Article marketing is a key component in SEO. By creating articles and posting them both on article directories and websites that allow guest posting, we’re able to provide your business with some immediate hits while the within-website SEO efforts begin to take effect.
But the Google search algorithm is not a known science. In the past, we’ve created 3 near-identical articles for various personal projects:
- One article received 1,000 hits on the first day, then trailed off quickly afterward as it fell in the SERPs.
- One article received only a few hundred hits the first day but continues to get hits and has now reached over 10,000 total.
- One article received only a few hits, and then died.
That makes three articles, all of them with the same keyword percentage, covering the same topic, with similarly searched keywords and similar competition. All three articles had completely different outcomes.
Understanding the Wasted Article
The first two articles both provided a positive outcome for our marketing efforts, albeit in very different ways. But the issue that most companies are concerned about is what occurred with the third article. What happens when an article fails?
We can perfect the article with keywords, excellent grammar, useful content, etc., and if the Google algorithm doesn’t like it, it can still fail. This stuff happens, especially if you are in an industry with considerable competition.
But it’s important to remember that even a wasted article is not truly a wasted article. Every article you create provides you with another benefit: You create keyword-laden backlinks that tell search engines what your website is about. In addition, at any point other people may use the article on their own sites and link back to yours, creating additional backlinks.
When you invest in article marketing, there is no truly wasted article. An article that does not net your business a single hit still contributes to your website’s ranking for specific keywords. That’s why article marketing is always an effective strategy. As long as your articles are written with SEO in mind, they help your website no matter how many hits they receive.
