What links are allowed in your article submissions?
I have been getting a spade of article submissions that have links in the article body. These writers place anchor text links which are linked back to their own site. While this is great from for their article marketing and traffic generation, article directory owners frown on them. There are a couple of reasons why so:
- Authors have been caught spamming their articles with many anchor text links.
- The informational value of the article can be compromised.
- Too many outbound links from article directory penalises the directory site.
Here are the guidelines that Chris from Article Marketer posted in response to my questions about what type of links are allowed in article body of article submissions:
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Special Case #1 - Well-Known Sites
You may include links to Google, CNN, Microsoft, etc. Publishers are familiar with these sites and will not feel that the author is engaging in advertising.
Special Case #2 - Multiple Competing Sites
You may include links to competitive sites if your article is a review or comparison of an industry or solution. You must include at least three competitors, with fully qualified links, and you must speak with some authority about each one. Your site (even though it is a self-serving link) may be included as one (1) of the competitive sites in the article.
Special Case #3 - Multiple Complementary Sites
You may include links to helpful resources around the web if your article is a “helpful resources” article. You must include at least three resources and they must be related in some way to the theme” of the article. If you include (for example) a travel agency, a web template resource and the restaurant on the corner, the article must show how those three sites are related to help a reader solve a problem.
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What about affiliate links in your article submission? Are you allowed to put them in?
I reproduce some of the guidelines that are taken from my directories:
- The articles that you submit should not contain affiliate links.
- If you are promoting affiliate programs via articles (these must be articles that you have 100% sole ownership and copyrights), you will need to use your own website link(s) and redirect it to your affiliate website. The link(s) cannot be placed at the body of the article; it must be strictly confined to the author resource box.
- Do not submit articles that are owned and copyrighted by so-called “Gurus” and substituting the link at the resource box with your affiliate URL. These articles will be rejected because you are not the author.
Links should be confined to author’s resource box. Having links in the article body will risk getting your article rejected.
From the desk of Evelyn Lim