A lot of people still rely on guest blogging as an ongoing part of their link-building strategy. If you think about it, getting links through guest blogging is much easier than getting links through some other channel. So it’s no wonder that a lot of bloggers and SEO experts still favor this method. The main question is, are these guest post links still safe and viable? The answer is yes. It is still possible to build our link portfolio by contributing on authoritative websites. However, there are certain rules that we need to follow in order to avoid any issues with Google. Guest blogging 101 One of the beautiful things about guest blogging is that it gives us the opportunity to score some great links from high-tier websites. To be honest, we probably couldn’t have gotten those links with any other method. This is why guest blogging is always worth bearing in mind as a link-building strategy. But, we need to be very selective when choosing the … [Read more...] about Still doing guest blogging? Keep these 4 tips in mind
Guest blogging is not dead
SEO Bloggers React To Matt Cutts’ Claim “Guest Blogging Is Dead”
Google’s head of webspam, Matt Cutts, caused an uproar in the SEO community yesterday when he published a blog post on his personal blog claiming guest blogging for SEO purposes is dead. In his post, Cutts offered a history of how guest blogging has moved from being a reliable source of high-quality content to now being overrun with spam. “Guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy,” wrote Cutts. “In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for someone personally or know them well.” As Cutts’ words spread across the web, many SEO bloggers took to their own blogs to offer their take on the demise of guest blogging. With so much being said on the topic, we’ve put together a round-up of industry reactions, summarizing comments from a selection of popular SEO bloggers. Blogger Christopher Penn wasn’t surprised that an “automated, low-quality, easy-to-outsource” … [Read more...] about SEO Bloggers React To Matt Cutts’ Claim “Guest Blogging Is Dead”
After Guest Blogging…What’s Left for “Safe” Link Building?
As link building tactics get shot down by the Big G, online marketers are left wondering what’s left. Guest blogging has been devalued, alongside every other known scalable method to build links, including comments, forums, article marketing, and directories. These almost sound like dirty words in today’s marketing environment, but years ago, they were the way to rank. So what now? What can you do to get your site to rank? Everyone is now touting the benefit of Content Marketing as the only safe tactic left. But what happens when EVERYONE starts doing it? Mark Shaeffer from BusinessesGrow coined a term called Content Shock. There’s simply too much content being produced. So is content marketing a sustainable model for every businesses wanting to improve their presence in Google organic? Safe Link Building Strategies Let’s start by changing the paradigm. “Link building” is over, done, kaput. Any of the known methods used to build links are now on … [Read more...] about After Guest Blogging…What’s Left for “Safe” Link Building?
“Stick A Fork In It, Guest Blogging Is Done”
Google — and Matt Cutts, in particular — has made a number of statements about guest blogging over the past year as the tactic has grown as a link building tactic. None of those statements are as clear as the one Cutts wrote today on his personal blog. Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team, says that he’d “expect Google’s webspam team to take a pretty dim view of guest blogging going forward.” He begins the post with a very clear message: Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company. After sharing an example of a guest blogging solicitation he received that would violate Google’s quality guidelines, Cutts says guest blogging is dead as a linkbuilding tactic: So stick a fork in it: … [Read more...] about “Stick A Fork In It, Guest Blogging Is Done”
7 Essential Quality Metrics For Evaluating Publishers For Guest Blogging
Ever since Google’s head of webspam, Matt Cutts, declared guest blogging “done” around this time last year, the online marketing world has been rife with misinformation on the topic. Contrary to popular belief, however, guest blogging is not dead — Cutts was simply pointing out that guest blogging strictly for links is a spammy tactic that SEO practitioners should not rely on as a link building strategy. Thoughtful and targeted guest blogging still has value as a part of a holistic content marketing and SEO strategy, and so now is a good time to refresh how to properly evaluate publishers for guest blogging opportunities. Use the following seven quality metrics to determine which sites you should target for your guest blogging campaign. 1. Google PageRank Google PageRank (PR) has long been a metric obsessed-over by the SEO industry. While many claim PageRank is useless, it is the easiest and most definitive sign of a penalized domain. (If the PageRank is zero, … [Read more...] about 7 Essential Quality Metrics For Evaluating Publishers For Guest Blogging