Guest Posting Campaign For New Site

[Mikey008]

Hi looking at doing a large guest post campaign for a new site (no authority) of mine. In total the plan is to distribute 50 high quality articles to other blogs in the same vertical. The goal is to kick start my link building campaign doing this. However I know that Google has been slamming down on guest posts:

http://searchengineland.com/guest-post-google-penalty-187707 AND https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/guest-blogging/

What are some ways of doing guest posting and reducing the risk. Will keeping anchor-text brand based, be the best option?

Kind Regards,

Mark

[Ray-pp]

The best way is to provide high quality, value-added content without spamming keyword rich anchors back to your blog. Guest posting, when done properly, can still be an effective link building strategy if it doesn't minimize the content.

For example, find a highly related niche website and write up an insightful, lengthy article (none of that 300 word crap). In that article, touch briefly on a related topic that you've expanded upon in detail on your own website - like an aside note where a reader can visit to gain deep understanding on a supplemental topic. If both articles (the guest post and your own article) are unique and high quality, the contextual link should be a positive addition to your link portfolio.

You want it to be seen as natural and appropriate - not spammy and an obvious tactic at only receiving a link. Keep the readers' best interest in mind and you should be ok, as long as the quality of the website you're guest blogging on also executes legitimate link building strategies.

What topics are you intending to write about?

[KeriMorgret]

Do you also have high-quality content on your site? From a user's perspective, they may only see one of those 50 posts, then come to your site, and not know that there are 49 more quality posts elsewhere on the web about this topic.

[SamuelScott]

Mark, thanks for the question. My short answer: If you are doing anything that is potentially risky, then don't do it. I mean using guest posts at all -- whenever I see people talk about using this strategy, I die a little inside.

Here's the long answer.

Matt Cutts, the head of Google's anti-spam team, said here that people should stop using guest posts to build links. In response, Jen Lopez of Moz wrote this great essay that I highly suggest you read at least twice:

As with anything, you don't want to be out there trying willy-nilly to get your posts on every blog for the sole purpose of building (probably bad) links. It's important to have this tied to your business and marketing goals, as you would with any other tactic. SEO is only one piece of the larger strategy, and if you focus solely on writing posts for link building purposes, you're missing out on a ton of other possibilities.

Here's why guests posts are usually bad ideas:

• Websites that just publish countless random guest posts on desired topics are rarely authoritative websites in those niches. Does anyone actually visit those sites? Do those sites send legitimate referral traffic? If the answer is "no," then Google likely views them as having little authority. So, a random link on a random post on such a site isn't going to help you that much.
• Any guest-post website that charges for publishing posts is almost certainly violating Google's guidelines. Paying for links directly (or indirectly via paying for posts) is very, very risky.
• You are "building" links, not "earning" them. Why should Google give you credit for a link that you essentially give yourself?

So, what's my answer? Read this Moz essay of mine that was inspired by Lopez's response. The key is to stop thinking about links and to start thinking about marketing. The best links, rankings, traffic and more are actually just good by-products of doing good public relations and publicity. My essay goes into to detail, but I'll summarize here.

First, determine your website's target audience. Second, find out what major news outlets, publications, and blogs are actually read by your target audience. Third, use the methods that I detailed to get news coverage or a quality article or opinion piece (not a few hundred words of fluff) published on those websites.

Yes, it's hard. But nothing good comes easily. ONE of those links is worth 100 or 1,000 random guest post links.