How to Find the Best Websites to Submit a Guest Post

We all know that guest posting helps you get higher in Google results, reach new audiences, network within your niche, and many other sweet things.

Everything sounds perfect until … you decide to finally take action.

Those new to SEO often think that it can’t be that hard with all the billions of websites on the internet. Yet, in reality, finding the perfect resource to submit a blog post can feel like trying to find a real-life Prince Charming on Tinder or one of those dating shows. Well, let’s just put it this way … complicated.

Still, if you do manage to snag an opportunity to publish an article on one of the high-quality sites, you will never look back. How does that work? Keep reading to find out.

Guest Posting vs. Sponsored Posting

Source: @garethaboyd on X

What’s the difference between guest posting vs sponsored posting? Well, let’s get back to the dating show analogy. Say you really have a strong crush on one of the participants, so you write them a really touching love letter. If it works out, you get flowers (i.e., backlinks), and it could be the start of a lifelong romance. This would be guest posting.

On the other hand, you may be jaded (no judgments here), and your only interest is the cool prize at the end. So you decide to strike a “deal” with the most likely-to-win partner. You will give him a share if they help you win the coveted prize. That’s kind of like sponsored posting. Spot the difference? Guest posting is basically free placement and organic in nature. Sponsored posting is paid. But both of them involve submitting a blog post to someone else’s site.

Still, here’s the thing: it’s hard to find anything free these days. Guest posting is now basically a code word that often implies paid placement.

Is Guest Posting the Best Link-Building Tactic (+Alternatives)?

Source: @ahrefs on X

I can almost hear the wheels in your head turning now, “Hang on, there must be something else besides guest posting.” And you are right. This is SEO, after all.

If you could choose one thing it’s known for, it would be the fact there is always a different recipe or way to cook the same meal. So, there are niche edits, editorial backlinks, and press releases.

SBut what do guest posting, niche edits, editorial backlinks, and press releases all have in common? Turns out these are, or at least can be, prime link-building tactics if you know how to play your cards just right.

• With guest posting, you submit a blog post on someone’s site in exchange for a link to yours.
• With niche edits, you modify an already existing post to insert a link (hopefully without disrupting the message flow).
• Editorial backlinks come organically from reputable pages that want to highlight your partnership, announce a collaboration with you, etc.
• While press releases involve collaborating with news sites for links.

How to Submit a Guest Post: A Step-by-Step Guide

For most people, guest posting is the most sustainable and cost-effective technique for link building. You may feel the same way but are still unsure how to begin. Still, it’s easy if you just follow these steps.

#1 Decide as Early as Possible What You Want to Achieve

An effective guest posting strategy is one that has a clear goal or aim. So, before you go ahead to draft your first campaign or submit a guest post, ask yourself some questions. Do you want a couple of links or a free hundred? When do you hope to see the results? By having clear guest post goals, you’ll be able to better plan ahead. This includes deciding what you can do in-house and what to outsource.

#2 Research vs. Ideation

Guest posting can be a powerful way to convert more organic traffic, especially if you nail the research and ideation process. Still, some people focus on just one and forget the other, but you need both if your goal is to drive long-term growth through guest posting.

This involves digging up the best sites that will have a good impact on your own web page and making efforts to see how well you can align your content to best fit their policies and salute their audience. Then, make your pitch, and it better be one hell of a kind, as you’ll be competing with others for the same opportunity.

#3 Create the Best Content Ever

So, you’ve managed to convince a webmaster to publish your content, and now it’s time to deliver on your promises. Don’t fret; there’s an easy trick. Write your post with your readers in mind; you have to use your imagination a little here. Try to picture a real person reading your post and then speak with them.

This will help you adopt the right tone and style. Offer a fresh perspective on the topic in a clear, structured form. Ensure that you also present data-backed points and anecdotal examples to support your message.

#4 Review, Edit, and Only Then Submit a Blog Post

Even the world’s best writers need an entire team of editors, or at least someone to comb through their work to ensure the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed. So you need to have an editor go over your article and spruce it up so there are no weird sentences, errors, and the like. Only then should you go ahead and submit your guest post to the lucky site.

#5 Keep in Touch

If your post is published, you’ll want to send a follow-up mail to say thank you. It’s such a simple thing, but it helps keep the door open for another day. If you skip this basic courtesy, it might be harder to get the same site to publish your post next time. And oh, don’t forget to monitor the performance of your post, especially if the site allows for comments and other forms of feedback.

5 Things to Keep in Mind When Submitting a Blog Post

Source: @justdebbb on X

There are certain things you must also keep in mind while trying to figure out how to submit a guest post article to get your website into the limelight. Since the digital marketing landscape is constantly changing, you want to stay ahead of the SEO trends and predictions to maintain your edge. Sometimes, this means simple things like the following:

#1 Choose Your Guest Posting Sites Wisely

Like an actor hoping to make a mark someday, you’ll need to be selective with the stage to play in. Your time, resources, and more are involved, so you’ll want to go with the sites that can give you some positive returns on your investment. Sites with:

• Thematic relevance
• Traffic
• Content that’s not overloaded with casino/adult and similar content

#2 Play by Rules

Be prepared to pay the piper, whether that is following a very specific set of rules for submitting guest posts or making some form of payment. But also, don’t forget to prepare the material, work on your author’s bio, and do whatever else the site outlines in its policies.

#3 Don’t Get Fooled

Since there are probably quite a few websites that tick all the right boxes, you will want to be a little more strategic and aim for the really juicy ones at the top. To do this, pay attention to the following when submitting:

• Will the article be featured on the homepage?
• Check for tags such as noindex, nofollow, sponsored, and UGC.

You should know that, in some cases, unscrupulous webmasters may include noindex, nofollow, or sponsored tags after publishing or even remove the link altogether over time.

#4 Forget the AI and Basic Content

Okay, everyone and their dog is using AI, and it’s cool to discover the many ways people can be creative with it. But if you want to submit a blog post that really resonates with people, you will have to look beyond AI-generated content.

AI content is too obvious and is nothing more than rewriting, whereas people really want real value. If you don’t want to get lost in the ocean of content published daily, then come up with something written by humans with other humans in mind.

#5 Collaborate With Experts or Outsource

Chances are that you will need to outsource your guest posting from time to time. You want to be careful, though, and do your due diligence to avoid ending up with shady links. Instead, find white-hat credible services.

With LinksManagement, you can submit a guest post, also called an “article backlink.” The best part is that you don’t have to compromise quality for affordability, so you get to enjoy the cost-effectiveness of guest posting even before the links start working

Conclusion

It takes a lot of painstaking labor to submit a guest post that drives the kind of result you desire. But just like climbing a mountain requires preparation, you will need to do a lot of research and then put in the right effort to succeed. The good news is that when you get it right, it becomes a go-to tactic that you can always use to hit your growth targets. What’s more? It is a tactic that gets easier with time.