What Is a Guest Post?

 

Everyone knows that website promotion on search engines is expensive. Yet, there is a technique that leverages your talent to reduce the burden on your marketing budget. It is guest posting — a relatively affordable external optimization method. Today, we'll discuss it in more detail and answer popular questions concerning this topic.  

What Is Guest Posting?

A guest post is a piece of content written by you and posted on another site. The owners of such resources can set the following conditions for publications:

• Free of charge, provided the content is high-quality and the author is authoritative;
• On the basis of the mutual exchange of materials;
• On sponsorship terms — for monetary reward;
• In exchange for a sample of a product or a discount on a service. 

Guest posts are most often placed on popular blogs that invite talented authors to cooperate. They can also be found on news services, niche online publications, and even social media pages. 

What Are the Benefits of Guest Posting?

The main benefit is driving additional traffic to the site. By integrating the link into high-quality content, you motivate people to click on it, explore the pages of the web resource, and take targeted action. As a result, you gain new customers, generate new sales, and earn more revenue. 

Guest posting also builds a positive brand reputation. By posting useful content on different sites, you demonstrate support for potential customers and care for their well-being. Therefore, agencies that specialize in SEO outreach often apply this method.

Partnership with well-known companies and popular sites also positively affects your domain authority. However, you should note that the usefulness of guest posts for link building is controversial. Google senior engineer John Mueller even wrote that links in them carry no value to search algorithms. While many experts disagree with him, you should still separate guest posting from traditional link-building techniques in your optimization strategy. 

Can Guest Posting Decrease Your Site's Ranking?

Many users see the benefit of posting articles on other platforms as a given. But in reality, you need to proceed very carefully to avoid harming your site. Experts recommend taking into account the following aspects:

• Do not publish identical and similar materials on different resources;
• Monitor content quality — it should be useful to people;
• Do not include blatant advertising that promotes a particular brand — it will only result in negative reactions;
• Avoid frequent posting — 1-2 articles per month on the platform are enough;
• Add "nofollow" or "sponsored" tags to inform search engines about the nature of links;
• Notify users that they are reading sponsored content — otherwise, you will violate Google's rules. 

To engage in guest posting independently, you must thoroughly understand the basic SEO techniques. Otherwise, it is better to entrust such work to a link-building agency. Its employees will help to create high-quality materials and make sure that each article works effectively. 

How to Get the Most out of Guest Posting?

The main rule is to take into account the peculiarities of the site on which the article is posted. Before writing a text, spend time studying other posts, getting to know the target audience, and mastering the style. This will help you earn a positive reputation and drive a high volume of traffic. 

If you're just getting familiar with guest posting, pay attention to these tips:

1. Stand out. If the topic of your article is popular on this web resource, choose an alternative viewpoint. Add to the text up-to-date information released in recent days or weeks. Emphasize the importance of the material — don't hesitate to use strong phrases and calls to action. 
2. Introduce yourself. Start the article with information about the author. Include your profession, experience in the field, and key accomplishments. If you have relevant academic degrees, diplomas, and certificates, use them to increase your credibility. You can also include links to the author's social networks and the company he or she represents. 
3. Help. Emphasize the benefit to the reader. Content quality — first, links and other SEO elements — last. Answer real questions rather than solve fictitious problems. You can find them in search engines — just type "What" or "How" and trust the autocomplete. 

Where to Find Websites for Guest Posting?

Today, finding sites that accept guest articles can be a real problem. The number of such resources is decreasing, while the number of authors is growing. As a result, administrators and editors have to deal with a huge amount of low-quality materials. They are often suspicious of beginners, preferring authoritative experts who have merits in a certain industry. 

However, the mission of finding sites for guest posting is quite feasible. The following techniques will be useful for this purpose:

1. Google search operators. The intitle: command will help you find the desired phrase in the Title meta tag, and simple quotes — to select the exact match. If you enter the subject of your site in the search bar and add intitle: "Write for us," you will get a list of top resources with a high authority level. 
2. Meet influencers. Find articles and social media posts by opinion leaders in your industry. Pay attention to the information about the author or page owner. Typically, it will indicate the well-known sites these people collaborate with. Follow in their footsteps by copying their successful promotion strategies. 
3. Make a list of sites that you enjoy reading. Try to contact their owners or administrators. To make your appeal noticed, personalize your emails. AI tools like ChatGPT can make the task easier, but remember to double-check the text they generate — it may contain gross errors. 

Another option is to use a specialized guest post marketplace. The largest web and digital marketing agencies offer such a service. They create affiliate networks containing hundreds and thousands of sites. By working with them, you can be sure that the material will be posted on a relevant site with a large volume of traffic. 

Is It Necessary to Promote Guest Posts?

Remember that it is you who are primarily interested in the article's success. The site on which your material is posted cooperates with dozens of authors. It does not have the opportunity and strong motivation to promote all customized materials. 

To make your guest post bring maximum benefit, use the following tips:

• Be sure to connect analytics tools and track the volume of traffic;
• Work with keywords — select relevant queries and add them to the text;
• Place links to the guest post on your social networks;
• Order contextual advertising if necessary;
• Engage in discussions in the comments, answer questions, and share valuable information. 

At first glance, these recommendations may seem absurd. In fact, you spend time, effort, and even money to promote someone else's site. But in the long run, the increased popularity of the guest post will benefit your resource. You will strengthen the reputation of the brand, get a steady traffic inflow, and expand the loyal audience. 

Conclusion: Are Guest Posts Effective?

They are, but not like in traditional SEO. Search engines haven't considered such materials as sources of organic backlinks for a long time, so you shouldn't expect instant results from posting them. However, guest posting benefits you in other ways — it informs the target audience about your offer, creates a positive brand image, and promotes the author's expert image.