According to Aira’s State of Link Building report, impermanent blogging is the 3rd astir fashionable nexus gathering strategy, with 47% of surveyed SEOs utilizing it arsenic their go-to. 

Not lone is impermanent blogging good and alive, it’s inactive highly effective. In this post, you’ll larn everything you request to cognize astir impermanent blogging. 

But first, let’s marque definite we’re connected the same page.

Guest blogging is the signifier of penning and publishing a blog station connected different person’s oregon company’s website.

For example, I wrote a guest station for Grow & Convert respective years ago:

Guest blogging is simply a win-win for some the writer and the publisher.

Benefits for the writer:

• Build links backmost to their site
• Develop relationships with editors and publishers
• Expose their marque to a caller audience
• Build their estimation and presumption themselves arsenic a thought leader

Benefit for the publisher:

• Leverage the expertise and acquisition of writers. For example, we couldn’t person written astir Zapier oregon Pet Keen’s firsthand SEO acquisition without impermanent writers.

Getting your archetypal impermanent station published tin beryllium daunting. I’ve been there. Following the steps beneath volition marque the process easier and maximize your chances of success.

1. Find impermanent blogging opportunities

Most radical usage Google hunt operators to find blogs with “write for us” pages. However, if everyone’s pursuing this tactic, past everyone’s uncovering the aforesaid opportunities. Competition volition beryllium rife, and publishers whitethorn disregard your pitch. 

You don’t person to bounds yourself to this tiny excavation of blogs. Even if they bash not advertise it, astir blogs volition beryllium blessed to people a impermanent station arsenic agelong arsenic it’s good.

So here’s however to find applicable blogs to pitch:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
2. Enter a wide keyword oregon operation related to your niche
3. Select In title from the drop-down menu
4. Run the search

Here, you tin spot much than 2 cardinal imaginable opportunities. That’s excessively many, truthful let’s constrictive the database down by applying these filters:

1. Domain Rating (DR) from 30 to 60
2. Click the One leafage per domain filter
3. Click the Exclude homepages filter
4. Click the Exclude subdomains filter

Then click connected the Websites tab. 

These are the imaginable websites you could pitch.

2. Develop impermanent post ideas

The blogs you transportation volition privation winning contented ideas. So however tin you travel up with bully impermanent post ideas? 

Here are immoderate techniques you can use:

Copycat Technique

Three things are true:

1. Every blog wants much hunt traffic.
2. To get hunt traffic, you request to people topics radical are searching for.
3. Every blog has much topics to constitute than resources to cover them.

So wherefore not assistance your people blogs out? Find topics they should beryllium ranking for and transportation them those topics.

Here’s however to find them:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Competitive Analysis tool
2. Enter the domain of your people blog successful the Target section
3. Add the archetypal 3 suggested competing domains successful the Competitors section
4. Click Compare

This study shows you the keywords the competing domains are ranking for, but your people blog isn’t. 

Go done the study and look for keywords that are applicable to your people blog. For example, this seems similar a imaginable taxable to pitch:

Refresh Technique

Refreshing outdated contented tin supply a immense postulation boost, arsenic seen erstwhile we updated our post astir escaped SEO tools:

Your people blog volition apt person outdated contented that has declined successful hunt traffic. Pitch them an update.

Here’s however to find pages with declining traffic:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer
2. Enter the domain of your people blog
3. Go to the Top pages report
4. Set the Compare filter to Previous year
5. Sort the Traffic change file from lowest to highest

This volition amusement you pages connected your people blog that person the largest diminution successful hunt postulation since the erstwhile year. Go done the study and look retired for suitable topics, particularly those with declines successful postulation and keyword positions.

For example, SmartBlogger’s station connected rank sites has dropped successful some keyword positions and hunt traffic:

If you were penning for SmartBlogger, this would beryllium a bully taxable to pitch.

Robin Hood Technique

Popular blogs are fashionable for 1 reason: They person large content. Lesser-known blogs are lesser-known for the other reason: They person yet to people tons of large content.

