What is Guest Blogging?
Guest blogging, also known as guest posting, is the practice of publishing content on a website belonging to another person or business. Guest posts are easily identified by the author bio, which is typically present at the bottom of the article.
Guest blogging is done to provide high-quality content for the other site. In exchange, you create awareness for your brand and get a link pointing back to your site.
While guest blogging is a white hat SEO technique, Google will consider it a link scheme if it is primarily created to build links or created using black hat SEO techniques like keyword stuffing. Google also considers duplicate, low-quality, and thin content guest posts as spam.
Importance of Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a popular strategy for building relationships, increasing exposure, and getting more backlinks to your site. These backlinks, particularly those from authoritative sites, signal to search engines that your site is credible and relevant.
Guest posts also establish the author as a thought leader. It allows them to reach new audiences and build trust with potential customers. Additionally, guest posts can generate targeted referral traffic from readers and customers who are already interested in your product, industry, or topic.
Beyond SEO, guest posting also helps expand your professional network by connecting you with other bloggers, industry experts, influencers, and potential partners. This can lead to further collaboration opportunities and support for your brand.
Overall, guest posting is a cost-effective strategy to enhance your business and blog, attract new leads, and grow your online presence.
Google’s Guidelines on Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a white hat link building technique. However, Google mentions that bloggers should engage in link building to provide value rather than building links. The guest post should provide new information to visitors, educate them, or bring awareness to the publisher.
Google explicitly discourages guest posting for links and recommends that bloggers include a rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored” to these sorts of links. In fact, Google considers guest blogging done for link building as a form of link scheme.
This violates Google Search Essentials guidelines and can cause Google to demote your site or remove it from search results. Google also recommends that you avoid stuffing keywords into the article, publishing the same article across many sites, creating the articles using authors that are not experienced about the topic.
Google also requires bloggers to include rel=”canonical” and rel=”nofollow” tags to content that already exists on their site but is republished on another site.
Google also recommends that you should not repeatedly email other bloggers about accepting your guest post. Google mentions that bloggers do not like these sorts of messages and encourages them to report using Google’s publicly available spam report form.
Guest Blogging Best Practices
Guest blogging is a common link building technique. If you are looking to publish guest posts, it would be a good idea to follow the guest blogging best practices listed below. They will help you get the most out of your guest posts and increase the chances of your guest posts being accepted for publication.
1 Follow the Host Site’s Guest Post Guidelines
Many sites have specific requirements that they expect bloggers to follow when submitting guest posts. These requirements typically specify a word count and preferred writing tone, style, and topic. It is advisable to follow these rules as they increase the chances of your guest post being accepted.
2 Craft High-Quality, Unique, and Valuable Content
Most sites look for original articles that offer fresh perspectives or insights on relevant topics. So, ensure your content is well-researched, free from plagiarism, and valuable to the host site’s audience. This allows your content to align with the site’s expectations and increases the chances of your post being published.
3 Research and Choose Relevant, Authoritative Websites
Look out for sites that have a strong reputation and a high level of engagement from their audience. These sorts of sites increase the chances of getting more eyes on your content. They also tend to publish high-quality content and have the type of audience you seek.
4 Understand the Target Audience of the Host Blog
Every site caters to a specific group of readers with particular interests, preferences, and levels of expertise. It is crucial to understand who these people are and the type of content they want to see. You should then create content that matches their interests.
5 Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA) if Allowed
Some sites allow authors to include a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of their guest posts. If the site you are writing for allows this, then you should provide a clear and concise call to action that is relatable to the content. If necessary, you may need to create a dedicated call to action and even landing page relevant to the guest post.
6 Engage With Comments and Feedback on Your Guest Post
Many sites encourage guest bloggers to engage with comments and feedback on their posts. However, even if the site does not mention such, it is a great idea to respond to reader’s comments. This can help demonstrate your expertise and increase the post’s value. This also makes the site happy as you are helping their users and keeping their community engaged.
7 Provide a Concise and Engaging Author Bio
Many sites request an author bio with every guest post they publish. This is a great opportunity to sell yourself. So, make sure to include your experience and expertise in your author bio. Use it to build credibility with your audience and make sure it is concise and engaging. You should also include a link to your website.