Heard about Google’s latest change to their algorithm that’s set to be – by far – one of the most highly impactful changes to hit the Internet Marketing industry?
If not, here’s a few words about the change and how it will affect article marketers – or any internet marketers for that matter – worldwide, not to mention the article marketing industry altogether.
Google has long been trying to curb the level of “web spam” that’s plagued it’s search results. Finally bowing in submission to several thousand complaints about the – sometimes – horrific lack of relevance and huge presence of spam sites in their search results, Google has gone on to make changes to their ranking algorithms that have hit article directories very hard.
Sites like EzineArticles, ArticleDashboard and others, serving hundreds of thousands of articles (good and bad) have been slapped hard in the search rankings that their articles previously enjoyed, and have made it all the more difficult for article marketers to pursue automated means of free backlink generation such as mass submission of spun articles to multiple article directories.
Internet Marketing is taking a turn.
But for better or worse for people exploiting free traffic generation strategies is yet to be determined.
New and existing Internet Marketers have long relied on Article Marketing as a means to generate free traffic to their websites. It is one of the most cost-effective, 100% free methods available to any Internet Marketer with a limited or no budget. Given that each article submitted gets anywhere between 0 and 10 views on average worldwide, the most commonly practiced internet marketing strategy has been to submit as many articles to as many article directories as possible so that the trickle of traffic from each article submitted generates a decently large volume of free traffic if all the articles’ individual traffic is combined.
Google has stepped in to curb just that, mass submission of duplicate or “spun” content and is paving the way for ridding their search results of ever seeing web spam again. Articles submitted to several hundred directories don’t necessarily constitute spam, but with the ever-increasing number of “SEO Experts” surfacing everywhere and conducting article marketing campaigns for any clients they can get their hands on, the focus has shifted from providing quality content to producing regurgitated content all over the web.
Many Article Marketers are not doing the Internet Marketing industry any justice by producing overly spun content.
This content is both unreadable on many occasions and about the same topic in the same context with the same tone  everywhere, and just having a differently worded article is no longer going to be the grounds for “unique” content because Big Bad Google has come out with an algorithm specifically designed to hunt down and remove such content permanently from their index.
There is ofcourse, still hope for the Internet Marketing industry.
Not all is lost with article marketing taking a hit. There is still social media, a million times more powerful than article marketing any day, that if executed properly can lead to a steady stream of large volumes of targeted traffic with just 140 character tweets instead of 400 word articles written in bulk 😉
Don’t let this news mislead you into thinking Google is a big old baddie though 😉 If you look at it selfishly, it now means that with the right amount of effort, proper on-site SEO and legitimate backlinking in place, your site has a MUCH better chance of hitting page #1 of Google than it did before with all the spammy clutter there.
It isn’t a bad omen at all. Just means that people start acting like true Internet Marketing professionals and get serious about building their online businesses more legitimately than has been the practice so far 🙂
Share this post on Facebook, LIKE it, Digg it, Tweet it. Seriously. People need a wake-up call 
About The Author:
Ali K. spearheads The SEPCON Project, a 100% Free Email Advisory with a mission to educate anyone and everyone interested in home based internet marketing in the art of Explosive Internet Marketing for Profit and Success. The SEPCON Project provides Cutting-Edge Software, Courses, Videos, Audios, PLR Re-Brandable Products, eBooks and tons more. Anyone can Subscribe to the Program for FREE (no gimmicks) at The SEPCON ProjectAli is also an Affiliate Marketer, Product Creation & Launch Consultant, Copywriter, and one of the most Highly Recognized Programmers in the Home Based Internet Marketing world, the Lead Technologist behind the Blockbuster Launch of The Internet Time Machine, and Search Engine NowRelevant.com, and mentioned in several International News Publications such as Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, NY Times, LA Times, and Reuters, to name a few, for his work.
Hi Ali,
I, for one, am so very happy about the recent changes in the Google Algorithm. But before that…
Nice picture at the top of the post! Take away the hair, the muscles, add a few pounds and that could have been me years ago! Maybe not. Still, funny picture. 😀
Back to the Big Bad G. This is a very positive change and it will not only serve their searchers better but the internet marketing community as a whole.
Google is in business because they provide (or should provide) their searchers with the most relevant and useful information as possible.
And we are in the business (or should be) of providing people with the most relevant information, products and/or services that fit people’s lives as well.
It’s a perfect match!
I would much rather talk to one person that needs or wants what I have than 100 people that do not. Too many people have fallen for Quantity over Quality. It’s time that changed. For us, for our prospects, and even for the sake of honesty, value and hard work.
Hey, thanks for the post. And thank you too, Google. Sometimes even the best of us needs a little slap.
Vincent Parker
I suppose that this Google change affecting spun articles is all to the good, but for an individual like yours truly who is just beginning to get the hang of spinning the bejesus out of PLR articles after first completely revising them in my own “unique voice”, it is a bit startling to imagine having to rely more on less spinning. Oh, well, the drawing board doth returneth . . . .
Google is really working hard to bring bloggers there…thanks Ali for bringing this info to us …all the elements you mentioned above are true and this post will surely impress blogger,s
It seems like this change will be good for the Internet and those Internet Marketers who are creating original quality content.
EZine Articles for example has already made some important changes to their article requirements, including increasing the minimum article word count to 400 and doubling the review time per article to check for grammar, spelling and consistency. I think those changes alone will weed out a lot of spammy content.
I just hope Google doesn’t punish quality sites with original content over spun content websites.
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Thanks 🙂
Ali this is great information to know! I appreciate you shedding light on the google slap! I too think this is a good thing that Google did because it gets rid of all the spam garbage out there and makes room for fresh new content! Thanks for sharing!
Every one thinking to be marketing for business and love to in top ranking with most general(searched) keywords .For that article marketing is good .I want to ask one Question if one submit a article in one directory how he get exposures of their services link if people not going to read from that site ?. People visit article directory with their interest So isn’t good idea to submit a website on 20 to 30 popular directory with a backlink ? Moreover one have to put lots of effort while writing a single Quality article.
I like the slap on article directories. People have been abusing them to get Google love for too long. Go to any web related forum and you see spammers offering their services to post content on behalf of you to article sites promising back links. I prefer quality content to come out when I make a google search. This is a step in the right direction and thanks for sharing..
I love the information in your article and plan to share it. Could you please do me and everyone else reading your articles a favor though?
Get help for your font obsession! This article would be much easier to read and much less distracting if you had a max of two fonts if needed used in three or maybe four different sizes.
Otherwise a great article! I love that Google is doing this (and I write online). I hate what has become of article writing online and wish this could have been implemented before it became such a problem.
Thinks for the great explanation about article submissions and Google penalizations. It seem logical that Google will penalize multiple/copied/spun articles around the Internet. However, as a newbie on this field I feel very confused when reading forums I see many people promoting this method and claiming that is still useful in 2013. Despite all the rumors I chosen to try other ways to build quality to my blog. Thanks again for the great tips.