Comments on: Google and Guest Blogging: Let us Stop the Insane Rumor at #MyBlogGuest

By: Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:14:11 +0000

I think people stop mentioning guest blogging in the context of “paid posts”. The articles stops being “guest” as soon as it becomes “paid”

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 08:55:34 +0000

I agree, Ann. Although it doesn’t state “guest blogging” and that “posts that contain links” sounds like it’s more to do with paid guest blogs/articles (as it’s in the context of paid links), you can still see how it causes confusion…

By: Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 01:00:19 +0000

Sure, if those are good articles you enjoy reading, the answer remains the same: “You are good to go if you focus on quality!”

By: Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:55:24 +0000

- Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link. [Emphasis added]

But this in no way describes guest blogging…

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:41:36 +0000

Great outline Ann.

I think the key when guest posting is about adding value to the website being posted on. This starts by having a good relationship with the blog owner to understand what their primary persona or audience will find valuable, and then creating content that speaks directly to that value.

The troubling part is that many of the sites I see doing guest blogging are not focused on a topic and seem to accept everything from everyone (mini content farms). This IMO does not speak highly of those sites and makes them a generalist across many topics (content farm value) compared to a specialist about a primary topic.

I think this is where the separation of guest blogging that Google will value, compared to guest blogging that will be or already has been devalued, and marked as spam.

Bill
@billross

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 09:35:40 +0000

Regarding #3, they kind of actually have, which is where this rumour's actually stemmed from: Google's updated link schemes documentation states: The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results: - Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link. [Emphasis added] Where it gets more confusing is that in a recent Webmaster video, Cutts states that guest blogging's ok, so long as it's high quality. Even so, it's confusing to SEOs - it caused quite the uproar over on SEOmoz...

By: Michael Evans

Michael Evans — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 03:48:32 +0000

By the way, the answer is quite straightforward, – if you are using guest blogging only for the purpose of building links, you are doomed. Try to use this technique to add more value and earn new visitors to your website.

By: Michael Evans

Michael Evans — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 03:46:40 +0000

Just one mistake – “Jogn Mueller is Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst.”

It is John Muller

By: Dave Fowler

Dave Fowler — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:07:01 +0000

I wish I’d been free for this twitterchat as this is a subject I care deeply about, and the misinformation out there is frustrating. Any effective SEO strategy will inevitably attract those who look for ways to game it, trying to get results with minimum effort, and so it is great that MBG has put efforts into promoting good practice and keeping the service true to the original vision. Banning payments, preventing plagiarism and demanding moderate and appropriate use of self-serving links are just a few of the controls that allow guest blogging via MBG to remain trustworthy. Google want the highest quality, authorative and relevant results in their search results, and it is guest blog posts that are well researched and written that are going to end up on high quality websites. You simply cannot spam links from trustworthy sites using guest blogging – it is because editorial standards are applied that those sites are trustworthy. Done well, with real passion, guest blogging bears no relation to grey hat SEO tactics like article spinning and the like. I think any professional guest blogger would happily defend the practice to Google.

By: Abhishek Raj

Abhishek Raj — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 05:44:16 +0000

But there’s one question that’s still unsolved (from a host blogger’s point of view) – Should i accept guest articles from those outside my niche? Is it safe to link to non-relevant guest links?