Guest Blogging Archives

Back in April, I wrote an article on Search Engine Journal that explained how to optimize a website to rank for multiple locations. Having worked for a company with over 45 independently owned locations across the country, I figured multi-location SEO would be a solid topic to write about because it was something that I was familiar with and it seemed like a topic many business owners would find useful.

But I never imagined this article would turn out to be such a great referral source. Not only did this one article generate a handful of clients, but it also helped me double my monthly revenue as a consultant.

multi-location SEO for global and local businesses

This is a prime example of how guest blogging can help generate leads. From an SEO standpoint, the primary objective of a guest post has typically been to get a link back to your site. For a while, this was an effective way to build up your backlink profile. The strategy itself was pretty straight-forward: Find an authoritative site within your industry and offer them an article that is relevant to their target audience in exchange for a link.

Soon SEOs came to realize the link was all that really mattered, and content quality was essentially irrelevant in terms of the organic ranking benefit. Over the years, guest blogging (among other spammy SEO tactics) led to a massive influx of low quality content.

It all came crashing down (or so it seemed) in January of 2014, when Matt Cutts published a blog post that confirmed what many SEOs had been theorizing for many years—guest blogging is dead.

However, despite the dramatic headline, guest blogging hasn’t died–it’s just not the circus it once was.

When Matt Cutts said that guest blogging was dead, he was specifically referring to the use of guest blogging as a link building strategy. This makes a lot of sense, considering links were the main motivation behind most guest posts.

Going Beyond Link Building

But guest posting has a variety of benefits outside of just building links. Don’t worry, I’m not about to bore you with a long list you’ve probably seen countless times. Instead, I want to talk about how you can optimize your guest post outreach strategy to increase ROI and generate quality leads for your business.

Similar to how lead scoring helps tighten conversion funnels by pre-qualifying prospects, businesses can analyze topics and content styles in which their audience is most likely to engage. Typically, higher engagement leads to more conversions, which means reduced marketing costs and a higher ROI.

But when most people think of guest posting, they tend to focus solely on the link metrics, such as domain authority, linking root domains, etc. Although this data might tell us how likely a site is to rank well in search results, they don’t really tell us much about the website’s audience.

When you’re building links, relevancy usually means the site aligns with a specific industry or topic. But, when you shift your focus to lead generation, things get a little more complicated. The lesson to be learned: Relevancy is relative to your objective.

Here are a few considerations to help establish relevancy for effective lead generation:

Establish Yourself as an Authority

Would you consider yourself an authority in your industry?

In the good ‘ole days of guest blogging, the author bio was a prime place to include a link back to your website. But now that you’re going after more than just links, you can use your author bio –and even the post itself– to help establish yourself as a thought leader within your industry.

In the article I mentioned above, I never disclosed that I own an SEO consulting agency, nor did I include any links to my website within the article itself. But since my author bio mentioned I offer consulting services and included a link to my website, I received nearly 20 inquiries, of which approximately half converted into real clients. I found this interesting because even though I pretty much spelled everything out for them in terms of the strategy, they still wanted me to handle the implementation.

Since I used the company I worked for as an example, I was able to provide proof that what I was saying in the article really works. By establishing this sense of authority, businesses felt a lot more confident that I could help them, which made the conversion process a whole lot easier.

If you can establish trust with a potential client before the initial point of contact, then that’s half the battle right there.

Choose the Right Topic

Most websites worth their salt aren’t interested in publishing topics that have been covered extensively in the past. To give you an idea, Search Engine Journal turns away 10-15 potential contributors for every one they accept.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of sites desperate for content who will publish anything you throw at them–especially if you’re covering a trending topic that’s relevant to their industry. But if you’re targeting an authoritative site, most editors are looking for new topics and a fresh perspective. They are looking for something that adds value for their readers.

Just be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Targeting topics is a lot like targeting keywords. By covering too many topics within the same article, you’re diluting the value of each topic. Try to choose topics that are specific enough for you to cover thoroughly. This helps establish credibility.

For instance, if I wrote a general overview of local search, it would have been difficult to really delve into all of the nitty-gritty details and as a result the post wouldn’t offer much insight. But when I concentrate on only one facet of local search, like I did on multi-location SEO, I’m able to sharpen my focus so I can provide a more comprehensive overview, which gives me a better opportunity to offer something of value.

