No Change in Ezinearticles Policy

65 replies
Ron - Copy-e-Writing writes: So, is there ANY change to this policy of exclusive content as of yet?

Christopher M. Knight writes:
Ron,

No changes to this policy.

Articles must still be exclusive to your name but they do not need to be exclusive to EzineArticles.com.

With that said, we are noticing a growing trend of members submitting content designed specifically for EzineArticles.com that they don’t post on their own website.

The only thing I know for certain: Articles must always be exclusive to your name which means we will NEVER knowingly accept content that is non-exclusive rights or PLR (Private Label Rights).

March 4, 2011 at 6:03 AM
Alright, so there you go!
#change #ezinearticles #policy
  • Profile picture of the author Talinn
    Good. Especially taking into consideration Buzzle was hard-hit by the Google algorithm change too, even if they were accepting articles only exclusive to themselves.
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    • Profile picture of the author DeborahDera
      Originally Posted by Talinn View Post

      Good. Especially taking into consideration Buzzle was hard-hit by the Google algorithm change too, even if they were accepting articles only exclusive to themselves.
      Buzzle has apparently gone nuts. I had three, high-quality articles in the queue there and the editors simply deleted them. I didn't realize Buzzle doesn't even give explanations. What a waste of time.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by DeborahDera View Post

        Buzzle has apparently gone nuts.
        Another view is that it's been nuts since the day it started. But the misunderstandings between "duplicate content" and "syndicated content" are so pervasive, and such a high proportion of marketers don't understand that they're shooting their business in the foot by giving previously unpublished content to an article directory, that to some extent it appears Buzzle actually gets away with it. :rolleyes:
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        • Profile picture of the author Shakakka
          Buzzle has suffered just as much as EZA because of Google's recent policy/algorithm change. That would be a solution to nothing. It would just be turning away most of the decent writers for no benefit to anyone.
          Alexa, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Buzzle was the one place that accepted only unique content, which I know goes against your own approach of submitting your articles to as many places as possible. To see it suffer the same as EZA or ArticlesBase doesn't make that much sense to me... kinda like punishing all of the kids because only some of them were being bad.

          I have hundreds of articles on Buzzle, all unique. I have hundreds of articles on Ezine, with about 80 or 90% of them being unique. Maybe I wasn't cashing in the mass-distribution thing (and I probably should have been), but I always liked submitting unique content to these sites and enjoying platinum status and fast reviews like you've already pointed out.

          Think about it. What's the advantage the internet gains by seeing 100 copies of the same exact article splattered throughout the search engine results? If page 1 and 2 of google contains 20 separate entries, you'd sometimes find 8 or 9 of them identical - the same article appearing in 8 or 9 different places. That can't be good for users.

          Google's looking to remedy that, and I don't blame them. This is bad for article marketers who mass-submit, but not as bad for people who write unique articles and want to put them in one place.

          One thing I do agree with you on, is that it would definitely be wiser to post articles on your own site first, let them get indexed, and then submit them to sites like Ezine and ArticlesBase. But even then (and especially now), I wouldn't do more than one or two submissions tops.

          In the end, I'm lucky. Instead of creating 4-page websites with thousands of articles pointing to those same four pages, I've been creating 30-40 page sites will all unique content. These sites are now ranking above the articles that used to beat them for the same search terms, and I've seen huge jumps in traffic.

          IMO, Article Marketing is not dead. Mass-submitting article marketing is. While mass-submitting a few articles to each different site might be good for backlinks, it's not going to drive anywhere near the traffic it used to.

          People will adjust. They'll create quality articles and put the content on their own websites. This is the way it probably should've been in the beginning. It will hurt people who spin articles and people who mass produce the same content over and over, but for good writers and hard workers like yourself, I think it will actually benefit.
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

            Alexa, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Buzzle was the one place that accepted only unique content, which I know goes against your own approach of submitting your articles to as many places as possible.
            That has never been my approach at all, Shakakka. Nowhere near. I submit to only 2 or 3 article directories.

            Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

            What's the advantage the internet gains by seeing 100 copies of the same exact article splattered throughout the search engine results?
            You're asking me? I've been saying exactly that for 2 years. Every time this subject compes up I ask people whether they really think it enhances the web or benefits anyone in any way, to do mass submissions. :rolleyes:

            Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

            Google's looking to remedy that, and I don't blame them.
            Indeed. As I've been saying for the last week or so.

            Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

            One thing I do agree with you on, is that it would definitely be wiser to post articles on your own site first, let them get indexed, and then submit them to sites like Ezine and ArticlesBase.
            Nobody's questioning that. (Nobody who understands the basics, anyway).

            Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

            But even then (and especially now), I wouldn't do more than one or two submissions tops.
            Well, I sometimes do two, other times three, That's my limit. I just don't understand why you took me as saying something different. But never mind: it turns out we agree about a lot more than you think! (It's only your usage of "Buzzle" that seems weird to me).
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            • Profile picture of the author Shakakka
              Doug,

              I hear what you're saying about the difference between article syndication and mass submission. And I agree with your analogy that when you're watching the news (not sure why anyone would watch the news at this point, but okay...), or reading a newspaper, you're actually digesting syndicated content.

              It's all well and good until you run across those sites with very little original content and all syndication. Just a bunch of incoming RSS feeds that regurgitate the same stories over and over again. A few cut and pastes here and there, and BAM! Someone's calling it a website. They slap some AdSense on it and can't understand why they're not making any money.

              This forum is filled with great people and kickass ideas, but then I see posts about article spinning. Someone else made a post about how to take someone else's ebook, slap the words "compiled by" with your own name on it, and then actually resell it as a new product. Wow.

              Glad to see google eliminating stuff like that. Hard work always pays off. Keep churning out good, original, valuable content and you'll never have to worry what google does with their algorithm.

              Oh, and Alexa - sorry, I misunderstood what you'd written. Going back and looking, you seem to be doing the exact same things I've been doing. 5-6 articles a week, my own unique work, submitted to 1 or 2 sites max. So far it's worked awesome for me, and I'm sure it's done the trick for you too.
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              • Profile picture of the author Doug Wakefield
                The analogy to the news was more in effect that there are people who want the stories so bad they are willing to pay for them. In effect the Associated Press doesn't have to find people to sell content to, they have an abundance of people who want it.

                True syndication will fall more towards that model than towards mass submission.

                The problem is that there are many people barking about the mass submission model and claiming it to be syndication.

                I used to be one of them, though I mentioned syndication more in reference towards the duplicate content myth.

                Of course the spinner owners profit from that myth, and some further profited from the mass submission programs that just spit the spam everywhere.

                It also helps to learn, firsthand, that there is little benefit to mass submission in terms of backlinks OR traffic.
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              • Profile picture of the author tpw
                Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

                Oh, and Alexa - sorry, I misunderstood what you'd written. Going back and looking, you seem to be doing the exact same things I've been doing. 5-6 articles a week, my own unique work, submitted to 1 or 2 sites max. So far it's worked awesome for me, and I'm sure it's done the trick for you too.

                And while you may not realize it, your articles are probably on more sites than the two you submitted them to, because EZA and ArticlesBase are both designed to allow other webmasters to syndicate content from them.
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          • Profile picture of the author Carson Hill
            Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post


            In the end, I'm lucky. Instead of creating 4-page websites with thousands of articles pointing to those same four pages, I've been creating 30-40 page sites will all unique content. These sites are now ranking above the articles that used to beat them for the same search terms, and I've seen huge jumps in traffic.

            IMO, Article Marketing is not dead. Mass-submitting article marketing is. While mass-submitting a few articles to each different site might be good for backlinks, it's not going to drive anywhere near the traffic it used to.

            People will adjust. They'll create quality articles and put the content on their own websites. This is the way it probably should've been in the beginning. It will hurt people who spin articles and people who mass produce the same content over and over, but for good writers and hard workers like yourself, I think it will actually benefit.

            Hi Shakakka. This is an interesting point you pose. Now 40 pages on a single website seems like it could make that website quite boring or bombarding to the reader.

            but I have a few questions..
            1) Do you have a sidebar menu that displays all 40 seperate page topics on the homepage so the reader can navigate through them?

            2) If you are in fact submitting to your site first as alexa prescribes, are you submitting one article per separate website page (builiding each page around one major keyword/article topic)?

            3) and lastly do you submit multiple blog roll type articles on the homepage.. or just one?
            - I'm curious how you build those seperate pages.. Much thanks -Carson
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            • Profile picture of the author Shakakka
              Hi Shakakka. This is an interesting point you pose. Now 40 pages on a single website seems like it could make that website quite boring or bombarding to the reader.
              Definitely not boring at all - it depends on your topic, and how much information there is related to that topic. Once I find myself writing more than one 'repeat' page (about the same basic topic), I move on to create a new site. But like I said, that generally takes 30-40 pages.

              For example, I got my pilot's license a few years ago. I created a site detailing all the different aspects of getting your license with a page dedicated to each: my pilot's journal, flight planning, aviation terminology, air traffic control communication, flying clubs, airport signs and their meanings, flying videos, flight schools, medical requirements, etc... I then added articles on how to make smooth landings, cross-country navigating, spin training, planning software, and passing your FAA checkride.

              Each page was unique, each page had it's own topic, and most of all each page would rank for a specific question a new pilot would ask when typing into a search engine. When creating a new site that's my goal: I ask myself what people would be searching for in order to find my site, and start writing an article for each of those questions.

              I'd imagine this works well no matter what your website is about.

