Is Article Submission worth it in 2012?

29 replies
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So I've seen threads here saying that article submissions and spinning articles doesn't really work anymore but what's the alternative to it?

I'm starting off doing completely 100% free SEO so I can't spend money on blog networks, PRs, directories etc. I'm looking at guest posts but most bigger sites don't trust my content yet.
#2012 #article #submission #worth
  • Profile picture of the author kimseo
    Originally Posted by Michael Foze View Post

    So I've seen threads here saying that article submissions and spinning articles doesn't really work anymore but what's the alternative to it?
    Any link building activity works as long as it's neat and done properly (without spamming & overdoing), Same implies to article submission as well. It was always working and still works if you don't spam
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  • Profile picture of the author himanuzo
    Article directories, press release and guest blogging still works as backlining, Google still counts them.

    For guest blogging, you can hire someone to write a good article for submitting to high quality blogs. Besides SEO purpose, guest blogging on high traffic blogs can generate massive traffic to your site.

    EzineArticles - you need unique and original article which never submitted before.

    If you want to submit plenty of articles to hundreds of article directories by using a software, don't forget to spin articles. Make sure to avoid the duplicate contents.

    Article submission still works for this year - 2012!
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    • Profile picture of the author 1byte
      Originally Posted by himanuzo View Post

      Article directories, press release and guest blogging still works as backlining, Google still counts them.
      Article marketing does still work but not for the purpose of backlinking, because the backlinks won't give much if any SEO boost. The main purpose for using article directories these days is to syndicate your content -- to provide a means for other bloggers/webmasters to reprint your articles on their sites.

      Originally Posted by himanuzo View Post

      For guest blogging, you can hire someone to write a good article for submitting to high quality blogs. Besides SEO purpose, guest blogging on high traffic blogs can generate massive traffic to your site.
      Agree with you there...guest blogging can be a good way to drive traffic to your site, and may provide some SEO benefit.

      Originally Posted by himanuzo View Post

      EzineArticles - you need unique and original article which never submitted before.
      Content should never have been submitted to EZA previously by you or another person. however they do not require exclusive rights to it, nor do they require that you have never published it yourself or submitted it elsewhere.

      Content should be unique "to you," meaning it should be unique content you own and have the right to publish. In fact, you should always publish content on your own sites first to get indexed by Google, and then submit to EZA and other article directories for the main purpose of getting them syndicated.

      Originally Posted by himanuzo View Post

      If you want to submit plenty of articles to hundreds of article directories by using a software, don't forget to spin articles. Make sure to avoid the duplicate contents.
      Spinning articles is (in my opinion) a complete waste of time and totally unnecessary. Backlinks from most of these directories are completely worthless, and in fact, may be looked upon by Google as spamming, which could dramatically affect your SEO and ranking efforts.

      Duplicate content occurs when you have substantially the same content on multiple pages on your own domain. It is not having the article reprinted by directories, blogs, and other websites, which is actually syndication

      Just submit your article "unspun" to Ezines Articles, and maybe a couple of other directories for the sake of getting them syndicated; this will be far more effective than spewing out a bunch of poorly re-written (spun) articles all over the internet.

      Originally Posted by himanuzo View Post

      Article submission still works for this year - 2012!
      Yes, agreed article submission does work, but in the way I suggested. If you want a comprehensive education on article marketing, check out posts by Alexa Smith, here on Warrior Forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author gearmonkey
    My answer is also "yes". Just don't spin articles and only post to the best directories.
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  • Profile picture of the author sarged2
    Content should be unique "to you," meaning it should be unique content you own and have the right to publish. In fact, you should always publish content on your own sites first to get indexed by Google, and then submit to EZA and other article directories for the main purpose of getting them syndicated.
    Sorry for the noob question, but what do you mean by getting them syndicated? (and what is it good for?)
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    • Profile picture of the author 1byte
      Originally Posted by sarged2 View Post

      Sorry for the noob question, but what do you mean by getting them syndicated?
      No problem, newbie questions always welcome!

      Syndicated means you are putting your articles on article directories so other bloggers and webmasters can reprint these articles on their sites. Think of the Associated Press (AP) which is a news service that "syndicates" articles to countless news media outlets.

