Case Study: Buzzle vs EZA vs Goarticles

[Charles Washington]

I did a case study last week where I took a topic and one keyword phrase. I wrote three distinct articles, with nothing in common so they would all be 100% unique. I submitted one article to Buzzle (1st time) one to EZA and one to goarticles.

I was surprised at the results. The Buzzle offer was indexed first and indexed on page 4. EZA was 2nd to get indexed and indexed on page 3. However, after the EZA article was indexed, the Buzzle article moved to page 2. The goarticle, even though it was the first to go live (no manual review) has yet to be indexed.

Buzzle is kicking some butt, and both Buzzle and EZA have been holding steady for 5 days with no backlinks. I did social bookmark the goarticle to try to get indexed, still nothing.

Next thing is to see which directory responds better to bookmarking, Buzzle or EZA. So far I am pleased with Buzzle as this is my first attempt with them. The downside is, I am not getting any clickthroughs. The Buzzle layout doesn't seem friendly for getting clicks.

I will run some backlink tests this week and see what happens.

[SurviveUnemployment]

I get lots of clicks from Buzzle, and the articles go to PR2 quickly with little/no effort. The links aren't watered down by having 8 million other links on the page, too. The link juice from Buzzle is way better.

[Alexa Smith]

Buzzle is of absolutely no value at all to me, as an article marketer, because it's the one article directory which won't publish work that's already been published and indexed on my own site (and I'm hardly likely to submit original, unique content there in preference to publishing it on my own site! ).

EZA and Goarticles are of hugely different values to me, not because of anything to do with how quickly or on which SERP's page they get ranked, but because work that I submit to EZA gradually gets widely syndicated by others on authority websites, which brings me gradually increasing quality backlinks, traffic, opt-ins and sales from work already done. That comparatively rarely happens with Goarticles. For me, that's where the real money is, in article marketing; in financial terms, it's the factor that eclipses all others.

I do use Goarticles very consistently as well, but far less successfully in terms of long-term income (and that's always my measurement yardstick, because I'm doing this to make a living and build up my business).

Looking forward to reading the further developments of your comparisons.

[cashcow]

Thank for the case study!

I find that Buzzle articles are usually good rankers and typically beat out EZA. I do get click from them, but of course, their version of a "resource box" is a bit lacking.

Lee

[FredJones]

Being a SEO guy, I have some insight to share on GoArticles. LEaving out Buzzle and EZA - I do not use buzzle in the SEO sense and do not have the right kind of experience, and EZA is something that many of us know well enough, including the fact that they do great as initial indexes and then need some fight to do SEO.

GoArticles used to be exactly the opposite of EZA for me. In GA, it would take a bit of time to start moving, but it would eventually react to backlinks in a great manner - better than EZA - till 2-3 months back.

But...

Suddenly, in the last 2-3 months, I have seen many of my GoArticles suddenly fall in ranking. In fact, I have lost some #1 slots that I had held with GA. These ones are still on the first page with just 1 exception, but in general I have observed a sudden degradation in my old GA ranks. There is no fresh GA that I am working on at the moment - so shall not be able to comment on how they would work - whether they are still the same as they used to be - but I believe this is an interesting observation and there may be some other Warriors who may have experienced this (or I don't know - am I the only one?)...

[Heuristic]

I've been using Buzzle for about 8 months and I have to say that my few dozen articles are doing well in the SERPs. Actually, just as good as EZA (if not better) I would say.

They are definitely a hidden gem.

However, I still prefer EZA because, as you mentioned, the clickthroughs are higher.

Another bonus is that my Buzzle articles are quick to get some PR (without backlinking). A few are already at PR2. It's nice to have those kind of links pointing back to my sites

[Natlex]

Hmmm I somehow had gotten a PR4 page on ezine on one of my first articles when I joined "IM" back in march before the first google PR update I ever saw.

