An interview with Ann Smarty of the recently penalized website MyBlogGuest.com. Read her thoughts about the current situation, the future of guest blogging and her words for the search engine optimisation and Webmaster community.
Q: Hello, Ann. We're glad that you had some time for us considering the current situation. First off, how are you holding up?
With the awesome support I am receiving from the community, I could not possibly have been better! I am hearing back from my oldest friends I thought I lost contact with. People all over the world are cheering for me! And my developers work day and night to launch a new platform for me. I am truly blessed!
Q: The penalty against MyBlogGuest was a shock for the SEO and Webmaster community. What was your first thought when you found out about it?
“The worst thing, that could have happened, did happen: We lost rankings for our biggest asset: Our brand name”. Unfortunately, that was not the worst part! Google is bullying sites in our community too! It’s so pathetic!
Q: What do you think about the future of guest blogging? Matt Cutts seems pretty certain about it.
Matt won this battle simply because there’s a huge corporation behind his back. We the people will win the war!
Q: Do you think that other guest blogging websites are in danger?
It looks like, if you are sneaky, if you hide the word “guest” and call it something else, you should be fine. Google has hit the most transparent guest blogging brand under the sun: Thus proving the black-hat point even more: In order to win, you should be hiding your tracks! It has always been my principle of building MyBlogGuest: Be transparent, don’t hide your sites from the system because we are not doing anything wrong! It’s funny to see that this is what killed us! I am not giving up though: My next project will be based on the same principles of quality and transparency.
Q: Do you have any words of encouragement for the SEO and Webmaster community?
All I can say, the power is in the people. I have moved across the ocean to live in the country where this principle was born. We will win! Google will be just another huge corporation that will ruin itself and we will witness that happen.
We will learn to exist without Google!
If you want to read more about the current situation check the open letter to Matt Cutts and join the discussion./
Thank you for your time, Ann. We wish you all the best in your future endeavours.
MyBlogGuest received strong support from the community.
