Guest Blogging: A Change in the Google Algorithm

108 responses to “Guest Blogging: A Change in the Google Algorithm”

1. Thank you for this! The “online sound bites” did make this subject seem very scary at first. But the truth is, no reputable site would be publishing these spammy “guest posts” anyway.

2. “If it looks strange, it likely is.” Applicable here as well as MANY times in life! 🙂

3. “this is why we can’t have nice things…”

   The human psychology around the ‘magic diet pill’ syndrome is one that always intrigues me. Let’s find a quick, cheap, easy way to try to hack something that would actually be effective if done properly. It’s really mind boggling, both in trying to understand the vendors of these ‘solutions’, as well as those that allow themselves to be convinced they are ok. I think people get so confused around SEO, what it is, how it works, that they unfortunately can be easily duped. It’s really unfortunate both for the victims and the stain it puts on our industry as a whole.

4. The second excerpt you shared from Matt Cutts is key – if you don’t know the guest blogger or aren’t willing to vouch for them, they probably shouldn’t be writing for your blog.

   It’s always been a best practice get to know someone and hang out on their blog before pitching a guest post. This just encourages that idea even further. If you’re willing to do the real work and if you’re in it for building authority and expanding your reach, you should be fine.

   Actually, I think we should be thrilled about Matt’s announcement. It might mean that those of us who are writing or publishing legitimate, quality guest articles will be rewarded and the spammers will continue to get punished.

5. rishonan Exactly! Though my heart did skip a beat or two until I did my research. Stupid Facebook!

6. biggreenpen You mean, the guy in the alien costume with a parrot on his head is probably a little strange?

7. LauraPetrolino I thought that quote was hilarious! 

   That’s one that intrigues me, too. That and get rich quick. No such thing, yet people pay millions of dollars to “learn” how to do it.

8. Yep. Agreed completely. Just gave this counsel to a friend and colleague who asked my opinion yesterday.

9. lauraclick I agree, Laura! And, you’re right, if we are willing to do the work, it’s worth it.

10. Sean McGinnis Well, la dee da.

11. :: stops running bots to scrape content from other sites and provide it to ginidietrich so she’ll post it on @SpinSucks. ::

    :: cooks up another SEO scheme to outsmart Google  ::

12. I had the same exact reaction and then did my research and came to the same conclusion. I’m actually really glad Google is making this change. I would love to stop getting those emails. It does mean I’ll stop getting those emails, right? 😉

13. ginidietrich Sean McGinnis  I loved his statement that “this is why we can’t have nice things in SEO.”

    It goes back to “marketers ruin everything” – which is totally true. The constant craving for speed, scale and automation has/will continue to kill off every single effective marketing vehicle/channel. I see it happening every day. 

    Marketing is hard work. Any specific thing you can do to try to make it easier, also means it will be less effective than if you had done the heavy lifting yourself.

    And as I’ve said before, the value of any link building activity is inversely related to its scalability – including guest posting.

    Send out 1000 templated emails to people (like the examples you showed) and anyone who responds with a “yes” is a place where you should not want your guest post to be published anyway.

14. I’ve been waiting with bated breath for info on the “real deal” since this announcement came out…I knew ginidietrich would clear up all the confusion!  Spin Sucks = Nice Things! 🙂

15. One of my sites is all contributing authors and I get these pitches ALL the time. I finally got smart and in my guidelines, BOLDLY stated that the only people who get ANY links in their posts or bios are established writers.. meaning I know them and will vouch for them. When I decline those other posts, I’m almost always met with “well, will you do it if we pay you?” and I respond.. 
    “well, if you pay me then it’s sponsored content and any links will be no-follow links. Is that okay” and then they either usually go away or keep raising the amount. And all that happens only when I’m willing to respond.

16. LauraPetrolino You’re right on the money…it’s especially confusing for small businesses who want to do the right thing, but have a difficult time staying up to speed.  Unfortunately, many just opt out of the game completely or make mistakes unwittingly.

17. rishonan  The headlines were a bit “the sky is falling”-esque, no? 

    Personally, I worry a little bit sometimes about whether I understand well enough the details the SEO smarties (such as DanielGHebert) are talking about – things like no-follow links? Maybe I worry about that aspect because I’m not sure I totally understand the distinction … but I suppose that’s why most of the blogs I write get run through SEO specialists, eh? Bless their spider-loving hearts (as they say in the south).

