The written word is the heart-and-soul of any webpage. Potential visitors search the internet for advice, news, insights and intrigue – and it’s our content that hooks their interest, and pulls them in. Article posting for SEO combines the power of quality content with the exposure of search engine visibility. Unfortunately, in the wake of Google’s Penguin and Panda updates, it’s easier than ever to get caught-out by article posting. If you want to benefit from article posting for SEO, you’ll need to take heed of the latest news:
Posting Articles on Your Own Website
Publishing content to your own website is fantastic for SEO. It allows you to build a stable of helpful advice and information, and rank for industry-related keywords. However, since Panda’s release, the quality of your content has become all-important. Matt Cutt, head of Google’s Webspam team, has said that just one or two pages of low-quality or duplicative content is enough to penalize your entire website. So, in the wake of Panda’s latest update, there are 3 article posting for SEO best-practices you should follow.
1.Avoid duplicate content
Virtually everything you publish should be unique to your site. If you quote someone else’s content, you can avoid penalization by citing the original author, and adding a link to the original source.
2.Avoid spun content
Spun content (articles rewritten from another source) is also likely to get your site penalized. Focus on creating new content, and bringing new information to the table.
3.Think long-term
Panda isn’t a flash-in-the-pan. The latest Panda update was as recent as March 14th of this year – and Matt Cutts hinted that it was about to be integrated into Google’s core algorithm. In other words, it’s here to stay. Approach your content with the same longevity, and focus on creating valuable, timeless content.
Submitting Articles to Directory Sites
Panda was originally introduced to tackle ‘content farms’ – article directories that allow websites to submit their content, and receive a back link to their site. Unfortunately, these directory sites quickly became saturated with spam, offering little value to the reader. Panda removed the benefits of posting to content farms, penalizing sites that used them to boost their SEO. Thankfully, you can easily avoid these penalties by posting content to your own site – and giving directories a wide-berth.
Guest Article Posting for SEO
Guest blogging is the most recent victim of Google Panda. Cutts spoke out about the practice, saying that this type of article posting for SEO was ‘done’. As if to reinforce his point, the prominent guest blogging site MyBlogGuest recently suffered a catastrophic Google penalty.
There’s nothing wrong with soliciting a great piece of advice from an industry-leader. The problem arises when you ask someone else, like MyBlogGuest, to source the content for you. As long as you’re guest blogging for the value it adds to your site, and not SEO, then you won’t have a problem.
‘There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.)… I’m talking about guest blogging for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes.’
- – Matt Cutts
Key Takeaways
Article posting for SEO isn’t dead – you just need to be smart about it.
- – When article posting for SEO, choose quality over quantity.
- – Directory submissions are a waste of time. Focus your resources on your own website.
- – Never buy content, or use third-party agencies to source it for you.
How often do you post new articles? Let me know in the comments!
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