Blogger insights this week: Guest blogging under the microscope

Spotlight: Is guest blogging done?

Matt Cutts, head of Google Webspam, started some content marketing buzz this week with his comments on guest blogging run amok. The quote that started tongues wagging (and some hearts palpitating) was:

“Stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy. In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for someone personally or know them well.”

Here are some commentator highlights on the subject:

Matt Cutts declared guest blogging ‘done’ … are we all screwed? via Copyblogger

The folks at Copyblogger answer a blunt ‘no.’ The bottom line in its response is build quality no matter what, even if it includes guest posts. This post from Jerod Morris sums it up this way: “Google fails as a search engine if it starts penalizing sites that deliver quality content just because that content happens to be in the form of a guest post. And we all fail as publishers if we follow a strategy of chasing hypothetical algorithm changes.”

Guest blogging and SEO: Still a match made in heaven via Quick Sprout

Neil Patel believes there will still be SEO value in guest blogging. He predicts Google’s ultimate plan is to discount the spam links from irrelevant blogs among other ranking factors. In his own words:

“I still think guest posting will help your rankings, just not in the way it used to. Because you have to avoid using rich anchor text and only link to your site when it benefits the reader, you won’t rank for head terms as easily as you could in the past. But the links will still help with your overall site authority and, more importantly, increase your overall long-tail traffic.”

Other blogger highlights from the Web

Social Media

The new reality of social media: Engaging your audience where they are via Forbes

3 scientific studies with real insights into social media via Convince and Convert

How text-only status updates can hurt Facebook pages via Sprout Social

9 ways to counteract Facebook’s big algorithm change via Buffer

Case study: social media in a regulated industry via {grow}

Content Marketing

How to growth hack your content marketing via KISS Metrics

The big flaw with “content shock” and the way we see content marketing via The Sales Lion

The power of infographics on your blog via Pro Blogger

Online magazines and apps for content marketing: Brand examples and best practices via Top Rank

The New Rainmaker: Why the key to business success is media, not marketing via Copyblogger

Response Marketing

Measuring success in social media via Huge Inc

100 inspiring subject lines via Exact Target

3 landing page mistakes guaranteed to kill conversion rates via Marketing Words

A guide to creating shareable content in 2014 via Direct Traffic Media

Branding

What does the fox say? B2B companies need visual style via Ann Handley

So, you want to newsjack the Super Bowl? Here are 6 rules brands can’t forget via Marketing Land

Brand tweets that ‘honor’ MLK day backfire via Digiday

Newswire

Digital Marketing Weekly via JGO Digital

News highlights this week: Facebook debuts real-time “Trending” topics on the Web; New Twitter deal signals move to social commerce; Pinterest surpasses email in social sharing for the first time; Facebook hopes to spark social conversations with acquisition of Branch Media; Plus more news and market information.

Visual Marketing

Credit: marketoonist.com

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