| Guest blogging is OK as long as it isn't "Spam" blogging! |
In January 2014, Matt Cutts, head of
Google's Webspam team, made the statement -
Many took this statement to mean that they should not submit a guest article or approve a guest writer under any circumstances. If you will read this entire article carefully, you will find that Mr. Cutts further clarified his comment:"So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy."
"There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before Google and they’ll continue into the future. "
So, what does all this mean to you?
Guest blogging designed to simply improve SEO is history
In the past, many writers were searching for guest blogging opportunities that would improve their own search rankings. They didn't care if the content was in any way related and their purpose wasn't to supply additional information to help visitors better understand the topic being discussed. In other words, it was just plain spam. Those days are over.
Is there any benefit to a nofollow link?
In his article, Mr. Cutts seems to indicate that a guest article should include "nofollow" links within the content to appear more legitimate. For those of you who aren't familiar with nofollow links, they are simply links that you tell search engines to ignore. A further explanation can be found on Google's support page.
Do these type links actually provide any benefit to the author of the article? Possibly. High quality content on a site with a large amount of traffic would certainly increase the writer's exposure and expand his or her reach. There would obviously be no SEO benefit.
On the other side of the coin, would a "dofollow" link inside an article be treated any differently than a link in your "Favorite Blogs" section or an ad in your sidebar? Is the Google bot smart enough to distinguish the difference? We don't know the answer to that question because we simply don't know what aspects of Google's search algorithm they aren't willing to share with us.
Can an article without links be beneficial?
Before we were told to "stick a fork in it", the biggest incentives for guest blogging were links and referral traffic. If you write high quality web content and want to increase your exposure beyond your own site or blog, writing a guest article is one way of doing it. You can always insert your name or business name at the end of the article, even if you don't include any links back to your site.
Should we even listen to Google?
It seems that every time an SEO technique attracts more spam, Google issues a statement that we shouldn't do that anymore. Think about it - what SEO technique doesn't attract spam?
- We have to use a certain amount of keywords just to get noticed, but now "keyword stuffing" is considered spam.
- Quality linking profiles are critical to online exposure, but Penguin was released to degrade sites whose linking techniques were considered spam.
- We are told to optimize our images in web content, but that's attracting spam.
If you have written or accepted quality guest articles for legitimate reasons, they didn't magically morph into spam, so you probably shouldn't get all fired up and remove all your guest articles right now. If you have been writing guest articles just to improve SEO, you should re-think your strategy. Writing quality guest articles intended to provide useful information for reputable and related sites may still be a very important way to promote your work or your brand.
This article appears as Chapter 13 in a new eBook that I had the privilege of co-writing with my friend and colleague, Dr. Deborah Bauers. If your goal is to write and promote better web content, please get your copy today.
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