Matt Cutts sticks a fork in guest blogging
In 2014, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team, took to his personal blog with a clear message: “Stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy.”
This wasn’t the first time Google or Cutts had discussed the risks of guest blogging. See:
Oct. 9, 2012: What is Google’s view on guest blogging for links?
July 9, 2013: Google: Guest Blogging For Links? You Better Nofollow Those Links
Oct. 16, 2013: Google’s Matt Cutts: Guest Blogging Best Done In Moderation
Dec. 10, 2013: Google’s Matt Cutts: Guest Blogging Abuse & Spam On The Rise
However, this was a clear, strong and definitive message – and one that would be discussed for many months to come. Google’s webspam team was going to take a “pretty dim view of guest blogging going forward.”
Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company.
Matt Cutts, The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO
Cutts’ post got hundreds of comments and sparked lots of discussion on social media. As a result, Cutts edited his post to clarify that he wasn’t referring to “high-quality multi-author blogs.” He also added “for SEO” to the title of his post.
Also on this day Google Ads launches placement reports for Performance Max campaigns
2022: Placement reports could be generated to see where ads had served for Performance Max campaigns as well as how many impressions they received.
Semrush acquires SEO training website Backlinko
2022: Backlinko founder Brian Dean and his colleagues would create and curate original content for the Semrush Academy
The latest data on the January 2020 Google core update
2020: With Google’s January 2020 core update mostly rolled out, several data providers shared their findings on the impact of the algorithm update.
This day in search marketing history: January 20
Kind of a neat throwback idea. Google and Matt Cutts used to make news every day. Now? Not so much. Is ChatGPT taking over?
AI eating Google's lunch?
Nah. Google has heavily invested in Artificial Intelligence. Something tells me they're going to break some really BIG NEWS soon!