By far, the most popular method of acquiring links among webmasters is guest blogging . People write for other websites in exchange for link...
By far, the most popular method of acquiring links among webmasters is guest blogging. People write for other websites in exchange for links to their own websites. This not only gives people a backlink, it also gives them a small increase in traffic, hence making it a favorite among bloggers. But sometimes, it seems a bit too easy, as anyone can pick up content from the internet and submit a guest post about it. And since the practice is widely used, a lot of spammy activity is bound to surface at one time or another. So what does Google do about it? Will it penalize websites for links acquired through guest blogging?
In a previous post, we talked about when Google is okay with guest blogging. If you are a good writer and blogger, and create quality content, then there should be no problem. You can post as many blog posts as you like to other blogs. Indeed, from Google's point of view, it's all about quality. So a good blogger should have nothing to worry about.
That is as far as it goes for quality content. On the flip side, Google does take strict action against spammy activities. A lot of people, in order to acquire a lot of backlinks, submit one guest post to multiple blogs. This post could either be copied exactly, or spun from another source. In any case, it counts as copied content, and Google does get an indication of low quality from such content.
People who are submitting guest posts should know better than to try this approach, because duplicate content will get them an instant penalty. And if there's a link to their website from a low quality, or spammy page that Google knows has suspicious content, then it will do more harm than good, and the website owner will ultimately have to disavow such links.
But what about webmasters who accept guest posts? If you accept such blog posts on your website that are low quality, then you will be penalized all the same for duplicate / similar content as well as low quality content that user's aren't happy with. In addition, if those guest posts link to another website, then chances are, it's a low quality website. And Google definitely will penalize your site for linking to a low quality website.
So don't just take guest blogging for granted. Whether you are a website owner accepting guest posts, or a blogger willing to write on other websites for backlinks, always consider the quality of content you're dealing with, and also the quality of the links that will be acquired, because often times, you might end up doing more harm than good to your website. Hope I was clear. If you have any questions, shoot them our way. And for the net time, always check the quality of guest posts before accepting or submitting them. Good luck :)
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