It seems like every few months there is a new SEO trend that becomes hot. When done the right way, you can soon see improvement in your organic rankings. Inevitably a few rule breakers will figure out how to game the system.
When that happens Google will put the kibosh on the strategy (rightfully so) and that ruins it for the rest of us. Isn't that how it always seems to work? Well, this time around Google has announced that guest blogging is no longer a viable SEO strategy. It has become too spammy. If guest blogging has become your top or only SEO strategy, it's time to adjust your strategy. You could risk facing the wrath of being dropped from their rankings if you don't.
Now let me clarify this. I wouldn't stop guest blogging as a marketing strategy. It's still great for generating exposure and cross-promotion. This is especially true if you know the person or company well that you're collaborating with. Have you actually spoke to them on the phone or met them in person? This is a situation where you would want to consider guest blogging or accepting a post on your blog. You probably don't want to guest blog if you've received an email from someone you don't know who is requesting that you pay for a post.
For example, at a conference a few years back, I met the representatives from CloudFlare. CDNs were just starting to become popular and I had an idea for how we could explain how a CDN works for those users who are non-technical like myself. I pitched the blog post to CloudFlare and they liked it. They got free, original blog content and we got free exposure to the CloudFlare audience. It was a win-win situation. The post's sole intention was not to pass Page Rank.
As long as you're not guest blogging solely to pass Page Rank to your site, you're still using a quality marketing tactic. Just make sure it's a relevant topic for that blog. If you're accepting a guest blog or are writing one, it's always a good idea to include a section explaining the expertise of the author and the purpose of the post.
