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You want to put out unique content. Article directories have a ton of links, are not as relevant, and as a result, have low link value. It takes a while to write a quality article. Use your time on what will have the highest return. It's best to put your content directly on your site, blog, and supplement that with guest blogging. All of it unique and high quality.

Hi Brian - I can't really get behind the idea of cheap, non-targeted, non-value-add content that's purely to drive clicks for SEO. Here's my issue with that logic: Pay $3, get a crappy-mediocre article Build links to your site that come from non-authentic, non-editorially endorsed sources Earn a few rankings and start getting traffic from SEO SEO traffic is high bounce rate, low satisfaction, and low conversion The engines eventually discount your links because they're non-editorial The poor user/usage metrics from the high bounce rate (due to low content quality) affect rankings badly as well Endgame: You've spent a small amount but gained very little Compare this to high quality content tactics: Pay $1,000 to get a single fantastic article, maybe including an infographic or at least some great visuals and compelling research, unique viewpoints, an author with a brand name, etc. The content naturally attracts links, social shares, email traffic, etc. The clicks on it from all sources stay a while, read it, share it, spread it further and add more value to the site Readers bookmark, subscribe to the RSS feed (they don't want to miss more articles like this one) and come back regularly, building your traffic over time Search engines rank the content well based on all factors - links, social stuff, user/usage data, content analysis, etc. Your rankings stay steady when others drop, and you win as the engines get better at identifying the "good stuff" Users who find/visit the page think more highly of your brand and are more likely to convert, take action, etc. Endgame: 1 great article is worth hundreds of mediocre ones, and the traffic is high quality and valuable too I'd always aim for the absolute highest quality possible. A single fantastic piece of content can drive so much value to a business on the web that it's never worthwhile, IMO, to underinvest here. Just my $0.02! Also - some good posts on this topic: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/great-content-for-seo-simpler-than-you-ever-imagined http://www.seomoz.org/blog/debating-the-value-of-great-content

Sure - $600/year is tough but are you are a real business then sure go for it. But if it's just for the link then maybe spend the money elseware.

I can confirm that Raven would be perfect for this. You can monitor changes in anchor text, destination url, follow status and changes in DA and PA as well. You can upload a csv file too.

Hey Dan, Go for links from websites that relate to your industry. It takes more time but it will prove much more valuable in the long run.

Submit a description of your article to sites such as reddit, stumbleupon, slashdot, digg... there you keep the article on your site and the visitors to reddit or these other sites rate its popularity. Also, you can contact other websites or bloggers who already link out to great content in your topic area.  If your content is really good then they will want to share your site with their visitors.

Late to the part with this but I just can't see G penalising a site because it has too many links from articles with the same anchor text. If that were the case we would see a lot of webmaters and SEOs arranging lots of those links to their competitors sites in order to de-rank them, thus leaving the way clear for their own sites.

As long as you have a natural looking link profile for the site this shouldn't cause any harm for your rankings. The only problem is the lost time and money spent on getting the spammy links. Just inform the client of why this type of link is useless (and Google and others are only getting better at detecting them over time) and maybe give them some helpful tips on what they -should- be doing instead.

These 2 links are great resources. I'm actually going back over them. Thanks again.

Thanks Ryan!

I'd do 5-10

It's been a month or so since this was posted. Do you have any updates? Have your rankings changed? Did you figure out what might have happened? Anything for us to learn from or clues to try to help you more would be great.

First, take a look at the blog that you are looking to be a guest writer for. You should look for their style and of course, look at what they are writing about. Once you have done this, go ahead and create content that is relevant to what they write about; if it is a fashion blog, write about the latest trends and add images (again, look at what they have and copy the same style; you can give them something that copies their style and another option that is more your style). Email them and send them your work. If there is a number to call, I would call them first and then email them. Hope this helps!

After putting myself in the user's shoes, I would imagine that I would want to go to the Distrubutor Specific landing page. That's what I figured but I'm in the process of trying to get some quality links to my core domain and I am struggling. These are solid links but oh well...i'll just send them to the new landing page. Thanks!

The action I would recommend would depend on two factors: are there backlinks to the page, and how frequently are the links used (check Google Analytics). If you have a page without any backlinks that is rarely used, then I would allow the 404 to occur. If you have a page with link juice and is frequently used, I would make an effort to ensure user's are happy with what they find when clicking to the page, otherwise they may bounce off my site. In this case I would rebuild the content. 404s are a natural part of the internet. Content is moved and removed over time. It is not necessarily a bad thing for a 404 to occur if your site is prepared to handle it (i.e. your 404 page is helpful and friendly).The only point I am making is some webmasters view 404s as an issue with their site that must be resolved, and that is not the case. You should be fully aware of any 404 links and be able to adjust where necessary.