When Google's Panda update was released, many web publishers and SEOs found that popular article sites were almost nowhere to be found in Google's search results.
The thought was that since the sites lost a significant amount of traffic, that their links were no longer of any value.
This is simply not the case.
One of those "dirty little SEO secrets" that it seems some are beginning to rediscover is that article submissions can still be done to gain valuable links.
Even more important, article submissions can be used to build relationships with other bloggers and websites.
The Value Of A Link Not all links are created equal.
A link sitting by itself in a forum profile may have some value, but it has no context to it.
Links are great, but contextual links are better.
On the other hand, articles are always thematically relevant to the website they link to.
Links with contextual relevance are likely to be clicked and lead to more traffic and conversions Links That Send Traffic vs Links That Don't A link from thematically relevant content that is likely to refer visitors does two things.
The first is that it sends visitors aside from search engine traffic.
This is obviously nice.
The other is that these visitors may do several things.
The first is that visitors that like what they find on your site may share the content on various social networks, which appears to be a growing factor in search engine rankings.
The second is that they may make a link on their own websites, or in a directory or a social news site, like Reddit.
Again, these are great for traffic and since links are still the main driver of higher search engine rankings, their value should be obvious.
A Word About Anchor Text Anchor text is a controversial topic since Google's Penguin update.
Many websites with too many links all made up of the same anchor text were penalized.
Article submissions are a great way to help fix this.
Link building is still about acquiring targeted, but still varied, anchor text links when possible.
Since the author of an article gets to choose the anchor text of the link, it is a great opportunity to shift the anchor text percentage of a website's link profile.
Don't Give Up On Article Submissions They may not hold the same value that they once did, but article submissions still provide a valuable link.
They are great to have as part of a well rounded link building strategy.
The thought was that since the sites lost a significant amount of traffic, that their links were no longer of any value.
This is simply not the case.
One of those "dirty little SEO secrets" that it seems some are beginning to rediscover is that article submissions can still be done to gain valuable links.
Even more important, article submissions can be used to build relationships with other bloggers and websites.
The Value Of A Link Not all links are created equal.
A link sitting by itself in a forum profile may have some value, but it has no context to it.
Links are great, but contextual links are better.
On the other hand, articles are always thematically relevant to the website they link to.
Links with contextual relevance are likely to be clicked and lead to more traffic and conversions Links That Send Traffic vs Links That Don't A link from thematically relevant content that is likely to refer visitors does two things.
The first is that it sends visitors aside from search engine traffic.
This is obviously nice.
The other is that these visitors may do several things.
The first is that visitors that like what they find on your site may share the content on various social networks, which appears to be a growing factor in search engine rankings.
The second is that they may make a link on their own websites, or in a directory or a social news site, like Reddit.
Again, these are great for traffic and since links are still the main driver of higher search engine rankings, their value should be obvious.
A Word About Anchor Text Anchor text is a controversial topic since Google's Penguin update.
Many websites with too many links all made up of the same anchor text were penalized.
Article submissions are a great way to help fix this.
Link building is still about acquiring targeted, but still varied, anchor text links when possible.
Since the author of an article gets to choose the anchor text of the link, it is a great opportunity to shift the anchor text percentage of a website's link profile.
Don't Give Up On Article Submissions They may not hold the same value that they once did, but article submissions still provide a valuable link.
They are great to have as part of a well rounded link building strategy.