Using Free Reprint Articles - Some Questions Answered
Recently I wrote an article discussing the merits of target="_blank">using free reprint articles on your website
to increase your search engine ranking. (The article explained
how Google loves lots of content on your site, how it loves that
content to be regularly updated, and how you can get lots of
keyword rich content for your site, absolutely free.)
A few days after publishing, I received a 'please help' email
from Loren, a small business owner. Her
all about glass art, and she wanted some clarification on
some of the points I made in my previous article. Loren's
questions were good ones, and the answers important, so I
thought I'd publish them.
Q: We have a site for glass art. From your article, I
gather that if I create an articles page with free reprint
articles (written by other people) containing 'glass art' type
keywords, I'll get higher search rankings for those keywords? Is
that correct? If so, what page comes up in the rankings? The
article itself or my Home page? Also, if the article is being
used by other webmasters, won't the search results also include
their version of the article?
A: In answer to your first question, yes, having an
articles page with keyword rich free reprint articles generally
has the effect of increasing your ranking. Google thinks highly
of sites with a lot of helpful content, but it all comes down to
whether other webmasters do as well. If your site contains heaps
of helpful content about glass art, other webmasters in the
glass art field (be they suppliers, distributors, or
competitors) will be inclined to link to you simply because that
link implies (to their customers) an association with you. That
association boosts their credibility because you're obviously an
authority in the field. It also may help their own search engine
ranking a little as Google will then see them as part of an
expert, credible community of sites (although the benefits of
this for the linking site are minimal and arguable). So, in a
roundabout way, I'm saying that yes, article-based content can
help your ranking, but only if it increases the likelihood that
other related sites will link to yours.
As to the question of which page (the article itself or your
home page) displays in search results, that really depends on
which page has the most links to it*. If you have an article
which is just THE BEST source of info in the industry, and
everyone's linking to it, that page will display in the search
results. This is good because people who click on this result
are interested specifically in the content of the article. So
when your website displays, they get the information they want,
and they'll be pleased. And assuming your navigation is clear
and easy to use, it is likely they'll at least visit your home
page.
And finally, yes, if other sites have published the same
article, they may display in the results alongside you. The same
is true of the original author's website. But it's important to
remember that, generally, the site with the highest PR will rank
highest in the results, and it's this site that most users will
visit. You just need to work hard to make sure that's you! For
an example of how this works, do a search for a very specific
term related to the article of mine which you've obviously read.
Search Google worldwide for "Google's love affair with content"
(including the quotes). You'll notice that the no.1 result is
actually a page on EzineArticles.com which contains my article.
The page on my site (DivineWrite.com) containing the article
only ranks no.2. This is because EzineArticles.com has a higher
PR than DivineWrite.com, and overall, the keywords are
considered more relevant to the rest of the content on their
site than they are to mine. Obviously, this means that a good
article can display several times in the same search results,
but that's ok - it simply adds to the perceived authority of the
article and the sites containing it.
* Above I say that the page that displays in the results will be
the one with the most links to it. There are some complicating
factors here. For instance, the text in a link plays a big part
in how effective that link is. A link to your site that says
"Click here" or "check this site out", won't do you as much good
as a link which says "Glass Art sales" or "glass art creator".
So if lots of people are linking to the page containing the
article, but the text in their links is generic, then that page
may not rank as highly as a page with fewer - more keyword rich
- links pointing to it. Of course, this assumes that both pages
are equally well optimized for search engines and for the same
keyword phrases.
I know that the above is a very specific question and the answer
is full of ifs and buts, but hopefully this exchange will answer
a few questions for a few people.
Happy reprinting!
About the author:
* Glenn Murray is an target="_blank">SEO copywriter and
submission specialist. He is a director of article PR
company target="_blank">Article PR and also of
Write.
to increase your search engine ranking. (The article explained
how Google loves lots of content on your site, how it loves that
content to be regularly updated, and how you can get lots of
keyword rich content for your site, absolutely free.)
A few days after publishing, I received a 'please help' email
from Loren, a small business owner. Her
all about glass art, and she wanted some clarification on
some of the points I made in my previous article. Loren's
questions were good ones, and the answers important, so I
thought I'd publish them.
Q: We have a site for glass art. From your article, I
gather that if I create an articles page with free reprint
articles (written by other people) containing 'glass art' type
keywords, I'll get higher search rankings for those keywords? Is
that correct? If so, what page comes up in the rankings? The
article itself or my Home page? Also, if the article is being
used by other webmasters, won't the search results also include
their version of the article?
A: In answer to your first question, yes, having an
articles page with keyword rich free reprint articles generally
has the effect of increasing your ranking. Google thinks highly
of sites with a lot of helpful content, but it all comes down to
whether other webmasters do as well. If your site contains heaps
of helpful content about glass art, other webmasters in the
glass art field (be they suppliers, distributors, or
competitors) will be inclined to link to you simply because that
link implies (to their customers) an association with you. That
association boosts their credibility because you're obviously an
authority in the field. It also may help their own search engine
ranking a little as Google will then see them as part of an
expert, credible community of sites (although the benefits of
this for the linking site are minimal and arguable). So, in a
roundabout way, I'm saying that yes, article-based content can
help your ranking, but only if it increases the likelihood that
other related sites will link to yours.
As to the question of which page (the article itself or your
home page) displays in search results, that really depends on
which page has the most links to it*. If you have an article
which is just THE BEST source of info in the industry, and
everyone's linking to it, that page will display in the search
results. This is good because people who click on this result
are interested specifically in the content of the article. So
when your website displays, they get the information they want,
and they'll be pleased. And assuming your navigation is clear
and easy to use, it is likely they'll at least visit your home
page.
And finally, yes, if other sites have published the same
article, they may display in the results alongside you. The same
is true of the original author's website. But it's important to
remember that, generally, the site with the highest PR will rank
highest in the results, and it's this site that most users will
visit. You just need to work hard to make sure that's you! For
an example of how this works, do a search for a very specific
term related to the article of mine which you've obviously read.
Search Google worldwide for "Google's love affair with content"
(including the quotes). You'll notice that the no.1 result is
actually a page on EzineArticles.com which contains my article.
The page on my site (DivineWrite.com) containing the article
only ranks no.2. This is because EzineArticles.com has a higher
PR than DivineWrite.com, and overall, the keywords are
considered more relevant to the rest of the content on their
site than they are to mine. Obviously, this means that a good
article can display several times in the same search results,
but that's ok - it simply adds to the perceived authority of the
article and the sites containing it.
* Above I say that the page that displays in the results will be
the one with the most links to it. There are some complicating
factors here. For instance, the text in a link plays a big part
in how effective that link is. A link to your site that says
"Click here" or "check this site out", won't do you as much good
as a link which says "Glass Art sales" or "glass art creator".
So if lots of people are linking to the page containing the
article, but the text in their links is generic, then that page
may not rank as highly as a page with fewer - more keyword rich
- links pointing to it. Of course, this assumes that both pages
are equally well optimized for search engines and for the same
keyword phrases.
I know that the above is a very specific question and the answer
is full of ifs and buts, but hopefully this exchange will answer
a few questions for a few people.
Happy reprinting!
About the author:
* Glenn Murray is an target="_blank">SEO copywriter and
submission specialist. He is a director of article PR
company target="_blank">Article PR and also of
Write.
posted by A1 Promotions @ 10:24 AM
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