Discover how contextual backlinks in articles can boost your SEO

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One of the easiest and most commonly used ways to create backlinks to your business website is to submit articles to article directories. Although article directories took a strong hit after the Google Panda update and do not provide powerful backlinks, they are still a helpful source of contextual backlinks. Contextual backlinks are links that are embedded in the text of an article and have more editorial weight and power compared to backlinks located in other areas of a webpage such as the footer or on the sidebar.

Examples of Article Directories:

* Ezinearticles

* ArticleBase

* Buzzle

* Goarticles

* Articlealley

* Articledashboard

* Isnare

* Helium

Each article directory has its own rules and regulations so check the directory rules as to where they allow you to place your backlinks. A majority of article directories only allow you to put a backlink the resource box or author bio area at the end of the article.

As a small business owner, you can use your expertise and knowledge to create articles related to your keyword. For example, if you run a bakery and your Keyword is 'bakery in Tulsa', you can write an article about 'The top 10 Sourdough Breads People Love' and then write your resource box as ìLooking for a bakery in Tulsa? Susan Andrews runs the Bistro Bakery, an upscale bakery on 43rd Street. She is a graduate of Paloma Culinary School and has been baking since she was 16 years. The keyword 'bakery in Tulsa' will be hyperlinked to your main website.

You can write your own articles or outsource to a writer. You can also use your original articles that appear on your main website as content for article directory submission. However make sure that the articles are first published on your site and indexed before using them as article directory material. If you don't do this, Google will see the articles on your website as duplicate content and penalize your SEO efforts. Another way to get content for your article directory submission is to spin your articles either manually or using an article spinning software. Spinning simply means rewriting your article using different words.