Even though guest posting is a great way of getting backlinks from relevant websites, you also get referral traffic, brand recognition, and authority on the web.
In online marketing guides on how to improve SEO, link building – essentially, getting a link from other websites back to yours – always comes the top of the list. And if you want to build high-quality backlinks, writing guest posts, or blogging for those websites, is the way to go.
Link building is important, because to Google it is a key factor in ranking your site on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
However, there is a belief that guest posting is a mere link-building tactic on its way out. Although it’s a link-building strategy, guest posting provides a lot more, but is it still relevant in 2020?
Why Backlinks Are Essential
Search engines implement many ranking factors to decide how pages should rank in online search results. And one of the most essential factors is inbound links. Basically, inbound links are pages on other sites that direct people to pages on your site.
These links are the building blocks of the worldwide web, and they’ve been adopted by Google as important ranking signals. The idea is that for a lot of trustworthy websites to link back to yours, then your site must be trustworthy, too. And for that reason, you’ll rank higher in search results.
Is Guest Posting Worth It?
Guest posting creates a permanent location where you’ve shared your knowledge and which can be referenced to get future appearances on guest posts, conferences, client relationships, and a lot more. Guest posting is a great tactic to build clout for you, your brand, and your domain authority or search traffic.
The fact is, guest posting still works, and it’s still a sure-fire way to earn high-quality backlinks. However, online marketing has evolved over the years, and so has guest posting. But what’s new in 2020? And how can you manage the changes? This is how:
How to Use Guest Posting for SEO Success
1. Choose High-Quality Sites
When you start seeking out websites you can guest post for, ensure they are reputable and high quality. A top-notch guest post agency would normally use this tactic. Choose websites related to your industry, so adding the links is easier and more natural. But you shouldn’t necessarily limit yourself to just your industry. Pitch the website to a couple of titles and see how things progress.
To know if a website is worth targeting, you’ll need to assess their authority. Firstly, you can make a relevant search on Google to see how the website ranks.
You can also use the DA (Domain Authority) checker from Small SEO Tools or the Website Authority Checker from Ahrefs to gauge the DA of the website. A DA of 40-50 is classified as average, 50-60 is good, and above 60 is excellent.
Your target blogs should have a DA of at least 40.
2. Be Careful with Headlines
Headlines are powerful in the sense that they are the first things that attract readers to your post. And it takes only eight words in an article headline to give potential readers an idea of the value they’ll be getting from your article.
Here are some tips on how to create a catchy headline;
- Let people know what they’ll be getting (guidelines, strategies, steps)
- Use a question people have been asking (for example: ‘are infographics still effective in 2020?’)
- Use specific data or numbers (‘7 ways to…’, ‘How to……in 5 easy steps’)
- Ensure it’s actionable (‘…to get more sales’, ‘….to get more readership’)
3. Flesh out Your Posts
It’s been proven that longer content works better than short content. Although most sites have their own requirements when it comes to guest posting, the reality is that you need to adhere to them. However, you should still be guided by the fact that longer content works better.
Ideally, a guest posting service would create a longer post that incorporates different elements to make the content more engaging. This is why their articles are usually more successful.
Even though it’s difficult to say exactly what an ideal length is, you should be more focused on adding value to readers, but a good word count to aim for is between 1,000 and 2,000 words.
4. Develop Strong Connections with Editors
Your relationship with websites that agree to your guest posting requests works both ways. You benefit from links to your website, and once you start getting high-quality posts (and links) on your site, it boosts your site’s authority and earns you more traffic.
However, you need to be cautious about spammy links. Ensure that the links added to those posts are highly relevant and that they add considerable value to your readers.
5. Only Add Links that are Relevant to the Post
Ensure that your anchor text is relevant to your post and that the link is relevant to the anchor. It has to fit in so that it can deliver value to the readers who click on it. Otherwise, your articles will not get featured on high-quality websites and you won’t get any backlinks that way. Watch out for grammar and spelling – the number-one ranking factor for content and links is quality.
To be clear, it’s not just about backlinks – the DA they help you build is very important, too. Your guest posting strategy should be based on high-quality content. That is the only way it will be of benefit to your marketing drive.
This guest blogging guide is targeted at marketers who want to ensure that they attain maximum success. However, if you’re unable to successfully implement these strategies because of a lack of time or the resources to do so, you should contact a guest post agency to assist you.
If you need help with guest posting, please get in touch with us today.