There isn’t a simple yes or no answer to the question, “Are article directories still beneficial?”  The short answer is yes, but that answer does not come without a long list of disclaimers.

The value of article directories has rapidly declined over the past few years because they were used  primarily as a tool to manipulate the search results.  When article directories are over-used, the end-result is a litany of ill-advised tactics that Google frowns upon, including duplicate content, link manipulation, and scraper sites that are stuffed full of ad-sense ads and duplicate content.

Google has accounted for this type of abuse in their algorithms and the majority of links from article directories are now devalued.

You might be asking yourself, “How do article directories still hold some value?”  That’s a great question.  They can still be helpful if you are in an industry where you have little to no competition, but you have to be careful not to rely on article directories too much.  If you rely heavily on them, you might as well be standing outside of Google’s headquarters holding a sign that reads, “Hello! I’m a Link Manipulator.”

You should also avoid submitting your articles to low quality sites, and don’t submit the same article to multiple article directories.

The best way to get the most value out of article marketing is to develop relationships with industry-related websites that are looking for writers.  Then, write articles for those niche directories with unique content that has value to your readers.
 

In Part 1 and Part 2 of Increase Your Website Traffic with Links, I talked about attracting quality incoming links and the sources you can use to get those kinds of links. In this third and final post of the series, it's important to know about other ways to build links to your website such as online press releases, blogs, and blog directories.

Build Links through Press Releases, Blogs and Blog Directories

Press releases and blogging are quickly becoming some of the most popular and talked about methods to build high-quality links to your website. When you distribute a press release online announcing interesting company news, people who read your press release and want more information will click on the link that leads them directly to your website.

The same thing is true with blogs and blog directories. Who is better equipped to talk about your product or service than you? Creating and writing a blog where you talk about your industry, products, services, and more is the perfect way to continuously update content on your site. In addition, you can submit your blog to reputable blog directories which will provide you incoming links to your site.

In Part 1 of this 3 part series, I talked about attracting quality incoming links. The second part of this article discussed sources you can use to gain premium links to your website.

Increase Traffic With Link Popularity

Link popularity is an example of the move by search engines towards off-the-page-criteria (outside of content optimization) to determine quality content. By adding off-the-page-criteria to their algorithms, search engines feel this adds the aspect of impartiality to search engine rankings.

Incoming links from other websites help define a site's reputation. In theory, great sites will naturally attract many links, and content-poor sites will have difficulty attracting any links.

Link popularity assumes that not all inbound links are equal. For example, an incoming link from a major directory carries more weight than an inbound link from an obscure personal home page. There are many sources from which you can draw incoming links, including:

•    First-class directories
•    Industry portals
•    Content-rich industry websites
•    High-quality related websites
•    Premium press release and blog directories

Specialized directories, portals and press release and article directories typically provide a one-way inbound link. While reciprocal links with related directories and websites can help in building link popularity, one-way inbound links are of greater value to increase your link popularity.

Check back next week for the third and final part in this series. 

Improving the link popularity of your website should be the key component of any SEO program because the quantity of premium incoming links to your website is critical for effective SEO efforts. One way of doing this is to implement a link strategy that produces high-quality incoming links.

Attracting Quality Incoming Links
Not all incoming links are equal so it is important that you obtain high-quality incoming links that are considered by search engines to be valuable. The major search engines factor link popularity into their relevancy algorithms, so you need to evaluate your link structure to ensure overall SEO effectiveness.

Your link strategy and implementation accounts for at least 50% of the factors that search engines take into consideration when ranking your website. Understanding the different types of links, and the importance of each, is critical to effective website optimization and ultimately to increasing high-quality sales inquiries.

There are 3 types of links related to your website structure: incoming links, internal links, and outgoing links.

Measuring link popularity will help you determine the quantity and quality of sites that link to your website. Since link popularity is a critical element of any search engine optimization effort, you want to make sure your search engine optimization program includes a link popularity plan.

Learn another way to improve the link popularity of your website in Part 2.