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Article writing as a method of marketing changed forever in February last year when Google made changes to their search engine - nicknamed the 'Panda' update, after one of its lead developers. How exactly did this affect article writing, you might ask? Put simply, the Panda update penalizes low quality content, hitting hard on duplication and plagiarism and 'kow-powing' writing that indulges in keyword stuffing. Article writing exponents, who were practising any of the above mentioned, noticed that their articles and websites were being punished by Google and losing rank in the search engine listings. Relevancy of content was now also being scrutinised and even factors such as the number of advertisements listed on any given Internet page, could lead to a Panda penalty. Many article writing websites were greatly affected by the changes and I myself noticed a gradual decreasing of earnings from sites such as Helium.com. Adding to the frustration of many writers, the Panda algorithm is updated every 4 - 6 weeks, thus ensuring that the overall standard of displayed web content is kept at a premium. Article writing as a business proposition has been hit hard, and the former widespread practice of authoring for SEO advantage has been subsequently challenged by the updates. So what is the average online marketer supposed to do in order to avoid the potential revenue generating damage done by the rampaging Panda!? In a word: focus on quality! Writing must sound natural and flow well and be free from the overloading of excessive keywords and phrases. To put it another way, we should be aiming our article writing efforts to real readers of content. Trying to please search engine protocol and web spiders is solely a thing of the past. You have been warned! Originality is the real key to warding off an attack from a newly installed Panda update. Avoid over-quoting by all means too. Another strategy is to add fresh and unique content to your websites on a regular basis, and ensure that article lengths are at least 400 words where possible, the former popular length of 250 words just does not rate as well anymore! Successful article writing has always been a bit of an art, and unfortunately we can't all claim to have been born with a Shakespearean gift for wordsmithing. But do not despair, if you research your article topics well, in advance, and make a concerted effort to compose them in a tone that is distinctly original to you, then the scourge of the Panda will likely pass you by. It's a black and white concept really! This Author is a huge fan of Search Engine Optimization
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