SEO is turning out to be a very volatile field today and is in a state of constant evolution. But guest posting continues to remain a vital off-page technique that draws visitors and promote brand engagement.
The strategies of increasing the number of visitors and subscribers to your website or blog have become a challenge. However, guest positing for SEO offers a viable way to build backlinks and improve your site’s search rankings.
Ahrefs says that 64.9% of link builders use guest blogging as a link building strategy. Based on the latest trends, we can safely say that guest blogging is very effective for:
- brand development,
- increasing traffic,
- getting more subscribers, and
- ultimately increasing the company’s sales.
Guest posting for SEO offer numerous advantages. In this article, we will describe what guest blogging means and discuss some of the benefits it has. Let’s discuss how guest posting can be used to grow your business.
What is Guest Posting for SEO?
Guest blogging, or guest posting, is the practice of creating content on another company’s blog or website. In general, guest bloggers provide posts to similar blogs within the same niche to:
- Establish relationships with peers in their respective fields.
- Bring back traffic to their site.
- Help to boost their brand credibility and awareness.
- Increase their ‘domain authority’ by using external links from other authoritative domains.
In most cases, guest posting for SEO is advantageous to the guest blogger as well as the website hosting the guest content. In other words, guest blogging is a win-win proposition. Therefore, if you choose to engage in guest blogging, you should also allow other guest bloggers to post on your website.
Why Is Guest Posting Important To Your Business?
There are actually several benefits that any business can derive from guest blogging. You are creating a perception of yourself as an expert in your market, creating contacts with like-minded personalities in your industry. This also helps in reaching a range of potential customers you have not targeted before.
Guest blogging for SEO is an incredible method for bringing new ideas and new content to your audience. It is easy to get stuck in a routine, and readers can lose interest if the content feels dull.
In my experience, guest posting help keep things exciting and engaging. Plus, when guest bloggers share their posts with their network, it gives your blog additional exposure and a promotional boost.
Some blogs get the vast majority of their content from other specialists in their field. Even if you don’t have enough resources to post regularly, guest bloggers can give new and fresh content to your readers without taking up much time or effort from your team.
How to look for Sites That Accept Guest Posts?
At this point, you may have the query, ‘How to get backlinks?’ You must look for good quality websites that accept guest posts. This is a useful strategy to enhance your authority and generate quality backlinks. Here is a tactical approach to how to identify and get to these opportunities.
[1] Look for The List of Top Blogs Accepting Guest Posts
The initial stage of searching is quite clear.
The first step in prospecting is quite obvious. Search for a phrase on Google such as ‘Top [industry] Blogs List’ for example ‘Top Digital marketing Blog List’.
Go through all the blogs listed one by one on every page of the search results. This way, you are likely to discover truly wonderful blogs.
However, not all of them will be accepting guest posts from contributors.
[2] Analyse Your Competitors
Find out where your competitors and industry leaders do guest posting for SEO.
- Inspect their backlink profiles with the help of the Ahrefs or Moz tools.
- Search for the author byline coming from your competitors on other sites.
- Check out the tweets and the Facebook wall posts of the guest posts.
- Look for the contributor roles mentioned in their author bios.
[3] Advanced Search Using Search Terms
Google also provides several commands that assist you in a particular search for information on the Internet. Using these commands, you can form search strings that will help you filter your results.
For instance, if you type in the search bar [“keyword” and “write for us”], Google will show you the pages that contain both terms, such as “Guest Blogging” and “write for us”.
Your results will appear similar to the example shown in the image below:
<< 69tblog-1>>
This method of spotting guest post opportunities is easy and very convenient. There are not too many search modifiers, but you can mix them in several ways to meet your needs. With countless possible combinations, you can easily find websites that are open to guest posts.
Here are some examples of search strings:
- inurl: “keyword” “contributor”
- “guest post” “keyword”
- “guest author” “keyword”
- “keyword” inurl: authors
- “keyword” inurl: contributors
- intitle: “guest post” “keyword”
This approach is useful when you have the query, ‘How to get backlinks?’
