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My Unique Article Submission Strategy
May 2nd, 2008 | 54 comments
It’s been nearly 4 years now since I first began marketing online with articles. In SEOT (SEO Time 
Yeah I came up with that all by myself) that’s like 20 years. So many things change from month to month and even day to day when it comes to Search Engines.
My Article Submission History
I’ve submitted LOADS of articles within that time span and my technique has changed many, many times!
- When I first began the absolute best way to submit articles was to simply blast them to as many article directories as you could possibly find! It worked. I was getting alot of traffic and loads of incoming links. But the effectiveness of this very simple technique, for one reason or another, eventually died off.
- I then limited my submissions to only 3 high-quality article directories, which at that time were EzineArticles.com, GoArticles.com and ArticleCity.com These incoming links seemed to be much stronger and the traffic increased as compared to the later days of my mass submission. Things were once again doing well. I was getting alot of direct traffic as well as the indirect SE traffic that come in as a result of the incoming links.
I used this very simple technique for another year or so and it was doing me well, but I missed all of those links I was getting before.
So I began testing mass submission again. What I eventually realized was that mass submission wasn’t the problem!
Google DOES NOT PENALIZE sites/pages that are syndicated! BUT, if the same article appears on hundreds of LOW-QUALITY sites, for reasons unbeknownst to me, many of the article page will not be indexed, which results in less traffic and backlinks, both short term and long term!
The Solution
Submit 1/2 of your articles to the top 5-10 article directories, which in my opinion are:
1: EzineArticles.com
2: Buzzle.com
3: ArticleDashboard.com
4: Amazines.com
5: IdeaMarketers.com (because of their bidding system)
Submit the other half to the top 30-50 QUALITY article directories! These are article directories which possess high rankings, accept quality articles and have strict submission guidelines!
I use Article Post Robot to make the process much quicker and easier and I highly recommend it. (btw, you get a big discount through my link!)
By splitting up your submission techniques you’re getting the best of both worlds. You’re getting a hand full of strong backlinks with the very limited submissions and you’re getting a higher quantity of backlinks with the “mass” submission to high-quality article directories. The best part is that you’re not relying on one simple technique! SE’s change their algorithms on a daily basis, so we really don’t know what will be effective in the future.
By using this technique, I effectively get the best of both worlds and provide a much more solid foundation for my article marketing campaign in the future!
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2nd May, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Hey Josh,
I’ve tried the same - huge blasts no longer seem that effective and I’ve started being more selective too even though I’m not writing as many articles as I should be.
This is good advice Josh, and interesting to note the comparisons with my own experiences even though I’ve not been at it as long as you have :-).
2nd May, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Well, none of us submit as much as we should be…the more the better
Glad you liked it, Mo.
2nd May, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Hey Josh, another excellent post.
I read your Article Marketing Domination a few months back and was wondering whether you changed your submission strategy… so this post clarifies things a lot.
Regards,
Stelios
2nd May, 2008 at 8:20 pm
And your altering each article as well to make sure that each one is different. Because otherwise they slowly loose their value…right?
2nd May, 2008 at 8:23 pm
@ Stelios - Thanks.
I’m actually in the process of completely rewriting “AMD” to clarify several points and add to it all. My submission strategy is still very similar to that of version 5, but I’ve had several questions on various things, so I felt it need redone.
@ Chas - Nope. I alternate the title and description with Article Post Robot, but I don’t submit rewrites.
It’s a very large misconception that the same article being syndicated will be penalized.
2nd May, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Been reading for a while now. Just wanted to say good job.
Chris Tackett
2nd May, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Thanks Josh for the update on your article subission strategy. I was wondering about over - submitting articles and whether or not the big G would penalize.
2nd May, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Great post, as usual, Josh. I’ll start doing the same. Would it be an interesting idea to create a blog that keeps a list of all articles that you send to the directories?
2nd May, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I’m a beginner at this - but trying to follow your 5dollar formula, which is similar to what you’re saying above.
What a pain to get started ! I’m trying to put value into some sites that are not doing well, but could do.
What I want to know is this: can I roll various themes together (they would be related) into separate sections of the same web site ?
The web site that works best for me has the revenue earning part in a sub directory - a historical accident - but seems no worse for it.
2nd May, 2008 at 8:43 pm
@ Melody - No problem at all. They definitely don’t “penalize” but I’ve noticed when you submit to loads of low-quality sites they don’t rank as well. When “mass submitting” to 50 or so high-quality sites though, they do better.
