Guest posting is a great technique to make your brand resonate on different niche-related websites. Developing a guest blogging strategy can also help boost your off-page SEO and your business’s online presence in search engines. However, you might feel that your guest posting efforts are not giving good enough results. It then becomes crucial to understand the most common mistakes you might not be aware of as you look to increase your backlink count through guest posting. 

Guest Posting & SEO 

When effectively implemented, the benefits of guest posting in SEO are undeniable. As your business increases its online presence, it becomes more knowledgeable. Having your brand’s name resonate on different relevant websites is just the beginning, as other technical advantages will boost your brand’s authority and improve your search engine’s results. Due to this, it’s no mystery why 60% of bloggers write between 1 to 5 guest posts per month. 

As other websites refer to your brand’s domain, your business will gain authority. This, when related to SEO, translates into various perks:

• Niche-related backlinks: Your backlinking strategy is something you should never overlook. Backlinks through guest blogging opportunities allow your page and domain to elevate its authority. While search engines never expressly admitted it, this is directly related to your keyword positioning in SERPs.
• Referrals: Finding a profitable guest post blog is not an easy task. However, good research may result in getting permanent referrals to your brand. If your guest posting submission is good enough and it sticks on top SERPs, you may end up having permanent website visits coming from it.
• Shorten the sales funnel: Readers who get to your guest post blog are potential qualified leads who already showed interest in your niche but chose to click on a different website. However, your guest posting backlinks will take them to your brand if they are specifically looking for what your brand has to offer.

Common Guest Posting Mistakes to Consider

The above-mentioned advantages of guest blogging in SEO sound like a great deal. However, it’s only when correctly done that guest blogging opportunities turn into such a beneficial practice. Here are 5 things to consider the next time you draft a guest post outreach.

#1. Not Efficiently Analyzing Guest Post Blogs

Millions of websites offer guest posting opportunities. However, not all of them are as good as they may seem. To find relevant niche-related sites where you can submit your guest post blog and make it worth the shot, there are some elements you should look into. For instance, you should always pay special attention to:

• Moz and/or Semrush DA Range
• Organic traffic
• Spam score
• Type of offered backlink – dofollow or nofollow
• Whether the site is approved for Google News or other similar news platforms
• Number of accepted backlinks
• The country where the site gets most of its traffic from
• The website’s primary language
• Total traffic analysis as provided by Google Analytics
• The website’s main categories
• The average lifetime of links based on past guest posting submissions

This may sound like a lot to process and it may take some time for you to get hold of all this information before you finally decide to prepare a guest post outreach message. Fortunately, some guest posting websites offer filters where you can find relevant guest blogging opportunities based on these criteria.

#2. Not Sticking to The Guest Post Guidelines

Once you find a suitable opportunity to submit your guest post, you must always read, understand, and adhere to the guest blogging guidelines. It’s crucial to consider that you will be writing a blog post for a website that has its own identity. Therefore, the website owners want your post to keep in line with the site’s format. Not following these requirements may result in writing a pitch or even a whole post in vain.

Each website holds guidelines of its own, and it’s up to the website owner or admin to decide whether they accept your guest posting submission. You will be able to check the requirements on the website’s “Write for us” page. These guidelines generally refer to the following:

• Number of accepted guest post backlinks
• Accepted backlink types
• Accepted and restricted topics
• Word count
• Internal website linking requirements
• The need for a pitch before you can submit your blog
• Submitting a short biography

Most platforms that connect marketers and business owners who want to submit their guest post blogs tackle these guidelines by standardizing them as you prepare your submission. Therefore, you can adjust your articles according to their guest blogging guidelines on the go. Otherwise, you can also opt to hire a link-building service provider and forget about following guest post guidelines as you leave everything to them.

Additionally, all websites that offer a guest post blog tend to have strict guidelines regarding content uniqueness. This is because duplicate content may affect their domains. Therefore, running a plagiarism check is a great idea if you want your post to successfully go through the compliance check.

#3. Not Paying Attention to Anchors

Another common mistake when developing a guest posting submission is not considering the anchors. In short, anchors are the words where the links that refer to your website are embedded. This is the text your guest blog readers will see and decide whether they will click on it or not. 

Anchors play two crucial roles when it comes to SEO. On the one hand, they need to be persuasive enough to make interested people who land on your guest post want to click on them. Otherwise, they will just be there sending link juice to your domain, but not referring any organic visits to your brand’s website. 

On the other hand, anchor texts also help search engines understand what the referred webpage is about. This is an important element when it comes to your SEO strategy, as you can monitor which keywords your website is currently ranking for by visiting the corresponding analytics platform, such as your Google Search Console. This, in combination with an efficient keyword search tool, will help you adapt your off-page SEO strategy, find suitable keywords your website may rank for, and decide which anchors you prefer to use in your next guest posting initiative.

#4. Not Being Consistent Enough

Consistency is key when it comes to guest posting. Half the bloggers around the world claim to reach out to guest blogs up to 10 times per month to submit new ideas. Having one great guest post is not enough, as at some point its content may become out of date or obsolete and fail to refer new visitors to your brand’s website. However, you may reach out to that same site again if you believe it was worth the shot. 

Keeping track of those sites where you had a good experience is a good idea. You can have a list of websites and points of contact you can reach out to whenever you come up with a new idea. This way, and as you will already know the site’s requirements and guidelines for guest posting, you will be able to have your new content live in no time.

A crucial aspect of consistency is that guest posting is not just about reaching out to websites. Writing high-quality unique content that is related to the website’s specific niche is also a time-consuming activity. Once you have your list of preferred sites, you can opt to hire guest blog writers who can easily do the writing job for you. This way, you can save time and fully dedicate yourself to other SEO tasks, such as researching and finding more guest posting opportunities for your website.

#5. Failing to Monitor Your Guest Posts

Once you get your guest blog published, it may seem the work is done. However, there’s still something else you can do to keep your guest posting strategy to its fullest. Your posts are as important as your website’s blog. Therefore, you should always keep an eye on outdated content or articles that may have become obsolete.

As we mentioned above, keeping track of the sites where you submit your guest posts is a good idea if you’re planning on a recurring strategy. Additionally, this list may also help you remember where your guest blogs are and where they refer to. This way, you can check if they are still live, or if they need updating due to, for instance, a change in your website’s URLs.

If, by any chance, you notice a guest post that used to be live was taken down, you can politely reach out to the website’s owner and ask them about it. Maybe they felt your content was not useful anymore, or they are looking for something fresher. Anticipate this move and other guest bloggers by contacting them and proposing a new idea to keep your content fresh and up to date and your guest posting backlinks live.  

An Efficient Guest Posting Strategy

Developing an efficient guest posting strategy may not come across as an easy task. However, keeping the above-mentioned factors in mind will help you make the most out of each post submission. As your brand starts growing, you will be able to delegate more processes and focus on your core SEO elements.

Always remember to have your guest post outreach messages ready and up to date to ensure personalized communications whenever you want to grow a new relationship. Keep track of those blogs that were beneficial to your brand for the future, be consistent, and give anchors the importance they deserve. These, together with an efficient on-page SEO strategy, will help your brand’s website rank higher in SERPs soon.