There are exceptions, like this super in-depth, beginners guide to link building by Paddy Moogan. However, unless you can commit to something of that magnitude, I’d recommend sticking with something you can cover in less than 2,000 words.

Choose the Right Site

After you choose a topic, it’s time to figure out where your guest post will be published.

When you begin vetting sites for lead generation, you should look beyond domain authority and industry relevance. How large of a social following do they have? How engaged are their followers? Are there a lot of social shares for posts by other guest authors?

Although this type of analysis may seem pretty straightforward, it can become very tedious. When I was contemplating which site would be a good fit the multi-location SEO article, I had several sites in mind and to be honest, SEJ was not my first choice. But after some digging, I came to the conclusion that based on the total number of shares and community engagement for local SEO-related articles, SEJ seemed to offer the best value.

Remember, social sharing gives you exponential reach–especially with a website that averages over 600,000 monthly visitors. The authoritative domain also provided an added SEO benefit. You may not be chasing links, but a site’s authority can mean higher search visibility for your content. If you search “multi-location SEO” in Google, my article is the first result you see. It would be a lot more difficult for me to rank for a term like this if the content resided on my own domain, which has only a fraction of the authority.

multi-location seo by brandon seymour

Choosing the right site means more views, more shares, more links, more search visibility, and of course, a greater potential for leads.

Define Your Qualifying Factors

Any business owner who uses lead generation knows some leads are more qualified than others. That’s why it helps to have some conditions you can target.

In my case, the multi-location aspect was a pretty good qualifying factor itself. If a business has multiple locations or if they’re looking to expand their territory, that’s usually an indicator that they have the budget for SEO.

For most businesses, price is one of the most common pain points when it comes to closing a sale. In this case, I’ve eliminated this deterrent by choosing a topic that only applies to businesses that meet specific standards. This type of filtering also works great if you’re trying to target specific regions.

If you’re a business with multiple locations, then why not offer content to some of the sites that cater to your individual local markets? If you’re using a scattershot approach to generate leads from guest posts, you’re just spinning your wheels.

Putting it All Together

Guest blogging isn’t dead. It just takes a lot more time and effort to do it right. So don’t nail the coffin lid shut just yet. If you’re abiding by Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, there really isn’t much difference between guest posts and any other type of authored content. As long as you continue to produce engaging, quality content, guest blogging is still a great strategy for branding, exposure, and increasing your businesses reach.

I think as content marketing continues to evolve, a lot more businesses will begin optimizing their guest post strategy for lead generation and customer acquisition. Who knows, if you approach guest blogging the right way, you might get even that coveted link after all. I know I said this isn’t about link building, but a legitimate backlink from a reputable site is a nice bonus.

[“source-searchenginejournal”]

I’d hate to be in Matt Cutts’ shoes. He’s often in an incredibly difficult position, serving as a mouthpiece for Google, passing on the company’s unpopular and even hated policies, and then bearing the brunt of the ensuing criticism from the digital marketing industry. I have tremendous respect for Matt, and am grateful for the information and updates he shares. I have no doubt we would complain a lot more if Google refused to share any information with us as to what they are thinking and doing.

That said, I was dismayed by his recent blog post declaring the death of guest blogging as an SEO tactic, not because of the declaration itself, but because of how it was communicated.

While Matt Cutts is a prominent figure on both the Google and the digital marketing landscapes, he’s not the final word on Google policy. While his frustration-fueled post may be an indication of things to come from the search engine, we—especially those not in the digital marketing industry—need to keep some important things in mind.

An Abuse of Trust

Matt’s blog audience isn’t just made up of SEO and marketing professionals. Being in a highly visible position has made him known to business owners and others in the digital space as well. One of the comments on Matt’s guest blogging post came from a representative of a fitness blogger network who was expressing not just concern, but actual fear that his websites may now be penalized for the way they were handling guest blogging:

“We are a health and fitness community which has always allowed our members to submit guest articles and blogs for editorial review. We have always steered clear of spammy articles, not allowed optimized keyword links and made sure we used the correct Google+ Authorship.
I am worried now my website will be penalized for this activity ??
Are you saying “ALL” Guest blogging is bad or can high-quality publishers still carry on if we make sure the posts are high quality and relevant ??”

Despite Matt’s efforts to stress that he was referring to guest blogging as a link building tactic, there was clearly still a lack of understanding from those who are not digital marketers or SEO professionals.

