It’s 2016. By now, you’ve all heard the news: renowned Google software engineer Matt Cutts declared guest blogging officially dead… back in 2014.
However, while we bow to Matt Cutts’ inherent superiority in all things SEO, we can’t help but disagree. Whether you’re running a website for a Utah-based design firm or an East Coast bookseller, guest blogging can still work for SEO—if it’s done well.
Now the reason why guest blogging was disavowed in the first place had to do with the bane of all online marketers: black hat SEO. Sketchy guest writers were filling blogs with spammy links, money for PageRank and largely unrelated content, and Google understandably clamped down on it.
In 2016, guest blogging is all about quality. You should be very selective about which blogs you write a guest post for, or which writers you allow to post content on your own blog. The other party should be well known, highly relevant to your target demographic, and should above all have a solid reputation. Writing for a music venue in Utah? Consider penning a piece for a reputable local music blog that caters to your demographic.
A guest blog post should be your top content. Don’t just whip something up and throw a few keywords in—that’s just a waste of time. Instead, take the opportunity to craft an intelligent, informative piece that people in Utah and elsewhere will genuinely want to read. If a blog post isn’t good enough to go on your own website, it’s not good enough for a guest post.
Guest blogging isn’t some kind of one-hit-wonder for the SEO game. Rather, it’s more about building a solid relationship with other websites in a similar market. Promote yourself as an expert in the field who invites other experts to share their opinions on your website, and vice versa.
Even if it isn’t the SEO juggernaut it once was, guest blogging can still be a great way to build upon a brand and increase organic traffic with high-quality content.