18. I am so glad that Google is making this change. I get these spammy pitches all the time – pet peeve.
    As usual, Gini you explained it beautifully. Great post. Thank you.

19. I have been reading all the hysteria from posts about this resulting from the statement by Matt Cutts (seems everyone always wants to parse or dissect his videos and statements for some hidden agenda of evil by Google) and agree with you. Take a deep breath, keep your ethics and strategy on quality content and purpose.  These constant and evolving algorithm changes might just save you some pennies from having to change your Depends each time an announcement is made.

20. The first pitch is eaten up by the blogger rosters of Collective Bias and Clever Girls who sell influence marketing based on reach/impressions and number of social media actions.

21. Great post Gini! I wrote my own version of it on InNetwork on Tuesday.

    It’s a very important topic to discuss as bloggers and marketers. What Cutts is really trying to say (which he has been saying for years now), is quality over quantity. Publish quality articles, and you’ll be fine.

    There are other reasons to guest post besides SEO, all of them which existed before SEO was even a thing.

    Like you, I was really worried, because both blogs I run have multiple featured authors, and accept guest posts. I almost panicked when I first read the post (Cutts changed the title of his post, and added some extra paragraphs for context after everyone freaked out).
    Again, great post, and thanks for adding clarity to the issue 🙂

22. EleanorPie rishonan DanielGHebert) Bwahaha, I would never consider myself an SEO smarty Eleanor, but thanks!

    Here’s my SEO strategy – create compelling, high quality content, and people will share it and link to it. That is all there is to SEO (besides a bit of formatting) 🙂 If you’re doing that right, you shouldn’t have to worry about the rest.

23. I wish people would stop freaking every time Google hiccups. If you want guest bloggers, or wish to guest blog, do it right and for the right reasons. Problem solved. 

    Where shall I send the bill?

24. As usual, it goes back to community.

    “In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for someone personally or know them well.” 

    When I guest blogged for Spin Sucks, I wanted to provide something of quality and something fun, mainly because I wanted to pull my weight and contribute in a way that honored the relationships here and the ongoing quality of the interactions and information.

    We should apply our IRL guidelines for living and working to our online lives (provided they are good guidelines to begin with).

25. Word Ninja Exactly and well-stated! 🙂

26. ClayMorgan Would that be sponsored content? LOL

27. Karen_C_Wilson Oh yeah. That’s what it means. Just like it means you’ll stop getting unsolicited pitches from PR pros.

28. annelizhannan HAHAHA! annelizhannan you made me spit my coffee across the room! 🙂

29. lizreusswig I was wondering which part of this audience could relate;)

30. lizreusswig Thanks, Liz. lauraclick said it well, too. But then that’s why I hang out here. Always great thoughts and conversations. 🙂

31. Doing more guest blogging is one of my goals for 2014.  Good thing I’m not a robot.
    Good thing I’m not a robot.  Good thing I’m not a robot.  Good thing I’m not a robot.  Good thing I’m not a robot.  Good thing I’m not a robot.  Good thing I’m not a robot.
    Reboot.
    –Tony Gnau

32. I’m glad you clarified this. It would be such a shame for guest blogging to die. There are so many smart and wonderful people in our field and it’s a great way to meet them.

33. I want to pay Matt Cutts to say that Google has decided the letter ‘E’ is no longer considered to be acceptable by Google and see if people freak out the same way they did about his guest blogging announcement.

    Good content has been, is now and always will be valuable. As long as it is not surrounded with junk you are going to be fine.

34. Sean McGinnisginidietrichthe problem is there is something called SEO because you can optimize for search if you know enough about how things are searched for. And it’s Google’s fault. They should go black box and just say Good Luck! Unlike Tony the Tiger and the Coke people who keep the recipe secret Google gives out like 20% of the ingredients for some weird reason.

