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Thanks for the replies. Sound advice.
Good news is the other directory where it was posted with modified links have taken it down on the back of a Google cached copy I sent them.
I don't mind writing, I sometimes even enjoy it. Rewriting though - anything to not have to!
I deleted an EzineArticle to reuse somewhere more useful, but now I find it has been copied (and links to competitors added). Anyway, that's not really the main point.
What I am wondering is, as they have been reproduced 2 or 3 times, are they any use to me at all, or would they just be seen as duplicate content.
They were good articles too. Much too good for an article directory.....
Thanks for the replies. It's kind of what I feel - I can't really bring myself to start swapping links with 'Bulgarian dog widget' sites!
I had just been assuming that the value of a reciprocal link was pretty much null if the two sites were of similar standing - IMHO that's how it should be. I link to sites that I like, that's the way it should work.
Having said all that, I do have some more targeted, less precious sites that I might set up a 'useful links, / resources / our friends or whatever euphemism is favoured these days. But, I draw the line at some of the off-topic junk I see on my competitors.
After 3 years out of SEO I thought things might have moved on, but apparently not. Bit of back link research and all the top sites in my niche have tons of reciprocal links to barely relevant sites.
Do I really have to do this? I mean I thought this was so out of date, it's not much better than keyword stuffing.
So, should I just forget my lofty principles asking myself 'is this of any value to my users?' and just take the medicine?
SEO is not dead. Why?
I run the oldest, most informative, beautiful website in my niche yet I still get out ranked by spammy sites run by people who know nothing about the niche.
What can I conclude from this? Content is not yet king. If you build it they won't necessarily come. Oh, and SEO is definitely not dead.