              1) Do you have a sidebar menu that displays all 40 seperate page topics on the homepage so the reader can navigate through them?
              Yes. Usually a left or right-side static column menu that appears on every page of the site. After 30 entries though, I usually need to create a sub-page to list more of them. Otherwise the site gets too long vertically.

              2) If you are in fact submitting to your site first as alexa prescribes, are you submitting one article per separate website page (builiding each page around one major keyword/article topic)?
              I've done both. After reading some of the posts here, including the one Alexa linked to, I have to admit it probably makes more sense to put the stuff on your site first before putting it anywhere else. But I've had articles that have gotten very nicely syndicated and this has helped traffic in many cases.

              I don't submit one article per separate page, but I do deep-link to certain articles here and there within my site.

              3) and lastly do you submit multiple blog roll type articles on the homepage.. or just one? - I'm curious how you build those seperate pages..
              I don't have any blogs, I write all my websites from scratch. Therefore it's harder for me to incorporate RSS feeds into my index page, and it's something I've steered away from.

              One thing I do? I create randomized content for my main page. I'm a php programmer, so I write a script to choose which content appears on the site based upon the day of the month. It works pretty well, because my main page always has fresh content on it, even though that content may have gotten indexed (and de-indexed) a month or two ago.
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  • Profile picture of the author mav0
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    • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
      Originally Posted by mav0 View Post

      It seems to be taking forever to summit and get articles approved in ezinearticle.com
      Like 7 days +
      Any ideas how to get this speed up?
      You have to pay for expedited review.
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    • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
      Originally Posted by mav0 View Post

      It seems to be taking forever to summit and get articles approved in ezinearticle.com
      Like 7 days +
      Any ideas how to get this speed up?
      It really takes THIS long?
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x View Post

        It really takes THIS long?
        Not at all.

        Not for platinum authors in good standing who submit regularly.

        I submit an average of 5.5 articles per week to them (I don't write one every day - just 5 or 6 per week). I always submit in the evening (UK time) and by the time I wake up in the morning, they're invariably published. I'm often asleep at the time, but the average seems to be more like 7 hours, not 7 days.

        The "forum representation" one sees of this subject is hugely distorted: the people whose work is typically slowest to be approved are understandably those on the "basic plus" level (i.e. those whose work has caused problems/rejections in the past) who are (similarly understandably!) the ones who post about it.

        Originally Posted by Edie47 View Post

        I still hesitate to submit something I have already posted, even if it is just from one of my blogs.
        No approach could be more opposite to my own than this.

        I have over 1,000 articles on EZA, all of which had previously been published in identical form on one of my own sites/blogs first. For all the reasons explained in such detail by so many successful, experienced, professional article marketers here.
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        • Profile picture of the author smlover
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          I have over 1,000 articles on EZA, all of which had previously been published in identical form on one of my own sites/blogs first.
          wow 1,000 articles, what a number !!
          Do you write all of that 1,000 ?
          Btw, ezine minimum word now increasing to be 400 words
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by smlover View Post

            wow 1,000 articles, what a number !!
            Do you write all of that 1,000 ?
            Yes, that's over about two and a half years ... and the first three months or so I wrote shorter articles, and several per day (that didn't get me very far!).

            Originally Posted by smlover View Post

            Btw, ezine minimum word now increasing to be 400 words
            Yes, they've kind of "hinted" they might do this in the past, by allowing more anchor-text and so on. (Even my shortest ones have been a bit longer than that, I think).
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        • Profile picture of the author schttrj
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Not at all.

          Not for platinum authors in good standing who submit regularly.

          I submit an average of 5.5 articles per week to them (I don't write one every day - just 5 or 6 per week). I always submit in the evening (UK time) and by the time I wake up in the morning, they're invariably published. I'm often asleep at the time, but the average seems to be more like 7 hours, not 7 days.

          The "forum representation" one sees of this subject is hugely distorted: the people whose work is typically slowest to be approved are understandably those on the "basic plus" level (i.e. those whose work has caused problems/rejections in the past) who are (similarly understandably!) the ones who post about it.
          Yes, you are right on this.

          As your quality improves, the rate of approval improves too.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ofthemix
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Not at all.

          Not for platinum authors in good standing who submit regularly.

          I submit an average of 5.5 articles per week to them (I don't write one every day - just 5 or 6 per week). I always submit in the evening (UK time) and by the time I wake up in the morning, they're invariably published. I'm often asleep at the time, but the average seems to be more like 7 hours, not 7 days.

          The "forum representation" one sees of this subject is hugely distorted: the people whose work is typically slowest to be approved are understandably those on the "basic plus" level (i.e. those whose work has caused problems/rejections in the past) who are (similarly understandably!) the ones who post about it.



          No approach could be more opposite to my own than this.