Hopefully that commenter will find someone who can allay his concerns. The point is, using broad language like “guest blogging is dead” and “guest blogging used to be a respectable thing” is at best careless, and at worst, irresponsible, and can have real consequences for those who don’t live and breathe digital marketing and SEO.

SEO Isn’t Everything

In “Why Your High Ranking in Google May Be a Failure Point“, I showed just how dangerous it can be to rely solely on a high-ranking in Google. Smart business owners stabilize their marketing and conversion sources. Their businesses take advantage of multiple marketing channels.

If you think about it, guest blogging is really the Internet’s version of traditional PR. It’s a valid and legitimate strategy on its own, and doesn’t need SEO to be a powerful promotional technique. Guest blogging can be a form of link building, yes, but it doesn’t require links to be effective, depending on what your goals are.

For example, at this moment, you’re reading a post I wrote for Search Engine Journal, a respected site. My goal is not to acquire a link, but to build my brokerage’s brand and reputation, as well as my own. Whether you agree with my post or not, the mere fact that you’re reading it means I’m gaining exposure for my business, and building my authority. As far as I’m concerned, this is already an instance of successful guest blogging.

The Threat to Small Business Owners

This is why issuing a statement such as: “So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy”, is so dangerous. Small business owners may abandon a valid technique for promoting their business because they may see it lumped together with other spammy practices. They don’t have a deep enough understanding of how guest blogging works—or should work—and they don’t have the knowledge or experience to differentiate between spammy guest blogging and the legitimate promotion tool it can be.

That’s the part I find dismaying. We all know the Internet has lowered the barrier to entry for a lot of people to become business owners who otherwise may not have had that kind of opportunity. A lot of the people who make a living from their online business are single moms, retirees, students, and others for whom it may be difficult to work outside the home.

They’re not SEO experts, or even marketing experts, and they shouldn’t have to be. So when someone like Matt Cutts takes it upon himself to “call it” and declare a perfectly valid promotional technique “dead,” without a fuller, clearer explanation, those people can become frightened, and their businesses can suffer. And that is a greater travesty than a link building tactic becoming more difficult, or even obsolete.

The Unofficial Last Word

The most important thing to note about Matt’s post is that it was published on his personal blog—not the official Google blog. To the uninitiated, it may have seemed like a change in Google policy when it was actually Matt expressing his frustration with the 8,436th guest blogging pitch email he’s received.

Matt is perfectly within his rights to complain about, well, anything on his personal blog. While I do think a little more care is warranted when blogging about topics like this, small business owners must also change the way they respond to posts like this.

So if you’re a small business owner, what are your actual takeaways from Matt’s post?

Identify good guest blogging partners: Avoid sites that offer “open invitations” to guest bloggers, unless they’re moderated and edited.
Look for strong metrics: This is important in both the SEO and audience areas. Do they have a responsive audience? Is the audience targeted to your industry? Can you legitimately add to the conversation?
Avoid linking to your content in the body of the article: Links to your website should be mostly saved for your bio. Focus on your brand and develop thought leadership.
Be creative: Put in the time and effort to create high-quality content, whether it’s on your site or someone else’s. Any benefit you may get from guest blogging will be negated by poorly written, thin content. Besides, if you are paying attention to the first point (Identify good guest blogging partners), they hopefully won’t allow you to publish thin content.
Develop relationships: Be a true partner to those sites that publish your content. Your job isn’t done once the post goes up. Be available to respond to comments, and stay in touch with the site’s publisher.
Diversify your marketing efforts: If you’re using guest blogging as your sole method of building links or marketing your business, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Use multiple marketing techniques to not only broaden your reach, but to ride out changes such as one of those techniques eventually being killed by Google. And it will happen, whether it’s guest blogging, or some other tactic.

Stay on the Course

Above all, see posts like this for what they are—a reason to do things better. Guest posting as a link building tactic is on its way out because too many people have abused it. The same can be said for several past SEO tactics. Too many people out there look for the loopholes they can exploit, to the point where Google changes its algorithm, and the process starts over again.

Don’t let yourself fall victim to the latest marketing trend or tactic. Keep things above-board, maintain quality in everything you do, and don’t make business decisions based on one person’s blog post, whether it’s Matt Cutts or anyone else. Weigh the pros and cons, and seek out more information before you make changes that could put your business in jeopardy.

And Matt, next time you get frustrated, maybe you can give it a day or so before you write that exasperated post. I think we’d all appreciate that.