Where should you publish your articles? Read on to discover three key criteria that will help you choose the best directories for your articles.

When you publish your articles, you want to get some bang for your buck. So here are some of the more obvious things to look for:

1) Numbers of visitors

First of all, you want a directory with many visitors. How can you find out? Check their Alexa ranking. You can find it at Alexa.com. Then just type in the site you want information about and you'll find out just how well the site ranks.

Here's how to evaluate the numbers you get: In terms of Alexa rankings, less is more. A rank below 1,000 is phenomenal. One between 1,000 and 10,000 is still very good. Even a directory that scores between 10,000 and 100,000 may be worth your while, though the lower it is, the more readers you're likely to get.

2) Google Page Rank (PR)

Find out how Google ranks the site. To do that, just type "page rank checker" into a Google search box and then click on one of the links you get.

When it comes to page rank, also known as PR, higher is better. Directories vary and range anywhere from 0 to 6 (and maybe 7). A PR of 6 excellent, a PR of 4 or 5 is very good, and even one of 3 can be useful. Anything below that is less helpful.

Why? Because the article directories with the higher ranks will start rubbing off on Google's evaluation of your own site -- while the sites with a rank of zero won't help in that regard.

3) How well do they score on Google

Type in some keywords for articles you might want to publish. Check which directories come up. Those that do are the ones you should consider prime candidates. If they also have a good page rank and an Alexa rating of 4 figures or less, you've got a winner.