So wherefore not instrumentality contented ideas from the apical blogs and connection them to lesser-known ones? 

We telephone this the Robin Hood Technique, named aft the English people leader who stole from the affluent and gave to the poor.

Here’s however to execute the Robin Hood Technique:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer
2. Enter the domain of a high-DR blog successful your niche
3. Go to the Top pages report
4. Toggle SERP titles on

Look done the study and spot if determination is immoderate thought that resonates. Put a unsocial rotation and transportation it to a lesser-known blog.

For example, if you’re penning for a idiosyncratic concern blog, this seems similar a bully taxable to beryllium inspired by:

A imaginable thought to transportation tin beryllium “free (or cheap) things to bash connected a date.”

Splintering Technique

Our link gathering guide is truthful broad it spans 5 chapters:

Each section could beryllium a station connected its own. 

So we tin interruption this station into “splinters” and make standalone articles. Each of these splintered articles tin beryllium pitched arsenic a guest post.

Since we already did the probe by creating the archetypal piece, the “splintered” articles would apt not instrumentality overmuch clip to write. 

Perspective Technique

You tin easy reuse a taxable by switching up the perspective. 

For example, let’s accidental we wrote a impermanent station titled “Best Remote Jobs for Students.” We tin screen the aforesaid taxable for antithetic publications via aggregate perspectives:

3. Pitch the blogs

This measurement is some the easiest and the astir nerve-wracking. It’s casual due to the fact that it’s simply an email you send. It’s nerve-wracking due to the fact that your destiny is successful the different party’s hands.

It doesn’t person to beryllium that anxiety-inducing, though. Here are immoderate tips to amended your chances of getting your transportation accepted:

Read the guidelines

If the tract you’re pitching has a “write for us” leafage oregon penning guidelines, read and travel them. For example, this is what CoSchedule expects:

Find the close email

If the work has a “write for us” page, past it’s apt it’ll supply either an email code oregon a form. 

Otherwise, you’ll request to find it.

Publications and blogs are typically managed by a managing editor, caput of contented or, if they’re a tiny site, the proprietor themself. So you privation to archetypal marque definite you place who that idiosyncratic is. 

You tin usually find them by visiting the “teams” oregon “about” page. For example, a speedy scroll connected our “team” page shows you should transportation to our caput of content, Joshua Hardwick:

If the “team” leafage is uninformative, past a hunt connected LinkedIn oregon Twitter usually suffices.

Once you’ve identified that person, usage an email find instrumentality similar Hunter to find their email. Add their sanction and website, and Hunter volition bash its magic:

Write an astonishing outreach email

Several years ago, I wrote a impermanent station for Grow & Convert. Benji Hyam, the co-founder, was truthful impressed with my outreach email that helium did an analysis.

Publications get a batch of emails. You person to basal out; otherwise, your email volition beryllium ignored.

Rather than look for a template that you tin copy-paste, you privation to recognize the principles down what makes a bully outreach email.

You tin look astatine Benji’s investigation of my email to spot what publications are expecting. You’d besides bash good to work the station beneath and travel the principles it lays out.

4. Write the guest post

If your transportation is accepted, past it’s clip to write.

I urge starting archetypal with the outline. Some sites whitethorn petition this. But adjacent if they don’t, an outline volition assistance soma retired your thoughts, signifier the post, and forestall blank leafage syndrome. 

To make an outline, you request to cognize what subtopics to cover. The easiest mode to find these subtopics is to look astatine the communal keyword rankings among top-ranking pages and eyeball the database for subtopics.

Here’s how:

1. Enter your people keyword into Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
2. Scroll down to the SERP overview
3. Select the top-ranking pages you privation to analyze
4. Click Open in and take Content gap

For example, if we analyse the taxable “affiliate marketing,” we’ll spot that the top-ranking pages besides rank for:

• what is affiliate marketing
• how to go an affiliate marketer
• how to bash affiliate marketing

These would marque bully H2s for a blog station connected “affiliate marketing.”

Once you’ve created your outline, each that’s near is to capable successful the “gaps,” i.e., constitute the existent post. If they person one, marque definite you spell backmost to the guidelines, work it carefully, and travel it to a T.

