If you’re a veteran blogger, you know that writing guest posts is one of the best ways to grow your audience, generate new interest, and build your brand. You also understand that creating great content isn’t always easy. But what if I told you that plenty of bloggers out there think guest posing is the only way to build links back to their site. So they write gibberish and post the same spun article everywhere. If this sounds like you or someone you know… don’t worry! We will clear up some common misconceptions about guest posting so everyone can benefit from their incredible potential!
Many Bloggers Think Guest Posts Are Only For SEO
Millions of bloggers who write guest posts think that the goal of a guest post is to get backlinks and improve SEO. As a result, Fiverr is chock full of sellers who will write (err…spin with a cheap AI tool) or post your article on an artificially inflated Domain Authority site that maybe gets 1,000 views a month. It is a terrible state of affairs, and it’s easy to get caught up in the hype of guest posting for SEO because it seems everyone is doing it.
Don’t be a lemming; guest posts are not for SEO. Here is the right way to think about taking the time to do guest posting properly
- Guest posts are for brand building
- Guest posts can establish name recognition
- If you do it right, guest posts can get visitors back to your site.
You need to understand that guest blogging is all about the content, and if you focus on writing great pieces of content, then everything else will take care of itself.
The best way I’ve explained this idea is by saying: “A guest post is like a hookup with someone you’re not interested in dating.” It’s meaningless unless it leads somewhere else—either they return your calls, or an actual relationship develops from there. The value comes from what happens AFTER the hookup (or after you write a killer piece).
Bloggers Think Guest Posts Are For Link Building.
Guest posts are poor for link-building. It’s been said many times by Search Engine Journal and Google that guest posts do not help with SEO.
According to Search Engine Journal, Google’s John Mueller stated on Twitter that Google not only frowns on guest posting for links but has been devaluing them for several years. He also stated that Google has years of data to train algorithms to detect and devalue guest post links, ensuring that they do not help a site rank higher.
For example, a guest post about a woman’s makeup on a technology site will be a red flag to all the search engines. We will discuss later on how to pick the suitable locations to guest post on. Spoiler: It is not about DA; it’s about being affiliated with the site’s content.
Bloggers Expect Instant Results From Guest Posts
Bloggers are impatient. They think guest posts are a quick fix. They think guest posting will give them immediate results, and that’s just not true.
Guest posts take time to build, and if you want to see results from your efforts, you have to be patient. They should be seen as part of your long-term strategy for growth. Think of guest posting as a longer-term investment in driving social media engagement and brand awareness through links back to your site from new audiences on high-quality sites like ours here at iGuestPosts.com.
Bloggers Are Not Spending The Time To Create Quality Guest Posts
As a blogger, you must understand that guest posts are not just for SEO. If you’re writing a guest post only for the link, then it’s unlikely that you’ll get many shares or likes. And if you are posting on a site with little or no social media following, then no one will know that your post exists in the first place. You are wasting your time.
Writing a quality guest post is simple, but it takes time. First, you need to consider your goals as an author and how they align with those of your host site (and vice versa). Here are five steps to creating a quality guest post.
Keyword Research
If more folks took a few minutes looking at this, we would all have a better content marketing world. My favorite practice is to log in to Semrush.com and simply type the topic or keywords I’m thinking about.
For example, typing in the keyword phrase “guest posting” gives me a brief report showing metrics and detail about that phrase in the search world. It looks like it would be tough to rank for that specific phrase. However, look down at Keyword Variations, Questions, and Related Keywords. Those areas will offer a small gold mine of information.
I clicked on the Related Keyword buy “guest blog posts” The monthly traffic is small, but there is not alot of competition for that word. So it is best practice to incorporate these low competition keywords into your article.
Use An On-page SEO Tool
I’ve used Yoast and Rank Math for my on-page SEO optimization, which does help a great deal. Think of these tools as providing guard rails for structuring your content. Of course, they won’t tell you what to write; that is your job, but these on-page tools will indicate if the search engines will understand it.
Don’t Create a Wall of Text
This is such a simple rule of thumb, but amazingly, thousands of bloggers ignore it. Instead, use headings and bullet points, and consider throwing in a related picture or graphic to start a new section. It will look better, be easy to read and increase the time readers spend on your post.
Keep it to the Point
Many so-called experts think they can skyscraper their way to top rankings in Google with incredibly long posts. Hogwash! That was true several years ago, but it is apparent with the introduction of Google Snippets that short and sweet is the way to go. I keep my posts between 600 and 1200 words. My paragraphs are short, no more than five sentences. Your goal is to answer critical questions about your topic and get recognized for your expertise with a snippet.
How can anyone else be if you’re not passionate about your topic? It’s essential to write about something that interests and excites you enough to keep writing about it for months on end. If there’s something that makes your heart beat faster or makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, then it might be worth considering as the subject for one of your first guest posts.
Bloggers Need to Choose Carefully Where to Place Their Guest Posts
As an author and blogger, it’s worth spending significant time looking at potential sites to place your content. It’s best to think of the adage “Birds of a Feather Folk Together” You want to look toward areas with other posts that match the theme of your posts. For example, if you merely look at Domain Authority, you may find your article is on a highly rated site, but your post gets no traffic because its content does not jive with the site’s overall theme.
Another option is to use a generalized news site. iGuestPost.com is a news site submitting articles to Google News, Newsbreak, and Apple News. It has a wide range of topic areas and is rapidly regrowing after being acquired by Thumbwind Publications.
Benefits of using iGuestPost.com for your next guest post.
- Each post is optimized for on-page SEO with a Rank Math score of 75+
- Every post is required to use headings, pictures, and graphics liberally
- Every post is edited from time to time to ensure evergreen content.
- Every post is shared on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
You can review the terms of iGuestPost and sign up as a contributor here.
Final Thoughts on Why Bloggers Have the Wrong Idea About Guest Posts
Guest posts can be used for many reasons: to build your business and brand, establish your reputation, get visitors back to your site, establish credibility for yourself, and build relationships with other bloggers and influencers in the industry.
Guest posts aren’t about SEO, links, or likes. The truth is that your guest post will likely get zero traffic from the host site, and no one will take it as a link back to your site. However, suppose you write something valuable for someone else’s audience. In that case, they may decide that your content deserves to be shared if they share it on their social media accounts or email list—or even better yet if their readers share it with their friends—that could translate into some pretty great exposure for your brand!
