A couple years ago, when keywords were king, websites used blogs and guest blogs to legitimately bump up the number of keywords in their websites. It was legitimate, it was a great tool, and it could be very useful and valuable for visitors to the website. But, just like everything else in the search engine optimization (SEO) world, there were downsides and ways to dupe the system.
If your website is using a blog simply as a vehicle in which to cram keywords, and not as a way to provide quality information to your visitors, stop immediately. Also, if you belonge to a group/organization that provided you with blogs (which you typically paid for) that were used by you and everyone in that group, stop that too. These are not considered legitimate or valuable blogs. They are actually quite spammy and can tarnish your website’s credibility.
Another benefit of blogging is that it can signal that your website is new and current and not an abandoned website. This additional, fresh information on a regular basis is considered a very good thing. BUT not if it’s a spam website.
Review and re-evaluate your blogging policies.
1) Are you blogging regularly? If not, set up a schedule and stick to it. Whether you blog 4 times a year, 4 times a month or 4 times a day, do it regularly.
2) Is your content original? You obviously may use other websites for information but you should never, ever copy a blog and definitely do not buy a blog that is going to be used by another website. Shoot for 100% originality. Or at least 99% with correct credit and citing for the quotes and information you incorporate from elsewhere.
3) How are you using keywords in your blogs? It is still very important to use the keywords that have value for your page in your blog, just don’t stuff it in there to the point where it seems unnatural. If you’re writing about “painting a fireplace” then create a title that says “How to Paint a Fireplace” and clearly use that phrase a couple times, just don’t overuse it.
4) Use guest blogging only when it’s valuable. Weighing the merits of a guest blog is not an exact science, but a little common sense goes a long way. If you are the painter in the above example, a guest blog from your favorite paint store outlining current paint trends is very useful to the reader. In addition, it gives the paint store some link juice. They may then wish to publish an article from you about painting a fireplace, just not the same article you just posted on your website. And then a local fireplace company may want to get in on the action and give you a blog about updating a wood burning fireplace to gas burning. This can go on and on, and just imagine how beneficial your blog now is to someone who is looking to change their fireplace. THIS is the kind of guest blogging you want to be a part of and that Google encourages.
So in summary, buying guest blogs that are seen elsewhere or that provide little to no value to a reader and are simply used for SEO building will now harm your website credibility. Quit doing these things immediately and transform your blog into a valuable commodity that will build your SEO and company profile.
