As the word itself says, a guest post is a guest post on another blog. Guest blogging is simple: you can write a blog post based on the owner’s needs and get a backlink in return.
The blog owner’s interest in opening a space for a “guest” lies in the possibility of attracting more visitors thanks to new quality content. The interest of the writer, on the other hand, lies in obtaining backlinks to rank better in search engines.
In short, guest blogging is an activity that offers benefits both for those who receive the content and for those who create it. That is why it is among the most popular SEO strategies among bloggers.
Does guest blogging work?
At the center of guest blogging is the backlink tactic. Google analyzes the links that point from one website to another. If a site contains many quality website links, it is ranked as valuable and appears higher in search results.
Basically, guest blogging has remained, for almost a decade, a viable tactic to better rank in the SERP.
However, people tend to abuse it.
In fact, some bloggers create content for sites with a different theme from yours. This detail may escape Google’s algorithm, but not visitors to the site hosting the post, which can appear confusing and out of control.
Over the years, many bloggers have tried to circumvent Google’s algorithm by placing fake links on their sites, but artificial intelligence has come a long way, and no one can escape it anymore.
So basically the answer is yes: guest blogging still works, but only if the content doesn't sacrifice quality.
Guest blogging benefits
Guest post – come fare guest blogging – che cos’è il guest posting
Generate backlinks, so guest blogging also allows you to rank better in search results
Build relationships with other bloggers
Opening up to a wider audience than yours
Increased authority
Increased domain authority (DA)
The first step, once you understand the benefits and reasons for guest blogging, is to find a blog willing to “host / publish” your content.
One tactic could be to openly search for a blog open to this opportunity, searching the Google bar for the topic you want to cover + guest post.
There are also tools, like SEMrush, that identifies the backlinks of a site and also helps you control yours, so that you are never penalized.
Once you’ve identified a blog you’d like to guest post on, you need to ask yourself if it’s a quality blog with sponsored posts. How?
It should be on the same topic as yours
Must be able to attract people to comment, share and take action
It should be easy to use
Check the results of the indexing in Google
If the author is known, it is better
Overall, you should present quality content, you shouldn't be invaded by tons of advertising, and you shouldn't be abandoned.
Even in these steps, SEMrush is really useful. It allows you to obtain information about the traffic, the growth estimates and the keywords with which you rank.
Once you’ve identified a few but high-quality blogs, it’s time to contact the site owner. Write a personalized email where you talk about yourself and tell what makes you a good guest blogger.
What is guest blogging for?
It is essential to generate content on platforms other than ours. If we generate content outside, as a guest on a reference blog or a prominent page in the sector, it will allow us to achieve greater visibility and attract new users to our channels, also helping us at the SEO level.
It is important to know that, if we act as a guest blogger, we have to write original and interesting content for users, dedicating more effort to the posts you write as a guest.
To add value to users, the content in each paragraph has to be of quality. If we have links that add value, they can be added, but always at a trickle. We cannot include links indiscriminately in the content because the interest will drop abruptly, and your brand’s authority will decrease.
What is guest blogging
Although the main objective of the post is to attract traffic to the web, filling the content with links is not the solution. For this you must use other SEO strategies.
Users today are saturated with information. For this reason, we must make ourselves noticed and provide added and differential value. Although this can be tricky, you can achieve it by adding images, videos, a correct HTML format, and talking about topics you know.
We can say, then, that guest blogging serves multiple aspects.
To do branding
Thanks to guest blogging, we become experts in the eyes of our target audience. Thus, our brand also strengthens and benefits.
To generate networking
With guest blogging we increase relationships with bloggers, influencers and other companies. By building relationships with companies that complement us, win-win deals can flow.
To get traffic
Since the posts are published on one page, we benefit from the traffic it gets. If a blogger or company representative of a sector publishes your post, it is a recommendation for their community, making their users read your post.
To increase SEO
By posting on a third-party blog, we have the freedom to link to the aspects that we consider important.
Although it is advisable not to abuse this aspect because Google can penalize your page. You must be vigilant and careful when linking content.
Guest blogging benefits
Guest blogging is one of the most common ways to enrich a blog. With this type of strategy, the advantages are not only for the person who receives the post but also for the person who writes it.
The guest blogger benefits from writing a guest post on a blog other than their own for several reasons. First of all, it increases your visibility as well as your professional relationships because you can talk about topics that are not usually covered and generate links to your blog.
