Most of us already know what guest blogging is and how it can help your website succeed. But for those who don’t know yet, guest blogging is a method of contributing content to other websites related to yours with a link to your website provided in return.
Most websites have already attempted guest blogging campaign to increase the flow of incoming links and juice to their website, but do you really think that guest blogging is the best solution to give you the best results?
A blog post on Moz about the sleepwalking way to penalize guest bloggers who unnaturally and unethically post on a large scale caused website owners to completely rethink guest blogging. Since the links in guest contributed article aren’t always natural, it is easier to manipulate what URL and anchor text will appear in author bio of your article , which can be where guest blogging becomes manipulative.
Here’s Google’s view on Guest blogging for links.
Contributing articles to another website is actually good way to increase your connections and online presence. However, doing this just only for the sake of link is a terrible idea. Instead of an author’s bio, include your link in the content so you are able to use different anchor text or embed your images and videos in content of your post with links back to your website.
Dos and Don’ts in Guest Blogging
Dos
- Make sure all the websites you guest blog on are highly relevant to your website – Keep your website links coming from niche-related websites to avoid being penalized by search engines for manipulating links.
- Become a regular contributor to the websites you guest blog on – You need to be regularly seen on the websites where your content is published to keep readers engaged and to establish a strong online presence.
- Use long string anchor text as often as possible – Many guest blogs that I have seen are using keyword based anchor text (short tail and long tail) with both exact match and partial match. Which is quite alarming since Google sees websites with exact match keyword link profile as manipulating their SERP. So avoid using exact match anchor text to keep your site safe from dangers associated with exact match.
Don’ts
- Guest blog all over – Just like over optimization of anchor text and link profile, having lots of signals coming from different websites even related to yours might cause you problem in the future. Especially if you managed to publish 100 guest blogs in a short period of time, and you used exact match keyword.
- Buy links – This has never been a good idea, especially if these paid links are passing link juice. Link buying to build links is a big no-no and will only penalize your website. Just don’t do it.
- Author bio links – Links in bio sections have become very manipulative including being used for exact match anchor text linking to a webpage/website. Although we want to rank for the keyword, it is still not a good idea to use keyword anchor text.
Although guest blogging is still working well for some websites, it is still too early to tell if it will continue to work. Filling your own site with fresh, updated content on a regular basis is still the best way to keep your audience engaged and build your rank.
Do you guest blog? How do you think guest blogging practices will change in the next few years? Do you think guest blogging is risk free?
