Matt Cutts - Guest posts are dead comment
-
It seems like it was a while ago now that Matt Cutts made his announcement "that guest posts are dead", however, does anyone know if Google has acted on this? Most particularly, for those that are targeting guest posts on high-quality sites, what has so far been the effect since the announcement on rankings? Anyone seen a dip in rankings from their high-quality blog post strategy?
-
Well I appreciate your experience enough to believe you are probably correct. I have read many of your responses to people here. You know your stuff.
-
I don't think anyone can say that guest post links pass nothing. We have no way of knowing which ones Google thinks are unnatural and which are natural. I do have a theory that with the next Penguin update Google will devalue links that they can tell for certain are in an author box as they are not really editorial votes for a site. But...that's just a theory.
-
Agreed that it wasn't significant however we were told they passed nothing. And now they may very well pass nothing - it was the statement I was questioning.
-
I've definitely worked on sites that had to remove guest post links in order to get a link based penalty removed. I have no doubt that overdone guest posting can get a site penalized. But, it's about quality and scale. In some cases, the "guest posts" were glorified article syndication. In other cases they were guest posts on good sites but done on a huge scale.
I believe that right now Google is penalizing some sites on manual review for overdone guest posting and my guess is that when Penguin rolls out, a lot of this will be taken care of algorithmically. That doesn't mean that you need to stop guest posting altogether though. For example, I'll still write posts for Moz and other good sites. But, my main reason for writing these is because they bring potential clients and traffic to me and they build my brand. When I'm guest posting I think, "Would I still want this link even if it were nofollowed?"
Should it still be part of an SEO strategy? I don't have a problem with getting some links from high quality sites via guest posts. But, I wouldn't make it a major part of the strategy by any means. I'd stay away from using keyword anchor text and I'd only guest post on sites that have good user engagement (i.e. don't exist just for the point of publishing guest posts) and I'd only do it occasionally.
"However... I can't help but remember when links from Press Releases, according to Matt Cutts, were useless... then it was proven that they certainly did count. "
I didn't put a lot of weight in that "study". They published a press release and showed that the link caused the site to rank for a made up term with zero competition. I don't think that they proved that press release links actually passed significant value.
-
Ha!
-
Sometimes I think that Mr. Cutts will say these things knowing that many webmasters will believe him and stop doing what Google wants them to stop doing. Then later they may make some algorithmic changes...
I think you are right! Thanks for the laugh.
-
I am not disagreeing with EGOL - I know when someone has more experience than me
However... I can't help but remember when links from Press Releases, according to Matt Cutts, were useless... then it was proven that they certainly did count. Or when exact match domains weren't supposed to help... but they still did...
Sometimes I think that Mr. Cutts will say these things knowing that many webmasters will believe him and stop doing what Google wants them to stop doing. Then later they may make some algorithmic changes...
This is clearly speculation on my part. It just seems this way sometimes.
-
**Anyone seen a dip in rankings from their high-quality blog post strategy? **
Just browse through Q&A here and look for posts with a title something like...... "Wah! my rankings dropped." You can see plenty of people are still getting smacked.
Probably part of the reason is that people who are doing "high quality guest posts" today were doing "spam quality guest posts" last year and have that link profile on their site.... and some of the people who think that they are doing "high quality guest posts" today are really doing "spam quality guest posts".
-
I certainly haven't seen a dip in submissions to YouMoz!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
DMOZ gone!! The king is dead. Long live the king.
So it appears AOL have pulled the plug on DMOZ. The reason why? - I suspect a financial decision somewhere along the road but personally I think it still had something to offer. I realise there are mirrored versions of it online still (for how long - and for what reason - not much link juice in that) but to pull the plug on one of the oldest and most trusted directories is, well, rather final. Amongst the rubble that litters the web - the endless paid entry directories and the self proclaimed ultimate listing portals I at least felt there was someone else out there (human) validating my submissions - even if it took some time to find my newest sites online. We all know that links need to be adequately sourced but it was a resource I always began with on the quest in achieving ranking greatness. Which begs the question - was it still as popular in the last couple of years or have I been chasing my own tail?
