Why Quality Guest Posts Still Matter in 2021? A Definitive Guide
Globex Outreach is a link building and SEO company.
And do you know which of our services brings the most revenue knocking at our door?
Well, GUEST POSTING.
The reason is simple:
Quality guest posts matter, and they are going to stay relevant in 2021 as well.
Yes, you heard it right.
Despite that, you surely would have heard many ‘BAD’ things about guest posting…
…it is still in demand; agencies are offering it because people are asking for it.
So when you hear someone asking:
Is guest blogging bad for SEO?
Don’t believe in these rumors and speculations.
Because it is not!
However, there is a ‘but’ in this story:
This is true that guest blog posting can enlist you in the bad books of Google if done wrong.
It means:
Whether guest posts turn out in your favor or against you on the SEO’s front depends on how you do guest posting.
If you don’t go after high quality guest posts, and trip on the signs that make them a ‘bad’ practice, guest posts are surely not safe for you.
But if you do, they not only change your SEO’s dynamics but also leverage many other business benefits.
That’s the reason that around 60% of blogs publish guest posts monthly.
But before we find out why quality guest posts are still winning and why you need to hire quality guest post services:
Let’s find out factors that make guest blogs unsafe in SEO.
What Makes Guest Posting Bad?
Here are given things that stop you from fetching a quality link through high quality guest post:
Red Flag # 1: Links From Poor Sites
Have you ever heard that the company defines a person? Apply this on getting high quality backlinks guest post.
Guest posting on blogs is just like defining your friend zone.
For Google:
- A backlink from a quality site to your site means that you have a good company, so you are worth paying attention
- A backlink from a poor site tells that you are surrounded by bad company, so it blacklists your site.
So a backlink from a poor site is a red flag that you are stepping over the line that makes guest blogging opportunities as bad.
The safest way is to only look out for high quality guest post opportunities that give you high-quality backlinks.
SIDE NOTE: If you are hiring guest posting agencies for this purpose, still your work doesn’t end here. Make sure you choose the right people who deliver data-driven results.
So don’t fall for the word cheap because this word can be intriguing for you because marketers never mind saving even a few bucks of their marketing budget. But it can cost you later.
The best practice is to look out for different guest blogging packages and get what you pay for.
You might be thinking, what makes a website poor?
The answer to this question is a bit tricky because a website’s design and images are not the ultimate criteria to tag it as a ‘good’ website.
Google has actually a full-fledged 168 pages long Google’s Search Quality Raters Guidelines that its quality raters use to define the quality of a website’s pages.
And on the basis of these guidelines, they assign a PQ rating on a Page Quality Slider.
According to this guideline, here is what makes a website poor.
If you try to get a link from a website with any one of these attributes, you know what Google will consider you too: Bad boy!
So avoid such sites and try to get links that actually bring along good things for you.
Red Flag # 2: Link from an Irrelevant Site
You have an online store, and you sell organic fruits.
Yes, Apple is a phone brand as well, but you don’t expect a page talking about the iPhone to give you a link just because you also have APPLES in your store.
Why? Because the fruit apple has nothing to do with The Apple brand.
So why would they link out to you? It doesn’t make any sense, right?
Google also understands it.
It only finds a link worth considering if the link is coming from a relevant website.
Like, in the above example, here are different sites’ that can be relevant to get links for your fruit store.
Always get links from sites relevant to your niche because you can’t make Google boo-boo-the-fool.
Red Flag # 3: Non-Editorial Links
Why would someone link out to your site?
If they want to give their readers:
- Helpful recommendation
- Source of information
- Foundation of arguments
- In-depth guidance
Obviously, if they are doing that, it means that the backlink to your site should be placed somewhere within the content, talking about something related to your site.
Not somewhere:
- In the sidebar
- Within irrelevant content
- In the footer
- In the author’s bio
That’s the reason that a high quality guest post service always offers editorial links.
In fact, at Globex Outreach, we promise to provide contextual links surrounded by relevant content…
…that talks about things related to your site.
