Web traffic on article directories usually drops in the holiday season around Christmas. Most directories had reported a drop in web traffic of about 5% to 30% last year. This happens because most people are either searching for shopping deals or simply holidaying with friends and family. The websites which gain most during holiday season are online shopping websites, travel sites and other sites serving niches more inclined to holiday season flavor like food and drinks. The traffic on article directories tend to return gradually after first week of January.
Another challenge for most content based websites is change in Google's search algorithm. Google had announced that it will launch Caffeine version of its search engine, that will change the logis of it's search results. Currently SEO gurus are scrambling what exactly it means and how the new search engine rules may apply in getting more traffic. One thing is for sure, the performance of your site will matter significantly going forward. If a website renders fast, it will likely see an increased share of website traffic.
Search engines play a huge role because majority of websites (including article directories)
The competition between article directories gets tougher and tougher every year. Clearly websites like Ezinearticles, GoArticles, Buzzle and Articlesbase lead the herd. Several smaller players like Saching (http://www.saching.com) and WriteArticles (http://www.writearticles.org) have also jumped in the field. Duplicate article submission is a big challange for article directories these days.
How the web-traffic will play out this year will be quite interesting. We will keep you updated.
