Are Article Directories Considered Content Farms?
Are content farms of the same ilk as link farms, and do article directories fit into the content farms category? If not, what’s the difference, and how can you tell? And if article directories are not content farms, then why have they taken a hit with Google’s new algorithm?
Remember link farms? At one time they were all the rage, and an easy way to get a back link from a high page rank site. You’d just submit your links to them, and reap the rewards.
Then the search engines got wise and began disregarding them. Overnight, sites started losing back links left and right. Now virtually no one submits links to link farms anymore. Good riddance to a bad idea!
Oh they tried to make link farms more credible by adding categories, but it was to no avail. Links aren’t content, and so the search engines just weren’t interested.
Now Google is going after what they call “content farms.” But do article directories fall into this group?
Well at face value, it might appear so, but there’s more to it than face value.
Link farms were discredited because they provided no useful content. Article directories on the other hand, do provide useful bits of content in most cases, so they really can’t be discredited for the same reason as a link farm. Most article directories are careful about category choice as well, which should help satisfy the search engines.
Then why have so many of them taken such a hit in ranking?
The main reason is, they weren’t being careful enough!
Even the major article directories were allowing useless articles to get through. Spun articles that made no sense, articles that were stuffed in general categories when there were sub-categories that fit the information better, and even articles submitted into entirely wrong categories.
NOTE: Google clearly indicated much of the discrediting it did to article directories was due to having too many articles in general categories.
So it isn’t the mere existence of article directories the search engines object to. It’s more about how they handle their intake of content, and the value that content carries with it.
We know this because, unlike link farms, the article directories weren’t completely blown off the search engine map. They were just reevaluated according to what they had in their archives. Some took a bigger hit than others, and some got through relatively unscathed.
Which is why they’re all in a mad scramble to set things straight!
Now this isn’t saying that some article directories don’t fall into the content farm genre, because there are some that allow just about any articles to pass through. These will either have to make some significant changes, or pack it in. And already we’re seeing some drop like flies.
Yet in general, most article directories provide a great resource for quality content and still hold quite a bit of search engine respect. So it’s not a good idea to lump them all as content farms. In fact, the vast majority of article directories still in existence are great sources for building a reader base as well as getting quality back links from.
But then we have to ask . . .
How do you see the article directories? Are they just content farms to you? Do you simply look at them as a device for getting back links, and care little about the content your links are connected to?
Content farms are depositories for junk. They provide no real value and are merely a place to get a link to your site from another domain. The search engines know this, as do the article directory owners.
And this is why most credible article directories refuse to get categorized as content farms and are taking every measure to assure this is not the case.
Will you do your part?
Article directories are still a valuable asset to content writers, as well as to the search engines. But unless we’re all willing to take them seriously by submitting only quality content in the correct categories, they could eventually go the way of the link farm.
The one and only thing that separates good article directories from content farms is the value and quality they provide. And they can only do this with our submissions. Thus if you value what the article directories can do for you, then you’ll treat them with respect by submitting your best stuff in the proper categories they provide.
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