[4] Follow Companies That Regularly Do Guest Posting for SEO
Quite often, leaders in your industry are also leaders in guest blogging as well. Familiarise yourself with their content as well as the sites they are most active on. Although you do not wish to replicate their content, their writing, and their tone, you may discover new opportunities with platforms that you were unaware of.
Also, the best way to stay updated on what’s important in your industry is to follow people and companies in your industry. This allows you to begin to track what is being discussed and, after that, how it is being perceived or seen.
Use this knowledge to produce fresh content in the form of your opinions on the trending issues or point out something that others could be totally unaware of.
[5] Social Sharing is Vital in Guest Posting for SEO
The moment your guest post goes online, share it on all of your main marketing platforms, like email newsletters, social media, and links from your site articles. Ask your subscribers and followers to read, comment, and share the post with others. This is a critical part of guest blogging for SEO.
Since not everyone will see your post immediately, keep shoring it from time to time. Interact with your customers by responding to their comments and connecting with them. This will help build your reputation and make site owners likely to acknowledge future posts and collaborations.
Here’s how you can effectively promote your blog posts online:
[1] Sharing Across Platforms | Promote your guest post on email newsletters, social media, and site articles. |
[2] Encouraging Engagement | Ask followers to read, comment, and share the post. |
[3] Re-sharing Over Time | Re-share your post periodically to reach more people. |
[4] Customer Interaction | Respond to comments and connect with customers to build reputation. |
[5] Building Future Collaborations | Engaging with customers helps improve future collaborations with site owners. |
[6] Find Blogging Profiles Via Popular Hashtags
Hashtags are a valuable method for finding individuals discussing your topic on social media. Try looking for hashtags with significant keywords related to your industry on well-known platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This should enable you to find influencers in your area of specialization.
The Benefits of Guest Blogging
These are the reasons why guest blogging should be done and the benefits that come with it. It is not just about writing content for others. It also helps in creating your brand.
[1] Increase Your Authority in the Field
Guest blogging also assists your business in gaining authority. The more quality and informative content you post, The more consumers believe in your brand. Of course, you need to provide some facts and other data that people are able to rely on.
Authority is a vital part of a strong marketing strategy. This is particularly significant at a time when “Fake news” is common. Sharing your insight and upholding it with facts makes your content more credible and trustworthy to other people.
It is seen that millennials tend to trust ads less. They trust social influencers more, and instead of using apps to block ads, they rely on content to build trust in a brand.
[2] Guest Posting Increases Organic Traffic
Many enjoy the advantages of guest blogging for SEO. The more links to your site, the better your pages work. Each relevant link to your content helps increase organic traffic.
Organic traffic can be described as users who locate your content through search engines. Whenever a website is crawled, all the links are accessed and given priority based on their values.
Thus, getting backlinks using a guest post demonstrates to search engines like Google that the content post is worthwhile.
Relevant content is moved to a higher rank in search engine results. Over time, you will notice that webpages you link to from other websites appear higher in search results when people search for related keywords.
[3] Acquiring the Right Kind of Traffic
Everybody wants quality traffic. This is when you attract those who are most likely to get value from your content or make a sale. If you do guest posting on relevant websites, then you are placing yourself in a position where you are targeting an audience that wants the content you are putting out.
Well, it’s not very hard at all to get traffic just by targeting keywords and social media. The difference is made when getting to the target people who are going to make a purchase.
Whether your website makes money from ads or is an eCommerce site, you want to reach out to the people who are likely to click. This can be done by writing blog posts with messages that will make an impact on the heart of the reader.
[4] Reach Your Ideal Clients with Guest Posting
By identifying and focusing on certain websites that are already authoritative in your subject matter area, you get in touch with an audience that is already interested in the subjects you write about.
Such websites have a readership base who frequently visit these websites to seek out useful and meaningful content. Whenever your guest post is out on such reputable sites, it automatically harnesses the reputation that comes with the hosts’ site.
