In the not too distant past, “Guest blogging for links” was a  suitable method to gain valuable links from related sites back to your main website. Now the belief is totally changed, we will need to explore the risks of guest blogging for backlinks in 2014.

So, what are the process of writing an article and posting them on a different web masters, websites to gain backlinks become a no no rather than the normal practice.

Google recently announced that, more and more guest posts have become spam and many offer little useful or engaging content.

The Main Risks of Guest Blogging in 2014

Many blogs are normally set with the no follow property. This means your site is simple, your website will gain no authority from the site linking back to you. This will reduce the increasing rate of your website rankings or position in search engines.

• When you guest post the contents, you never really know the quality of links that link to that site. For example, you decide to guest blog, write a  unique article. You post your article with your back link  and then boom, you discover that the site you linked from is considered a “bad neighbourhood” or a “link farm”. Now, instead of improving your site’s position in the search results you risk sand boxing (penalties or removal from SERPs)

If you still decide to use guest blogging as a white hat SEO method I personally would recommend  that you need to follow these vital guidelines:

• Guest blog occasionally: Do not use only guest blogging as your method to create links. If you have been very choosy about, where you guest blog.
• The content must be focused on the specific niche. Does not guest post on a health site and write about sports cars.
• Ensure your post fits with the main sites niche.
• It is not about building a link. It is about building relationships with related web masters.

So in 2014 guest blogging has some major risks. If you have only used this method for SEO; then you might be in for a very bumpy ride over the coming months.