Good question! Why is Google stopping guest posting? They already stopped reciprocal linking and now they are targeting guest bloggers that have published content with guest posting links.
Before I answer that question…
Disclaimer: This article is my opinion and I invite you to share yours below in the comment section, that is unless Google tells me that comments on blogs are not acceptable any longer. (Sorry guys, just remember that Google is in charge of my business, not me)
First point I should mention is that not all guest posting is spam, just like not all links are spam, not all websites are spam, not all bloggers are spammers and so on. Yes it is hard to distinguish between the good and the bad on the internet, but what worries me is that Google can’t tell the difference either.
I definitely don’t mind Google cracking down on link building spam, mass article distribution, or even linkbuilding for SEO, but linkbuilding to build my business is out of bounds to Google.
I certainly never voted to crown Google the JUDGE AND JURY of the way the internet evolves?
Is Google Really Stopping Guest Posting?
In the video below Matt Cutts is hinting at staying away from guest blogging or only doing the absolute minimum. What the hell? He has left the whole subject open and people are left wondering about what is next? What rule will be made up next week or the week after?
As far as I can tell. Matt is saying not to guest post because they really can’t tell what is spam and what is genuinely good content. They can’t control it so they are scaring the shit out of people using this method.
And this quote from Matts blog:
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.
So did they stop guest posting. NO. Did they scare people into believing that it is wrong. YES.
What About Editorial Links?
Recently the highly regarded white hat site Myblogguest got penalized, along with all of it’s users, including me. The funny thing is, I only published awesome articles on my blogs that only had an editorial link to the person that contributed the content.
Yes there was spammy sites involved in Myblogguest but I didn’t publish articles from them nor did I publish on their sites. it is just like me not letting spammy comments on my blogs.
Should I now nofollow these articles, even though they are expertly written and worthy of a link to the authors site? Apparently I have to if I want to remove the penalty Google put on my sites.
But wait! Google said editorial links were ok….
According to Google’s Quality Guidlines (this link is nofollowed as I no longer trust Google)
Creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines.
Yes I have vouched for these sites. Their content is interesting and useful to my readers and their sites are apparently trusted by Google??? But who knows what tomorrow brings? They are not paid links nor are they spammy. They are genuine well respected businesses.
Examples of posts I published from Myblogguest:
How To Use Your Logic To Get Ahead Of The SEO Pack A Post about SEO by an SEO company that has a site of PR 6.
HTML5 Made Website Design Fun Again A post about HTML5 written by a web design company.
Finally Achieving SEO Value from Google Plus! A PR 5 website. Highly regarded SEO field.
Guest Posting Revenue
I have clearly stated that guest posting is a simple content marketing strategy for me that definitely pays so should I give this up because Google is hinting to?
I am publishing awesome content on other peoples’ blogs and the readers love it. They love it enough to visit my blog and say so. Is this wrong? Is it wrong to generate visitors to your website? Was there ever any SEO value in these articles anyway? I saw none.
A serious business does not sit and wait for traffic and guest posting is a hell of a lot cheaper than paying for Google traffic. A good guest post can make my business anywhere from $100 to $1200 and it is usually free. It takes hard work but it is obviously worth it.
So why would I listen to Google when they tell me to stop? What is the real alternative? Should I sit and hope Google will be nice and keep sending me traffic? Should I be happy to earn half of my income or should I go and get more customers for my business and make it flourish?
To tell the truth, SEO absolutely sucks when compared to guest posting.
The Future Of Link Building
I am not worried about my future link building efforts. After all, I can just Google “link building” and use a company that Google obviously endorses and is being paid by.
So now it seems that it is OK for me to pay these people to build links for me but not directly pay for them myself or actually provide awesome content for an editorial link. I really think Google’s intentions are shown on this simple Google search. It is ok to pay if Google is getting their cut. What else am I meant to think when I see ads served by Google like these above?
Who is going to penalize Google for being associated with spammy links?
Is this how Goggle wants me to get links because I really just want to please the Google Gods and do the right thing, according to them. (clear sarcasm, just in case you thought I was serious)
So What About The Future?
Okay seriously, the future of link building will fall to two categories. Web masters that obey Google and web masters that do what they think is right for their business. I believe that the website owners that do exactly as Google wants are just enabling them to get to a dominating position where no one will be able to challenge them.
So when Google black-bans your site and also prevents everyone you know from associating with it, just remember that you enabled them to do so.
I also believe that the future of links is ALL NOFOLLOW as everyone will be too scared to link anywhere.
Conclusion To Why
I know Google will not not even consider my points here as they have their own hidden agenda, so essentially this article is useless. I can only presume that Google is inflicting these bans because they can’t find another solution to link building spam or they just want to rule the valuable world of traffic and control who has it.
I am not going to ignore the fact that Google’s motives for these actions could be profit orientated as they stand to gain complete control over the traffic market. At this point, web-masters are afraid to do any link building whatsoever and that in itself IS NOT NATURAL.
My advice to you is to find as many ways as you can to get traffic to your website and NEVER rely on Google as the sole traffic source for your site. If guest posting build relationships and enhances your business like it does mine, then listen to your gut instinct. Of course Google wants to kill all amazing traffic sources because that is what they do, sell traffic… and at the moment it is flowing around too freely without Google intervention.
P.S Republish this if you’re game. I know a lot of people are too scared to get involved, but I am the kind of person to not stand by and watch.