Up until recently, article marketing used to mean writing a 'how to' article (preferably a keyword laden one) and pasting it into as many article directories as you can (like Articles Base, Article Directory and Article Dashboard).

Having your article duplicated on a multitude of top ranking sites meant that people had a better chance of finding out about you – not just through your articles but also through Google ranking.

The keywords in your articles would be rewarded by Google. And having your website address in your author profile of these directories was enough to significantly help your search engine optimisation (SEO).

So what's changed?

Google has been a bit of a mystery from the start. No one knows exactly what's going on in Googleland. So it's fitting that the latest dramatic change might be called 'Panda' or it might be called 'Farmer'. We're not really sure.

What we do know is that on 24 February 2011, Google did a major ranking algorithm update. For many, this has halved their sites’ visitor numbers. It started causing havoc in the US (because they don't have enough problems at the moment), but it's soon to work its magic in other countries, too. 

The main problem seems to be around unoriginal and duplicated material. Article directories have had a particularly rough time with this new change.

Some spectacular examples

According to Search Engine Journal:

"Ezine Articles and Suite 101 lost over half of their visibility, with Wisegeek getting devastated at a 93% drop. The percentage of loss as calculated by Sistrix placed some prominent sites such as Associated Content, Business.com, and Articles Base at over 90% of traffic which simply evaporated overnight….While major sites such as YouTube, eBay, and Facebook were considered net winners in the Google algorithm modification, some prominent publishing sites such as Ezine Articles, Buzzle, and HubPages were seen to lose considerable traffic."

Why is Google being so cruel?

The aim of this change is to remove poor quality sites from the top of Google’s results pages. Matt Cutts, Google’s head of spam, explains their intention in his update announcement post on the 24th of February:

"This update is designed to reduce rankings for low quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on."

Sounds fair enough.

But accidents happen.

So Google have asked those with “a high quality site that has been negatively affected by this change” to let them know about it. That is, if you can work out that your site has been unfairly affected by Panda. Or Farmer. Good luck with that.

And then there was April Fools…

April 1st didn't help things. This year, Google continued its proud tradition of April Fools’ Day pranks with a 'new' Gmail application and the unveiling of CADIE, a Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity. 

Billed as the world’s first artificial intelligence tasked-array system, CADIE had already scanned the Web and created her own homepage, which demonstrated the entity’s love of all things panda-related (see it here). We already feel foolish enough around Google. Did they really have to make us feel stupider?

Jokes aside – what now?

• Quality content is still king – best have your original, niche-driven content appearing on your own website. If you are too broad in your topic range, Google won't like you as much. 
• If you have lots of articles on your site, have a list of 'categories' on your home page which leads to those articles on a particular theme.
• Don't have too many advertisements on your site. Google won't like that either.
• Try reducing the number of article directories you use to the top ranking ones.
• Find other ways to get your website link onto other sites – ways that have a more natural relationship-building approach.
• Embrace social media – if you can bear it (excuse the Panda pun).

Being an authority in your area of expertise is still what everyone is banging on about. Most importantly, I feel, is being committed to it for the long-term. Apparently Google rewards those who 'keep calm and carry on'.

This post was written by Megan Hills. Megan is a writer, cartoonist and marketing consultant who is waiting for Google to blackmark anyone who uses Facebook or Twitter. Now that would be interesting. Find out more about Megan

As promised in my last post Using keywords for SEO and other alien adventures, here's a bigger picture (beyond keywords) on SEO.

In other words, here are some dating tips when seducing Google into giving you a higher ranking. It's sort of like the Bachelorette of the Internet. 

• a high number of visitors,
  but it's even better if you have…
   
• a high number of 'unique visitors' (i.e. first-timers – Google likes it if you make a good first impression) 
  but it's even better if you have…
   
• a high number of unique visitors who then return a lot and wander around your site for ages in wonderment
  but it's even better if you have…
   
• a high number of unique visitors who then return a lot and wander around your site for ages in wonderment and subscribe to your newsletter and/or your RSS feed and/or buy stuff and/or leave a comment and/or email you directly, and/or engage in your visitor poll (quick online survey), etc.

In summary: Have a cool group of friends – that just keeps getting bigger and bigger – who like to do stuff with you.

How do you do this? By being attractive, interesting and interested in those who come to visit you.

2. Are you, like, into talking about stuff?

Google isn't into the smouldering silent type. She hangs with chatty, social personalities. 

Constantly changing content, particularly on your home page, is a good thing. Constantly changing content that have great keywords (relevant to your site) is even better.

This is why blog sites are so popular with Google. The format of blogs is inspire new articles, regularly posted, right there on the home page. And they are also strongly designed to inspire visitor comments (remember that visitor interaction thing in dating tip #1). 

However, if you have a website instead, your Google cred can still be intact. You can still have changing news on your home page with an opportunity for people to comment. Everything is possible. Just make sure you have a CMS (content management) website so you can go in and change anything at any time.

3. Are, like, other cool people talking about you?

4. Do you want to, like, get married? 

Google doesn't want a fly-by-nighter. She likes the solid ones who have been around awhile.

The longer your site has been online, the higher your ranking is likely to be. It's just one of those things.

Final episode

Just because Google is partial to polyandry doesn't mean she won't give you the affection you want. You just need to play by her rules, whatever they are. Women really never tell you, do they?

So the above is advice given by SEO experts around the place who have tested their theories by taking Google on different kinds of dates to see what makes this mysterious woman smile.

But, the problem is, she's a fickle individual who will never kiss and tell. So we just keep buying those flowers and chocolates and calling her number again…and again…

What's next in the Google dating game?