      Online, you may find hundreds or thousands of these syndicated articles reprinted on news blogs, especially if it is a trending news story or hot topic. Yet you will also see that they are indexed by the search engines, even though the articles are essentially identical to each other. This is what some would mistakenly call "duplicate content," but it is not duplicate content. It is in fact, "syndicated content."

      Originally Posted by sarged2 View Post

      (and what is it good for?)
      Syndication is good for getting your articles published by many other websites and blogs who desperately need new content for their readers, but may not have the time or resources to continually write their own unique content.

      By getting others to republish your articles on their blogs, you will get:
      • Readers to click through to your website from the link(s) in your resource box,
      • Gain backlinks for possible improved rankings, and
      • Establish your credibility as an expert author in your niche.
      Hope this explanation helps, Jesse
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Foze
    @1byte

    You say Article Marketing is virtually worthless for backlinks so what is the alternative if you're doing off page SEO without capital? I know there's guest posts but they are hard to land.
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    • Profile picture of the author 1byte
      Originally Posted by Michael Foze View Post

      @1byte

      You say Article Marketing is virtually worthless for backlinks so what is the alternative if you're doing off page SEO without capital? I know there's guest posts but they are hard to land.
      First, let me be clear that I'm not knocking article directories, as I still use them myself, and I have several hundred articles published by Ezine Articles alone. However, I use article directories for their main intended purpose, which is for syndication, not for SEO.

      Using article directories for SEO/backlinks is known as "article directory marketing," which is not the real purpose of these directories anyway. In fact, using article directories for SEO and backlinks won't help you a lot these days because these links have been devalued greatly by Google in recent algo updates.

      The best use of article directories is to get your articles syndicated, i.e. reprinted by other websites, which will get you diverse backlinks pointing back to your site. The links themselves can be a source of increased traffic from those who read your articles, can help improve off-page SEO and rankings, and enhance your stature as an expert in your field.

      In addition to syndicating your articles through article directories, and guest blogging, there are other ways you can repurpose your content that cost you little to nothing, such as:
      • Turn your articles into PDFs and upload them to document sharing sites such as scribd or docstoc.
      • Make simple videos and upload to YouTube, Vemeo etc.
      • Turn articles into slideshows and upload to Slideshare.
      • Make the article into an mp3 file, and upload to podcasting sites such as Podcast Alley, IPodder, Itunes, and others.
      • Bundle a few articles (5-10 articles each containing a different tip) into an ebook and upload to CreateSpace, and KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).
      Hope this answered your questions.

      Jesse
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      • Profile picture of the author sumgd07
        nicely answered
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  • Profile picture of the author connorbringas
    Originally Posted by Michael Foze View Post

    So I've seen threads here saying that article submissions and spinning articles doesn't really work anymore but what's the alternative to it?

    I'm starting off doing completely 100% free SEO so I can't spend money on blog networks, PRs, directories etc. I'm looking at guest posts but most bigger sites don't trust my content yet.
    Article spinning doesnt work as a tier 1, but as a tier 2 or 3. I wouldnt article spin to your money site..
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  • Profile picture of the author indonep
    for me its yes, the quality of unique never dies.

    so from me keep posting
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  • Profile picture of the author dumaharyanto
    i think article marketing can only use in tier 2,3
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  • Profile picture of the author Jacob Sterbenk
    Article marketing still works. You just need to make sure that you have diversified anchor texts and that your content is unique.
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  • Profile picture of the author shipwrecked
    Originally Posted by Michael Foze View Post

    So I've seen threads here saying that article submissions and spinning articles doesn't really work anymore but what's the alternative to it?

    I'm starting off doing completely 100% free SEO so I can't spend money on blog networks, PRs, directories etc. I'm looking at guest posts but most bigger sites don't trust my content yet.
    I would proceed with that, but under the following conditions:
    -each article must be unique
    -don't rely primarily on article links, but use as a complementary tactic
    -only place articles on very high quality sites/pages
    -don't syndicate the article - make sure others won't farm it

    I think it should work very well. If you could obtain embedded contextual links, than that would be great!

    Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author 1byte
      Originally Posted by shipwrecked View Post

      I would proceed with that, but under the following conditions:
      -each article must be unique
      -don't rely primarily on article links, but use as a complementary tactic
      -only place articles on very high quality sites/pages
      -don't syndicate the article - make sure others won't farm it

      I think it should work very well. If you could obtain embedded contextual links, than that would be great!