Sadly their hasn't been a PR update since then so I can't see how my buzzle articles are doing ( only started submitting after) but they definitely both get indexed quickly. In my experience go articles get indexed but it might take a month or so. It's odd how slow it is (even with backlinks pointing to it) but I find it DOES get indexed eventually.

[truesouth]

Try Snipsly...


Fernando.

[johnmags]

Thanks for sharing your results. Whether you like it or not, EZA still the best way get sales. How about changing Goarticles to Articlebase which is much better in terms of getting indexed. Either way, EZA still the best when it comes to CTR even if I got more views in articlebase than eza.

Cheers

[Charles Washington]

Originally Posted by johnmags

Thanks for sharing your results. Whether you like it or not, EZA still the best way get sales. How about changing Goarticles to Articlebase which is much better in terms of getting indexed. Either way, EZA still the best when it comes to CTR even if I got more views in articlebase than eza.

Cheers

I dont know. My Buzzle article is killing it. It is getting the views, but I didnt really make a resource box. As it was my first article there, I didnt really know how. I just added a link at the bottom of the article.

I am going to do this on a larger scale tomorrow. I am going to do 5 and 5 and see if it was just that one keyword phrase. And, I will make a resource box for my Buzzle cuz that thing is getting crazy views. Not one clickthrough.

On another note. I now have 2 people who published ny EZA article, but havent found that stat in Buzzle, yet.

[J Bold]

Why not do it on articlesbase, as well? When I think of the major few directories I always think of articlesbase.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Some of my students who are heavily into article marketing are enjoying tremendous benefits from Buzzle. In some cases, Buzzle is kicking EZA's butt for them.

[King Shiloh]

Charles,

I really need more results from your case study. I'm really interested because I'm about to embark on an intensive and extensive article marketing journey.

[CaliChristian]

Anyone ever use Articles Factory?

[misterhu]

The good thing about buzzle is they quality of articles they can like. In fact, they can be considered as little Wikipedia depending on the topic. And of course, Ezine is the top ranking but utilizing these other sites can give you more edge since you want to get the most number of links to your blog.

[calfred]

Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery

I dont know. My Buzzle article is killing it. It is getting the views, but I didnt really make a resource box. As it was my first article there, I didnt really know how. I just added a link at the bottom of the article.

I am going to do this on a larger scale tomorrow. I am going to do 5 and 5 and see if it was just that one keyword phrase. And, I will make a resource box for my Buzzle cuz that thing is getting crazy views. Not one clickthrough.

On another note. I now have 2 people who published ny EZA article, but havent found that stat in Buzzle, yet.

Yes. That seems to be exactly the case for me too.

It is weird. Scrapers don't want to scrape a good quality 600-word content?

[entrepreneurjay]

Pay for the Warriorforum article directory its like $60 bucks one time fee. I bet the Warriorforum kicks all their butts.

Also try articlesbase.com they rank highly.

[SeanIM]

Buzzle does get some love from the Mothership (Google)...I've seen this in a few markets.

[UdoMeerkerk]

GA and EZA are definitely top notch article directories we all like to use here. Keep an eye on articlelinksdirectory.com too, they seem to submit faster than any other directories and you can submit as many articles as you want. Never ran into any fuzz on their site.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery

I now have 2 people who published ny EZA article, but havent found that stat in Buzzle, yet.

You'll find it'll stay that way, I think.

And that stat's the one the money depends on.

I submit to 6 or 7 different directories, but it's almost invariably the EZA copy that gets syndicated (I check carefully).

And since the syndication is where the real, long-term money is, in article marketing, that's why so many professional article marketers are using EZA on a daily basis (after publishing our content on our own sites first, of course) and staying well away from Buzzle.

[samjaynz]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

You'll find it'll stay that way, I think.

And that stat's the one the money depends on.

I submit to 6 or 7 different directories, but it's almost invariably the EZA copy that gets syndicated (I check carefully).

And since the syndication is where the real, long-term money is, in article marketing, that's why so many professional article marketers are using EZA on a daily basis (after publishing our content on our own sites first, of course) and staying well away from Buzzle.

