There have been several arguments been thrown back and forth on the importance of guest blogging, especially after each new Penguin update from Google. However, one should understand the renewed requirements of the new Google algorithm before writing-off healthy white hat strategies.
Earlier Penguin updates have made it clear that Google will be focusing on punishing black hat SEO techniques that try to manipulate search results. As a result, the attention has now shifted to high quality content and as you may know, guest blogging as well as outreach form an integral part of any content marketing campaign.
You should understand that Google updates focus on punishing irrelevant, stuffed, and spammy content, dubious backlinks, and spam networks. In short, good content still holds high priority in Google algorithms while bad backlinking strategies are now frowned upon more than ever.
If your guest blogging exercise involves publishing unique, relevant, and good content then you can be sure that Google’s Penguin will love it. Your aim should thus be to become a good and reputable guest blogger that puts out high-quality content that sticks to the chosen theme. The content should provide insightful knowledge that pleases your viewers and search engines alike.
Such a move will allow your content to be increasingly read and shared as well as provide earned and relevant links that remain on the right side of the Penguin. On the other hand, you can now be sure of instant punishment in case you try to manipulate search engine results when guest posting by way of comment spam or using bad networks for your link building exercise.
An aggressive outreach strategy that tries to shove down non-targeted and irrelevant content on an unsuspecting audience will also meet the same fate. However, it would be wise to avoid getting caught in the overrated discussion that tries to downgrade guest blogging and instead try to focus on presenting high quality related content to your audience.
At the end of the day, you need to balance good content with quality links and avoid artificial ways to introduce links or push irrelevant content over the internet. Guest blogging should certainly form an important part of your content marketing campaign.