Guest Blogging – How and Why it Works For SEO
Staying ahead of your competitors online can be tough, so your business needs to tap into every possible avenue and channel to market itself and improve its position in the search engine results pages (SERPS). Chances are good that in your constant quest for extra traffic you've already started your own blog and are adding fresh and original posts to it frequently. But did you know that you can also improve your SEO by posting on other people's blogs?
Guest blogging has become particularly popular in recent years. Often, it is mutually beneficial for both the host blog and the guest blogger – the host gets additional fresh content for their blog, and you get additional exposure for your website and services. Some blogs actively invite others to create posts for their blog, while many more are at least open to the idea.
How will guest blogging help my SEO?
There are a number of ways in which the practice of guest blogging can improve your SEO. In most cases you will be permitted a link to your website at the end of your post, and this is an essential form of link building that can really make a big difference to your position in the SERPs. In addition to this, there is the bonus that some readers will follow the link through to your site, creating a potent extra source of traffic. Who knows, they may even share the post through social media.
Where should I guest blog?
The best places to position a guest post are on sites that are themselves highly popular and respected within your industry, or one related to it. This not only helps to bring maximum exposure in front of the right people, but it also makes for more powerful link building, as links to sites which are: A) highly relevant to your own, and B) deemed high quality by the search engines, are rated more highly by Google and others.
What a guest blog is not
A guest blog is not a platform for shameless sales promotion, and it is not free advertising space. If you refer to your company or its services at all, this should only be brief and incidental to the topic you are discussing.
Instead your blog post should provide value to readers, informing or educating them on issues relevant to your field, or offering an expert opinion on a difficult or controversial matter. If done properly and engagingly written, this will reward you amply with the respect of your peers and prospective clients, as well as bringing in plenty of that nectar-like link juice.
Guest blogging has become particularly popular in recent years. Often, it is mutually beneficial for both the host blog and the guest blogger – the host gets additional fresh content for their blog, and you get additional exposure for your website and services. Some blogs actively invite others to create posts for their blog, while many more are at least open to the idea.
How will guest blogging help my SEO?
There are a number of ways in which the practice of guest blogging can improve your SEO. In most cases you will be permitted a link to your website at the end of your post, and this is an essential form of link building that can really make a big difference to your position in the SERPs. In addition to this, there is the bonus that some readers will follow the link through to your site, creating a potent extra source of traffic. Who knows, they may even share the post through social media.
Where should I guest blog?
The best places to position a guest post are on sites that are themselves highly popular and respected within your industry, or one related to it. This not only helps to bring maximum exposure in front of the right people, but it also makes for more powerful link building, as links to sites which are: A) highly relevant to your own, and B) deemed high quality by the search engines, are rated more highly by Google and others.
What a guest blog is not
A guest blog is not a platform for shameless sales promotion, and it is not free advertising space. If you refer to your company or its services at all, this should only be brief and incidental to the topic you are discussing.
Instead your blog post should provide value to readers, informing or educating them on issues relevant to your field, or offering an expert opinion on a difficult or controversial matter. If done properly and engagingly written, this will reward you amply with the respect of your peers and prospective clients, as well as bringing in plenty of that nectar-like link juice.
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