What is Guest Posting And Why Should I Do It?

Last Updated on 2 months by Christopher Jan Benitez

A lot has been said about what is guest posting. However, we can track it back to a couple of yars ago.

In January of 2014, then-head of web spam team in Google Matt Cutts denounced guest blogging as a way to build backlinks for your site.

Below is the quote that sticks out like a sore thumb in his original post:

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.

Due to the influx of thin and poor-quality content published on different online publications by guest bloggers, Google penalized MyBlogGuest, a site that connects guest bloggers to publishers, to send those who pursue this tactic a stern message.

So what is guest posting? And is it “dead?”

If someone with clout and authority says something to be fact (in this case, it’s Matt Cutts), it’s never always true.

While his announcement did sway people from using this tactic as part of their SEO strategy, marketers who knew better rejoiced at this statement and continued on their quest to use guest blogging to help promote their websites.

Sounds strange, doesn’t it?

But there’s actual proof that guest blogging is still a legitimate technique. Below are links to case studies as evidence:

These articles are just the tip of the iceberg.

You can search Google and find equally relevant links to more case studies from successful bloggers who have grown their traffic and increased leads using this very strategy.

So, here’s the truth about guest blogging: it still works!

Didn’t see that coming from a mile away, did you?

Regardless of what Matt Cutts said, guest blogging is still a very powerful tactic that you must integrate into your overall marketing strategy to help achieve your online goals.

In fact, if you read the pullout quote from Matt Cutts carefully, you should have caught on that guest blogging was never to be killed at all. In the quote, he mentioned guest blogging as a “link building strategy.”

As a link building strategy, the aim of guest blogging is to gain a link back to your website or blog.

Because of this, the only thing that matters is to get a link placement within the body of the content, regardless of the post’s quality.

As a result, your guest blogging strategy consists of poorly written content with conspicuous use of anchor texts linking back to your site.

With Google on the move in ranking informative and helpful content higher over anything else, using guest blogging in this context was never a sustainable strategy, to begin with!

Not only is it blatantly unnatural link building, but it’s also proliferating thin content online, both of which are frown upon by search engines.

So what is the secret to successful guest blogging?

Spreading the word - What is Guest Posting?

The real purpose of guest blogging is this:

Make real connections with your audience and attract them to your website through content!

That’s it.

It was never meant for SEO.

Imagine this: you can nab a guest blogging opportunity to a trusted sites visited by thousands of your target audience.

You write the best possible blog post to be published on the site, with loads of great ideas, stats to back up your claims, and a writing style that resonates with your readers.

Once published and promoted to the right channels, expect not only to drive more traffic to your site but also — gasp — gain backlinks from that post you wrote, which can indirectly affect your search rankings!

By guest blogging not for the purpose of raising your SEO score, but by providing informative content to your readers, you can inadvertently increase your brand and site’s trust rating in the most natural means possible!

This sounds awesome! How do I get started with this?

Personally, you can’t go wrong with any of the resources featured below:

Take your time to read these to get a better feel and understanding on how to approach guest blogging not as something that can help you, but something that can help your audience!