Red Flag # 4: Links Coming From Only One Site
Can you count the vote of one person in any matter twice?
I hope your answer is ‘no.’
So how can you expect Google to give the same value to all backlinks coming from one site?
It is just like one person fills up the whole ballot box with just his votes.
As all votes of that person wouldn’t be counted as equal. Similarly, all links from one site don’t transfer the same amount of link juice.
And things don’t end here. Google takes it as a fishy sign if your site keeps on getting links from the same site.
Try to look for different high quality sites accepting quality guest posts to keep your link profile diversified and natural – something that Google likes.
Red Flag # 5: Multiple Links Going Back
If I had to associate guest posting with a circus act, I would have chosen the tightrope walker act.
You do exactly the same in a guest blog posting: You have to walk on the tight rope dangling in the air without any support.
If you lose your balance, you will come straight to the floor from a height of…well, enough height that if you fall, you would have to face major dents and damages to your reputation and rankings.
The same is the case with quality guest posting services.
Sometimes you need to link back to the linking site to give a boost to your backlink so that:
- It gets indexed quickly
- Its authority enhances
- It transfers more link juice
But… Yes, there is again a ‘but’ in the story.
Google has prohibited excessive link exchange or cross-linking.
So be careful while linking back:
- Don’t do excessive backlinking
- Place the link editorially to give a natural look
Otherwise, you know there is always buzz ready to tag guest posting dead due to these fishy practices.
Here are some other factors of a bad guest posting opportunity:
- Anyone can submit a guest post
- There are no strict quality guidelines
- Website is not updated regularly
- Poor website architecture and experience
- Demands payment for guest posting
- Too many ads
If you are getting links from such sites, quality guest blog posting is really dead for you.
But we don’t want it to be dead – right? Don’t worry; it is not!
Quality guest posts are still in the game because they are more than just a link building technique.
Quality Guest Posts Review – Why Guest Posting is Not Going Anywhere in 2021?
Here is why guest blogging is still going to work in 2021 (and beyond!) – my take on quality guest post reviews with proves:
Reason # 1: Many Marketers Still Use It
The funniest part about the quality guest post in USA is that all those biggies who say “Guest posting is no more alive” themselves do it.
Want proof?
I found an article titled: “Why Guest Posting Isn’t the Answer in 2020?”
The title caught my eyes because, let’s admit that we all, deep inside, stay alarmed about the future of guest posting.
I read the content; it was interesting, the author tried to knit many arguments, and it seemed quite convincing.
Once I was done scanning the article, I found an interesting thing at the bottom:
The author’s bio had a link, and it was taking you to another website.
Err… isn’t it something that seems like guest posting?
An article talking about the demise of the guest blog post, published through a guest post – what does it mean?
Well, shouldn’t guest posting be the answer in 2021 as well?
I know here the link is not placed in an important place.
And a high quality guest blog post helps you on the link building front if the link is editorially placed, surrounded by relevant content.
But… this link is not useless.
It is a BRAND MENTION that might not help in link building, but it surely gives many other benefits that we are going to talk about later in this blog.
It shows…
Link building is not the only purpose of high quality guest post be just a post on a blog by another author; why am I calling it a guest post bogs.
…and that’s what is going to keep it relevant in 2021 as well. can be just a post on a blog by another author; why am I calling it a guest post
Reason # 2: Getting Authority and Credibility
You will read many articles on the ‘benefit of guest posting,’ and all of them will say:
It helps you bring authority and credibility.
If you are a lover of this link building technique, you will be happily agreeing with it.
But if you are one of the haters, you would be like: Yeah! Another blah blah!”
But here, I have proof for you:
No one can deny the fact that most of us do guest posting to get a bit more visibility and favor on SERPs.
Something that Karol K said on marketers faces without any filter in one of its ‘GUEST POSTS’ done for Jeff Bullas, titled “The Dirty Little Secret About Guest Blogging.”