What you say about EZA being the directory that gets your content syndicated the most is pretty spot on.

However, it seems recently that a lot of my Buzzle articles are being picked up rather quickly and syndicated, some to quite well-ranking websites. Not only that, but I can beat virtually any EZA in search engine ranking, just needs a little bit of hard work. I'm certainly no EZA hater- in fact I've got 500+ articles, and 1 million+ views there, and I would recommend it to anybody, but don't you just slightly get that feeling that due to all the spammy content, excessive adsense advertising, and inconsistent application of editing rules, its "on its last legs" so to speak?

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by samjaynz

don't you just slightly get that feeling that due to all the spammy content, excessive adsense advertising, and inconsistent application of editing rules, its "on its last legs" so to speak?

I probably share all your reservations about EZA, and then some; but I don't think it's on its last legs, by any stretch of the imagination. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that their ever-progressing editorial policies are improving, the average quality of their content very gradually improving, and their business appears to me to be flourishing more than it was both one year and two years ago.

Their AdSense, I grant you, is a whole Other Story.

I can tolerate all their quirks, eccentricities and drawbacks, though, for the syndication. That brings me gradually increasing high quality backlinks, targeted traffic, opt-ins and sales from work already done and already indexed on my own sites first, which is what build my business.

To me, article marketing is about thinking well beyond article directories, and "paradoxically" (though not really) EZA is one of the routes for my work to get well beyond article directories.

At the same time, I try not to be too dependent on any one third-party service, and to ensure that my own business could continue to prosper if they disappeared tomorrow.

I'm interested by what you say about syndication from Buzzle, though - albeit not willing, myself, to submit unique, unpublished content there: that's for my own sites, not for other people's.

[samjaynz]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I probably share all your reservations about EZA, and then some; but I don't think it's on its last legs, by any stretch of the imagination. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that their ever-progressing editorial policies are improving, the average quality of their content very gradually improving, and their business appears to me to be flourishing more than it was both one year and two years ago.

Their AdSense, I grant you, is a whole Other Story.

I can tolerate all their quirks, eccentricities and drawbacks, though, for the syndication. That brings me gradually increasing high quality backlinks, targeted traffic, opt-ins and sales from work already done and already indexed on my own sites first, which is what build my business.

To me, article marketing is about thinking well beyond article directories, and "paradoxically" (though not really) EZA is one of the routes for my work to get well beyond article directories.

At the same time, I try not to be too dependent on any one third-party service, and to ensure that my own business could continue to prosper if they disappeared tomorrow.

I'm interested by what you say about syndication from Buzzle, though - albeit not willing, myself, to submit unique, unpublished content there: that's for my own sites, not for other people's.

I haven't really paid huge amounts of attention to EZA recently, instead focusing more on guest blog posts and niche directories etc, so perhaps its time for me to go back and check on quality of content (geez, I feel like some government inspector saying that)

What used to really frustrate me was when I had articles rejected for apparently no reason (can't remember what it was called, but you had to contact support for more information about why the article was rejected) Then I saw 250 word articles with terrible grammar and spelling, that were basically just a long advert, getting through.

If you don't mind my asking, do you have any tips you could share to help increase the rate at which my articles are syndicated?

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by samjaynz

perhaps its time for me to go back and check on quality of content (geez, I feel like some government inspector saying that)

There's still some "old junk" there, but as they explain on their blog, there are thousands of articles which were accepted under older editorial guidelines which wouldn't get in now. But the stricter and better the editorial standards are, the more the average quality will improve. It just takes time. (In other words: there's still a lot of crap there, too!).

Originally Posted by samjaynz

What used to really frustrate me was when I had articles rejected for apparently no reason (can't remember what it was called, but you had to contact support for more information about why the article was rejected) Then I saw 250 word articles with terrible grammar and spelling, that were basically just a long advert, getting through.

