Huge Collection: SEO

Article directories must sound familiar to all those people who have 
employed Internet marketing services for promotion of their site. The 
directories act as content farms where one can find numerous articles on
 several niche topics. However, article directories are not only used to
 find relevant info on particular topic, but they are also used widely 
as an SEO technique to bring quality backlink to a site and get good 
rank in Google.<br />

But, the way these directories worked a few years back and the way 
they work now has changed a lot. This change mainly took place because 
of Google’s Panda and Penguin updates. Starting from the length of the 
article to the quality of the content, every single parameter of the 
directories changed so as to ensure that only quality survives. Several 
directories were heavily punished, while the remaining ones had to make 
their guidelines stricter. The heavy blow came to all those sites that 
used these directories to get good ranks through poor content.<br />

With Google’s Panda and Penguin in action, there was no way 
copywriters could fool around with content anymore. Though article 
directories are still in use, there are several site owners who question
 the efficiency of the directories. This is also a big question for SEO 
professionals who use these off-page activities to acquire link building
 for their clients.<br />

<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">The Early Years of Article Directories</span></h3>
Are the directories still helpful in link building? This IS a big 
concern for Internet marketing professionals as well as for all those 
people who wish to seek SEO for making their sites visible in the top 
SERPs. But, there was a time when they played a decisive role in 
improving a site’s rank in search engines. In fact, there was a time 
when they dominated the results of the search engines.<br />

There were several reasons for their popularity. Some of the specific ones are as followed:<br />

<ul>
<li>- Directories allowed site owners to promote their site.</li>
<li>- Top directories like EzineArticles and ArticleBase attracted huge traffics.</li>
<li>- Search engines frequently searched the directories for content.</li>
<li>- They included less hassles in article submission as one article could be submitted to multiple sites.</li>
<li>- They helped in raising rank of a site by providing it with significant backlinks.</li>
</ul>
However, the specifics varied from directory to directory. While some
 of them had an open submission policy that allowed any person to load 
article, others had stricter rules and the articles submitted in such 
directories needed to go through screening; thus, the latter maintaining
 quality and relevance. Whatever be the policies, there was a time when 
the article directories enjoyed their dominance in the web world. So, 
what happened to them?<br />

<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">The Punishment of Panda</span></h3>
February 2011 was a terrible month for those directories that 
contained low quality, poor content and solely thrived on 
keyword–stuffed filler-articles. Before Google released Panda, keyword 
optimization was a good method to get its attention and people could 
enjoy good results even with pathetically written content that only 
needed to be stuffed with keywords.<br />

Once Panda was released, everything changed. It was a nightmare for 
all the directories that housed low quality articles in galore, and it 
also punished the sites that received backlinks through these 
directories. Through Panda, Google made it crystal-clear that no 
nonsense-content would be displayed on its results and those sites with 
proper, relevant, quality content would conquer the search engine.<br />

When Panda was kicking the directories, the ones which maintained 
decency with quality content suffered less, but those with loose ends 
suffered heavily. Panda came as good news to all those directories that 
suffered simply because of they avoided keyword-stuffed content. Panda 
came as a savior to those directories. By the end of the year 2011, 
article directories lost their charm to the site owners and were mostly 
avoided by the professionals.<br />

<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">Do article directories help anymore?</span></h3>
Surprisingly, in spite of Google’s stricter rules (a result of both 
Panda and Penguin), the answer to this question is yes. Though article 
marketing has been largely ignored by site owners as well as 
professionals, article directories do help you to get quality backlinks 
and improve your site’s ranks, given that you provide original, quality 
content and they follow Google Webmaster’s guidelines.<br />

After the Panda and Penguin updates, a lot has changed in the 
Internet marketing sector. But, few things are there that have remained 
unchanged including the importance of getting relevant traffic to your 
site and the fruitful results of your site’s good rank in the search 
engines. Article directories still have an important role as the 
directories are still searched by Google to get good, relevant info and 
those articles that match its criteria do get rewarded with good ranks.<br />

There are some major reasons why the article directories are still required which are listed below:<br />

<ul>
<li>They are searched by Google and other search engines to find relevant articles.</li>
<li>Through well-researched, unique content, the article directories can bless you with quality backlinks.</li>
<li>The quality backlinks, in turn, can reward your site with good rankings in the SERPs.</li>
<li>They serve as great promotional tools for your site.</li>
</ul>
While using the article directories, you might be worried about 
getting punished by Google. But, as long as you stick by the oath of 
serving the directories with unique, original, well-written content, you
 don’t have to worry about Panda. What Panda wants is useful info, and 
as long as you keep providing it with high quality articles, Panda will 
be happy with you and it might reward your site with good ranks via your
 articles in the directories.<br />

<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">List of do_follow article directories for quality article submission</span></h3>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="44">
<div align="center">
Index</div>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="395">
<div align="center">
Article Directory</div>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="72">
<div align="center">
Page Rank (Google)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="44">1</td>
<td valign="top" width="395">Technorati</td>
<td valign="top" width="72">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="44">2</td>
<td valign="top" width="395">Suite101</td>
<td valign="top" width="72">7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="44">3</td>
<td valign="top" width="395">Examiner</td>
<td valign="top" width="72">8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="44">4</td>
<td valign="top" width="395">Squidoo</td>
<td valign="top" width="72">7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="44">5</td>
<td valign="top" width="395">Ezinearticles</td>
<td valign="top" width="72">6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="44">6</td>
<td valign="top" width="395">Brighthub</td>
<td valign="top" width="72">5</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
(Collected)

Are Article Directories Good for SEO?

Article directories must sound familiar to all those people who have employed Internet marketing services for promotion of their site. The ...