@ Shaun - It’s certainly not a bad idea. I’ve considered it, but for optimal readership I think it’s best to write in a more personal tone, which isn’t always allowed with article directories.
@ Charles - I’ve seen people do it, but it just lacks credibility if you ask me. It’s always best to stay on topic and keep each site on a separate domain.
2nd May, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Hi Josh,
You lost me on something. I understand that mass submission isn’t as effective as it once was. I’ve noticed this from my own results even though I tend to still do it.
But is there any harm in doing it? You lost me when you mentioned,
“Google DOES NOT PENALIZE sites/pages that are syndicated! BUT, if the same article appears on hundreds of LOW-QUALITY sites, for reasons unbeknownst to me, many of the article page will not be indexed, which results in less traffic and backlinks, both short term and long term!”
If the article itself isn’t penalized, the how can submitting it to 300 directories hurt? Does this keep it from being indexed in the top article directories? If not, how does it result in less traffic?
2nd May, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Hi Josh,
Great post. If I understood your correctly, you take one article and submit the same article to the 5 directories in your blog post as well as the other 30-50 quality directories that you mention.
Is that correct?
2nd May, 2008 at 8:55 pm
@ Brent - Good question. With an SE “penalty” pages will be dropped from G’s index. So, there are no “penalties” for these duplicate submissions.
But, in my testing I have noticed that by submitting to too many sites, the direct traffic is lessoned. However, the links are still there and the more links, the more rankings.
So, in other words, the “mass” submission (in my experience) doesn’t bring in as much direct traffic as the limited submission.
Hope that’s more clear? I completely missed that part
@ Ronnie - Thanks. I submit 1/2 of my articles to the top 5-10 article directories and the other half to the top 40 or so.
2nd May, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Josh,
Excellent strategy.
Diversifying your marketing, and not putting your eggs in one basket, is an excellent way to sub-test and get best results.
Nicely done!
Joseph Ratliff
The Profitable Business Edge 2
2nd May, 2008 at 9:38 pm
I’m in the process of writing my very first article so I have a lot to learn and a long way to go! The information you provide is a great help. Thank you Josh
2nd May, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Do you have any idea of why that is?
If you submit to just 5 good directories and expect to get 100 clicks over “x” period of time, why do you think submitting to those same 5 plus 300 others would produce anything less than the 100 clicks over “x” period you expected from just submitting to 5?
Am i missing something?
2nd May, 2008 at 9:52 pm
@Brent Submitting Articles submitted to 5 or so of the best article directories, for whatever reason, will rank higher initially and bring in more direct traffic.
I honestly couldn’t tell you why, but it’s what I’ve seen over and over again. Submitting to 30-50 builds more links, which obviously helps in the long run for SEO purposes, but generally doesn’t generate as much direct traffic.
It also goes back to what Joseph said above:
“Diversifying your marketing, and not putting your eggs in one basket, is an excellent way to sub-test and get best results.”
What is effective now may not be effective later. Those “mass” submissions MAY result in a penalty in the future, so at least half of our articles will still rank IF that happens.
2nd May, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Josh,
Great post about articles - I get great results by making sure I change the headline, several body paragraphs and the resource box for each article.
They seem to stick better and you get different anchor text back to your site.
Worth the extra few minutes.
Regards
James
2nd May, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Hi Josh,
Have you noticed any significant increase in your direct article traffic and sales since you started submitting to the 20 or 30 other directories? Or have you just noticed a difference in backlinks to your websites?
I also wonder, other than EA of course, which of those other directories provides you with the most traffic in the niches you submit to.
I know that a lot depends on the niche and the article all that jazz, but in general and discounting niche directories, which other directories do you believe have the most prowess with the Big G?
With the testing I have been doing over the last few months (since about November actually), I too have noticed that submitting to a larger amount of TOP QUALITY directories was helping. I went up from 12 - 15 to about 20 - 22.
I love reading about your testing, results and experiences. Keep everything coming! I believe that with your experience in both article marketing and SEO, you have a very unique position and aspect on things which seems to allow you to be able to bring us some very specific and profitable information such as this…and I thank you for that!
- Allen Graves
2nd May, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Thanks for posting this article, Josh. I am just now writing some articles for my new niche site and it is the first one where I am trying to follow all the steps correctly, from product and keyword research to articles and back links. Your approach helps to keep me focused since I am trying to unlearn some bad habits.
2nd May, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I have to tell you Josh..I get many newsletters from many gurus etc.
Your information and topics ALWAYS is very helpful and very valuable.!
