Is submitting to a ton of article directories, bad?

[whiz]

I read a lot about duplicate content and getting penalized for it. If I submit an article to 100+ directories, will I be penalized for that? (same content all over article directories)

[Jamie Lister]

I really can't say you'll be "penalized".
But you could make the articles you submit a little different to the ones you have on your site.
Plus, make sure your articles are indexed first.

.

[LazySEO]

Yeah, I usually submit a different version of my articles to the article banks than the one I post on my site. I actually use one of those article re-writing programs to do it quickly - I figure there's no copyright issues with plagiarizing myself.

[whiz]

Originally Posted by LazySEO

I figure there's no copyright issues with plagiarizing myself.

LOL

Thanks for the advice guys. So my article on my site should be slightly different than the ones I submit to directories? And the ones that I submit can be the same all over 100 article directories? Isn't that still duplicate content? (Sorry, I just don't know how it works..)

[vangogh]

I think search engines look at more than just the actual content when making a determination about duplicate content. I have articles on my site that I downloaded from directories when I was first starting my blog and several consistently bring traffic to my site. Not a lot of traffic, but obviosuly the articles aren't being flagged as duplicate content. If you search for an article title you'll also find many pages with the same article are listed in the results.

I do think you want to be careful about duplicate content, but I think more goes into the determination of what's considered duplicate than the main content area of the page. Some of the surround site structure is most likely included in the determination.

Making some changes to the content itself can help. Adding a paragraph or two to the article on your site can help. Using a different title for the page can help. I think you're trying to make the page about 15%-30% different on your site than on another where the article ends up. That 15%-30% is just an estimation based on a lot of advice I've seen

You can also submit that article and not use it on your site. It's ok to give away a few for the links and keep other articles for your own site exclusively.

[Green11]

I believe you can be flagged by having too many incoming links too quickly.
And that can definitely result from submitting too many articles at once.

[Johan007]

You can’t just change the article slightly! www.copyscape.com

[webnut]

I submit my own articles (that i write) To over 100 articles sites and don't change the article at all. It has my bio box and i have never had a problem.
They must be articles that you write.


steven

[kickstart2]

Well, if it's your own articles that you are submitting, then it should not be a problem at all.

HOwever, if it's someone else's, then I think you should not even attempt it. Highly dangerous stuff. Heh... Oh well, perhaps go for a conservative approach; just submit to around 10, see how it goes. If it goes well, then submit more. Couldn't hurt trying it out.

[verna]

yeah theres no harm in trying...I also submit articles to a many directories per day.. its not that bad..You have the authority in your articles and it should be valid also.

[ppokyh]

It isn't gonna hurt you as far as i can understand as long as you don't use that same content on your site. The main point for submitting articles is building one way links and increasing your reputation as an authority.

Kyle.

[mike21]

you certainly won't get penalized for it.

Unfortunately, only a few webmasters actually load their site with articles from article directories. That is why you shouldn’t expect too much benefit from them.

Submitting your article to individual websites is probably a more effective approach. There are different ways to find websites where you can publish articles.

For example, via Google. Simply enter into their search box (including the quotes):

“Your keywords” “Submit article” or
“Your keywords” “Submit your article”

This should return a healthy list of sites in that keyword niche that host articles.

[Andrei2519]

I submit only to top 50 directories by traffic. Here's the list:

<Spam>

[James Trotta]

I disagree here. I ahve a thread or two on this forum, but the gist of it is that after paying to get an article submitted to 250 sites I got 3 backlinks (in Yahoo) over the next month or so). So I don't think you'll gain links too quickly by submitting to a bunch of article sites.

Originally Posted by Green11

I believe you can be flagged by having too many incoming links too quickly.
And that can definitely result from submitting too many articles at once.

[UBF]

I always submit my articles to 20-25 of the bigger articles sites. That has earned me quite a few backlinks. As for the duplicate content I can't see that it should hurt.

If it did, your competitors could just copy your text and add it all over the place...

[bermuda]

Well, I think article directories are nice but the more important issue is the webmasters downloading the articles. As you know, after you submit your article, interested webmasters download and use your article and they put the text on their web pages for the readers.

So, even if yu submit your article to hundreds of article directories, the webmasters who have seen your article on another site, will certainly, not download your content again.

[mizesean]

I have submitted to up to 80 article directory sites the same article and haven't had any trouble. Over time I think the duplicate results get filtered out, but if you are submitting regularly, then it can only help you. Just remember to use your keywords in your link and vary them up some.

[malasorte]

I have also submitted the same article to several directories and I could only notice positive results.

[Redfly]

When I write articles for distrubution among the article banks and networks, I write them exclusively for that. I never post them on my own sites. I write them well and craft them carefully to target the keywords I am after and don't submit too many at a time. So far, this is the most effective method of offpage SEO I have forund (For me).

[BILZ]

the point of writing an article for distribution is to gain links and some exposure. You should submit it to as many article sites as possible. I reccomend writing the article, put it on your own site, wait a month for it to get indexed and than submit it to as many article directories as possible. I keep a list of free article directories that i use.