Is SEO Guest Posting Dead?
SEO continues to be an effective way of getting high search engine rankings and communicating with your targeted audience. You should be familiar with Matt Cutt’s January 20, 2014 post, The Decay and Fall of Guest Blogging for SEO if you follow the world of Search Engine Optimization closely. His post sent shock waves throughout the digital marketing community.
Guest posting was a reliable marketing technique for several years, but many people did not have a full understanding of guest posting for SEO. This was one of the biggest problems with using this digital marketing technique. They were concentrating on the goal of chasing the maximum number of different domains. This caused problems for digital marketers that did not abuse this strategy.
For example, let’s say that a publisher’s business has 100 different websites that deals with that particular niche. The publisher’s websites will have different rankings in the search engines. They will probably look like this:
-Three sites with have a high authority level
-Five sites will have a pretty high authority level
-Twelve sites will have a respectable authority level
-Twenty sites will have a weak authority level
-Twenty-five sites will have a very weak authority level
-Thirty-five sites will be terrible
Let’s say the publisher makes only one post on each site. They make an earnest effort to do six guest posts per month. They are fortunate to get on the high authority sites within a day or two. In the long run, these websites with will fall in the rankings. In many cases, these sites have fallen into the “Weak” category by the fourth month. By the eleventh month, they are putting new posts on Genuinely Bad websites.
They can avoid this problem by posting quality content on sites that do not write about their niche regularly. Well, this will lead to a new problem. There is no relevance!
This paradox has made it very difficult for many digital marketers to promote their services and goods on the internet. They are having a hard time with getting the search engines to show favor to their marketing efforts. In the world of digital marketing, you cannot promote your site without search engines.
Are Press Releases Effective?
Press releases were one of main the highlights covered by many digital marketing instructors several years ago. It became a common practice for digital marketers to send out press releases to get high rankings. In most cases, press releases helped them get an edge over their competitors.
Press releases offer exceptional results if they are used properly. They can help the media and bloggers learn more about your business. This will give your digital marketing efforts more exposure. An intelligent guest post can produce the same results.
Concentrate on Connecting with High-Authority Columns
Connecting with three high-authority websites and five pretty high-authority websites will provide exceptional results. These sites have a large following and they can transfer their authority to your site. You stand a good chance of getting tons of social shares if you publish great content.
Please keep in mind that high-authority websites are not that easy to get into. It may take some time for you to get to that level. Persistence is the key to getting to that level.
Final Summary
Guest posting for SEO offers some advantages to digital marketers. However, I think you should concentrate your efforts on other digital marketing techniques. There’s a possibility that Google will disable established links from guest posts. This could hurt your rankings.
You should work hard at building a strong reputation in your niche. Sharing valuable content will help you become the true authority in your vertical. People will visit your site and link to it. It will be a win-win situation for everyone.