Articles are links but they are special.
We could have put this under link building but article links are another level all together. An article or even its cousin a “press release” are special kind of links and can come from authoritative sites if you don’t try and scam the search engine with automated submission tools.
Remember it is quality, not quantity. A well written and released article or press release is better than having your article splatter all over the web. The spiders are smarter now and will just identify your article as duplicate content and not increase your quality score.
Publish with quality sites, even if you have to pay for them, for your article or press release to reach a quality audience and hopefully even journalists.
These links are gold and increase in value over time as you become an authority and or a brand for your chosen keyword phrase.