Prostitution. When people say, 'We can get you on the first page of Google' they are generally pimps, touting pay-per-chick advertising services. We're talking AdWords campaigns.

Stay tuned to find out how to get to home base with Google.

To re-cap this SEO series: 

If you want to know what SEO (search engine optimisation) really means: 
SEO: True meanings and confessions

To find the best keywords for you: 
SEO and keyword research: Goldilocks meets the devil

To work out how to apply those keywords:
Using keywords for SEO and other alien adventures

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant who is looking forward to writing about making a meaningful connection with real people – rather than these superficial, popularity-seeking search engine spiders. Find out more about Megan.

Many folks out there are still wondering why the blog thing has created such a frenzy. They are also wondering if it's still okay to have a humble website. I'm about to give you an answer many others won't.

Small note:
My Marketing Thing is a blog site created from a Wordpress template. However, I have a website created by my brother (bless him) using Front Page – www.wordmix.com.au. This means you can trust what I say here, as I am displaying no favouritism towards blog sites or websites. Then again, I do have three blog sites and only one website… 

Why blog?

Put simply, having lots of changing articles on your site, preferably with good keywords (the words people type into Google to find information) is great for Google ranking. And blog sites are all about this.

Blog sites are also good at storing those articles (and all those delicious keywords) like an online library. This means people and search engine 'spiders' (technical thingyamegigs that tell Google what you're writing about and why your site should be ranked in a certain spot) can find these nuggets of wisdom that make our virtual world go round.

Why worry about the number of visitors?

Visitor activity is good for Google ranking. So the more you give away helpful information, the more visitors you attract, the more Google likes you.

A personal aside: Google is like a schoolyard sycophant. It wants to hang around (and give gifts to) the popular kids. 

Attracting visitors isn't all about Google ranking. But Google ranking is all about attracting visitors. The right visitors, that is. People who are likely to buy your services and/or products.

Isn't this what it's all about?

But can't I have a website?

Yes, of course you can.

But aren't you saying I have to blog?

You don't have to do anything. It's purely up to you.

Writing all those blog articles can take a lot of time. If you like that kind of thing, great. If not, you might be better off spending time researching a great potential affiliate who IS blogging like a maniac. Create a win-win relationship and you could be riding of their article-riddled wave.

Also, if you spend time on developing a great product – rather than spending a lot of time blogging – then your affiliate can earn a nice commission selling the product for you. And you, my dear, are earning a nice little bundle too.

What if I want a blog, but don't like to write articles?

You are demanding, aren't you? Okay, I guess I should have said that you do have other options, including:

• you can invite guests to write articles for you
  For free – the writer gets extra exposure and this is also generally done by allowing them to have their web/blog link at the end of the article. 
   
• you can download then upload relevant articles from free article directories
  Free articles directories like www.articlesbase.com, for example – as long as you give attribution to the author (just Google 'free articles' and you'll get the list, requirements will be on the site).
   
• you can expand beyond words
  Try blogging videos (put on Youtube as well) and audios/podcasts (put on iTunes as well), not just written info.

What if I like writing articles but I also need a website?  

Have both. You can have your website and blog site as separate sites, but linked up. You've probably seen websites with 'blog' on their main menu (some web builders insist on calling the main menu a 'navigation bar'), along with 'about' and 'contact us', etc. Sometimes when you click on blog you end up going to a different site. This is their blog site.

There are at least two key benefits to doing it this way:

1. You have what's called 'external links' pointing to each site. If you blog site is linked to your website and your website is linked to your blog site then you have greater 'online presence' in the eyes of Google.
    
2. By having links from both sites you increase visitation to both, therefore visitors are developing a greater relationship with you time-wise and site-wise…and that sycophant Google starts schmoozing you all the more.

Or….

…drum roll…

…you can build a website around your blog.

It's a neat and cost-effective solution which is becoming more and more popular.

And Wordpress – the blogging platform of the century (though Blogger is getting a good look in) – is getting better and better at this 'website in blog clothing' stuff.

Plus the Wordpress blog platform is much easier to build on your own than CMS website platforms.

Note: CMS means 'content management system' – i.e. you can go in and change things as if it was an MS Word document. You don't need to know HTML code, you won't need a web builder to change your content for you – what a joy!

With that said, looking at website platforms, Drupal is getting better at making their websites look like blog sites, With Drupal you can have a comments section on any pages, file away your articles as you do on a blog. And Drupal is pretty wonderfully flexible if you want a technically spiffy site.

Go back a step: What is Wordpress and Drupal?

When we talk about Wordpress and Drupal, we are talking about 'open source content management platforms'. My pleb definitions for this term:

• Open source means 'free'
• Content management means you don't need to know HTML code or rely on a web builder to change your content
• Platform is a technical foundation, like MS Word is a foundation for you to create a word-based document

There are other open source website CMS platforms, of course – like Joomla and .NET. I've not used either of these so can't comment on their level of spiffiness.

I know plenty of 'lay people' (i.e. non-web builders) who have created their own Wordpress site. I don't know one who has managed to create their own Drupal or Joomla site. Once a CMS website is created for you, it is easy to change content. It's the setting up that can be the tricky bit.

So who's the real winner? Blogging or websites?

You are the winner. You get to choose – plus you can have both. 

This information age really is becoming 'a cake and eat it' experience. No wonder we're all getting so fat.

What's next?

There's a BIG trap that several of my clients have fallen into when choosing a web builder for their new site. Can you guess what it is? Stay posted to find out the answer….

This post was written by Megan Hills.  Megan is a writer, cartoonist, marketing consultant and online voyeur – kind of in it but not of it, you know?  Find out more about Megan.