          I have over 1,000 articles on EZA, all of which had previously been published in identical form on one of my own sites/blogs first. For all the reasons explained in such detail by so many successful, experienced, professional article marketers here.
          This may be the case for you, but not everyone. I'm Platinum level and submit articles daily and since the new changes, approval time for my articles has gone from a few hours to 5 days. It's insane.
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          • Profile picture of the author schttrj
            Originally Posted by Ofthemix View Post

            This may be the case for you, but not everyone. I'm Platinum level and submit articles daily and since the new changes, approval time for my articles has gone from a few hours to 5 days. It's insane.
            Well according to the recent update, Ezinearticles have become stricter and naturally, the approval time will only get extended. I relate to you, of course.
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            • Profile picture of the author Shakakka
              EZA's going to push their expedited review service harder than ever, especially for the authors used to a quick turnaround time when posting their articles.
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      • Profile picture of the author schttrj
        Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x View Post

        It really takes THIS long?
        Yes, apparently many people are saying this after the update. Maybe, not for the established members.
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    • Profile picture of the author Doug Wakefield
      Originally Posted by mav0 View Post

      It seems to be taking forever to summit and get articles approved in ezinearticle.com
      Like 7 days +
      Any ideas how to get this speed up?
      Not to be picky, but grammar and spelling can put you back. I caught two in that first sentence. Summit and ezinearticle.com. To be fair, one is just on the name of the site you wish to use.

      Last line is bad too.

      Not really going to speak on the quality of your articles, as I have not seen them, but if the post was an example... it may be a bit.
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      • Profile picture of the author Doug Wakefield
        Mass submitting and article syndication may sound similar, but they are completely different.

        This may sound like semantics, but hear me out.

        Mass submissions means that you are taking you content and blasting it as far and wide as you possibly can.

        When I did this, the focus was purely on backlinks on the article outside a few top directories. 2 years ago when I started, this was actually the most viable tactic because article directory links were still highly valued.

        This as a method hasn't worked well in a long time. While it has been called a method of syndication, it is not in the purest meaning of the word. Syndication was the word that many people, myself included, used to differentiate what we did from what others feared as "duplicate content."

        Syndication in the purest word is having someone else naturally want to pick up your content for their audience.

        When you buy a newspaper, watch the news, listen to the radio... you are digesting syndicated content. This content is collected and written by a handful of companies and then sold to outside agencies to be used for your viewing pleasure.

        The same applies to a syndication method of article marketing.

        They aim to write in such a way that the content not only informs, but it also entertains and captivates an audience. The type of content that other webmasters LOVE to have on their sites. The marketing part of writing these articles comes when you realize that it is better to actively search for places to put the content.

        A closer correlation to this form of syndication would be guest blogging. You give the other blog valuable content in return for a prominent link back to your website.

        This is not the type of content Google is looking to punish... from early signs it looks like it may actually be the type of content that they want. You can read more about that here:

        Early Indications Are That Google Farmer Update Loves Quality Syndicated Content

        While the two forms of distribution may sound similar... they are very, very different.

        One was used for the links more so than the true syndication (though the content may have still been decent). The other form doesn't care about the links... google rank... any of that. It simply wants the content in front of the eyes of people that are highly interested in what we have to say. The type of people who are far more targeted, therefor higher converting in the end.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        The biggest problem is often that of interpretation.

        -Someone has submitted 1000 articles
        -In another thread someone talks about "a massive article campaign for a site"
        -Yet another talks about using articles to promote a 4 page site
        -Another poster suggest spinning article to make them "unique"

        Combining those comments - some will decide submitting spun articles in great quantities to promote a very small site is a good idea.

        They would be wrong.

        I have a Platinum EZA account (no, I don't use their paid service) and submissions are approved quickly. When I was new at EZA it took 7-10 days to get articles approved. That doesn't matter because, if you submit every day or two, within a couple week you have articles appearing daily no matter how long it takes for approval.

        Article marketing is a simple process that can be ramped up with various software/programs. Syndication is what news services and medical services have been doing for years - and that's what some of us are doing with article marketing. Others write and submit only for links. Different strokes.

        No matter how you approach the subject - it comes down to quality, consistency and common sense.

        kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Talinn
    EZA Premium is going to die shortly. It only matters if you can mass-submit articles, which you can't anymore since they no longer accept rewritten content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Edie47
    Thank you for the clarification. It's interesting that they are noticing a trend for original articles rather than posts from someone's website. Could be because of the recent changes by Google (?).

    I still hesitate to submit something I have already posted, even if it is just from one of my blogs.
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  • Profile picture of the author seoguru13
    I submitted an article 2 days ago and still awaiting acceptance. For a platinum ezine that is quite a long time. But, I think the rule of buzzle should be implemented on ezine too. Makes a lot of sense in the long run.
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    • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
      Originally Posted by seoguru13 View Post

      I submitted an article 2 days ago and still awaiting acceptance. For a platinum ezine that is quite a long time. But, I think the rule of buzzle should be implemented on ezine too. Makes a lot of sense in the long run.
      Why does it make a lot of sense for them to accept only exclusive content?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by seoguru13 View Post

      I think the rule of buzzle should be implemented on ezine too.
      They'll do it only if they suddenly decide they want to lose their best 2,000/3,000 authors overnight. All those full-time, professional, experienced, successful article marketers who have, at the moment, only one article directory (Buzzle) to which they can't possibly submit their work because of the ludicrous terms of service would suddenly have two instead - Buzzle and EZA. Chris Knight wasn't born yesterday (or even on Wednesday) and is well aware of this.