It’s nice to see someone is STILL interested in helping others and giving some really great info to them.
Keep it up my friend!
2nd May, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hi Josh,
How glad I am you are in the blogosphere. Clearly written and do-able strategies. And good information on results too. Many thanks.
I haven’t really had an article submission strategy - just tried submitting a few to ezine articles with little result. I’m going to give it a go sometime soon because your results seem so good. And the strategy appeals to me - providing value as a way of marketing.
I may have to wait until I can afford the software.
Thanks for another great article.
2nd May, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Hi Josh,
Been following your articles for awhile now. Just finishing up a $5 mini-site now (and made my first $5! very exciting), and this article came just in time, so now I know where to submit it! This is great. Thanks for all the tips, keep up the good work!
Mark
3rd May, 2008 at 1:49 am
Josh this makes a heck of a lot of sense. I was a little leery of the top 3 only strategy.
3rd May, 2008 at 1:55 am
Josh, just wanted to thank you for the outstanding discount you got for us here for article post robot! This was a really great deal on a great program! You guys should grab this up if you don’t have it already!
3rd May, 2008 at 2:52 am
Hi Josh, can i know what do you mean by submit 1/2 of your articles to the top 5-10 article directories and submit the other half to the top 30-50 QUALITY article directories??
What is the meaning of half?
3rd May, 2008 at 3:11 am
Hey Josh,
Thanks a lot for the strategy. I will certainly use it and see where it leads me.
3rd May, 2008 at 3:16 am
yes, you nailed me on the “Submit” button!
Can you clarify some what you meant by “sites/pages that are syndicated”?
Thanks!
3rd May, 2008 at 6:25 am
As always, great content. Thanks Josh. I have been using article marketing right from the start. I think it is crucial. I have been concentrating on Ezine Articles. Will take another look at the others, as well as some mass marketing.
3rd May, 2008 at 10:03 am
Josh,
I am following your article submission strategy and already seeing positive results.
I purchased APR at the beginning of the week, so missed out on the discount - never mind.
I love your posts and your ebooks.
Barb.
3rd May, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Very good post Josh, i’ve been submitting myarticles to 90 directories with a program called article submitter, i didn’t upgrade so i have to submit one by one, but the results until now don’t seem to be that good, so i guess you’re very right, i should choose a few top directories and submit a few other articles to many other directories. I’ll give that a try. Thanks.
3rd May, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Hi Josh,
Sorry to keep pulling this thing apart. I’m not doubting what you say in the least, just trying to understand how that could be the case.
When you say “direct traffic” I’m assuming you mean clicks on the anchor text in your articles that takes place on the article site.
Since YOUR direct traffic is decreased by submitting the article to 300 directories, could it be that there is some sort of duplicate content penalty imposed on the articles sites. It just makes sense right?
For YOUR direct traffic to decrease, it seems only reasonable that the search traffic to your articles on the top 5 article sites would have to decrease as well.
3rd May, 2008 at 4:42 pm
hi josh,
i really enjoy your work.keep the ball of wealth creation rolling.
3rd May, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I got a couple questions please; semi new to article submission…
1. Half/Half as you say…I assume you produce like 20 articles at a time, so how do you decide which goes to which half?
2. If you’re like some that write 1 per month (because it just takes that long lol), what then?
3. Auto-Submit robot - I’ve heard plenty of times not that directories are getting wise to this method and are not appreciating it…lots of folks say to just go manually and stop the hassles.
Thoughts?
3rd May, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I’ll throw in my 3 cents here and try to answer some of the questions
@Brent - There isn’t a penalty as such but what you have to remember is that a lot of the smaller general directories don’t always rank very highly in the SERPS and consequently don’t get much traffic - this means less clicks on your resource box links (probably) from those sites.
Ezine articles, by comparison, have very high PR and SERPS positions for most of the articles they publish and you stand more chance of getting direct clicks from their site as well as wider syndication (more publishers picking up your article and posting it on other sites).
Remember that with article marketing you are not just aiming for traffic and backlinks from the directories themselves - if a popular ezine picks up one of your articles you could well be put in front of 100,000 readers. This is why article marketing is such a worthwhile strategy. Syndication.
A lot also depends on how quickly a directory approves your article - if they are slow the chances are that as far as the SERPS are concerned they won’t make it onto the first pages - they are not penalized, the article from the directory will appear somewhere, just not as near the top of the results. Those who publish earliest usually get the top spots for the given keyword search in relation to that article.
