5 Tips for Article Marketing in a Post-Panda World
Posted by Christine Parizo on Wed, Jul 20, 2011
When Google introduced Panda, its algorithm to weed out “content farms” and
other sites that posted spammy, spun articles, a lot of sites went down in the search engine rankings. However, some sites went up in Google’s search rankings – sites with quality, helpful content that wasn’t “spun” from other sites and re-posted for backlinks elsewhere.
Nevertheless, article marketing is now a whole new ballgame, and site owners need to be more mindful of what they post.
In order to make the most of article marketing in this post-Panda world, here are 5 tips to get you started:
1. Post Quality Content. Put simply, Google Panda rewards quality content. Remember the days of writing short, low-quality articles? That’s not going to work anymore. You need to now submit articles with at least 400 words, impeccable grammar and spelling, and useful information. These articles have to be helpful to the reader, not just filler written by someone with barely a grasp of English grammar.
And no keyword-stuffing or “black hat” SEO techniques – that will definitely cost you in Google search rankings. As a bonus, this will be content that others will want to link to, creating the kind of organic backlinks that Google Panda likes as much as a real panda likes bamboo.
2. Post Unique Content. The strategy of “article spinning” as part of an article marketing strategy is dead. Don’t just spin someone else’s article (or worse, post it as-is), or post your content to spammy link-farm sites. It’s one thing to get ideas from other blogs and articles, but write them in your own voice, with your own flair.
3. Don’t Post to Link Farms. Panda doesn’t like link farms – it considers link farms to be spam. Post your articles to high-quality sites if you must backlink, not sites that Google now sees as content farms: wisegeek.com, suite101.com and ezinearticles.com, to name a few.
4. Utilize social media. Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and LinkedIn all saw a jump in search engine rankings after Panda. Utilize these social networks, not only to post links to your articles, but to engage your followers and entice them to post links as well. Again, if you’re following Tip #1, you’ve got content that your followers can’t wait to share with their friends and colleagues.
5. Find new ways to use your articles. So you can’t spin them anymore. It’s not a big deal, if you know how to repurpose them: create PowerPoint presentations and upload them to SlideShare or other sites or include them in email campaigns; use them as PDF files for marketing; or even turn them into videos! You can then post the videos to sharing sites.
As a bonus, Panda hasn’t decided one way or the other on video-sharing sites, so your backlinks won’t be considered as spam.
Above all, don’t obsess too much about Panda. If you follow the advice above, your article marketing will succeed, and you’ll watch your site rise in the search engine rankings, driving more traffic and getting more results.