People are quite sure how to feel about guest blogging. Some people swear by it, claiming it’s the only new way to build links that have value. Others see it as just another way to scam the system that will eventually be penalized. It’s been hard to get a read on guest blogging, but today, Matt Cutts is coming out with some answers to the most common questions. As always, you have to take what the Google mouthpiece says with a grain of salt, but it’s a good framework for operating your guest posting operations.
Basically, you need to be sure that your guest blogging is truly content based, and not part of some paid link scheme. Buying a link and wrapping some pretty content around it still counts as buying a link.
“Usually there is a pretty clear distinction between an occasional press blog versus someone who’s doing a large scale paid link kind of thing,” Cutts said. “If you’re paying for links, it’s more likely that it’s an off-topic or an irrelevant blog post that doesn’t really match the subject of the blog itself. It’s more likely you will see keyword-rich anchor text and that sort of thing.”
So how do you seem legitimate? According to Cutts, the first, most obvious signal is that you’ll be introduced. If you’re someone who is worthy of a guest post, the blog owner will likely do a little bragging that you decided to contribute and they’ll talk you up. If you’re just buying a link, you’ll just be a regular old post mixed in with the other content, maybe even buried a little bit. The other think that can give you away is the linking strategy you use within the piece. Stick to just one link and make it as organic as possible. If you cram all kinds of links in, it’ll be pretty obvious what your true intentions are.
The other thing you need to pay attention to is how often you guest blog. If you have a guest blog going live on a different site every single day, that will be viewed as spam. Google is looking for guest bloggers to be careful about what they’re writing and who they’re writing it for. Be discerning about where your content ends up.
If you’re looking for a solid guest posting opportunity from a quality blog, you should remember that Wikimotive takes submissions. Just be aware it has to be a unique, quality piece, and send it to us by clicking the “Contribute” link at the top right of our site’s banner.