Guest Blogging SEO

How to Approach Guest Blogging Ethically?

The primary aim of guest posting should be to:

1. educate the audience
2. Inform the target audience about the blog
3. To create brand awareness while gaining high-quality links should be secondary.

This approach will help you remain within Google’s webmaster guideline. Following are few tips to ethically approach guest blogging-

• Write for Trustworthy sites

It is important to do proper research about a site before submitting a guest post. You must find a site easy to use and has lost of well-written contents. Also, check the amount of traffic the website receives if it is a good website it will have a lot of traffic. You should have a look at the backlink profile, it determines the quality of the website and also its visibility in Google’s SERPs.

• Write for Relevant sites

You should always look for a site whose interest is the same as yours. This will help you reach your target audience, in increasing your domain authority and will ensure relevance.

• Sites with curated contents

If any site posts your content without reviewing properly, then it’s probably not a good site. Good sites always review contents for quality before posting. Checking for properly displayed contact details is vital which means the site is reliable.

• Anchor Text is important

Don’t use exact match keywords in the anchor text as it will look unnatural at the eyes of Google. Google uses anchor text to understand the details of your website like- aim of the page, target audience, keywords, etc. So maintaining a natural and varied anchor text profile is very important, tools like Ahref and SEMrush can maintain a balanced anchor text ratio.

• Write for the target audience

You should always write content for educating and providing important information to your readers. Avoid over usage of keywords as it may seem unnatural. This will help your content have a natural outlook and Google won’t see this as a strategy to dodge their guidelines.

• Don’t Repurpose content with caution

In 2017, Google issued a warning about “links in large-scale article campaigns”. This ties in with a spammy tactic called article spinning. Never go with article spinning in which we re-write the article with the same content just by fixing the plagiarism, bring some research and provide a healthy content rich article. Repurposing of content is mainly done to publish it on multiple sites but it is always better to write original guest blog content as it will add value to your target audience.

List of websites accepting blog posting:

To be a guest blogger, it is important that you come up with interesting contents which may bring traffic to the websites and engage the visitors, it will increase the chances of your post being published on sites.

Following are a list of blogs which accepts blog posting-

• Marketing/SEO Blogs

1. ShoutMeLoud
2. content Marketing Institu
3. HubSpot
4. Outbrain, etc.

• Blockchain or Bitcoin Blogs–

1. CoinSutra
2. BitcoinChaser, etc. 

• Blogs on Technology

1. Read-write
2. ShoutMeTech
3. LimeWire
4. TechWyse, etc. 

• Blogs on Social media

1. Social Media Today
2. Social Media Examiner

• Blogs on designing-

1. Webdesignledger
2. Skyje

How to Find Sites Accepting Guest Posts and Outside contribution?

Top 2 ways to find sites for guest posting-

• Prospect the web
• Through websites that connect publishers and bloggers.

The first way is much more efficient than the second one. Let’s dig deeper using the first method.

1. Search for top blogs

The first step should be to Google a phrase like: “Top Blogs List in (mention your industry)” and then go through every blog in that list carefully. Surely, you will find few blogs accepting guest posts from contributors.

2. Perform Advanced Search

Google has several search strings which may help you find specific results on the web. While you Google a phrase, you may use “Keywords”, this will show results only when there is an exact match and helps in narrowing down the results, showing only those which are important. Example-

• “Keyword” “write for us”
• “Niche Term” inurl: contributors
• “Target search term” inurl: authors
• “guest author” “keyword”

3. Follow Active Guest bloggers

Most people and companies share their post using social media profiles. Following people who contribute quality guest post can bring in opportunities. You can also try search strings like “Person name” or “company name” “guest post” to find sites where they are posting.

How Guest Blogging Improves SEO?

1. Backlinks

One of the major effect guest blogging has on your site’s SEO is through your site’s link profile.

Google uses these links to determine how popular or reputable your site is. It increases the credibility of your site and makes it look more reliable. Since Backlink is a major factor which determines the ranking of your site, it is important to know how to use it.

2. Link Placement

We should place the link within the body of the article such that it shows relevance with the context and makes it easy flowing. You should always ask the blogger to put the link in the article’s body as it will create a natural link for the reader. It increases the chances of the link being clicked by the readers of that blog.

3. Role of Anchor Text in SEO

 Anchor text plays a major role in improving site traffic, Google uses external anchor text to understand the whereabouts of your page. There are various anchors text-

• Branded: your brand’s name
• Keyword rich: using a specific keyword you want to rank for i.e,” digital marketing”
• Partial match: using a piece of specific keyword i.e, “XYZ specializes in digital marketing”
• URL: URL of your site’s page
• White noise: this, there, click here, etc.

However, it’s not so simple as to use the same keyword there’s more to it. It is Important to make your site look natural otherwise Google may see your content written to dodge their guidelines. The simplest way is to build links that add value to your site and content.

How to Spot Low-Quality Websites?

You may spend an appreciable time searching for sites accepting guest posts but how will you know if it is a low-quality website? Following are some points which may help-

1. List of websites

While searching if you find a webmaster having a large list of websites which they control and where you can post on, then they are low-quality sites. They have a list of websites under the same IPs where they ask for money to post your content without even reviewing it properly.

2. Domain Name and History

It is important to check the background history of any website you wish to link with.

First, check the Domain name. Reliable and trustworthy sites always have easy and understandable domain names.

Second, have a look at the backlink profile. A good website always has lots of quality links.

3. Traffic

Reliable websites get a lot of traffic. It is important to check the incoming traffic of the bust posting sites SEMRush or Ahrefs can compare the traffic changes of the website.

Good websites should be visible in SERPS, if not on the first page but within the top 5 pages.

4. Links

As mentioned earlier, a good website always has quality links associated with it. Again, Ahrefs can be used for counting links even those which have disappeared. Another way is to check if Google shows site links for the domain search query.

Is Guest Blogging still useful?

YES, guest blogging is still useful. The most important aspect of guest blogging is gaining high-quality links from relevant sites which helps in improving search engine rankings ultimately brings visitors to your website. Guest blogging is useful if used properly and honestly within Google’s webmaster guidelines.

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