There is so much misinformation out there on article marketing, I want to try to set the record straight. Granted, some of this misinformation has been repeated so many times that you may be incredulous by what I’m about to tell you. Then again, you might be one of the savvy ones who see through the nonsense of article spinners and the like.
First myth: If you post an article on your website and again on Ezine Articles (or any other article directory) then you’ve got to significantly rewrite it so that’s it’s not duplicate content, right?
Wrong.
So long as it is ORIGINAL content, as in it’s your own content (whether you wrote it or hired someone to write it) you can post the exact same article on your own website and again on the article directories. That’s because Ezine Articles doesn’t care if the article has already been published — as long as it is credited to the original author.
And as far as I know, this holds true for every article directory. If there’s a directory out there demanding unique content, then they don’t know what they’re doing. It would be like asking the Beatles for a unique version of Yellow Submarine before a radio station would play it. It’s just plain crazy.
Second myth: You should publish your article to the ezine directory first, and once it’s accepted then you should publish it to your own website.
Rubbish.
Why would you give your own original content to an article directory before your own website?
If you’re thinking it somehow helps with SEO, it doesn’t. If you’re thinking they won’t take it if it’s already on your website, see above.
You publish it to your own site first to make your site the authority site and to give your site the link juice.
Your main goal in publishing articles to article directories isn’t SEO and it isn’t getting traffic from the directory. It’s to get relevant authority sites to pick up and publish your content, thus giving you valuable backlinks and yes, targeted traffic.
Third myth: “But if other websites are picking up my article, isn’t that duplicate content?”
No. Before the Internet, when the Associated Press would write an article, that article could be picked up by hundreds of different newspapers, with each paper printing the exact same article and byline.
Enter the Internet. Just like the AP, news sites generate content that is then picked up by hundreds of different websites. Each website posts the same identical article with the same byline. It’s called syndication, and it’s perfectly fine. You will NOT be penalized in any way for it, and it can provide valuable backlinks and targeted traffic to your website.
How does Google perceive syndicated content? When a particular article appears on multiple websites, Google perceives it as being POPULAR and adds SEO weight to it, depending on how many instances it discovers. And if it finds your content on high PR and authority sites, it gives it even more weight.
So with those 3 myths officially debunked, stop being held hostage by fake news and get to work on getting your own article content published, circulated and syndicated online!