      Originally Posted by seoguru13 View Post

      Makes a lot of sense in the long run.
      It would make absolutely no sense at all in the short, medium or long run. Buzzle has suffered just as much as EZA because of Google's recent policy/algorithm change. That would be a solution to nothing. It would just be turning away most of the decent writers for no benefit to anyone. :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Barrs
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
      Originally Posted by Paul Barrs View Post

      Alexa,

      Always the best advice on EZA that I see -

      Listen up fellas when Alexa speaks; I don't say that lightly.

      Paul Barrs
      Seconded
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Barboza
    Ezine still sending visitors to me. And they have NEVER taken more than 48 hours to aprove my articles
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Alexa,

    You remind me a Canadian TV channel's show: The Mythbusters
    Mythbusters
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      The Mythbusters
      Don't tell me: the little-known truth is that they were originally just "miss busters" but they developed a lisp (lithp) and changed - not unlike those "ethics girls" we had putting in an appearance the other day, who were originally just from Essex? ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    I was really hoping they would have kept the links on EZA NoFollow, it would have gotten rid of most of the junk authors who think waffling on around a keyword for a few paragraphs to please the search engines makes them a good writer.

    Focus on writing content that gets syndicated and you will never have to worry about crap like Google devaluing EZA etc.

    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Yes, I wouldn't have minded EZA backlinks being no-follow at all. Oh well - doesn't make all that much difference either way, really, I suppose. :confused:
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      • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Yes, I wouldn't have minded EZA backlinks being no-follow at all. Oh well - doesn't make all that much difference either way, really, I suppose. :confused:
        Content farm = Link farm = Slapped by Google

        With the removal of such authors from EZA, writers like yourself, myself, and others, who use the directories for their intended purpose would get far greater exposure, and far greater results from passive syndication alone.

        Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author mvt82969
    Hmm.. Interesting. How can google tell if something is quality content? also what is wrong with a 300 word article if it can give quality info, why should it matter if it is only 300 words?
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    • Profile picture of the author Doug Wakefield
      Originally Posted by mvt82969 View Post

      Hmm.. Interesting. How can google tell if something is quality content? also what is wrong with a 300 word article if it can give quality info, why should it matter if it is only 300 words?
      Generally 300 words is not long enough to go into much detail about anything. 400 is the minimum for my PLR articles and to be honest I barely have time to cover one or two points in most of the articles in that word count.

      I believe going forward that 400 is going to be the junk line now. If someone could come up with 300 words of fluff to draw a click, they will surely be able to come up with 100 more words of it.

      I don't necessarily agree that it takes thousands of words to give quality content... but it does become much easier to put you voice in the article the longer it gets.

      If I am trying to cover 2-3 points in 400 words, I often find that it doesn't give me any room to put my insight into it. I simply give the information and that is it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Shakakka
        Generally 300 words is not long enough to go into much detail about anything
        Agreed. Most of my articles are double that, and when I get up around 800 I have to actually stop myself.

        Most 300 word articles are stuffed with 50 or 60 keyword/phrases, with some of those being repeated a few times. After that, there's not much room to make an actual point about anything... not to mention the article sounds ridiculously like fluff.

        IMO those article writers are either:

        1) Lazy
        2) In too much of a hurry to 'pump out' the next article
        3) Afraid that if they don't get to their link quickly, they'll lose the reader

        Quality ALWAYS trumps quantity. I think I learned that when I was a kid
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      • Profile picture of the author tpw
        Originally Posted by Doug Wakefield View Post

        Originally Posted by mvt82969 View Post

        Hmm.. Interesting. How can google tell if something is quality content? also what is wrong with a 300 word article if it can give quality info, why should it matter if it is only 300 words?

        Generally 300 words is not long enough to go into much detail about anything. 400 is the minimum for my PLR articles and to be honest I barely have time to cover one or two points in most of the articles in that word count.

        I believe going forward that 400 is going to be the junk line now. If someone could come up with 300 words of fluff to draw a click, they will surely be able to come up with 100 more words of it.

        I don't necessarily agree that it takes thousands of words to give quality content... but it does become much easier to put you voice in the article the longer it gets.

        If I am trying to cover 2-3 points in 400 words, I often find that it doesn't give me any room to put my insight into it. I simply give the information and that is it.

        No one can tell the quality of an article by looking at word count.

