Guest Blogging; Is It Worth It?
In short, yes guest blogging is still worth it. Why have some saying that it’s not worth the effort? Well, like all good things, it gets manipulated and abused. So, if you’re not one of the aforementioned unethical people, keep reading to find some great tips as well as many reasons to get your guest blogging groove on.
An Ethical Approach to Guest Blogging
When creating written content, always remember that you are not just producing content for rankings – you’re writing to educate and add value to your readers first. Getting a link back to your blog or increasing traffic should be secondary. Taking this approach will not only keep you on the ethical side of Google’s fence, it’ll also build credibility and allow for other bloggers to want to guest blog on your site.
A Few Tips
Write for Trustworthy Sites
Look for sites that have a great UX with a good amount of solid content already on them. It’s also important to do a deep dive on them before submitting your work; traffic, links and visibility.
If you have SEO tools like SEMrush, use them to estimate traffic and backlink profile. Is the guest blogging site appearing in Google’s SERPs? If Google hasn’t indexed it, there’s a good reason for that, so dodge that bullet. Additionally, write for websites that focus on similar topics or industries like yours. This will be good for relevance and will allow you to reach the right audience for your specific content.
Write for Sites With Curated Content
If websites ask you to upload content without asking any questions, that’s a red flag. Look for sites that have a review process before publication. This ensures that only solid, high-quality content is published. Also, keep an eye out for clear contact details. This is a good sign that the site and business is legitimate.
Keep Your Audience in Mind
Write for humans not for search engine rankings! Your aim should be to provide useful, relevant information to your readers. Going this route also means that Google won’t see your content as underhanded and written specifically to go around their guidelines.
Guest Blogging is just One Piece of Your Link Building Strategy
Your overall link profile needs to be diverse. Google can view your link profile as unnatural if all your links are coming from guest blogging. There are many link building techniques you can use in addition to guest blogging including running a contest, attending events, contribute to charities, exchange links with suppliers and partners, and many more. Guest blogging cannot be the beginning and end of your link building strategy.
Guest Blogging Still Good for SEO?
In a nutshell, yes. Guest blogging within the guidelines is still a good for SEO. Writing useful, thoughtful and relevant content can benefit your search rankings and build your audience significantly. BUT…like any other SEO tactic, it will go off the rails in a bad way if you fall outside of Google’s guidelines.
In short, the answer is yes. Guest blogging within Google’s guidelines is still good for SEO. Publishing useful content on high quality, relevant websites can benefit your search engine rankings greatly, and ultimately bring more traffic to your site.
The main takeaway here is to not to rely solely on guest blogging for your link building. Don’t link back to any poor quality links either. This is what triggered Google to issue a warning in 2017 and it surely won’t be the last time they slap a wrist or two.
Need help with your link building strategy? Contact us at Carte Blanche Media today!