There is no question that backlinks are heavily weighted when ranking websites in the search engine results. Google has stated that their PageRank algorithm is based on the number, quantity, and relevance of links to and from a given web page. Increasing your position within the search engine results pages (SERP), can be achieved by increasing the number of related links to your web pages.



There are a number of different, proven ways to accomplish this. In this article, I wish to focus on one of the more popular ways of increasing backlinks - article submission. Writing articles on a topic relevant to your site content, then submitting them to directories is a great way to establish your credibility and promote your site. There are truly hundreds of free article directories that review submissions within one or two days. Of the vast number of submissions they receive, they approve only a small number of them.

So before you get ready to write and submit hundreds of articles you should know what article directories are looking for, and what they frown upon. As a directory owner myself, I can speak for a large portion of directory owners. The four most important criteria for approving an article are: (1) grammar and spelling, (2) uniqueness of the topic or writing style, (3) frequency of submissions from the author and (4) whether the submitter has followed the submission guidelines.

First let's talk about spelling and grammar. I am astounded that, in this day and age, many people submit articles with many obvious spelling errors. I have a spell check plugin installed on my web browser. If I am checking an article and I see a high number of misspelled plain English words, I delete that article. Please spell-check every article before you submit it.

That brings us to grammar. If your first language is not English, it would be prudent to have a native speaker check your article for you before you submit it. More than half of the articles I receive each day are from non-native English speakers. Even though many of the articles are interesting and informative, they have so many grammatical errors that they are unreadable. Remember that you are representing yourself and your business online to an English-speaking audience, so your writing should showcase your professionalism.

Another thing that I, and a number of directory owners look for is unique articles. These are articles that standout from the rest. Maybe the title is catchy or the topic is controversial. The writing style used may be very engaging. There are a number of established directories that have preferences to the types of articles they submit (ex. Buzzle prefers poetry, art-related articles more than tech-related articles).

Even if your articles are well-written with unique content, not every directory will publish all of them. I receive upwards of 200 articles a day and I am sure that more established directories receive more than that. I give greater priority to single article submissions than I do to multiple submissions.

While there are many directories that approve virtually any article that fits into their categories, a large number of quality directories only publish a couple of articles submitted per author each day. That means that if you submit fifty articles in one shot, only one or two will be published. The rest will either remain in a queue or be declined. So the frequency with which you submit your articles often plays a role in the percentage that eventually gets approved.

Of paramount importance to the approval of your submitted articles is whether you have carefully followed the submission guidelines specified by the directory. For example, many directories do not allow active hyperlinks within the body of the article. So if you include a hyperlink in the article, it will either be removed automatically, or your article will be declined. You must also check to see if there are minimum or maximum word lengths or other restrictions on the topics of your articles. Also, check to see what kinds of special characters are aloud in the body of the article and in the resource box.

Article marketing is an effective and cost-efficient way to promote your website and increase your position in the search results. If you take a common-sense approach to article writing and submission your efforts will be rewarded. Writing quality articles and following submission guidelines will get more of your articles approved and bring more new visitors to your site.