I think original content articles on site - and off site linking back - IF THEY ARE QUALITY WRITTEN material and not just SEO spam junk are beneficial to readers and site visitors and should help a site's ranking.

That doesn't mean stuff keywords in articles (hey - I learned about keyword stuffing penalties - and problems - and I'm still learning every day... I WILL BE A TOP EXPERT SEO WRITER --- when I get done learning a lot more... *grin* - I am good right now but I want to be the VERY BEST... no small aspirations here...)

But - for me - writing means that you have a lot of work entailed - and I think most people think articles should be primarily about just their keywords... I've learned that while some of those types of articles can help you - too many of them can hurt you.

The whole concept of Google is that the site you have should be informative and useful for your visitors.

Go back to your sites and look at them with an open eye... Bring a fresh Newbie in and find a really critical irritating person.... Have them look at your site - and ask them what they would change.

BITE YOUR TONGUE while they tell you.

Then make some of those changes - wait a week - and see what happens.

That's what I've seen changing the world.

And I think I've had a little help (thanks dudes dudettes)

But - seriously - again - while I really dig Google - I do think that they should probably be more responsible towards the public and the websites... This was a bad hit for some folks who depend on the money they make from the search engine... And well - while Google does this job of search engine policing - it does have the responsibility to teach, educate, help and show - people how to become better...