        But I run a couple of article directories. My main one serves paid syndication content only. That particular directory is my main one, and my traffic is up 20% to 35% on a per day basis over its normal average since the last Google update.

        I also own one of those Article Dashboard directories that few people know that I own.

        I can confirm that I used to manually approve all articles for publication on that site. But when I realized I was getting 1000-2000 articles a day to it, something had to give.

        I tested different word counts and found that if I set the minimum word count requirement to 800 words, I eliminated 98% of the articles I would have manually rejected.

        At 700 words, I eliminated 90% of the junk.

        At 600 words, I eliminated 70% of the junk.

        At 500 words, I only eliminated about 40% of the junk.

        At 400 words, I eliminated 15% of the junk.

        And at 300 words, I only eliminated about 3% of the junk.

        It is not that all 300 word articles were bad, but I needed to find a way to cut my work load and eliminate more of the junk without manually deleting each junk article.

        I finally decided on rejecting all articles that were less than 700 words, and I was able to cut my time requirement for approving articles to under 30 minutes a day.

        On that one article directory, I set the minimum word count to 700 words and made a big deal about it being 700 words minimum.

        Amazingly, the software on that site automatically deletes about 1400 articles a day on auto-pilot, for failing to match the minimum word count requirement!!

        Those articles are auto-deleted because they are fewer than 700 words, and I have it in large print in several locations through the website that makes it abundantly clear that we auto-delete all articles that fall short of the 700 word minimum.

        The point is that people who ignore the minimum word count are probably ignoring all other editorial guidelines as well!!

        I know that a few good articles are falling through the cracks, because I have the high word count minimum in place, but more to my interests, the high minimum word count allows me to improve the quality of my content without adding to my work load.

        Interestingly, there are a few jack wads that see the 700-word minimum word count and paste the same article into the box three times to reach the minimum word count.


        Now, I know that EZA is not going to fix its problem by requiring article writers to submit a minimum of 400 word articles.

        The article spammers are just going to write 400-word junk articles instead of 300-word junk articles.

        EZA will be able to wipe part of their database, but the spammers will respond to the change by pasting the article into the box twice, or increasing the length of their junk, with more junk content.

        In a year, EZA will be able to look back and say, "we have fewer junk articles, but our junk articles are 100 words longer."

        They are not fixing their problem, but postponing the hard choices they will need to make in order to solve the problem they face.

        I am with those who suggested that NoFollow links in the resource box would save the day for EZA, but at this point, I don't think EZA will take that step.

        Oh well, that is Chris' problem to deal with. And if he fails to address it in an effective manner, it is his business not mine.
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        Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
        Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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        • Profile picture of the author cjreynolds
          Man, some of you guys must be a lot better writers than me! I can't seem to get my point across in less than 800 words - I often have to slash and burn to cut the word count down from 1000+ words!

          joe
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          I just added this sig so I can refer to it in my posts...

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        • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
          Originally Posted by tpw View Post

          They are not fixing their problem, but postponing the hard choices they will need to make in order to solve the problem they face.
          But isn't that the way business is done in America? LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author BigMarv
    Is EzineArticles still a good way to market websites?
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    Is EzineArticles still a good way to market websites?


    Right now EZA is not working as it usually does. I’m an old author who submits daily articles, and my articles are usually approved the next day or the same day. However, this week they didn’t approve any article yet… probably because they are too busy facing the various problems caused by this dramatic change at Google’s search algorithm.

    I saw at statcounter that only a few of my EZA articles are still sending traffic to my sites, while all my articles are original and should continue sending traffic to my sites without any problems. However, with all the movement and the problems EZA is having right now, even original articles are not having the ranking they should have.

    I believe that in a while everything will get back to normal for authors who submit original content, and that it will be advantageous to submit your articles to EZA like before, or even better, since we are getting rid of all the horrible articles published at EZA (among the good ones).
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    That was a great post, Bill. I will "second" everything you explained.

    This brings up a point that a lot of article marketers fail to remember too. You have to strive to submit the PERFECT article.

    I don't mean perfect from a writing standpoint, I mean perfect from an editor's standpoint. In other words, if you write about the ins and outs of occupational therapy, chances are that the editor will have no idea whether or not your content "right" or not - so they will bypass the logic and start looking at the basic article submission standards (word count, titles, delivery, formatting, html, etc...)

    I guess what I am getting at is this - article directory editors are looking for a reason NOT to accept your article. That's their job, that's their mindset. So you need to make sure you meet their guidelines.

    To add to Bill's post, and I'm positive he'll agree...a large portion of articles are declined before they even read the first sentence of your article! Why? Titles, words counts, "illegal" links in the body, etc...

    These people are trudging through hundreds of articles a day, and if they see a possibility to decline one without having to read it, I guarantee they will jump at the chance. They don't care if your article is declined or not - that's just the way it is.