Less so now, I think, but I do hear you. Given their size and the quantity they're publishing, it's not easy for them to be consistent in their application of their own editorial guidelines. And they're certainly not. To be honest, I've never really had mysterious rejections, but I do know my way around their policies pretty well and write accordingly. But I hear a lot of people complaining about apparent inconsistencies too, so I don't doubt there's something in what you say.

Originally Posted by samjaynz

If you don't mind my asking, do you have any tips you could share to help increase the rate at which my articles are syndicated?

1. Write 800 - 1,200 words (lots of people want to fill their space easily and quickly without patching together a lot of short articles: make it easy for them - I earn a lot more from a 1,000-word article than I do from two 500-word ones, even though two 500-word ones have twice as many resource-boxes!);

2. Write to entertain (lots of people want to syndicate articles that will entertain their readers and/or make them laugh out loud);

3. Be controversial, contrarian and especially iconoclastic (lots of people want to syndicate material that will start off a heated discussion on their sites/blogs, because that always increases their own viewing-figures: controversy sells).

[Randy Daugherty]

I really appreciate your act of doing this analysis...Kudos for you!..I am running 2 different directories eza and goarticles...So I think I better try what you have done and see it for myself what will happen...Much thanks for the share...

[Janice Sperry]

I just submitted 10 more articles to EZA today (On my website and indexed first). I have never done an accurate case study but I think I will now. Things on the Internet are always changing including the article directories, etc. It is easy for to just rely on the older results and forget to test again from time to time.

[DogScout]

I love people who test. Remember, not all niche articles may be treated the same by the various powers to be, so one be should always test their own niche, even if it appears to be repetitive repetitive, it is not always.

[DogScout]

Evey time you use that word: iconoclastic... I feel like Morticia when Gomez speaks French. LMAO!

[mldriggs]

any update on this? very interesting thread.

I personally am very new to the article marketing world. Currently I think I'm using article directories in a little different than what pertains to this discussion. I am building a complex link wheel between article directories and web 2.0 properties using both unique and spun content.

My use my unique content on the article directories. The tricky thing for me is deciding between which high PR article directories because I need be able to insert 3 links, typically two to other web 2.0 properties and one to a deep link page on one of "my sites", the quicker the article goes live the better too. The reason being is because I need to link back to the live URL, otherwise this is holding up my progress.

Which directories seems to be the best for this scenario? Its looking like Buzzle and Go Articles because them seem to go live quicker and don't have as strict of restrictions on adding links.

[jeffreyanderson]

I wonder if this is a fluke or if there is something to this...

I have to agree with Alexa Smith however that EZA is unreal as far as bringing more business to me. My EZA's get syndication more than any other article site and you can't argue with the consistent results that come from them.

Either way, cool study and interesting, definitely worth a few submissions to see what happens. Thanks.

[kea55]

i like both buzzle and eza

[brendan1]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

You'll find it'll stay that way, I think.

And that stat's the one the money depends on.

I submit to 6 or 7 different directories, but it's almost invariably the EZA copy that gets syndicated (I check carefully).

And since the syndication is where the real, long-term money is, in article marketing, that's why so many professional article marketers are using EZA on a daily basis (after publishing our content on our own sites first, of course) and staying well away from Buzzle.

Do you spin/change the title resource of your articles before submitting them?

Thanks

[abhijeet024]

For a particular keyword I have 8 articles on ezinearticles and one on buzzle that one article from buzzle drives me more traffic than 8 articles combined on ezinearticles.

One more thing I like about buzzle is that I can get a dofollow link from anywhere within the article. Where as you will get a dofollow link only from your resource box in ezinearticles.

As a result there is more chance of getting a click from buzzle as compared to ezinearticles because normally people dont read the full article and click the link in resource box.

[MrWonton]

I've published quite a few articles with EZA, but I've never had the results I really wanted. I've had my work duplicated without the author box though

Thanks to this thread I'll definitely give Buzzle a try! Thanks for the insights.

[Shai852]

looks good

[brandonbaker]

I get most of my traffic through ezinearticles personally, and every once in a while I see a Buzzle article or GoArticle send a visitor or two, but it's much less common.