A site’s popularity used to be determined solely by the number of connections pointing to it from other sites. Then, Google and the other search engines figured out how to stop SEO tricksters from negatively impacting search results and user experience. Sites that accumulated a large number of links without paying attention to the content of the sites they linked to were in for a rude awakening in 2012, when Google released the Penguin Algorithm to punish sites that engaged in unethical link-building practises. The next link-building drama occurred in 2014 with the rise of guest writing. Google’s former web spam head Matt Cutts issued the following warning to content creators on his personal blog: “Okay, I’m calling it: If you’re using guest blogging as a means to acquire links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because it’s become increasingly annoying over time…” This bombshell was then delivered by Google on guest blog network publishers in March of that same year. Even in the present day, some online marketers still shudder at the very thought of link development. If a blog’s domain authority is poor, the link may be removed even if the blogger includes it in a post. But now is the time for SEO experts and marketers to take a long breath and get back into the link-building game, while still exercising caution.