      Good luck!
      Let me respond to this one by one:

      Originally Posted by shipwrecked View Post

      -each article must be unique
      1. No, that is incorrect. It's true that each article must be unique in that it is "unique to you," but it does not have to be unique to the article directories -- in fact it should not be. Nor do Ezine Articles and most other directories require exclusivity of your articles.

      Why would you want to give an article directory or any website for that matter "exclusive rights" to your original work? First publish the article on your site, get it indexed by Google (for first indexation rights), then submit it to article directories, and other niche related blogs, etc.

      Originally Posted by shipwrecked View Post

      -don't rely primarily on article links, but use as a complementary tactic
      I agree with you there. Article marketing should be but just one facet of your SEO and content marketing mix.

      Originally Posted by shipwrecked View Post

      -only place articles on very high quality sites/pages
      Yes, as much as possible.

      Originally Posted by shipwrecked View Post

      -don't syndicate the article - make sure others won't farm it
      Completely disagree with you on this one. The more your article is syndicated and published by other websites, the more backlinks you have pointing back to your site, and the more traffic you will get from the actual links themselves in the resource box.

      Not to mention the additional exposure you will get as an expert in your niche. Read my comments previously in this thread that explains why syndicating your articles through article directories is a very good idea indeed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin McNally
    Hi Michael

    The best way to start out with free seo methods is to find related blogs and forums and add value to these blogs pointing back to your site. Once you have built up trust you may get the chance to do a guest post or be seen as an expert in your niche.

    Another free seo method is using youtube.

    Submitting manually on a mass scale to the article directories will take a lot of time so I would leave that for now. Same with article syndication which is just the same really as guest posting or getting your content sent out in a newsletter, plus I rarely see any evidence of this working on mass scale if you are an average writer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dcacar
    I use article marketing so far i have not seen great results but i am pretty new
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  • Profile picture of the author Dcacar
    I am using article marketing for my small business and it has not done much for me yet but i am pretty new to this field also. Just trying to learn as much as i can.
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  • Profile picture of the author century90
    Article marketing is working but no more effective.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sabrina Clough
    Google doesn't care if 100 sites have the same article. Look at the newspaper industry as an example. AP sends out articles and the major newspapers print them. Article submission is useful but use fresh and unique content.


    IT Support & Data Back Up Services New jersey | Corporate Core Solutions
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  • Profile picture of the author samual james
    You can still get the benefit of article submission if done properly, you need to make sure that you are placing high quality articles only.
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  • Profile picture of the author fantasticate
    You can still get benifit from article submission if good article that is original and of high quality are published on good article release sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author redchillies
    Any link building activity is good only when it is done in the best possible manner. Submitting high quality articles works like wonder if done while keeping the important aspects in mind.
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  • Profile picture of the author Billy Rey
    yep, they work. Pretty much everything back then that worked, still works. Just the approach and methods changed overall.
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  • Profile picture of the author Boricua
    [quote=Michael Foze;7338170]So I've seen threads here saying that article submissions and spinning articles doesn't really work anymore but what's the alternative to it?

    Re: Is Article Submission worth it in 2012?
    Oh yeah! Mark my words mate..

    EZA will get a bigger buzz in the forum as well as privately owned networks will start appearing slowly and the WSOs will be the Jerusalem of SEO experts quite soon! jajaa a mile away as I don't think there'll be another big time Penguin update like the ones earlier this year..but for sure!

    Article submission works, just not the same as before in terms of linking value. All you needed before were 2-5 networks and you made a killing in SERPs before Penguin now its quite different as I believe you've read already.

    For peace of mind don't do spinning, but if you want to go that cheap way make sure it's 80-100% spinned (highly unlikely) but still do-able
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  • Profile picture of the author daveaball
    Article submission as long as its done correctly will work every time, just stay away from article spinning or google will punish you and also you will find it near impossible to come back from a slapping after all the updates. Look at whatever your niche is , lets say lose weight and go to amazon and see what top selling ebooks are selling, look at the headlines, the titles etc, you can also generate ideas from google alerts for ideas, hope this help
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  • I'm unfortunately in automotive industry and all the articles you can think of have already been written. Most of the top article directories will reject 9 out of 10 auto articles as some somwhere has already thought of it. My question is what do you do when you work in a niche field?
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  • Profile picture of the author anne242
    Definitely article submission is still working effectively.
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