So 2 days ago Matt Cutts called it – the death of guest blogging – at noon on 1/20/2014. Or at least the death of guest blogging for SEO purposes. A method that many SEO agencies have absolutely adored over the past few years.
Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company.
To be honest – he’s pretty right. Years back when I was running Next Designs, guest blogging was widely used – and not so much for the purpose of exchanging links but for the purpose of getting your content out there. Letting the world hear what you had to say, and getting a larger and larger audience for it. This is sadly not the case anymore and Matt Cutts points it out via an unsolicited, spam email that he had gotten offering money in exchange for links that passed PageRank. An email that every webmaster has probably gotten more than once within the last 6 months.
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.
Now it is important to note that this does not mean that guest blogging as a whole is gone and done for. The old ways are still very much alive – and those of you pursuing guest blogging as a method to build brand awareness, develop a larger audience, and well just to write – you’re encouraged to continue to do so. This is all meant to solely target the spammy guest bloggers out there publishing spun articles with embedded links to casino sites in them.