35. ginidietrichlauraclickI was going to ask you both to guest blog on my blog but I can’t vouch for the quality of your google authority. I asked LauraPetrolinoand she said…shifty eyes are the give away…don’t do it! 8)

36. I had the same reaction when I first heard about this, too. My heart stopped. I was thinking all that hard work I’ve been doing the past couple weeks will go in vain… ah! 
    But, as my supervisor pointed out on our own blog also, it’s all about credibility. He wrote a good summary about it here and why Google is taking action against it now:  http://www.brand.com/blog/guest-blogging-seo-dead/
    Just thought I’d provide the link in case someone would like more clarification.
    I always thought belllindsaylooked suspicious, too.  😛

37. Joshua Wilner/A Writer WritesHaha, right! I think Google and Matt Cutts like to play “April Fools” every other week.

38. lizreusswigClayMorganExactly right, Clay! The only people who need to freak out are the fakes.

39. Howie Goldfarb Sean McGinnis ginidietrich I agree with the sentiment Howie, but disagree with the outcome.

    My belief has been (and will continue to be) that the only real way to kill off a majority of SEO is for Google to do the following:

    1. Run the normal algorithm. Determine the order of the top 10.

    2. Run a second step that completely ramdomizes the top 10. 

    The “incentive” to try to be #1 completely goes away. The pressure to “outdo” your competition subsudes because there is no reward. If you deserve to be on the first page, then that’s as good as it gets.

    Going all black box would only enhance the market motive to reverse engineer. 

    The other possibility would be to publicly state that you are now running 5 different algo mixes and you never know which one is governing which search.

40. I get a one or two requests like that every week.  I have never accepted.  Why would anyone?

41. sherrilynne I think people who don’t realize they’re being scammed or are overwhelmed with content development accept them.

42. JRHalloran Now you feel my pain of having to work with her every day.

43. Joshua Wilner/A Writer Writes LOL!!!! That comment made my entire day!

44. susancellura I seriously panicked for a minute. Imagine if I took just a Facebook status update for the truth. Wow.

45. T60Productions Second best comment of the day. LOL!

46. Word Ninja Speaking of which, it’s time to have you back. Paging jasonkonopinksi. Paging Jason.

47. ClayMorgan Did you see Joshua Wilner/A Writer Writes’s comment? You’ll laugh.

48. danielghebert I wish we could be like Google in the PR industry and be rid of those who send spam pitches.

49. Howie Goldfarb Yes! And Guest Blogger Network.

50. annelizhannan Aren’t people funny? They want to find reasons to say, “See! Google IS evil!”

51. LSSocialEngage It’s SO annoying. Sometimes we want to respond with something inappropriate.

52. KristenDaukas THAT is a great response! belllindsay, did you see this? I love it!

53. lizreusswig ginidietrich We like nice things!

54. @jason_ Oh I know you. I’ll still run it.

55. EleanorPie The no follow links means you can link to the person’s website or blog, but you put in a command that tells Google not to file it. So, essentially, it only exists for the benefit of the people reading the content.

56. ginidietrich jasonkonopinksi But I have to come up with something stellar first. Or at least semi-stellar.

57. It was really interesting to watch people freak out after Matt’s post hit, mostly because they were totally misreading what he was saying. 

    Of course, blogging for backlinks is an icky, spammy practice. Of course, high quality content is going to perform better than keyword stuffing. If you recognize that Cutts’ role at Google is dealing with search spam, everything else falls into place.

58. ginidietrich LSSocialEngage Sometimes I do just to see if there really IS a human on the other end.

59. ginidietrichT60ProductionsSecond best!? Try first loser. Grrrr.
    –Tony

60. ginidietrich That makes sense. I just need to check and see if it’s a default setting on the blogs I post myself (or whether the folks who set up the blogs have just installed a plugin …)

61. Word Ninjaginidietrichjasonkonopinksiwhat is missing here is a great piece of fashion or something with flamboyance like 10 best spas in europe or ‘Single Malts vs Double barrel Whiskey: Showdown at the Bar.

62. ginidietrichClayMorganJoshua Wilner/A Writer Writeslizreusswigits funny facebook does something ‘How dare you invade my privacy and expose me to being found by people I don’t even know on the web!’ and when Google makes a change ‘How dare you make it harder for people I don’t know finding me on the web’

63. Howie Goldfarb ginidietrich jasonkonopinksi I vote for the Showdown.

64. @ginidietrich  Sometimes I think the posts about Google or Matt Cutts are simply to get the links and attention rather than to inform or educate.   Child abuse, animal abuse, domestic violence etc is evil, and maybe the IRS;) but Google is just a business which is in constant evolution to clean up the Internet of evil doers.

