5 replies to this topic

[Hillfields]

Hi all

We currently have an seo firm working for us who have been creating some terrible articles and press releases.

In the initial meeting the rep stated that the articles would all be hand written and related to what we do.

I have recently been going through this months Articles, Press Releases and Blogs and they are shocking.....really bad.... Like a 2 year old has written them. They do not make any sense, have completely the wrong company name and have insert web ad***** here where my web ad***** is meant to go.

I always though that articles, press release, etc,... Were there to encourange the reader to click on your site, for traffic to generate more customers. If a potential customer cannot read the information they will never click on my link. I often read articles and have clicked on the site and bought something, is this not what they are for.

The seo firm have said, don't worry! They are not there to be read they are just there for the link so it doesnt matter if they don't make sense.

Is this true?

Is it just about the link or to drive potential customers to my site...traffic.

Thank you

[odlanor9]

Yes you are partially correct, and I have thought about this for some time as I also had the same issue about a year back. Obviously the goal is to get as much traffic as possible, and if you are paying for articles to be written then you would at least want them readable to the viewer so they are somewhat enticed to click on your link - after all it is a direct reflection of the quality of your work.

However, it depends of what your intentions are. If you are looking to build links to your site so that you can rank organically for certain keywords then I would say not to be as concerned about it because those links are pointing back to your site.

If it were my choice, I would find someone else who would write a better article for me. That way I can maximize my investment by getting people to click on my links from the articles and by getting better search rankings from link building.

You can find a lot of good people on elance.com or odesk.com, just look for people with lots of good feedback and you are sure to find someone who will write quality content and build some good backlinks at the same time.

[Tiggerito]

insert web ad***** here where my web ad***** is meant to go.

If they are not even adding the link that they state it is the purpose of the spam (sorry article), what is it's purpose? Give you a bad image?

They are obviously going for quantity over quality for your links.

[Michael Martinez]

What did you get in writing from the SEO firm with respect to the quality of the content they are creating?

It doesn't sound like they are providing a valuable service to you, based on what you describe here.

But it also sounds like you may have some unrealistic ideas about what is required for search engine optimization.

[Jill]

See: Just Say No to SEO Articles

[KirkB]

A lot of times with these shady SEO companies you get them outsourcing their article and blog writing to some country where English is definitely not the first language. They pay something along the lines of $0.02 per article - which are usually 'written' with some kind of spinner software. Now granted many of the articles on article directories are never read by a real person, it is still wise to hire someone to write quality content for you rather than just throwing a bunch of words on a page with your URL in there. The whole [insert web address] makes it sound like it is some kind of automated article submitter, and not a very good one at that. In my time I've work with some good companies and some very bad ones, yours sounds like one of the bad ones. I would axe that company as soon as possible. If you want some recommendations on some good companies just let me know.