by James Opiko, 6/23/2006
How many times have you seen a website with thousands of backlinks but with no 'PageRank' or worse still does not feature in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) at all. Too many, I must say. If 'numbers' is the game, then why do some directories containing thousands upon thousands of articles have very low PageRank or in numerous instances none at all? Clearly the 'Link Farming Phenomenon' applies to article directories too! Search engine algorithms are identifying these attributes in article directories and filtering pages from indexing and search results. Duplicate content is unavoidable in article directories, but a sincere attempt must be made by authors and directory owners to improve quality and uniqueness of articles.
Quality rules!
As an author, your number one priority when writing an article is 'quality and uniqueness'. You must write powerfully and with purpose. Your writing must be attractive and persuasive, otherwise it's not worth the trouble. Write a few 'very good articles' and submit them to carefully selected article directories. Make sure it's a well written and useful article....something people will want to publish in their blog, website or ezine.
As I post post my own articles to directories, I always find myself refining the article. This may or may not have any direct benefit but I strongly believe it's part and parcel of the quality control process.
Personally, I don't worry about PageRank or BackLinks, I also do not force feed my directory and I read each and every article that is submitted to the directory.
Write good articles and let it come to you naturally....the search engines will reward you as bloggers and webmasters post your articles on their sites, something they will only do if your writing is stimulating and relevant.
Look at your article as 'Your Product' or 'Your Service'. A service or product that is not choreographed properly will almost always be rejected. If you are having trouble writing, make time and study what the topnotch writers are doing. The Internet is 'pregnant' with excellent writers.
As an owner of an Article Directory, I demand from my authors that they make a serious attempt at writing quality articles. For example, I now do not accept anything less than 500 words in length...debatable yes, but shorter articles are usually badly written.