[Updated] Guest Blogging, the Fork and My Take :)

47 Comments

1. So tough if you are not a major brand getting direct, referral, or social traffic enough that you can live without Google. Like your thinking that depending on Google for your house payment is a tricky way to live.

   I would also caution that Matt Cutts saying something on his blog is still early. Lets all not freak too much until we see how his team attempts to reduce the value of links obtained from guest posting. It might not be that bad.

2. I agree with what you wrote. Thanks for writing this article, I will share it to my co-bloggers. 🙂

3. Bravo, Ann.

   Matt is like the Wizard of Oz. His primary means of control are speaking in a huge voice to scare people spitless.

   I love how the comments on his article were overwhelmingly in favor of Guest Blogging and pointedly perplexed about what in the world MC is thinking.

   “The most common way people give up their power,” said Alice Walker, “is by thinking they don’t have any.”

   What does Matt think Google would do without great content? Run AdWords/AdSense and nothing else?

4. I agree on you on this, all human person has a free to create blog or to express there self thru writing, this a free world, no one will stop you by doing this, continue your work and relationship to help people, I think Matt Cutt missing that one, if they want to stop the Guest blogging rather stopping those spammy, I think they should focus on spammy blogs because lots of us bloggers not dependable in link juice, our goal is to help people.

5. I said it in a G+ reply today. “Matt Cutts may be the Google Guru everyone looks to, but not everything that passes his lips is gold or even entirely true.”

   Ann, I’m SO glad you are sticking to your beliefs in MBG and VCB. You constantly inspire and amaze me.

   And I still wish I could clone ya! <3 

6. Pingback: Guest Blogging Is Being Threatened – What’s Next? | SEOteky.com

7. Well said Ann.

   We can and should all live without Google as far as we can. I love your definition of guest posting and think that anyone doing it properly, as you describe, by building relationships will be safe from any Google swipe.

   You have always talked about the importance of individual contact and building relationships and have been proved right time and again.

   Guest posting has always been and always will be a great way for the individual blogger to write for larger audiences, in the same way that freelance journalists can send in articles to the WSJ or NYT.

8. Good things don’t come alone, so do the Search Engines and guest blogging. It’s the goodness that keeps them going.

   The quality is always what MyBlogGuest stands for and differentiates from others.

   Ann, we’re with you.

9. Pingback: Stick Your Fork Elsewhere… Thoughts On Matt Cutts' "Guest Blogging Is Done" Statement | SEOno

10. Hi Ann, hope you are well.

    I know we have butted heads on several occasions about your take on what ‘guest blogging is’… On the points outlined above I totally agree with you though.

    Mr. Cutts can threaten and promise almighty vengeance as much as he likes, but at the end of the day good quality, well written content on useful blogs can’t be penalised, or what exactly is Google going to show in it’s index? I think everyone is panicking for no reason… if I worked for Google’s web spam team then I’d be going after low content quality, obvious networks of blogs solely created to bring in AdSense / advertising revenue for the blog owner. These are the types of blogs everyone should avoid creating guest post content for. Personally I check out every offer I get to post content, if it’s not worth the risk, I don’t expose my client to it.

    The fact that we pay a lot of money to create unique, well written content, then give that content away in exchange for a link from a suitable blog in the MBG community could (if you’re being pendantic about it) be classed as a ‘paid link’ and therefore against Google’s terms and conditions, however the same could be said of links I gain from having lunch with a journalist or favours from industry contacts. They are all valid links from well written, relevant content, gained by exchange of money/free stuff/services.

    We have a saying from WW2 in the UK which is popular in my home town of Liverpool… Calm Down!

11. I think the biggest point that needs to be made Ann already did.

    Google is NOT the internet. They seem to have developed some sort of a god complex I think mostly after they have become a public company.

    I think it’s arrogant and irresponsible for Matt Cutts to make a blanket statement stating that all guest blogging is bad or spammy.

    I get spammy guest blog request emails just like Matt referenced in his email, all the time.

    So what?

    That doesn’t mean that everyone guest blogging is an SEO spammer! And it certainly doesn’t mean that every guest posts should automatically be deemed as low quality or an SEO spam attempt.

    Google is drunk with power and they are overstepping their bounds trying to control everyone and everything. I think Google is due for a “day of reckoning”

    Perhaps it’s time for a new search engine.

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15. “Do marketing AS IF Google didn’t exist.” – I think a lot of bloggers appreciate that sentiment. But, the problem with that is Google existing for competitors who will likely get a strong advantage.

16. @Emory So find the way to be better than your competitors… It may be true not for any niche or case, but does apple rank #1 [smartphone]? Not even in top 10 from where I search. Are they suffering from that? They don’t care! People found out about iPhones not in the search engine.

    MyBlogGuest doesn’t rank #1 for [guest blogging] but even when it did, our hugest and most important search referral has always been [myblogguest].

    THAT’S what I call “marketing without Google.” Yes, Google is able to get you referrals but it’s not the whole world. There are many other ways (longer-term and more reliable than depending on algorithm whims).

17. I agree with David about “at the end of the day good quality, well written content on useful blogs can’t be penalised, or what exactly is Google going to show in it’s index?”. And, what about magazines, with several journalists contributing?. Are they going to be penalized?

18. Ann,
    I don’t agree that all guest posts should be tarnished with the ‘spam’ brush but surely it’s right that Google are suggesting that links in guest posts should not hold value for SEO and more so might harm your site if done at scale (which I believe is being said here).

