As discussed at the gathering, I think there is a TON of uncorked SEO value in network if we can find a way leverage each others’ web properties, we can create a killer content distribution network for our businesses and our clients.
Guest blog posting, in my opinion, will always be very important, yet like any other highly effective SEO strategy, it has been abused and many black hat SEO’s use it as another way to cheat the system.
There are risks to doing it the wrong way and it should not be done for the sole purpose of SEO, but rather as a way to add value to your website and gain authority by posting on other high quality / relevant/ authority websites.
Here’s how to do it the right way. This post is going to be a live example of how you should structure a guest post:
1. In my opinion, guest blog posting should only be 20%-30% of your blog content.
2. Guest blogging should be a side dish to a comprehensive SEO strategy, not the main course.
3. Title and topic customized for the websites audience. For example, if you want to post on this site, we can mutually determine what the best topics are for each others’ audiences.
4. A 500-word blog post is ideal, more is gravy.
5. One link in the body of the post back to an inner page of your site, but only in a way that makes editorial sense and adds value to post itself. As an example, this post is about guest blogging and guest blog posting is an important part of SEO and content marketing. I wrote an article on my SEO services site that answers the question: Why is Content Marketing Critical To Search Engine Optimization? See how I did that? I didn’t try to link “Search Engine Optimization” to my site, I linked a long tail description (the post title actually)…and the above links article is highly relevant to this post. It makes perfect sense to link to it from both a reader’s and Google’s standpoint – I added editorial value to the content.
6. A couple links to high authority websites where the main domain, and the page you are linking to makes your post better. Here is an example: this post you are reading now is about guest blog posting and Copyblogger has a great post on guest blogging. See how I did that? I will include one or two more in this post in a effort to (1) validate my content and (2) add SEO value to this post by linking to high authority websites. Please do read that post, it also discusses Google’s condemnation of guest blog posting.
7. Social Network Amplification is key to both parties. Once posted, the receiving site should amplify on their social networks, ie “Hey, we have a special guest contributor today” and the author should do the same ie, “Hey it was our privilege to be published on this website today” Cross leveraging this way help’s both parties with SEO by way of generating authentic social signals, and also helps each party leverage the others
8. An author bio at the bottom is key (see examples below). Include your company name and link to 1-2 site, and maybe one social network. In general, 3 links is max to include in a guest blog post. You can vary your
9. Avoid using generic keywords as links. Use a naked or raw link (like: https://kcmarketingagency.com) or a branded link like: The Kansas City City Marketing Agency™ , don’t try to use a raw keyword term like “kansas city marketing firm” – yes this is a target of my site, but linking a generic, competitive root keyword term in an unnatural way increases the risk of an algorithmic penalty. It also does not make sense and looks spammy. Moz has a great post on how you to use anchor text linking in a non-spammy way. (see, I did it again, external link here to a high authority site).
10. Now DTM consultants…contact me to get break the ice by guest blog posting with me!
About the Author (doesn’t make sense to have this on my own site, but this is an example of a guest post author bio):
a. Brand Links:
Phil Singleton is the owner of Kansas City SEO®, a full-service Internet marketing services company that provides organic search engine optimization and other online marketing services, and Kansas City Web Design®, a web development firm specializing in custom SEO-friendly WordPress websites and custom web applications. Phil is also a Duct Tape Marketing™ Certified Consultant and provides small business marketing product and service at The Kansas City Marketing Agency™.
OR raw / naked links:
Phil Singleton is the owner of Kansas City SEO® (http://kcseopro.com), a full-service Internet marketing services company that provides organic search engine optimization and other online marketing services, and Kansas City Web Design® (http://kcwebdesigner.com), a web development firm specializing in custom SEO-friendly WordPress websites and custom web applications. Phil is also a Duct Tape Marketing™ Certified Consultant and provides small business marketing product and service at The Kansas City Marketing Agency™ (https://kcmarketingagency.com).