“I honestly believe that if there was some international law forbidding guest bloggers to link to their projects, we’d see at least a 90% drop (not that I’ve done any research) in the volume of guest posting done worldwide.
And I’m not trying to judge whether it’s good or bad, that’s just what would likely happen.”
Karol K said this about guest blogging in a guest blog.
Isn’t it ironic?
This itself proves that whatever dirty secrets lie behind the scene of this link building world, posting on other sites is still an amazing way to enhance your credibility and authority.
That’s the reason why Karol K didn’t write this article on his blog or company’s blog because:
Jeff Bullas is an influential person….
Source: Jeff Bullas
…and publishing a guest post on his HUGE blog means that you will also be considered as an authority in your niche.
You might be thinking that it can be just a post on a blog by another author; why am I calling it a guest post?
Simple: Its author bio has a backlink to the site.
Can you see where we are going?
Those who want to get their words across (even if they are against guest post services!), induce credibility in their stance and establish their brand as authority:
Guest post blogging activity is their way to go.
Reason # 3: Driving Qualified Traffic
Yes, again, the same story: the benefit of guest posting is that it helps you derive qualified traffic to your website.
But that’s not what only article writers write to cover their topic and number of words.
Biggies of the industries have secretly used this weapon to grow their traffic and audiences.
Do you know how much organic traffic Neil Patel gets to his website?
Around 4.1M. This is a dream number for any marketer.
But do you really think that he started getting this gush of traffic out of thin air?
He wrote content, targeted keywords, pulled some SEO strings, and traffic started pouring like cascade?
I wish it was that easy. But it isn’t.
He has his share of struggle in driving targeted traffic to his platform and then converting them into loyal audiences.
And guest posting is part of his struggle.
He has been doing guest blog publications on many sites.
For example, he has a whole author page on Search Engine Journal where you can find his different guest posts.
And he has posted around 50+ guest posts to date.
And do you know how many people have viewed his quest posts?
Most guest posts are read more than 1K times.
Let’s do some simple calculation here:
Let’s suppose that around half of readers who read the post would have clicked on the author’s bio.
And even if just half of them have clicked on the Quick Sprout, Neil Patel’s website…
… you can imagine how much traffic it would have gained?
Even if half of them become Quick Sprout’s part of a loyal audience base squad, it is like hitting on a JACKPOT to get qualified traffic pouring like crazy.
And it is just the story of one platform.
What about traffic from all other platforms where Neil Patel has guest posted on?
Your calculated amount might now be quite staggering high!
Well, that’s one of the mantras behind building 4.1M organic traffic.
Neil Patel didn’t use any link to its site within the content. All other anchor texts take you to another page of the Search Engine Journal.
So you can clearly see that the purpose of this guest post was not to do link building.
Its purpose was also not to build credibility and authority because Neil Patel himself is a giant in his industry.
So what did he get in return?
Traffic – Qualified traffic.
After all, it never hurts if you can get some more visitors to your site through quality guest posts.
No?
Reason # 4: Brand Awareness and Engagement
Brand awareness is like a festive season’s sale perk. You know those Buy One, Get One Free deal?
It is just like that!
Obviously, when you put your brand in front of the audience for whatever reason, all those eyes that see the brand’s name or click on the link become familiar with the brand (if they don’t know it already!).
That ‘FAMILIARITY’ is your audience’s first step towards recognizing your brand that can later lead to awareness, interest, and then engagement.
In other words, quality guest posting also gives a boost to your sales funnel by opening the doors to reach the first step of funnel ‘brand awareness.’
Bullseye!
Conclusion
If anyone asks you is guest posting dead, just give them two answers
Answer 1: Yes, if you are not using it properly.
Answer 2: No, if you are using it properly.
It is as simple as that!
As long as…
1) There are people who like to consume content
2) Blogs that want to provide quality to readers
3) Google that values quality content
…quality guest posts are not going anywhere.
Keep the ‘HIGH QUALITY’ factor in, and it will keep on bringing benefits for your business.
So happy guest posting in 2021 because it is ready to meet you in the New Year too!