Link Building | | rufo
Will it be replaced? Or have even human edited directories had their day? I'd be interested to hear what others think. RIP DMOZ0 -
Been offered a no follow link on a blog post ?. Is it worth it ?
Hi All, We are having a go at doing our own link building and just wanted some advice on a couple of questions I've found some industry related blog sites which could be good but alot of them only offer a no follow link ?. Is this worth it ? And if ,so what is the advantage of having a no follow link ? as it won't directly help with our DA etc ? I've also noticed some of these sites link to each other or recommend each other (i.e other blog sites) which may be some sort of link network ?.. I take it this is bad ? and could be penalized by google ? thanks pete
Link Building | | PeteC120 -
Does adding relevant keywords to social postings help with SEO?
I was doing some research on social postings and SEO and couldn't really find the answer to my question. Would adding in SEO keywords help with my site's relevancy or would it just help boost my site because of backlinking? For example if I were to add a new Facebook post "Check out these great new blue widgets " help more than "Check out these new products "? Thanks!
Link Building | | EmazingKatie0 -
Guest blogging: is there a safe way to do it?
Following Google's nuking of My Blog Guest, is there any way of doing (high-quality, small-scale) guest posting safely? Specifically, do the tips from Neil Patel here (written Jan 22) still stand up? Only post on relevant blogs – ideally these blogs should also be larger than your website. In other words, do it because it will help with branding, traffic, and sales. Posting on bigger blogs that are also relevant will provide you with more good exposure than posting on small, unknown blogs. Avoid using rich anchor text – rich anchor text will become a huge red flag and will probably cause your site to get penalized eventually, especially if you are building these links through guest posts. Share the love – you won’t be able to link out to your site only. From Wikipedia to your competitors, you’ll have to link out to whichever site benefits the reader the most. Build up your author rank – with Google Plus becoming more popular, it will be easier for Google to determine how good of a writer you are. So, you’ll have to focus on publishing only valuable content as you won’t want crap tied to your author account. Co-citations are valuable – even if you don’t get a link from a guest post, just having your site mentioned in the article can help with rankings. I think Google will place more emphasis on co-citations in 2014.
Link Building | | Jeepster0 -
Is Linkbuilding in Middle East dead?
Is linkbuilding in middle east dead? if not from where i can get the backlinks?
Link Building | | chainreaction0 -
I could use some help with Link Building Post Panda
I am new to Internet Marketing world and want to become a great SEO. My biggest challenge is How To of Back linking. Not the reason and theory behind back linking. But more the actual hands on Back linking strategy. I feel that a lot of the back linking information out there is so mixed.Rand did a White board Friday lesson on the new link building strategies. When searching for back linking strategies it is filled with all the old link building tactics. What I wanted to ask is all the experienced back link people is, Have you changed your back linking strategy. Or just parts of your strategies. It all seems very confusing for a newbie when it seems the industry it self is still uncertain. Any advice on where a newbie should be starting their new back linking strategy. And any good resources on learning to do the actual hands-on of the back linking. Thanks in advanced
Link Building | | CurtCarroll1 -
Using Matt Cutts on facebook adverts
I keep getting a little picture of Matt Cutts pop up in the right hand side bar every time I am on Facebook. The advert goes through to this company seocosmo I wonder if Matt Cutts knows they are using his image to sell SEO services 🙂
Link Building | | highwayfive0 -
Techniques for Finding Blogs that Accept Guest Blog Posts
I'm running into an issue where we are having difficulty finding blogs that accept guest blog posts after doing this on 300 or so blogs. We usually Google "guest post" related keywords with "blog" or take blogs off of lists of sites that accept guest blog posts. What techniques do you recommend? Do any of you use myblogguest.com with any success?
Link Building | | qlkasdjfw1