Quick Tip: Keeping Content and Links Natural
Google seems to have placed itself into a lot of newsworthy topics lately. Many of these topics include Google penalizing handfuls of blog networks, communities, websites and a large, well-known social forum called My Blog Guest. My Blog Guest, as many are aware, is a large and social forum—not blog network—that brings together individuals searching for high quality, written and relevant content. The idea of the website is simple; individuals looking for quality content can come here amongst quality sites posted by others. Think of it as looking for fresh, organic vegetables in a supermarket. It was a win-win situation for both sides; one party gains quality content while the other side gets their link posted and is relevantly categorized. Links exchanged and partnerships formed, that’s how it worked… until Google penalized MBG.
Many people were shocked, stunned even to Google’s abrupt move on MBG which promotes followed and natural links in articles. MBG founder and administrator, Ann Smarty and MBG’s policy makers enforce all links to be natural and strictly no spam links are allowed. Self-serving links can be added in the author byline or added in the lower half of the article to be natural. Thanks to the penalty, MBG’s policy has changed little in regards to followed links.
As of the moment, all author bylines from MBG are all nofollow links until further notice.
Image source: jigsoar.co.uk
So what went wrong? According to this post, Matt Cutts declares guest blogging is finished (or dead) as many guest blogging articles seem to advertise intentional spammy links. But is what they’ve done justifiable? MBG was built on the idea of quality content and not spam; the administrators made it perfectly clear they were against paid links (and nofollow links). They kept it clean, natural and absolutely, all white hat tactics. And as a fun fact, guest blogging existed before SEO, too.
Now, fast forwarding to the present, what’s left there to do if your website depended on quality articles, links and My Blog Guest? Quite frankly, there’s only so much you can do. For one, always ensure your website hosts quality content, non-spammy links and absolutely no duplicate content. It’s the least your website can do. Optimize your titles, meta-descriptions, alt keywords with a combination of short and long tail keyword variations as well. Secondly, get in touch with other websites that clearly share your niche and express the same passion as you. Don’t contact them simply because you want to put a link on their website. Build real relationships with the website. Third, employ the usage of social media to spread the word about what you’re trying to say. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram are some of the great services you can use to share your content. People love sharing things. Sometimes PageRank isn’t that important but nonetheless, a healthy amount of traffic is good, too. It shows your website is engaging and appealing to visitors who love reading rich, informative and engaging content!
The main conclusion is: Keep it natural and keep it real.
