Some SEO companies now believe guest posting is no longer a helpful strategy for getting traffic or optimizing your site for the search engines. This is due to some warnings by Google itself on the matter. Google and other search engines are actively trying to discourage any type of content marketing or SEO practices that are spammy or that involve the distribution of low quality content. It’s still perfectly acceptable, however, to contribute high quality content in the role as a guest poster. Blogging software can be one tool used to keep your content quality up. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind.- Choose high quality blogs in your own niche. Avoid blogs that don’t get much traffic, that haven’t been updated recently or that consist mainly of ads.
- Contact the blog owner. Always query blog owners before sending guest posts. Ask what type of material they might like to receive. This opens the door to a long term relationship.
- Send your best content. Keep in mind that your main goal is to provide great content for the blog’s readers.
- Make sure there’s a link back to your own site. Guest posting is a reciprocal arrangement where the blog owner gets an article and you get to sign your name and receive a link to your own site.
If you keep these rules in mind, there’s no reason why you can’t benefit by posting as a guest on various blogs. This is still a viable SEO and traffic generating strategy if you do it the right way.
