Online Marketing – Are Article Directories Good For Backlinking After The Google Update?

After the latest Google Search Engine Algorithm update, Article Directories (AD) are seen in a negative light by Internet Marketers (IM’ers). It was said that all AD are classified as content farms, therefore have low quality and irrelevant content to Google.

Many blamed their article submissions to AD were the main cause of their sites getting de-indexed as well as the greatest factor for the dramatic drop in Search Engine Results Page ranking.The impact of which, had severely affected their online income.

IM’ers were angry and frustrated. As a result, the backlinking value from AD was downgraded by many IM’ers. What this mean is a lost in faith towards all AD. To them, the values and benefits of AD in Online Marketing have vaporized.

Some popular assumptions by IM’ers are:

– Google will not index articles in AD

– Google will undervalue backlinks from AD

– Google totally ignores any links that come from AD.

The last time I checked on Top 50 AD ( May 12, 2011 ) – EzineArticles stands at PR6, Squidoo has PR7 and Hubpages at PR6. Many other AD have PR4 or better. Alexa rankings for the 3 mentioned AD are less than 1,500. The rest have Alexa ranking at less than 100,000.

What does the above indicate?

– AD are still relevant and valued by Google.

– There are still millions of visitors to AD.

– AD are spidered and indexed by Google.

To reaffirm the 3 points above, use analytic tools in Quantcast, Alexa, Google Adplanner and SEMRush. See for yourself.

Google is about RELEVANCY. So if your articles are relevant and unique, there are no reasons for not submitting them to AD. Submit to at least 40 of them and get great backlinking PR juice.

By submitting to AD, you know for sure that your articles are posted and grouped in relevant CATEGORIES. This is important.

Let me share with you how organic and relevant AD are to Search Engines, no matter what people are saying. When you submitted articles to AD:-

1. Your articles are permanently there

2. Your articles are continuously indexed by Search Engines

3. Your articles sit in the right and relevant categories

4. Your articles are sent to thousands of relevant AD subscribers

5. Your articles are sent to thousands of relevant RSS subscribers

6. Your articles are syndicated as content to authority websites

7. Your articles are picked up by interested humans and posted on their Blogs, Blog Networks, Autoblogs, Sites, Yahoo Groups and Forums. Very viral.

8. Then RSS, Blogs, Sites, Yahoo Groups and Forums are continuously indexed by Search Engines.

So, submitting to AD will build real organic value for your content, as long as the content are unique and relevant. The question of duplicate content policy does not arise, when the interest of people towards your content are more relevant to Google and other Search Engines.

In conclusion, Article Directories will transform your articles into highly viral assets for organic growth and high value backlinking properties.