On the other hand, the blog gains different content and the option of attracting new users.
In this way, thanks to guest blogging, both parties win.
Through this technique, a different and original content is provided to users and your page will increase visibility through your blog.
We could say that guest blogging is a method to obtain links, being one of the most effective link building tactics today.
Of course, it is important to do guest blogging most correctly so that your website does not receive any penalty. For example, we can make a referral marketing website link us with the benefit that this entails.
Advantages of guest blogging for the blogger
Very good relationships are built with other bloggers
The exposure is higher
The brand is enhanced, both professionally and personally
Promote collaborative feedback
Attract followers on social media profiles
Improve writing skills
Leads are obtained
Advantages of guest blogging for the blog
Original content offered more regularly
More variety of topics and content are published
Relationships are built with other bloggers
The number of readers and traffic increases
Capture more audience diversity
Increase followers on social networks
How to guest blog
To be able to guest blog you have to consider a series of aspects for your article to be successful. We tell you step by step how you can put this strategy into practice.
Find the blog pages you can collaborate with
Finding blogs to partner with is essential. If you create a spreadsheet with data such as the blog’s name, the address, the domain, and the name and contact, you can have all the necessary information about it.
The blogs with which you collaborate will have to be of a similar or complementary theme to yours so that they share an audience or target audience.
keywords and select those sites that may be relevant to your company and your audience.
On the other hand, you can identify the authority of the domains of those blogs that you have selected to collaborate with. In this way, you can ignore those sites that have a low authority because they can harm your website.
Think about what topics you are going to propose
It is important to define what topics you will propose to the contacts you have selected. You can send them an email with a proposal so that your strategy can be successful.
You can do a keyword search to find the ones that are most related to your website, select the topics that have not yet been focused or have been used in the blog with which you are going to collaborate, choose the topics in which you are an authority and select those with which you can insert links that add value to the user and always make proposals with original content.
To identify the topics you will propose, first Search for the keywords and find those related to your blog and that of your partner. Select the topics that have not been covered in your partner’s blog and choose those in which you are an authority to publish quality content.
The best topics will be those that allow you to insert links to the strategic messages of your blog in a natural way and that adds real value to your readers. Always think about making proposals with unpublished and original content.
Identify which are the blogs that guest post and check the domain authorities
Although contacting blogs that carry out this strategy does not mean that they accept your proposal, you are more likely to be able to guest blog with those sites that are willing to partner with other bloggers.
In addition, it is important to check the domain authority of the blogs that you have selected to collaborate with. Those who have a low authority are not a good option because they can harm your site.
You can use different tools to check this information. In Moz’s Open Site Explorer, if you enter the site’s address in the URL field and click on Search, you will be able to know the authority of the domains you want.
Contact the partners
Once you have created a list of associated blogs and have selected topics, send an email to those responsible inviting them to exchange posts with you. Discuss why the collaboration can be interesting.
It is important to send a concrete and clear proposal. Do not hesitate to propose several topics, so that you can have more opportunities.
Before contacting potential partners, you can gradually get closer to them, through comments on the blog, on social media or by sharing their content. So they can get to know you before submitting your proposal.
Writes!
When they accept your proposal, it is time to start writing the post. To do this, we recommend some aspects that you should take into account when doing it:
In order to meet the delivery date defined with the partner, you will have to organize yourself.
Include the posts of the announcements in the editorial calendar
Meet the minimum number of words that have been established
You must adapt both the format and the language to the editorial line of the blog where your post will be published
The content created has to add value to the readers
Do not advertise your services or products
Do not load your post of links
Deliver the text with the most correct format, with headings, highlights, quality images, etc.
Where to do Guest Blogging
It is essential to adhere to the conditions that you have agreed to make the guest post because if you make a mistake, you will not be able to write on that blog again, and the author may comment on it to his circle of friends, thus closing other possibilities.
To make the search for pages where you can guest blog much easier, we provide you with a list of blogs where you can carry out this strategy.
OptimaWeb
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Convert visits to your website into sales, attract new customers and build loyalty. At optimalWeb, we help you achieve all this and more.
You can guest blog with us. At ÓptimaWeb we deal with issues of digital marketing, SEO positioning, web design, social media … Do not hesitate to send us your suggestions!