Google Penguin has made article marketing and article submission even more important than it was before. Google’s Penguin update is looking for more variety in backlink sources, anchor text and landing pages, and effective article writing and submission can achieve all three. Here’s how.
1. Google Penguin Update and Backlink Sources
What to Avoid
The Google Penguin update will punish web pages whose backlinks are primarily from the same source. For example, those whose backlinks all come from EzineArticles will find their ranking has dropped. Those whose links come from solely multiple Craigslist ads, Yahoo Answers posts or fundamentally the same publications will experience the same.
Some have written that Google Penguin is the end of article marketing, but they fail to see the bigger picture. Sure, it’s the end of article marketing if our submissions are all to the same directory, such as EzineArticles or GoArticles. Some people have paid a membership fee for their submission sites and feel all their articles must be submitted to that site. Bad move!
Positive Action
If you do that post-Penguin, then your ranking will drop! To avoid that, you must write multiple articles and submit them to multiple article directories. If the bulk of your backlinks are from one article directory then Google will downgrade their benefit.
In order to avoid this you must generate backlinks from your published articles, not only from as many different article directories as possible, but also from other types of publication, such as ezines, blogs and PDF directories.
Not only that, but use your home Page URL to answer questions on the various ‘Question’ websites, to become involved in forums, and even to advertise your services on Craigslist. Use web directories – even free directories – to give you more backlinks.
2. Importance of Anchor Text in Article Marketing
What to Avoid
Never forget that Google’s fundamental commitment is to those that use it as search engine to find information – that is Google’s raison d’être, and those that forget that will suffer. It is not the AdSense users and not the AdWords advertiser, but those searching for information that are Google’s customers.
Google understands that its users do not want to see ‘Click Here’ or any other text on every single link they come across. Part of the intention of the Penguin update is to promote variety in anchor text to Google users, so that those seeking information has a variety of HTML linked text they can click on – and not just variety, but informative, so the anchor text should reflect the landing page to which they will be sent.
Positive Action
You should as diverse anchor text as you can. Simply using your home Page name or ‘Click Here’ will not do. Try using anchor text relating to your content. For example, the anchor text in the Author’s resource section of this article could be ‘Google Penguin,’ ‘article marketing,’ and ‘article submission’ if submitted to three different backlink sources.
Even if you are submitting the same article to multiple publications, you can at least change the anchor text for each one, and as you are about to learn, also the landing page attached to that anchor text.
3. Multiple Landing Pages in Article Submission
What to Avoid
Another aspect of the Google Penguin update is that of landing pages. There is a tendency for many webmasters to promote only their Home Page. Google believes its customers would benefit from having access to all pages within a website, or at least more than just one at first click!
For that reason, those websites that generally promote only one page will be likely to suffer in ranking. Although Google ranks only individual pages, their listing position for any search term is influenced by the quality of the website as a whole. If only one page on that site is being promoted, Google will be likely to list that page below equivalent pages on sites with multiple pages with backlinks.
Positive Action
Promote several of your more important web pages on any one website. Do not focus mainly on one page. Analysis tends to indicate that if 50% of your backlinks in your article marketing are to your Home Page, and the rest spilt between other pages on the site, then you should avoid this aspect of the Google Penguin update.
Summary
In order to avoid the down-ranking that many have experienced with the Google Penguin Update, your article marketing campaigns should a) involve article submission to multiple publication types, b) use multiple forms of anchor text in links, and c) direct these links to a number of landing pages and not only your Home Page.
Article marketing and article submission are still very powerful means of attaining high listing positions, but they must be applied intelligently and not with the Google Penguin update in mind, but with Google’s customers in mind.