<b> Bold Interactive Inc.

MomGadget has been raising questions on her blog about the pros and cons of article syndication.

On her first post, she looked at it from a publisher’s angle - that taking articles from directories and syndication sites is kinda lazy and used by spammers who have nothing better to do than litter the interweb.

But a comment by  TeaPartyGirl (i love these blog names!) caused MomGadget to re-think the issue from an author’s perspective. Is article syndication ok when the goal is link building?

So let’s break it down:

Using Content from Directories

If you’re desperate for content, so desperate that you can’t find any guest bloggers and no one in your niche is writing anything worth responding to on your own blog, then maybe just maybe, if a nuclear apocalypse has occurred and you managed to access what’s left of the internet on your smartphone, it might be kinda ok to publish content from a directory on your site - and only if you block the search engines from spidering it - lest they think you are a spammy no good decepticon.

The problem with publishing content from directories is that it’s duplicate content. And while it could theoretically entertain your audience when the only alternative is no fresh content, it will be difficult to find content that will carry the voice of your blog or site.

I will admit it’s probably quite possible to use directories for content and build a site around it. And if you’re building a site on a shoestring and have no web savvy - this might be a way to go (or another career might, for that matter). But the BEST marketing for your site is original online content, tailored to your specific message, audience and needs.

Submitting Content to Directories

Now this is a whole different ballgame. The good thing about article syndication is LINKS - and I’m not talking about Zac Efron in Hairspray (though if anyone would like to, leave a comment because I love that movie, I’ve seen it twice now).

The links will not bring traffic. I repeat, the links will not bring traffic. The links are good for helping your site’s ranking in the search engines (SERPs) and PageRank (which is about links, links, and nothing but the links).

Bottom Line

Article syndication is one of many good strategies that should be included in your overall link building strategy. But the rest of your link building strategy is dependent upon fresh, original, captivating content that will attract links naturally. You won’t get that from scraping content from directories.

Technorati Tags: article syndication, article directories, content marketing