65. KristenDaukas ginidietrich I have responded too, to see what they say back. It usually is a human which makes me sadder at the whole situation.

66. ginidietrich JRHalloran I think I look quite cute today. Not suspicious at all. 😉

67. ginidietrich Joshua Wilner/A Writer Writes “Brought to you by the letter, E, and the number SUCKERS!!!!”

68. Oh, the number of pitches I (used to – thanks Jason! LOL) get like that. Wait, you want to PAY ME to add a link? Um, no thanks.

69. Word Ninja Howie Goldfarb ginidietrich jasonkonopinksi KONOPINSKI. KONOPINSKI.

70. Boy, do I have a story for you……well, not really. 

    All that makes perfect sense to me and as an “outsider” in the space of understanding what Google does it seems to me that they are fighting hard to ensure the intrawebs stays legit, so to speak. Did I get that anywhere near right?

71. In fairness, a lot of the outcry was a result of the original post, that lacked the SEO and link-building details that Cutts added, based on all the questions he was getting. It wasn’t an overreaction from bloggers, but genuine concern based around Google’s take on one of the oldest ways to build a readership.

72. Danny BrownYou’re right. Matt Cutts actually updated the title later in the day. Before, it lacked “for SEO” at the end of that title, which would’ve saved a lot of worry the first time.

73. belllindsay You’re cute every day here!

74. JRHalloran I think he probably wrote that post in a pissed off mood, and just hit Publish. Never a wise thing, especially for someone with his reach. Hey ho.

75. rdopping You did! Nice job, Ralph! LOL

76. JRHalloran HA! 😀

77. ginidietrich KristenDaukas Got it, chief!

78. I honestly wondered if some readers skimmed the post, said “hey, there’s something I can make a big stink about” and went to town. Because when I get to this part of Matt’s post, 

    “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.”

    it clarifies what he meant. He could have been more clear at the beginning, but why didn’t anyone ask a question and wait for a comment/response before blowing this out of the water? 

    Isn’t that the opposite of what we expect journalist to do? This isn’t any better than journalist publishing stories that are inaccurate because they want to be first vs. right.

79. belllindsay Those darn robots.

80. Makes complete sense. There’s always drama when Google makes a significant (or seemingly significant change) so no surprise there … thanks for clarifying AND introducing me to Matt Cutts blog — added to Feedly. 

    Also, I wonder if there’s an IFTTT function that will reply to messages I flag as ‘Bad Pitches’ and ask to “Remove me from your list. I’m sorry but your robot is showing.” … I bet there is.

81. Danny Brown 100% Danny – a lot of people read the original article, that was completely vague and terrifying, and didn’t return for the edits he made later on. I can see why people freaked out, and now a lot of us are writing articles about it to calm our clients and communities down.

82. ginidietrich danielghebert Haha, me too!

83. Thank you for sharing your input, Gini! We went through the same emotions as you: shock, grief, confusion – and then we came out on the other side, too 🙂 “Oh, wait – as long as we’re genuinely using guest bloggers for their intended purpose – to share different perspectives with our audience – it’s OK.” Then we all breathed a sigh of relief!

    We are re-evaluating our guest blogging criteria to ensure people who write on our site have the right intentions, but otherwise, business as usual 🙂

    Appreciate your thoughts on this! 
    Hope you’re having a great Friday 🙂
    Best,
    Lisa

84. Thanks Gini for sharing this. I was getting requests from SocialMonsters.org. they were sending me relevant content that fit on my site, but I was always leery of the authenticity of the posts. Whenever I would ask for details on the author of the post I would get very little. I couldn’t understand what “their deal” was. Now I get it!

    Thanks again Gini!!

85. Thanks for sharing this important information. Now a day’s Guest Blogging is one of the most useful strategy to increase a website presence. Today it is one of the most important ways to get traffic in SEO. Here you share some guest blogging tips to land any blog, that awesome.

86. […] So yes, guest blogging is fine as a traffic generation strategy, as long as – to quote Gini Dietrich – it is “about writing for humans”. […]

87. […] downside of offering guest blogs! Both Digital Sherpa and Spin Sucks have some good advice for blogs offering guest posts, as well as highlighting the spam bots of SEO […]

88. […] Guest Blogging: A Change in the Google Algorithm […]

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