A very long time ago, in an internet very far away... 2007...
Article directories ranked as one of the most popular ways to attract visitors and earn links online. And this technique largely worked. Businesses could expect to both acquire referral visitor traffic from article directories, as well as, generate links that actually improved their sites' visibility within search results.
But as noted at the beginning, that was a very long time ago, and a very different internet.
If you're not familiar with article marketing in this sense, try my description from 2012:
Article Marketing – This is where your internet marketer (and they have software for this one too), goes out and posts crappy articles on article directories and spam blogs. Again, the intent is to build links back to your website for search engine juice. Once again, the problem is that the articles suck. If you’re lucky they’re illegible, and if you’re not, the spread bad information under your name. Again, the “clever” ninjas will use pseudonyms, or awesome names like “los angeles criminal defense lawyer” to protect your identity. Unfortunately for you, it’s easy to trace it back to you by clicking on that pesky link to your website. Other people read these articles and think to themselves, this lawyer is either full of herself (it’s self-promotional), how did they get a law degree (if it’s illegible), or incompetent if it’s just flat wrong.
A bit harsh perhaps. Some lawyers actually put thought into their article directory posts. But as an SEO strategy, well, don't take my word for it:
Today's webmaster video: Should I build links using article directories? https://t.co/cjrn0L8ZyE
— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) January 29, 2014
Watching: Should I build links using article directories? https://t.co/RNBTaKghbb (No, no, no, no, no, no and no. Did I mention no?) #seo
— AJ Kohn (@ajkohn) January 29, 2014
If someone pitches you on article marketing in this context, run.
And by run, I don't mean, "line item out article marketing," from your SEO campaign. I mean don't work with these folks.
Even if some of their other ideas have merit, recommending this type of article directory marketing indicates a fundamental lack of knowledge of how the internet and search engines have evolved.
It also demonstrates a willingness on their part to expose your sites and reputation to significant risks.
Look, there was a time when article directories had a place in online marketing. That time has long passed.
Instead of trying to identify, "the top article directories," work to identify people with whom you can develop an online relationship.
While posting content "around the web," can be valuable, the where and the what you post matter.
Instead of starting with requests to post, start by listening. Add commentary. Be social.
When it becomes apparent that you have something more substantive to contribute (and it's obvious that the other site could benefit and wants something from you), open the conversation. Focus on what your story is and to whom you should make your pitch.
HINT: Unsolicited emails to people you don't know is not the correct approach.
Link-building takes time, effort, and strategy. Learn how we conduct link-building for our clients. Download Our Guide
Over the years, law firm prospects have sent us reports from just about all of our competitors. Unfortunately, even today, some law firm marketing agencies still mislead their clients via "reporting." One particularly egregious example comes in the form of ranking reports. Which prompted this LinkedIn post. To my surprise, I received a lot of […]
John Wanamaker supposedly said "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." In an an effort to figure out "what half is working," attribution was born. Coupled with a transition from traditional, offline ads to digital media, attribution became the holy grail for analyzing advertising spends. But […]
I recently asked ChatGPT, "What are some of the top personal injury law firms in Chicago?? Actually, first I ask "who are some of the top personal injury lawyers in Chicago?" ChatGPT couldn't handle that one, so I modified the prompt. ChatGPT listed five very well-known firms downtown. Can you guess the other four? That's […]
If you're like me, you have some degree of AI, ChatGBT, Bard, exhaustion. Now don't get me wrong, this is stuff is remarkable and is changing, well, a lot. But before you hook up the ChatGPT API to your WordPress API and crank out 10,000 pages, here are a few things to think about. Let's […]
If you know me, you know my opinions about links and SEO advice from Google. If you don't, here's the TL;DR: Meh, links! Meaning, all things being equal, links still remain a competitive difference maker for ranking. Take Google's SEO advice with several grains of salt. Google has no economic incentive to help your site […]
The best marketing advice I can give you is to be authentic. Of course, you don't find that very helpful in terms of meeting your growth goals. So, you might decide to game the system. As I'm writing this, one of the more popular ways to gain the system is to pay for engagement. This […]
The following post was written by ChatGPT. ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a state-of-the-art language model that can generate human-like text based on a given prompt or context. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the way that businesses, including law firms, market themselves to potential clients. One way that a law firm could use […]
How long does SEO take? When can I expect to see results? What results should I expect to see? These are all reasonable questions that we field from lawyers every day. And, like many legal answers, the answer is: It depends. Yes, I know that's not the answer you wanted. But it's the most honest […]
And how much time should they spend doing it? I recently had the privilege of chatting with Tyson, Jim, and Conrad for an upcoming episode of The Maximum Lawyer Podcast. If you're not familiar with The Maximum Lawyer community, you should definitely check it out. Jim asked a really great question about who should do […]
