![\"Ezine](\"http:\/\/www.brandignity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/7100706_m.jpg\")
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Do you remember when Panda took a large bite out of Ezine Articles (EZA)? When Google introduced the Panda update in 2011, EZA lost a whopping 93%<\/a> of their search visibility. Losing that much exposure is devastating, and EZA\u2019s been tumbling ever since. Take a look at their traffic since 2012.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s recovered a bit recently, but don\u2019t call it a comeback. Do you see EZA organically rank in the search engine results pages (SERP) these days? It\u2019s pretty rare. Here are some facts behind the decline of EZA. Alongside the history lesson, every point has a key takeaway you can apply to your digital marketing strategy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For those of you who don\u2019t know, spinning articles involves three steps.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Article spinning produces low quality writing. Yet, it\u2019s fast and cheap. For many marketers, the point of EZA was to drive traffic back to their own website. That\u2019s why marketers would upload low quality articles on EZA they would never put on their own site. Look at this quote from Niche Pursuits<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I would NEVER advise using a spun article on your own site.\u00a0 A spun article usually is not as well written as an original.\u00a0 I personally only use spun articles to get links back to my own site.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n As you might imagine, users uploaded a bunch of drivel on EZA, and Google took notice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lesson: Article spinning doesn\u2019t work, and it may get you a Google penalty. Focus on providing value for your users instead.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n DoFollow links give SEO link juice, boosting up the authority of the website that receives them. NoFollow links don\u2019t give any link juice. Most sites offer No Follow links when in doubt, because Google punishes sites that post contrived DoFollow links<\/a>. EZA offered DoFollow links in their resource box and their reputation took a hit. This blog post<\/a> on their website says it all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIn the past, we allowed Members to place up to 1-2 links in their Resource Box and these did not include the NOFOLLOW attribute. This meant they instructed the search engines to infer that these links should bleed value from our site, brand and reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For EZA, it was a catch 22. They\u2019re an article directory, and they don\u2019t pay writers. One of the main ways EZA lured writers was to offer DoFollow Links. Once they replaced the DoFollow links with NoFollow links, lots of users stopped posting. There was no reason to anymore.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lesson: Don\u2019t abuse DoFollow Links<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are millions of websites on the internet, and it\u2019s a seemingly impossible task to check their quality. The thing is, Google is getting better at it. Websites like Moz <\/a>say that\u2019s bad news for article directories.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGoogle is just getting so much smarter about content analysis, and they’re able to determine what matters in a block of text and what actual people like. They use user and usage data to do this now. Trying to game that system with low quality junk is not going to get you very far.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not only is Google\u2019s algorithm getting better, Google is beefing up their human touch too. Google hires scores of real people to work remotely as Search Engine Evaluators<\/a> to improve the SERP\u2019s. They also have thousands of people working in their office in Mountain View, California. It\u2019s getting tougher every year for websites that deliver low quality articles.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lesson: Content is King.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Penalty. It\u2019s the one word that makes webmasters shudder. Google knows that EZA was the source of thousands of contrived backlinks. As a result, they started giving manual penalties to websites with backlinks from EZA. Take a look at this email between an internet marketer from the Warrior Forum and a Google employee.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Google is secretive about their algorithm and how they rank websites. Still, a Google employee named John Mu points out that EZA contributed to this manual penalty. As you can imagine, there was a mad scramble<\/a> to remove backlinks from EZA as fast as possible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lesson: Google is on the lookout for contrived backlinks.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As their name implies, Ezine is an online magazine publisher. Like most publishers, they make money from ad revenue. Once their traffic fell off, their revenue did as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For a while, they had a lucrative system going on. Unlike traditional publishers, they didn\u2019t need to pay writers. That gave them a lower overhead than a traditional magazine. However, it was a double-edged sword, because they weren\u2019t able to procure high quality content. Many content marketers didn\u2019t try too hard, because they were only there for backlinks. Once EZA couldn\u2019t provide DoFollow Links, many marketers left, taking their content with them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lesson: Secure high-quality content for your site by developing it in-house or by hiring a freelance writer.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the original tenets of EZA was article syndication. The idea is that a webmaster will publish your article on their site, leaving you an author bio at the end. The website gets fresh content, and you get more exposure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The problem is Google doesn\u2019t like duplicate content. As a result, a lot of authority websites only publish unique articles. If a website will play ball, there are workarounds. The best solution is for the publisher to implement a rel=canonical tag, which tells Google they aren\u2019t the original authors. That means your version will rank above their version. Some webmasters don\u2019t know how, or don\u2019t like doing it though.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the whole article syndication takes some research. You don\u2019t want to syndicate willy-nilly, especially if you aren\u2019t sure the rel=canonical tag is being used. This quote from Search Engine Land<\/a> shows the delicacy of article syndication.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are definitely times when syndication makes sense. There is no one formula here, and you will need to apply your own critical thinking to make decisions as to how this might fit into your longer-term strategy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Additionally, the downside of article syndication is having your website pushed down in the SERP. Article syndication isn\u2019t a home run, and that\u2019s another thing that works against EZA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lesson: Article syndication can work, but you need to do your homework.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Try Commun.it<\/strong><\/a> to easily track brand awareness, discover new leads, share quality content, schedule posts and download progress reports.<\/p>\n Social Searcher<\/strong><\/a> is an amazing way to grow an online brand in leaps and bounds it simply takes creativity, passion and consistency to keep things moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n Iconosquare<\/strong><\/a> is the number one platform for Instagram & Facebook analytics and social media management.<\/p>\n SocialPilot<\/strong><\/a> is the Most Cost-Effective Marketing Tool. Powerful Publishing. Insightful Analytics. Seamless Collaboration.<\/p>\n Bluehost<\/strong><\/a> is a leading web hosting solutions company. Bluehost has continually innovated new ways to deliver on our mission: to empower people to fully harness the web. They provide comprehensive tools to millions of users throughout the world so anyone, novice or pro, can get on the web and thrive with our web hosting packages.<\/p>\n SEMrush<\/strong><\/a> is an all-in-one tool suite for improving online visibility and discovering marketing insights. Our tools and reports are able to help marketers that work in the following services: SEO, PPC, SMM, Keyword Research, Competitive Research, PR, Content Marketing, Marketing Insights, Campaign Management.<\/p>\n HubSpot<\/strong><\/a> offers a complete CRM platform with all the tools and integrations you need to grow better \u2014 whether you want to increase leads, accelerate sales, streamline customer service, or build a powerful website.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To check grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly<\/strong><\/a> helps you eliminate errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.<\/p>\n EZA and other article directories have become synonymous with low-quality content. There are some useful articles on there, but on the whole it\u2019s not a quality publication. That\u2019s because EZA and other directories have two major issues.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"Ezine\"](\"http:\/\/www.brandignity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/ezine.png\")
<\/p>\nArticle Spinning Was Common on EZA<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Writers Used EZA for DoFollow Links<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nGoogle is Getting Smarter<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nEZA and Website Penalties<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n![\"Ezine\"](\"http:\/\/www.brandignity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/ezine2.png\")
<\/p>\nEZA Had an Unsound Business Model<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nArticle Syndication Isn\u2019t For Beginners<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nCheck Out These Great Resources to help with your Marketing:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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