Google will often show results with a link to “similar results” at the foot of the last page of your search - that is not a penalty, the articles are still in the SERPS, it’s just to avoid giving searchers the same article over and over but from different directories.
Phew, hope that helps a bit. What Josh advocates does make sense, the top directories always rank well but spreading your message to some smaller sites still can help to increase your exposure via syndication.
@Dennis
As a directory owner, I wouldn’t worry too much about submission software. It’s accepted as a tool of the trade and most of us are keen to be included in their list of submission sites.
It’s actually more common for directories to get upset with submission services - they are not all bad but some have given the idea a bad name by using trickery to register authors through backdoor means, using fake information and then flooding them with second rate articles and so began the spamming of article sites.
Submission software which is usually only “semi automated” is a far preferable method of distribution. (And if Josh is giving a good deal on APR it’s one of the best IMO).
The bottom line is, we all want quality articles but frequently have to wade through a ton of rubbish to find the pearls
After all that I’ll give myself a small plug - you can pick up a copy of my free report Article Marketing Expert over at my blog which may help - then if you’re serious check out Josh’s Article Marketing Domination which is still one of the leading books on the subject
3rd May, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Hey Maurice, thanks much for the clarifications. It’s greatly appreciated.
Timely too as I was recently considering an India based submission service where they boast 300 directories for $30…I thought the price vs. the time-save seemed awesome.
Maybe a little too awesome eh?
4th May, 2008 at 1:53 am
@Dennis,
Compared to something like Josh’s recommendation Article Post Robot or other submitters it doesn’t look like a very good deal at all
Sure, they all cost more than $30 but they are yours to use forever after initial purchase and are capable of submitting to over 600 directories each time if you really want to do that many.
Different strokes for different folks, but I prefer the software option myself with a few manual submissions thrown in.
4th May, 2008 at 2:08 am
With that comparison, no lol
What I was saying is, it looked awesome for a MANUAL submission service, since I was thinking of doing it manually at the time.
Considering how long it would take ME to submit to 300 by hand, it looked like an awesome deal.
After reading Maurice’s comment tho, perhaps there is a sneaky reason why it is such a good deal.
4th May, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Josh, do you also post your article content on your website, or is it unique content just for the articles?
4th May, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Great and helpful article, Josh. You are THE guy I think of when it comes to article marketing and now I know why . . . you’re an ancient when it comes to SEOT. LOL
4th May, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Hello Josh,
You mentioned that some of the pages stop getting any importance from Google when they get across lots of different sites. I have noticed in the past that some of the pages get into Google’s supplemental index, others in the main index. The supplemental seems to be Google’s way of recognising non-unique content. Any pages that make their way into this, don’t tend to come up in search results. I use an SEO toolbar within Firefox and one of the options is to display supplemental results for any searches that you run. This can be interesting to work out which pages don’t rank.
Thanks
Steve
4th May, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Actually the duplicate content penalty is well documented. In tests, about 300 inbound links shrink to about 16 or 17 as they disappear into the “similar results” list. That is an 1875% increase in effectiveness if you can submit unique “spun” articles.
5th May, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Where’s Josh?
5th May, 2008 at 5:35 pm
@ Allen Graves - I notice more incoming links with the “mass” submission, which helps in the long run, but normally more direct traffic with the selective submissions.
Buzzle has been driving the most traffic behind EzineArticles. The only bad thing about Buzzle is that they like to edit your resource box without your knowing.
The top 4, mentioned above, continue to drive the most traffic and bring in the best links with G.
@ James, Victor and Dane - Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it
@ Mark - Good deal. Congrats on the success of your mini-site
@ Canon - Great, glad you liked it.
@ Rhab - No problem. I’m glad I could help you guys. I try to work out discounts whenever possible.
@ Tooth - half means every other article.
@ Moroccan - Good deal and good luck.
@ Stan Dubin - lol I thought it was funny
“syndication” just means “copied.” There are some cases where syndication is good, when an authoritative site picks up your article and sends traffic, but you also have the bad syndication where spammers take it and use it for content.
@ Susan - Great, article marketing is certainly a valuable promotion technique. Keep up the good work.
@ Barb - Great, I’m glad to hear you’re seeing results! Sorry I was too late on the discount
@ Helder - The submission software may be fine, but yeah, submitting to alot of low-quality article directories isn’t going to do you any good.
@ Brent - No problem. It’s good that you’re trying to pull it apart
I’m not the best at explaining things, so you’re helping me so I know to explain better next time.
