more often, 10,000's and more.

We've been working on some intriguing methods to handle automate mass content creation at the touch of a button, while still working within Google's requirements of unique content, as well as not overloading (creating a great number of pages within a short period).

It's interesting to study this kind of thing.

For instance, if you're selling: 'the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog', then someone can find you for a search on some of those terms (quick brown fox, lazy dog, jumped over)

... But, most folks don't know exactly what they're searching for when they start a search. So most of your market types phrases you don't have in play, such as 'fast fox', or 'rapid fox' ... 'sprang over' or 'leapt over'... 'tired dog' or 'exhausted mongrel.'

Ultimately, the most under-utilized, yet valuable, resource is the diversity lost when creating a page of content.

The way to deal with that is to learn how to use all the combinations that Google will want to crawl/index, to 'fill the holes' in phrase search types. Targeting mainstream keywords and keyphrases comes naturally when you have 1,000's of unique, keyword-optimized webpages (which can be generated overnight for anything, and sorted for uniqueness)... because all your pages will still carry the running themes (main keywords you're after) throughout.

Anyway, we've had some excellent fun with these models... it's fascinating stuff!

I took one website with about 450 webpages, and generated an additional 32,900 pages for them. The resulting visitor traffic was so pronounced that this company couldn't handle the new distribution channel demands. We actually had to TAKE DOWN the pages so that they could figure out how to upscale their customer service, embroidery machine and manpower, the number of folks they had to box the goods, and how to order their apparel from China in much larger shipments.

Wild how one thing affects another, at any rate...!

So Article Submissions can certainly do the trick, if organized into a massive, comprehensive folder structure where Google clearly understands the organization and can follow the logic (and the main keywords/keyphrases!!) from IB/OB page to IB/OB page.

For me, anyway... really interesting stuff!

[Flower]

Add your articles in website and promote from their by bookmark them and place the article address in different promotional areas.

[alicebstn9]

well now backlick from article is almost dead.It doesnt help in getting PR but help to get limited visitors...

[articlemaster9]

Backlink from articles still work as long as the content is unique and is not indexed as duplicate.
Its better to shuffle the title, content and anchor text as well.

[shivanikapoor]

Article should be with appropriate and amount of useful keywords and can be posted in social bookmarking sites for generating traffic

[kylelmoon]

Articles are a great way to produce one way backlinks to your main site. You get higher vots with one way links.
Good luck!