    Let me explain….
    A link in a guest blog post is usually placed by the contributor and allowed by he publisher. It is not (usually) a link given by the publisher as a vote for the quality / usefullness of the content on he site being linked to.

19. @Chris, All my links in my guest posts make sense. The EDITOR approved them and is good with publishing that guest post. WHY on Earth are those links not editorial???

    What about other links in the guest post? If I am writing a guest post I usually link to tools, stats sources, etc. They are also not placed by the owner of the site. Should they be nofollow as well?

    Further on, what is NOFOLLOW anyway? Google encourages us to be natural – there’s nothing natural about that stupid attribute that was created because search engines were helpless at identifying PAID links… Why a writer should even bother about it?

20. Pingback: Spammy guest blogging is dead? Well duh.

21. Thanks for reply Ann,
    The problem as I see it is that links are being ‘allowed’ by the editor of the publishing site in return for the content NOT necessarily because the editor vouches for the site(s) being linked to as merit worthy. I guess it depends on editorial standards.

22. @Chris Ebbs, Exactly, that’s up to the editor, that’s what makes those links editorial 🙂

    If the editor wants free content with crappy links, chances are, that editor’s site is not too high standards either, because crappy links will hurt his user experience and he seems not to care about that… That makes that editor someone to avoid.

    That’s why nofollow is a terribly bad solution: It encourages bad editors to still use free content!

    Good editors should care about their readers first, then (probably) about search engines. Nofollow ruins the concept of guest blogging, that’s why I am so much against it!

23. I agree with you and find Google to be too powerful and manipulative mostly for their own good.
    I agree and have previously written other places, that we should write the way we want, and add the links we find suitable regardless of Google. Pretend it does not exist, kind of like while AltaVista was the major search engine. Before SEO was a trade. Focus on content for our audience.
    Simple as that.

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25. Ann I love the education you have provided in this post. People think Google is almighty but the networking effect will never fail and can have pretty great long term effects 😉

26. I was a member some time ago of My Guest Blog. SEO is the hardest part of blogging. Getting high in the ranks are even harder. I have been on break for a year and am back with a new website. I am trying very hard to make this work…I believe……it can be done.

27. Quality Guest Blogging is Still Alive. Every Blogger Should Improving There Blogging Quality.
    Thank you.

28. “Do marketing AS IF Google didn’t exist.” — YES, Ann! 🙂 I’m doing that! Sure, it’s harder, but it means real *freedom*. We are no Google slaves, no matter how powerful that company might be.

    And guest blogging is NOT spammy; it’s journalistic. 🙂

    ~ Luana

29. Ann I would like to say only 2 words Thank You for this post. Guest Blogging is still alive and it should be done in a proper way.

    Thanks a lot Ann for this post…

30. Great Ann, thanks for your inspirations, i just don’t think that Guest Blogging will fade of just like that. No matter what @Matt keeps saying Guest Blogging will keep on rocking.

31. Ann,

    I understand why you don’t want to require nofollow links – that’s a principle worth standing up for.

    But if I understand, you don’t *allow* publishers to use nofollow? That sounds more like shooting yourself in the foot.

32. Keep on doing what you’re doing.

33. Hi Ann,

    I’m absolutely baffled by this. It never entered my mind that MBG would ever be in this penalised state with that rules and policies that are setup in line with Google’s guidelines.

    I think it would be interesting to see if publishers are also being punished by this. Any news on that?

34. Hi Ann,

    I am totally agree with you on this point:

    “Google is NOT your friend or your partner. If you grow big enough, Google is likely to become your competitor.”

    Google is not Internet but a part of Internet.

    Google want to grow only PPC (on Google) They blocked all the ways to promote any site by organic SEO.

    Daily they declares that today this is considered spam, tomorrow this will be spam etc etc.

    They declares all the activities as a Spam which which were advised by Google or Matt Cutts in the past (specially when they Spam anything and offers some new activity for organic seo)

35. Today, Google or Mutt Cutt works as hitler. They can change according to his choice and close all activities which google self mention in his guidelines.

36. Matt Cutts is always scaring people.
    Today i received email from a guest blogger asking me to remove backlink.
    Google is not internet!
    If you a running a news website, you need guest posts otherwise you write alone and you will never progress.
    Why Google never penalise WikiPedia?

37. This post turns up to the best simulator of the year !!!

38. They think they are big boss and they can do anything on internet taking everyone’s privacy away as stupid USA government supporting them for its own purpose. I rely on yahoo and bing traffic and get great organic traffic from there plus social media, forums, QA forum, etc are cherry on the cake. They hate big network that’s why you have got slammed by them.

39. Pingback: My Blog Guest And The New Era Of Guest Blogging - BloggLess
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41. This time google killing seo by not allowing guest blogging,with out guest blogging how can we expose our site and create quality backlinks

42. Pingback: Google SEO And The MyBlogGuest Case – Time To Revert The Roles!

43. It’s good thing guest blogging as it helps to show our blog to the public

44. Guest blogging is really a wonderful way of keeping in touch with the blogging comment as well as getting backlinks.

    Really great post, really no one can be alone and expect to be at the top, because to be a giant, you have to climb the shoulder of other giants, and that is how the blogging community grows.

    Really great post! Keep up the good work.

45. Guest blogging helps in exploring our blog to the world most effectively. It is a great choice to improve website visibility.

46. Yah i agree with this topic as a blogger i know the value of guest blogging and guest posts. Thank you for your valuable information ta da.

47. Great Ann, thanks for your inspirations, I just don’t think that Guest Blogging will fade off just like that. No matter what @Matt keeps saying Guest Blogging will keep on rocking. Thanks.