    So if you are serious, pay attention to the changing guidelines in this part of the industry. Articlesbase just made changes to theirs as well - see their blog. So keep an eye on everything and just play by the rules. :-)

    Good luck and KEEP WRITING!
    Allen Graves
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  • Profile picture of the author TimG
    Bill/Allen,
    I can tell you what 60% of the problems are for many article marketers and that is their failure to even read the TOS for the article directories that they submit their content to for publication.

    How many times have we witnessed multiple questions asked in this forum regarding EZA that the OP would have known the answer to if they had just read EZA's TOS.

    I'm willing to bet that a large percentage of people trying to submit articles to EZA right now don't even know that a 400 word minimum is no in place.

    The folk that do know this follow threads like this or follow EZA's blog and th enumber is not many because I see the same names generally pop up with comment and such.

    Between those minor mistakes and the new changes put into place by EZA (which I agree Bill are a short term band-aid) the article marketing competition just got easier to dominate for a short period of time.

    Best course of action is to take advantage of this lull in the battle ground while simultaneously prepping for the long term article marketing war for visitor superiority.

    Respectfully,
    Tim
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    • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
      Originally Posted by TimG View Post

      Bill/Allen,
      I can tell you what 60% of the problems are for many article marketers and that is their failure to even read the TOS for the article directories that they submit their content to for publication.

      How many times have we witnessed multiple questions asked in this forum regarding EZA that the OP would have known the answer to if they had just read EZA's TOS.

      I'm willing to bet that a large percentage of people trying to submit articles to EZA right now don't even know that a 400 word minimum is no in place.

      The folk that do know this follow threads like this or follow EZA's blog and th enumber is not many because I see the same names generally pop up with comment and such.

      Between those minor mistakes and the new changes put into place by EZA (which I agree Bill are a short term band-aid) the article marketing competition just got easier to dominate for a short period of time.

      Best course of action is to take advantage of this lull in the battle ground while simultaneously prepping for the long term article marketing war for visitor superiority.

      Respectfully,
      Tim
      Hi Tim,

      I love it - there's a war a comin'! These next few months are truly gonna be a riot...one way or the other.

      Should be fun! Let's all be careful though. One small mistake and we could jeopardize our momo.

      I think calculated changes are important right now. In other words, one thing at a time - watch, tweak, move on.

      For now anyway...

      Allen
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  • Profile picture of the author badal4u
    The only thing which matters to them is article should stand out as it is human written and quality should be as such it attracts search engines.
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    • Profile picture of the author unclepennybags
      I really hope EZA becomes more valuable from this because they are a main source for backlinks.
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      "The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." - Bruce Lee

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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by unclepennybags View Post

        I really hope EZA becomes more valuable from this because they are a main source for backlinks.
        Not so much, Uncle.

        Anyone depending on an article directory for backlinks has a real SEO problem: they're non-context-relevant, PR-0 backlinks. Unless you find an article directory specific to your niche, that's the only kind of backlink you can ever get from an article directory. Even EZA. (I speak as someone with over 1,000 articles there, several hundred of which have been widely syndicated elsewhere).

        Article directories have, directly and indirectly, been very useful for many successful article marketers, but not for their backlinks. Nor are they going to be. You'd need many thousands of them (some would say "tens of thousands") to give the equivalent link-juice to one context-relevant, higher-PR backlink from something like a high quality blog in your niche. This is simple, factual and easily verifiable by anyone who does their own testing.
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Not so much, Uncle.

          Anyone depending on an article directory for backlinks has a real SEO problem: they're non-context-relevant, PR-0 backlinks. Unless you find an article directory specific to your niche, that's the only kind of backlink you can ever get from an article directory. Even EZA. (I speak as someone with over 1,000 articles there, several hundred of which have been widely syndicated elsewhere).

          Article directories have, directly and indirectly, been very useful for many successful article marketers, but not for their backlinks. Nor are they going to be. You'd need many thousands of them (some would say "tens of thousands") to give the equivalent link-juice to one context-relevant, higher-PR backlink from something like a high quality blog in your niche. This is simple, factual and easily verifiable by anyone who does their own testing.

          I concur with Alexa, though I ran out of Thanks buttons.

          Even the back link chasers miss a most important consideration.

          With a crappy article to an article directory, they get ONE back link from the directory.

          A good quality, reader-focused article also has the possibility of being syndicated beyond the article directory.

          Website owners, bloggers and ezine publishers also go to the article directories looking for good content to share with their readers.

          When a number of webmasters, bloggers and publishers find your article worthy, they are going to republish it with the resource box intact.

          A great article can be put "by you" on one site (the article directory), and the article could be republished in 10, 20 or 50 additional locations, based on the strength of the article alone.