[5] Improves Credibility
Another factor that holds a similar value to authority in today’s market is credibility. If you want to convince people, it is not enough to just fake knowledge in that particular field. One cannot be seen as authoritative until people put their trust in the brand.
You can establish your credibility by guest posting for SEO on other renowned websites. This is closely linked to the fact that the person who owns the site must authorize publishing in the first place. It’s like being “approved” by someone authoritative in your sector.
Because of this vetting process, you need to create the most effective and unique content. Some site owners may be exceptionally picky when it comes to posting content.
Due to this process, you have to develop the best and distinctive content. Depending on the type of site, There are those few site owners who may be very selective or very particular with what they post on their sites.
[6] Generate Leads
When you share your content on sites related to your field, potential clients will see it, and this could urge them to follow you or learn more about what you offer. Some of the readers may be interested in the services or products that you are offering, hence can lead to improved sales.
Therefore, guest blogging is a perfect solution to attract likely customers’ attention to your brand and generate more leads for your business.
[7] Expanding Your Subscriber Base
When you attract more traffic by guest posting for SEO, you also increase the likelihood of gaining more subscribers to your business. Whether you use newsletters or set up push notifications on your site, every visitor can help expand your audience.
Why is it vital to have a growing list of subscribers? Because you are targeting an audience that is already seeking out your content. This often results in an increased click-through rate as well as increasing sales.
However, most of the people are not going to follow your blog blindly. You must provide them with a compelling reason to be a subscriber. This begins with having very good content that will capture the audience’s attention. Guest posts will attract them but it is your content that will make them stick around.
[8] Improves your Reputation
What comes to your mind when you hear the name Elon Musk? For me, it will be the brand of car that is Tesla. Here, I am not going to claim that guest blogging will turn you into Elon Musk. However, it will work in the same manner regarding your reputation.
Remember that about 82% of consumers consider businesses to be more credible when they create their content. When you regularly use your name while creating high-quality content, you are literally earning the trust of your audience.
The way people see you online affects many aspects of your life. It assists people to develop trust in the brand associated with you and enhances your value.
[9] Build Links
When you write a guest post for another site, it generally includes links within the article that lead to related content on your site. These links give helpful data to readers and upgrade their experience.
Using natural and relevant links in well-written guest posts can be perfect for improving SEO.
Having a variety of backlinks shields your site from search engine penalties. Guest posting for SEO lets you get links from various sites and industries. This makes your backlink profile more diverse and natural to search engines.
Over to you
Writing guest posts is a great way to grow your blog or website. It helps you get backlinks and connect with other bloggers. But remember, it is important to focus on creating quality posts rather than just writing a lot of them.
What do you think about guest blogging? Are you planning to write for other websites? Then make the right move and connect with Textuar. Our SEO team will deliver top-notch guest post content that will help in your backlinking strategy. If you have any questions, share them in the comments!
FAQs
Q: Is guest posting for SEO still effective?
Yes. Guest posting is still a powerful tool to get backlinks and rank your site higher in SERP. It is also very useful for developing your reputation and flaunting your expertise. The idea here is to come up with a safe and efficient formula that filters out toxic websites.
Q: What mistakes do people often make with guest blogging?
Here are some common issues in guest posting for SEO:
- Writing below par content.
- Violating copyright laws or other terms of the host website.
- Not proofreading their post before submitting it.
- Choosing generic topics that fail to engage readers.
- Overlooking SEO, like keyword research on-page and on-page optimization.
Make sure to avoid these issues when looking for guest post opportunities.
Q: How to Search for Appropriate Sites for Guest Blogging?
To find suitable guest blogging sites, target your niche and high-authority sites with engaged audiences. Use search terms like “write for us” or “guest post” with your niche keywords. Focus on sites with solid traffic and active readership.
Q: How to Get Traffic to Your Guest Blogs?
After publishing, share the post on your social media. Make a list of close contacts, and professional networks, and request them to share it as well. Also, share it in social groups with individuals who have similar interests and add them to your email list.