Last week Matt Cutts from the Google SPAM team stated that Guest Blogging is done. Dead, Kaput, Nadda, Zilch. No… he didn’t really say that at all. In this article I go over the highlights and cut through the paranoia on what he was actually trying to say. I’ll also give you some sound advice if you do have guest posts of a ‘dubious nature’. And I will give you some solid tips to follow before you have a Guest Blogger write an article for your website.
The Decay and Fall of Guest Blogging?
Last Week Matt Cutts from the Google Spam team posted an article stating that Guest Blogging was essentially done. You can read his post: “The Decay and Fall of Guest Blogging“. He starts out with an email from an “SEO” or “Content Marketing” firms that mass email blogs stating they will provide “High Quality” original content. What they really are is a cheap link exchange to dump their clients anchor rich do-follow links onto your blog to pass Page Rank. Which according to Google is against their guidelines.
Further down the article he stated:
So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy. In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for someone personally or know them well. Likewise, I wouldn’t recommend relying on guest posting, guest blogging sites, or guest blogging SEO as a linkbuilding strategy.
And a lot of bloggers seemed to be scared of what this meant for their own websites. I don’t know if people were reading just the ‘guest blogging is done’ part but there really was a lot more information in the article that would have benefited them.
The issue isn’t necessarily Guest Blogging itself… it was more on how it was being abused.
So what Matt Cutts was trying to say throughout the article is:
Stop Using Guest Blogging for SEO Tactics
Matt is stating throughout the article that he and his team over at Google are really tired of articles by guest bloggers that are poorly written and usually include anchor rich spammy links. Usually these are either sold to bloggers for a nominal fee, or to bloggers who are desperate to keep their blogs updated and take the article. (*ahem* guilty..) And they offer little to no real value to visitors who read them.
Check out the Video on Google’s thoughts about Guest Blogging:
Is Google Going to Penalize You?
Matt replies in another YouTube response:
In the video he states that yes they could penalize your site if they were to deem your site just another ‘article farm’ full of spammy low quality guest articles. The reason being is that if the links in those article points to sites that are considered low quality or spammy they can end up hurting your own websites authority.
So although he hasn’t outright said it. Google is always working on ways to make changes to specifically target anything considered as spam tactics to gain links and better SERP results. My guess? If they think it is a big enough issue they are already working on doing something about it.
OK, So How Can I Fix This?
There are two steps you can take to help get your own blog back in order:
Step One: Do not accept ANY type of Guest Post that is from a “Content Writer”, “SEO Firm”, or “Marketing Firm”. Unless they are from someone who is highly reputable just don’t accept the article to begin with.
Step Two: Audit your blog and if you have any of these types of articles? Either fix them by removing the links and re-writing the content, or just remove the posts entirely. Some people are stating to go even so far as to disavow any of the links you had on your blog altogether.
If you do wish to accept Guest Bloggers on your site? Then you need to get:
Back to Basics with Guest Blogging
Guest Blogging isn’t Dead. You just can’t use it for the sole purpose of trying to build up massive links back to your website. I would highly recommend that you do the following from this point forward:
- Do your research. Make sure that the potential author is someone you would be willing to have their content posted on your site as well as making sure that the article is 100% original and not ‘re-spun’ or copied content.
- Only accept articles from Bloggers that you can personally vouch for.
- Make sure that the articles fit your site and add real value for your readers.
- I would highly suggest making any links ‘no-follow’ that point back to the author’s website.
It’s far past the time for the web to get back to its roots when it comes to Guest Blogging. I realized during my own blog audit that alot of the Guest Posts I have here on avgjoegeek.net ended up hurting the site more than helping it.
Conclusion
If you are Guest Blogging for what it was meant for: Providing authoritative content that is in line with the website you are writing for, Looking to expand your brand awareness and audience, and trying to bring traffic to your site by doing things right? You should be just fine.
If you are trying to use Guest Blogging as a tactic to build up your SEO/Link profile? Google is stating stop it now.. or they will for you.
What Do You Think?
So what are your thoughts about Google’s ‘slam’ on Guest Blogging? Think they are correct with Matt’s thoughts? Or do you think they are going ‘Mad With Power’? Leave a comment below!
