What Is Guest Posting?
Guest posting, also known as guest blogging, is a marketing strategy that entails composing articles for external websites to promote your brand.
By sharing your knowledge with pertinent audiences, you can:
- Enhance your individual profile
- Increase brand recognition
- Generate traffic to your website
Numerous marketers utilize guest posts to establish backlinks for SEO purposes. (Backlinks serve as “votes of confidence” and can positively impact Google rankings.)
Are Guest Posts Bad for SEO?
Guest posts can have a positive impact on SEO when used properly, but they can also be detrimental.
According to a post on the Google Search Central Blog, Google doesn’t discourage guest posts if they inform users, educate another site’s audience, or bring awareness to a cause or company.
However, guest posts can be harmful to SEO if they involve manipulative linking practices that violate Google’s guidelines. Such practices include excessive guest posting, which leads to poor-quality content on many sites, similar guest posts on multiple sites, low-quality or unnatural links, and the failure to “nofollow” guest post links.
Google considers guest posts excessive when brands seek links on as many sites as possible, resulting in poor-quality content. Identical or similar guest posts on various sites, particularly if owned by the same company, raise red flags. Low-quality, unhelpful, or uninteresting content is also problematic. Google may detect unnatural links to a brand’s site that are clearly for SEO purposes.
When linking to your site from a guest post, you should instruct Google to ignore the link for SEO purposes by adding the rel=”nofollow” attribute to the link’s code. Failing to do so may result in a Google penalty.
<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="nofollow">Anchor text</a>
If you pay for a guest post, it must be clearly labeled as sponsored.
<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="sponsored">Anchor text</a>
Failure to disclose sponsored posts may violate advertising regulations and other laws.
Are Guest Posts Good for SEO?
Guest posting can positively impact both your SEO and broader marketing strategy by enhancing your brand profile and increasing brand awareness.
By sharing your knowledge and collaborating with reputable websites, you can establish trust with readers, influencers, and Google. This can lead to more social media followers, potential partnership opportunities, improved search engine rankings, and more.
Moreover, any links to your site can generate referral traffic. But can guest post links provide SEO value?
According to Google’s John Mueller, guest post links are treated as automatically nofollowed, regardless of whether they have the rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored” attribute. Therefore, they do not provide direct SEO value.
Although many marketers disagree, it’s best to err on the side of caution and nofollow your guest post links. You should also avoid other red flags that may attract Google’s attention.
How to Start Guest Posting
In 2023, guest posting for SEO should prioritize building your brand profile over acquiring links. This requires prioritizing quality over quantity.
Follow these step-by-step guidelines to begin guest blogging effectively:
1: Find Guest Post Prospects
To achieve success with guest blogging for SEO in 2023, it is essential to prioritize the quality of the sites where you post instead of the number of links. Start by identifying potential sites for guest posting.
Before exploring different methods, it is crucial to understand what makes a good guest post prospect, which should meet the following criteria:
Authority:
Choose only authoritative sites that are known for publishing high-quality content. These sites adhere to high editorial standards, publish relevant and error-free content, and have an active readership that engages with posts and social media. Avoid posting on spammy sites, which could negatively impact your guest blogging SEO. Such sites often sell guest post opportunities or links for a fee, publish low-quality content, and have low engagement among readers.
Niche:
The best guest blog posts should demonstrate your expertise and align with the interests of the host site’s readers. Therefore, it is essential to choose a site whose niche overlaps with or is directly related to yours. To ensure a match, check out each potential site to see what kind of content they publish and who their target audience is.
History of publishing guest posts:
If a site has previously published guest posts, it indicates that they accept contributions.
Once you understand what to look for, consider the following methods to find guest post prospects:
Use Google Search Operators
You can utilize Google search operators to conduct more targeted queries in search engines. These operators are special phrases and characters that help you refine your search results.
To find websites that have used common guest posting terms such as “write for us,” use the following query:
“guest post” OR “guest column” OR “guest author” OR “become a contributor” OR “write for us” AND [relevant keyword for your niche].
Get Ideas From Influencers
In your niche, influencers are individuals who have established their expertise and profile. They may have also contributed guest posts to reputable sites. Therefore, it’s worth researching relevant influencers to identify the sites they have written for.
2: Develop Guest Post Ideas
Generating a distinctive guest post idea for each prospect is essential to increase the likelihood of acceptance and avoid publishing similar guest posts that can appear spammy.
The most effective guest post ideas offer an original perspective, providing exclusive insights and anecdotes that no one else can offer. When you brainstorm your unique opinions, experiences, and insights, you can pitch a topic that is relevant to your brand but not focused on your brand, interesting to the site’s target audience, and has not been covered previously on the site.
Moreover, you need to provide a hook or angle that demonstrates how your topic will attract their audience’s attention.
Find Popular Topics
Using news stories and trends as hooks can be very effective as it provides readers with the latest information. To keep up with the latest trends, it is useful to stay updated with industry news and monitor social media trends. Having knowledge of upcoming events in your industry can also be advantageous. If you haven’t done so already, subscribing to newsletters, social media feeds, and blogs in your niche can help you identify trends early on and leverage guest posting opportunities.
Perform Keyword Research
Conducting keyword research allows you to discover the specific terms and phrases that people search for on Google and how frequently they do so. This enables you to confirm whether there’s a genuine interest in your proposed guest post topic.
3: Pitch Guest Post
The next step in the process is to pitch your guest post idea by contacting site owners and proposing a collaboration. Although many blogs have a dedicated email address for article pitches, it’s often better to contact a decision-maker directly to grab their attention and build rapport. To write a compelling pitch, include the idea of what you want to write, the hook to explain why their readers will want to read it, and your credentials that demonstrate why you’re the best person to write it. Use an attention-grabbing subject line and keep your message brief. Send your pitch first thing on a weekday morning, and if you don’t get a response, follow up with a polite reminder. Be prepared to discuss and negotiate your idea when you receive a positive response. However, always use your judgment before contacting someone to avoid spamming them with irrelevant emails.
4: Write Guest Post
Reading the guest post guidelines and recent articles of the site you are partnering with can help you adjust to their style. Look at important elements such as word count, images, headings, and tone of voice to create a unique article that their readers will enjoy.
To ensure that your writing is error-free, you can use writing tools like Hemingway App. Break up your text with images, paragraphs, and subheadings, and use sites like Everypixel to find royalty-free photos or create graphics using tools like Canva. You can also help the host site by including relevant links to other pages on their site.
Avoid mentioning your brand unless necessary, and if you do, ask the host site to add a “nofollow” attribute to stay on Google’s good side. Don’t forget to include an author bio that highlights your credentials and mentions your brand, and provide social links and a headshot if needed.
5: Promote and Monitor Your Guest Post
After your guest post is published, it’s important to promote it on social media to generate engagement and drive traffic to the article. Don’t forget to engage with others who share it, including the host site’s account, to boost visibility and build relationships. Also, monitor the comment section and respond to readers to create a buzz around your guest article.
In addition to promoting your guest post, it’s crucial to track its performance and measure ROI for future improvements in your guest blogging strategy. In 2023, guest posting is all about reach, and you’ll want to know how many page views your guest post received.