Can anyone comment on how long it normally takes before you start seeing backlinks and referrals show up after you’ve submitted an article to the various article directories? I submitted my first article to 4 of the main directories about ten days ago. One of the directories says that it has been downloaded 30 times. Apart from on the directories themselves, I have yet to see it appear anywhere despite making a search on all the major SE’s for a unique phrase it contains and also on copyscape. Referrals seem to have been almost nothing too. I have read numerous threads here praising article distribution as a good way of building up your link popularity but I guess I’m just looking for some additional reassurance that it really works. Should I have submitted to 50 article directories instead of just 4, or was I right to start off with just a few? Any experience you can share would be much appreciated.
Google updates their backlinks about every 30 days (usually longer) MSN is nearly instant, and Yahoo is pretty quick. Don't expect to see 1 backlink for every page that publishes the article though. Duplicate content filters will "hide" your links. Don't think this means they are uncounted though. I beleive the links still pass PR, and no matter what, they will attract traffic.