There is little doubt that article submission as a means to increase traffic and improve search engine ranking is not a fad. There is debate about whether or not Google will continue to modify its ranking algorithm to decrease the value of the article backlinks. But for now, submitting articles to a free article directory remains an excellent way to (1) brand yourself and your website, (2) increase the number of one-way backlinks to your site and (3) acquire targeted human visitors to your site.



If you are looking to increase traffic to your website, the best way to accomplish this is to rank highly in search engine results for important keyword searches. There is currently no way to buy your way in or guarantee that your site will make the all-important first page of Google's search results for your preferred key phrase. However, the best way of ranking high in Google's search engines results pages (SERP), is to have a large number of one-way backlinks from trusted websites with related content. After submitting your website to trusted free and high-quality paid web directories, the next step is to submit articles to free article directories.

An article directory is a website that publishes articles written by website owners, freelance writers and SEO companies. These articles are typically submitted via an online form and then they are queued for review by the directory editor. Articles that are well-written and follow the submission guidelines are approved and published online. The "Resource Box" at the bottom of the article can contain up to three hyperlinks to the author's chosen web pages. This is the most important part of the article, since this is where you can entice the reader to click on a link to your site for more information.

This is also the most important part of your SEO effort. The keyword density in the article affects the ranking of the article in the SERPs, but the most important items in the author's resource box are the hyperlink text and the surrounding text.

The text used for the hyperlink, also known as anchor text is a key factor search engines use when weighing the relevance of search results. Choose your anchor text carefully and stick to one or two of your most important keyword search phrases.

Let's say you have a blog about weight loss. You write an article about some of the most effective weight loss supplements, and then you submit it manually to five article directories. You have used the WordTracker keyword tool along with your own keyword density tools to choose two targeted search phrases: weight loss blog and diet supplements. Now you should make sure to use these as the anchor text in your resource box for this article and your following articles.

The more articles like this you submit, the better you are targeting your promotional efforts. The important thing is to choose keywords that people use to search for your products, and to be as specific as possible. Unless you have a very big budget and a lot of time to promote, it is useless to use "weight loss" as your targeted phrase. It is too general (47,400,000 results in Google) and many established competitors will be competing on this phrase. Just choose one or two somewhat specific keyword phrases and stick with them.

The nice thing about submitting to a free article directory is that the results can be seen almost immediately. Most directories review articles within 48 hours. If your article is approved, you don't have to wait a long time to see some traffic trickle in from that article. You can secure free, one-way contextual backlinks while providing your audience with helpful information in your article. If you submit one or two articles a week, you will soon see the number of backlinks to your site grow.

You can monitor the value of these links by using a backlink checker (iWeb has a good one). Here you can see which directories have published your article. You can also see the PageRank of the linking page. Importantly you can easily see the allinanchor text of that link. In addition, you can see your ranking for your keyword phrases using Googleranking's excellent ranking tool.

Don't be concerned about the low PageRank of your article pages in the article directories. Some internet marketers argue that these backlinks are meaningless since they have a Google PR0. I completely disagree. Over time, these links greatly increase your results within the search rankings if you submit articles regularly. A link from a free article directory carries strong SEO weight because it is: (1) contextual, (2) static, and (3) anchored with your carefully chosen keyword phrase.

For those who are new to the complex world of Internet marketing, shop around and try different promotional methods to increase your website traffic. Submitting to free article directories not only establishes you as an expert in your field, it increases the "value" of your site. And this all comes at the best possible price - free.