Yes, when I say “direct traffic” I do indeed mean traffic coming straight from the resource box in the article directories.
I think I see where the confusion is now, and it was totally my fault. OK, I did say “Google DOES NOT PENALIZE sites/pages that are syndicated!” but I should have explained my thoughts on a Google “Penalty.”
If your site is penalized by Google, your site will drop from their index.
Many people believe that duplicate content will invoke a penalty and get your site, or the article pages, dropped from their index. That is simply not true.
HOWEVER, you’re right, content that is overly syndicated does seem to cause it to lose rankings!
From my experience though, submitting to only a few quality articles directories doesn’t invoke any type of lowered rankings. When submitting to the top 5 or so article directories I get more search traffic directly to the articles, BUT not more organic traffic to MY site. The mass submissions brings in more links, so thats’ where the long-term effects of the mass submission comes in.
@ Larry - Thanks, glad you enjoy it.
@ Dennis Edell - 1. I don’t produce any pre-set # at a time. I just say “half” to get the point across. If I have 10 articles created I’ll submit 5 to the top few article directories and 5 to the top 30 or so. There are no guidelines which determines which goes where. I just split them down the middle.
2. hmm then you need to write or outsource many more!!! 1 per month simply won’t cut it!
3. If your articles are quality then the articles directories shouldn’t have a problem with it. If they do, they can write their own content
I haven’t’ had a problem with it at all.
@ Maurice - Alot of great points. Thanks for your 2 cents
or 99 cents haha
@ Dennis Edell - Not awesome at all. I’d definitely stay away!!!
@ Kris - No I don’t. It just doesn’t make sense, as your article pages would be competing for the same keywords as your site.
@ Terry - Thanks, glad you like it. lol SEOT…I think I’m the first to coin that aren’t I?
@ Steve Butler - Google no longer has a supplemental index http://ez-onlinemoney.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/google-eliminates-their-supplemental-index/
@ Chas - The confusion here (my fault) is the definition of “penalty.” When Google assigns penalties to sites, those sites are removed from their index. This has been confirmed by Matt Cutts and other Google engineers and they’ve made it clear that duplicate content does not invoke a penalty.
If it did just about all of the social bookmarking sites would never rank in google, as well as many other authoritative sites.
However, it is true that an article that is submitted to hundreds of low-quality article directories will rank lower than if it were submitted to 30 or so high-quality sites, in general.
5th May, 2008 at 5:37 pm
@ Allen Graves - “Where’s Josh?” Right here. I don’t work weekends. Sorry for the delay.
5th May, 2008 at 6:54 pm
OHHHHHHHHHHHH.
sorry
6th May, 2008 at 10:13 am
Interesting article Josh. I think the ‘moral’ to your findings, as is so often found, is to focus on submitting to quality sites rather than quantity.
I certainly wouldn’t claim to know all the answers, but I’m sure that as the SE’s become ever more refined, this kind of ’sniper’ marketing will always win out over the ’shotgun’ approach.
6th May, 2008 at 1:42 pm
How does article directories compare to place like squidoo or Hubpages :I tend to keep my best articles for them and then ezines and then the rest - is that a reasonable approach?
7th May, 2008 at 7:58 pm
You’re absolutely right on every point in this post and I’m glad someone else is telling people things I’ve been trying to convince my clients of forever
I’m sharing this post, couldn’t have wrote it better myself, as usual - super, duper
Maria Reyes-McDavis
8th May, 2008 at 7:30 am
This is actually really good information - I wouldn’t have had the time to actually test it myself but it’s nice that someone has. I’m going to try out this strategy asap - I normally just stick with Ezinearticles.
8th May, 2008 at 9:01 am
So Josh based on your opinion what reason will get penalty by Google? One of my sites deindexed by Google but i don’t know what reason cause it…Is it once get penalty then will be forever ban and wont index by Google anymore?
9th May, 2008 at 2:09 am
[...] Josh Spauldings Unique Article Submission Strategy (I’m all about article marketing, and I’m all about good strategies. This post is [...]
14th May, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Josh,
I just bought APR through your link - thanks for the great discount.
But I noticed that some of the top 15 that you mentioned are not in the default list of APR i.e. buzzle.com, articlebiz.com and articlesfactory.com.
Did you have to add them in as custom sites? What directory types did you select?
Thanks.
16th May, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Very good advice for submitting articles. I can testify that it does work. I’ve been usuing a similar strategy for a long time and it has worked wonders for my rankings.
Btw… I love the submit button. I was one of the many I’m sure that did click it.