Where relevant, don’t hide to see links backmost to your ain content. Don’t overdo it, though; 1 to 2 links should suffice.

5. Promote your guest post

You should expect immoderate back-and-forth arsenic the steadfast edits and sends feedback astir your draft. Once they’re satisfied, they’ll pass you of a publishing date.

Don’t conscionable vanish erstwhile the station is published. Follow up! Thank the editor. And if there’s a remark section, enactment astir and reply.

Help beforehand the station by sharing it connected societal media too:

You tin adjacent spell the other mile by promoting the station successful applicable communities. In my case, Benji did it for maine by submitting it to GrowthHackers. But I stayed astir to reply comments.

It was apt the crushed wherefore it got truthful overmuch engagement:

It was adjacent the #2 station successful that year’s year-end roundup: 

Everything supra volition get you 90% of the way. But impermanent blogging is not a furniture of roses. So I’m sharing the tips beneath to assistance you flooded immoderate of the communal roadblocks.

1. Pitch much blogs than you tin handle

The cruel world of impermanent blogging is that adjacent if they’re good, your emails tin beryllium rejected oregon ignored. That’s nary responsibility of yours—publications are conscionable too busy.

So here’s a arguable tip: transportation the aforesaid topics to aggregate blogs. Then connection the nonfiction to whoever replies archetypal oregon has a higher authorization (if you get tons of replies).

This way, you’re ne'er lacking for impermanent posts. You won’t adjacent request to beryllium disquieted astir rejection, for determination volition beryllium different blog consenting to judge your ideas.

If you get much than 1 reply, simply archer the truth:

Sorry, you weren’t responding for a fewer days, truthful different blog took this idea. I’ll beryllium successful interaction with much nonfiction ideas that’ll beryllium conscionable as good.

2. Write for blogs that person ne'er linked to you before

Our study of 1 cardinal pages shows a beardown correlation betwixt integrated postulation and the fig of backlinks from unsocial websites (referring domains).

That whitethorn beryllium 1 crushed wherefore you privation to constitute for blogs that person ne'er linked to you before.

To find unsocial websites, deed the Highlight unlinked dropdown and adhd your website arsenic you’re pursuing measurement #1:

These tools volition marque your impermanent blogging process much efficient:

1. Ahrefs – Research impermanent station opportunities, find contented gaps to transportation blogs, physique your outlines, cheque backlinks from impermanent posts, and way your impermanent station rankings.
2. Hunter – Find the email addresses of website owners and editors.
3. Pitchbox – Send outreach emails at scale.
4. Ahrefs’ escaped AI penning tools – Generate outlines, titles, and proofread your drafts.
5. ChatGPT – Generate impermanent station ideas, make outlines, soma retired posts, proofread your work, and more.

Here are immoderate often asked questions astir impermanent blogging:

How does impermanent blogging help SEO?

Links are an important Google ranking factor. By penning a impermanent post, you tin physique links backmost to your pages and, therefore, boost their show successful hunt engines.

Is impermanent blogging atrocious for SEO?

In 2014, Google’s erstwhile caput of web spam, Matt Cutts, published a blog post proclaiming that “guest blogging is done.” However, helium was chiefly referring to low-quality impermanent blogging published connected low-quality sites for links. 

Writing a invaluable blog station for an established tract with a applicable assemblage volition inactive assistance your SEO and is improbable to hurt it.

Can I get referral postulation from impermanent blogging?

Several years ago, our main selling officer, Tim Soulo, asked 500+ bloggers however overmuch postulation they got from their impermanent articles.

The mean referral postulation crossed 239 impermanent articles was lone 50 visits.

So yes, you tin get referral postulation from impermanent blogging—but don’t acceptable your expectations too high.

Final thoughts

This usher contains everything our squad has learned astir impermanent blogging implicit the past fewer years. I anticipation it volition assistance instrumentality your skills to a new level. 

Did I miss retired connected anything? Let maine cognize on Twitter oregon Threads.