          Articles that give Great Value to the reader can deliver even Greater Value to those article marketers who seek bigger audiences and more SEO value.
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          Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
          Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author Shakakka
    Anyone depending on an article directory for backlinks has a real SEO problem: they're non-context-relevant, PR-0 backlinks. Unless you find an article directory specific to your niche, that's the only kind of backlink you can ever get from an article directory.
    Question: If your article is about building sandcastles, and the link points to a your website about building sandcastles, does the backlink carry any relevance to your topic?

    Or, like Alexa says, is the relation insignificant because the link is coming from an overall article directory, with no direct relation to sandcastles?
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

      Anyone depending on an article directory for backlinks has a real SEO problem: they're non-context-relevant, PR-0 backlinks. Unless you find an article directory specific to your niche, that's the only kind of backlink you can ever get from an article directory.
      Question: If your article is about building sandcastles, and the link points to a your website about building sandcastles, does the backlink carry any relevance to your topic?

      Or, like Alexa says, is the relation insignificant because the link is coming from an overall article directory, with no direct relation to sandcastles?

      I believe the SEO relevancy is determined by the content on the page, rather than the overall relevancy of the domain.
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      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Barrs
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        • Profile picture of the author TimG
          Originally Posted by Paul Barrs View Post

          I agree with this - and that's why I always ask the question...

          "Why bother putting a link on a completely irrelevant site?"

          But then there are those who say a link is a link is a link....

          I've got a better idea: find someone with a site related to yours, with content related to yours; write content for them (exclusive to them) and ask them to publish it - all you ask for is a link back.

          Hey, if your content is good and your site is good 5/10 times they will say yes. Add an affiliate link and 9/10 times they will say yes.

          If you do it for the customer and not for SEO they'll notice. One good endorsement from one well placed website is worth 1,000 piss-poor "backlinks".

          Paul Barrs
          Paul,
          Sound advice....One thing I do ask is when providing content to other related sites is for the back link to be within the content of the article instead of at the end of the article.

          That's also how I do the internal linking on my websites and although I'm not even close to being an SEO expert I do believe it helps.

          Respectfully,
          Tim
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        • Profile picture of the author schttrj
          Originally Posted by Paul Barrs View Post

          I agree with this - and that's why I always ask the question...

          "Why bother putting a link on a completely irrelevant site?"

          But then there are those who say a link is a link is a link....

          I've got a better idea: find someone with a site related to yours, with content related to yours; write content for them (exclusive to them) and ask them to publish it - all you ask for is a link back.

          Hey, if your content is good and your site is good 5/10 times they will say yes. Add an affiliate link and 9/10 times they will say yes.

          If you do it for the customer and not for SEO they'll notice. One good endorsement from one well placed website is worth 1,000 piss-poor "backlinks".

          Paul Barrs
          And exactly what makes you think that the relevancy of the page on an article directory is non-relevant. Please explain.

          Okay, wait! Before that, tell me why do you think you submit to link directories btw?
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        • Profile picture of the author schttrj
          Originally Posted by Paul Barrs View Post

          I agree with this - and that's why I always ask the question...

          "Why bother putting a link on a completely irrelevant site?"

          But then there are those who say a link is a link is a link....

          I've got a better idea: find someone with a site related to yours, with content related to yours; write content for them (exclusive to them) and ask them to publish it - all you ask for is a link back.

          Hey, if your content is good and your site is good 5/10 times they will say yes. Add an affiliate link and 9/10 times they will say yes.

          If you do it for the customer and not for SEO they'll notice. One good endorsement from one well placed website is worth 1,000 piss-poor "backlinks".

          Paul Barrs
          So, in this comment, which was the "completely irrelevant site" you were talking about?
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    • Profile picture of the author schttrj
      Originally Posted by Shakakka View Post

      Question: If your article is about building sandcastles, and the link points to a your website about building sandcastles, does the backlink carry any relevance to your topic?

      Or, like Alexa says, is the relation insignificant because the link is coming from an overall article directory, with no direct relation to sandcastles?
      Your article is contained within the niche category pages, tag pages and in the specific article page, you are talking about the related subject, so it is RELEVANT.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    The presentation of the pages is very important as well - moreso for the human, I believe.
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  • Profile picture of the author alamest
    What is the minimum words should be submitted in the ezine article any fixed numbers to do that..

    Alam
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  • Profile picture of the author TimG
    I've also heard rumblings that some authors are having their accounts suspended based on submitting article that are deemed poor quality. It appears that EZA is not cutting any slack regardless if you are a platinum author, a premium paying member or anything else.

    If you still intend to use EZA be very careful of what you submit to them right now or you stand a good chance of having your account banned.

    Respectfully,
    Tim
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  • Profile picture of the author TimG
    Chris,
    That's a valid point that you bring up. I don't think we will see any form of revenue sharing ever take place with EZA but I would hope that they do offer more tangible benefits to their authors that stick around and continue to submit to them.

    One thing is for sure there are a ton of places online that are in need of quality content and they are becoming increasingly important on a daily basis and will provide stiff competition for the article directories.

    Respectfully,
    Tim
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