I hope this is the right forum. Search engines penalize duplicated content when it comes to listings right? So does your site need to be indexed by search engines (well, Google) before you go submitting to any directories so you're content isn't considered duplicate when Google finds you and considers it duplicate? Or do I have it all wrong? Thanks in advance...
So you're asking if you should submit your own unique content on your site first and then on article sites etc? Or did i get the question wrong? If you plan to write articles to promote your site, then you dont need to put the same articles on your own site at all imo. Host only unique content on your site.
I'm not sure how listing your site in a directory is going to be considered duplicate content. If you have two sites that have the same content; that's duplicate content. If you simply list your site in multiple directories, that's not duplicating content.
Sorry, I'll try and phrase the question a little better. I'm talking about Article Directories, not Web directories - I should have made that distinction, maybe I'm in the wrong place. I'm saying if I submit my unique articles to various article directories (ezine, etc) and they're indexed by google there first, if google then found the same article on my site 2 days later, would it assume my site has duplicate content? Thanks.
Yes, google marks that as duplicated content. As I said, only post the quality content on your site. Then write promotional articles that link to your site. Do not mix promotional articles with the ones on your website. Noone wants to read an article just to come to your site and read it again anyways.
So if I had a site with 100 articles, I shouldn't pick 10-20 or so to submit to directories, that are also on my site so people can find the other 80-90? I should make some that are purely article directory submissions?
Yes but articles create backlinks and helps visitors find your site aswell. I think you should not post the same articles on your site as the ones you publish in article directories.
But what they find at a site is most important once they reach it, ive done it back to front in the past before i realised how useless a site could be, im not saying ignore backlinks from various methods, but ive learned that people will exit a site almost as quick as they enter it if the site doesn't have what they seek and enough of it.
Mixed responses to say the least. So basically, submitting all my content to article directories is a bad move. Perhaps the way to go would be to write a killer article that would spark interest/curiosity/etc (i'd employ a few psychological techniques) that will further lead someone to read on at say... my website? Then market that article for all its worth through any social media and directories within my grasp? That, alongside other SEO techniques and principles?
I guess my question would be why bother writing articles at all if you fear it, or parts of it, will be published on other sites. I would think a writer wants to share it as must as possible and for others to like it and re-publishing it. Perhaps I'm just being simplistic but isn't hoping your work will go viral and picked up by lots of websites and published all over the web the purpose of most article writing in the first place. What's the point of writing the best Pulitzer Prize winning piece ever written and keeping it in a box. I would hope it would appear everywhere, as long as I'm getting proper credit. If it's just on one site, what's the chances of it becoming very popular if that single website has minimal traffic? I honestly think the whole duplicate content thing, as it's usually perceived, is a myth. It's completely misunderstood and over hyped and Google isn't going to swoop in and carry websites off to some cyber waste land for it. I know Google has two sets of standards, one for them and one for the rest of us but if they were really worried about duplicate content they would do something about their own worthless DMOZ clone web directory, Google News ( a republishing of republished duplicated articles), Google Shopping and a whole slew of their other nothing but duplicate content properties.