If you want to increase traffic to your website, guest posting is something you want to do on a regular basis. It can be a great way to boost organic traffic and lead to more conversions for your business.

Yet, something that people realise is that guest posting is time-consuming. So, businesses get lazy and they believe they can use the same content for several different websites. Nobody is going to know if you change a few words, right?

Well, the answer is simple; Google knows. They know when you are using the same content for guest posting on different websites. So, something you need to know is that guest posting is going to be bad for SEO when it is not done right. Let’s take a closer look at what you need to know.

Unique Content is Key to Guest Posting Success

Writing guest posts is not something that is easy. You have all of the research to do, including finding an interesting and popular topic. Then, you have to write the content and ensure that the audience is going to like what they are reading. Anybody that has tried guest posting before knows that it is a difficult task that you have to dedicate a lot of time in your day to do.

So, it is natural that you are going to look for ways to be more efficient with guest posting. There is no doubt that the more you write them, the better you get at it. But, when you own a business or have a lot of other responsibilities, you want to cut down the time you spend on guest posting. This is why a lot of people ask; can you use the same content you have written and submit it to different websites?

At first, people do not see the problem in doing this. In particular, they believe that because they have written the content and it is original, they are able to use it in any way they like. However, we are here to confirm that this is not true. You may have a unique guest post that you have spent a lot of time perfecting. But, this does not mean that you are able to use it numerous times on different websites. The consequences are going to be bad for SEO. You can read more details about this at Linkplicity. To summarize, a lot of people assume that nobody is ever going to know that they have duplicated the content. With certainty, Google is going to know if you have duplicated content even if you wrote it from scratch on your own.

What are the Consequences of Submitting the Same Guest Posts to Different Websites?

We have established that submitting the same guest posts to various websites is not going to be good practice. You need to focus on creating unique and engaging content for all of the guest posts you need. There is no doubt that this is going to be a lot of work but it is necessary to achieve the positive results that you want. However, what actually happens if you do submit the same content on the internet? Let’s take a look at the consequences.

You Could Waste Your Time

Often, websites will review the content you want to publish. Not only does this mean following their guidelines, but they will also run plagiarism checks. This makes sure that your content is not copied. Of course, if you are using the same post that you have already posted elsewhere, even if it is on your own website, you can have your content rejected. In other words, you can waste your time and have to write unique content.

The Websites Could Blacklist You

When you are guest posting, it is important to build relationships with other websites. This way, you are going to be able to publish content and have access to their audience. But, if you submit duplicated content, this can mean they blacklist you. Google might penalise that website for having similar content to another. When their team investigates, they are going to blame you and you can lose the opportunity to guest post on their website again.

You Can be Penalised by Google

Google values unique and interesting content. Their priority is giving their users the best experience and making sure they find the information they are looking for. Thus, you need to create new and unique content all the time to be rewarded. Duplicating your content can mean that you are punished by Google too. They will discover that the content all links to your website. This can result in your website disappearing on the Google results page. This is the last thing you want.