Guest posting – if you don’t know by now – is a well-established digital marketing strategy used by companies, agencies, bloggers, and anybody who wants to build their online presence.
It can boost your online visibility and get you more exposure.
Basically, you’re a guest author on another blog or website where you’ll write and publish a blog post.
With online content consumption ramping up even higher than in pre-pandemic times, you need a strategy that can help you stand out and drive traffic in 2023.
Is guest post writing worth it in 2023, you ask? It can seem like blogging’s taken a backseat in the digital marketing world with the rise of other channels like TikTok and YouTube for content creation.
But the truth is that the written word is still how most of us like to consume content online. Even after watching a video or a short clip, the next step for many people is to read a how-to guide or get more information from an article on the topic.
The short answer is that yes, guest post writing is still relevant in 2023. Let’s delve a bit deeper into why it’s worth doing, and how to get it right.
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Backlinks still rule SEO
Incoming, inbound, backlinks – whatever you like to call them, they’re links to your site from another – and we should never underestimate how important they are as a search engine ranking factor.
The more high-quality, relevant backlinks you’ve got to your website or blog, the more Google will notice. They are, and probably always will be, vital for search engine optimisation (SEO).
However, relevancy is key. Back in the day, before Google caught wind of some of the tactics people used to get seen in search, you could write a guest post on a high fashion site about how to keep a chicken. It might have got you somewhere if you put a link to your chicken site in there.
But in 2023, Google’s long wised up. Who links to your site is more important than how many inbound links you’ve got. What’s more, blog and website owners know this, so if you’re pitching a topic that’s completely unrelated to their site, you’ll probably get ignored. They don’t want to confuse their readers, and neither should you.
One or two inbound links from reputable, relevant blogs and websites will get you better results than hundreds of links from sites that have little to nothing to do with what you do.
Not to mention, have you ever tried to write content that combines high fashion and chickens? Exactly.
How guest posting (when it’s done right) builds backlinks
Guest posting is excellent as a method of generating backlinks for your website. When you post on somebody else’s site, you’ll usually be allowed to link your site somewhere in the post or your author bio.
These links indicate to Google that other sites think you’re legit, so you deserve to rank higher in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).
Google’s been making many updates to its algorithm lately (namely, the Helpful Content Update, which we’ll get into later). But we assure you that high-quality backlinks will continue to be a key factor used by search engines when determining just how relevant and authoritative a site is.
Build relationships in your industry
Guest posting isn’t just about backlinks (maybe in 2011, but not anymore!). You can use it as a strategy to build a name for yourself in your niche and cultivate relationships with other website owners and bloggers. You reach out to the owner before guest posting on their site. They’ll usually want to get to know you a little bit before they let you loose with guest post writing.
Ultimately, if they like what you offer, you can post on their site and connect with a broader audience, and they get extra content – it’s a win-win.
Through guest posting, you can put yourself out there for future opportunities, such as partnerships and collaborations. If you publish content that does well and drives loads of high-quality traffic, the owner will be a huge fan of you – and they might ask to collaborate again in the future.
As the competition for visibility and attention on the internet continues to reach even bigger heights in 2023 and beyond, building relationships through guest posting will become even more essential for website and blog owners. The more industry connections you make, the more opportunities you’ll get to reach new audiences. Impressive guest posts can bring recommendations and a better reputation in your industry.
Diversify your online presence
Guest posting on other blogs and websites can be particularly valuable for small businesses and websites with limited resources. That’s because it’s a cheap and effective way to expand your reach. You don’t have to shell out as much on expensive marketing campaigns when you have a good guest posting strategy.
Moreover, writing guest posts for a few different blogs or websites will diversify your online presence. Why’s that important? Well, if you put all your eggs in one basket and only guest post on one site, everything could come crashing down if that site is negatively affected by an algorithm change or penalty. After all, you can’t control how other people run their websites, but you can control where you choose to post.
With search engines placing more emphasis on displaying tailored content, diversifying your guest posts allows you to write and publish content that different segments of your audience will like. You don’t have to rely on just one website for web traffic and visibility when you’re busy guest post writing for multiple sites and blogs. Plus, depending on your industry, you might be able to find relevant sites with slightly different audiences – allowing you to cast your net out even further.
Guest posting best practices: Quality over quantity, always
Guest post writing is undeniably a powerful tool for building backlinks and putting yourself in front of a larger audience. But how do you leverage it?
There are some key do’s and don’ts if you want to see results.
In 2023, we’ve done away with some of the older guest posting tactics that might have worked ten years ago. You shouldn’t write a thousand posts on the same topic, worded slightly differently, insert your link, and post them on as many sites as possible.
Google will hate you. Honestly.
Quality content is the theme of SEO in 2023. As of January 2023, Google’s Helpful Content Update is almost rolled out with the main aim of ridding the internet of poor-quality, rushed, rubbish content that doesn’t do anything for readers.
For guest posters, this means coming up with something informative and taking your time to craft a helpful and interesting piece that readers feel educated by the end of.
It means focusing on the person who’s going to be reading the content, and making it about them, rather than your SEO strategy. Forget about search engines for a minute, and write for people.
Over the past few months, Google’s been vocal about their aim to prioritise ranking helpful, informative content. They mean business.
So, you could just focus on putting as many target keywords as you can manage into a guest post. But it’ll barely make a mark if your content isn’t written solely for the education and enjoyment of whoever’s reading it. Google is cracking down on content written for search engines. Soon, there’ll be no point in writing it at all.
How can we help?
Excellent guest post writing is an art form. If you don’t know where to start, it’s OK – you’re not alone! We know that only some business owners or agency owners are a wordsmith with all the time to develop well-written, well-thought-out, and interesting content.
Even if you’ve got a great idea, writer’s block is real – if you’re not a writer, getting it onto the page in a coherent, readable fashion is more complicated than it seems.
We get your struggle – and we’re here to help!
Guest post writing is our bread and butter. What’s more, if you need help with blogger outreach, we can do that too.
Fire over your ideas, and let’s work together to make guest posting work for you in 2023.