All thanks to a recent post by Matt Cutts, the head of the webspam team at Google, saying that Guest blogging is dead for SEO and Link Building, it has been a hottest topic for discussion on SEO forums as well as amongst the SEO bloggers these days.

However there are still many online marketers and businesses out there that have many misconceptions about Guest blogging and its worth for a SEO campaign. But this post will spell doom for all such misconception for this hottest buzzword in the SEO community.

In his recent video, Matt Cutts says that if you are using guest blogging for link building in 2014, then probably you should stop doing it. Wondering why? Well, according to him, with the passage of time, Guest Blogging is becoming more and more spammy practice and if your online marketer is doing a lot of guest blogging, you are certainly banking on a poor SEO company.

Why Stop Doing Guest Blogging For SEO?

For a blog site with great popularity and fan-following, getting such emails has become a daily incident. Yes, it’s certainly disturbing, but there is no fool-proof plan that can save these sites like us from such spammy emails.

Though our site runs largely by guest bloggers only, we like other top blog sites out there have tightened up our guidelines for guest-post submission in order to accept the best drafts only.

In Cutts’ own words, “stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy”. So far you might have understood the point that it is not a good idea of accepting a guest-post unless you personally know them or you want to share your own experience with them .

Similarly, I would strongly recommend you to not reply on guest blogging sites or upon guest blogging link-building strategy for SEO. If you actually want someone to blog on your site, the person must produce quality and informative content.

After all, it’s about the credibility and reputation of your site, which can ‘t be put on stake so easily. Trashy content and trashy authors can badly harm the reputation of your blog or website.

But Guest Blogging Isn’t Dead!

We can’t deny to a fact that practicing SEO is not dead. And yeah, Guest Blogging too isn’t dead. However, If you are using guest posts strategy to get links in your SEO campaign, it’s high time now you need to redefine your strategy.

Guest blogging still exists in the world of SEO and it is a good source of links, but more important is that it can draw in ‘REAL’ people and quality information to your site. Your content for a guest post should be such that it inspire and educate people, which will in turn bring them to your site again and again contributing to your SEO efforts. And such authentic SEO will never expire.

If you read Matt Cutt’s post carefully, he is not attacking all guest posts but rather on people who do guest posting solely to get a link. If you want to enhance your brand, be an authentic part of a new community. Try to teach and inspire your audience showing something new and unique. And come up with top-quality posts only, instead of any crappy content. Remember:

“Fall Of Guest Blogging Does Not Tend to Stop Blogging”

So, How Do I Begin?

Now, the million-dollar question is how would you start with high-quality guest posting? Truth to be spoken, there are countless places to get started. First of all, become an expert of your field and join the local community. Read and comment on top-notch blog-sites including SEJ, SEL, SEW, Moz, Wordstream, Hubspot and Google Webmaster Blog. And then, start with your own posts too.

“ There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before Google and they’ll continue into the future” , added Cutts.

To sum up, Guest blogging does exist. If covered quality, unique and informative content instead of trashy content, Guest posting can help enhance a brand image and build a strong community online, which in turn benefits your SEO efforts.