Many people wonder if the guest blogging still has a great impact as it did before. The guest blogging technique masterfully utilizes a niche piece of content to share it with different platforms to earn a backlink and referral. And I must tell you that it still works in 2020. Content is still the king of marketing. The number of readers is rising exponentially each day, thanks to smartphones and the internet.

The question shouldn’t be why should you do it but how should you do it.

What is Guest Blogging?

Guest blogging also called “guest posting” is the act of writing content for another company’s website in return for a backlink. It isn’t a one-way street! Guest blogging offers mutual benefits for both guest bloggers and the website owner.

Generally, guest bloggers write for similar blogs within their industry in order to:

• Attract traffic back to their website
• Boost their domain authority using external links to high-authority domains
• Increase their brand credibility and awareness
• Build relationships with peers in their industry.

How does it work?

• Well, you start with researching a topic or subject that most people would like to know about
• After conducive research, you start writing 1000 words or plus blog, nicely drafted to include everything about a topic, why it is important, how people can benefit from it or why is it hazardous. 
• The blog shouldn’t sound like promotional material for a product or service but an educational piece.
• Bring out the facts, quotes, and data that will help to add relevance and insight to your blog.
• Add necessary links to the sources, references, and websites that you wish to promote like your own website.
• Voila! It’s done. Now, all you need to do is approach some of the great blogs around with a good amount of readership and a guest blogging feature.

5 Steps to boost SEO through Guest Blogging

Here are five tested and proven ways to boost your SEO through guest blogging.

Add more meat to your posts

When it comes to blogging, long-form content works well than short-form content. Long-form content is meatier and it has more information which makes it highly engaging. Short content is limited not only by length but the information you can provide. In long content, you can add quotes, examples, pointers, multimedia, references, etc. Longer posts that mix in different elements are going to be more engaging for the readers.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should only invest in creating a lengthy blog post. Go for quality over quantity.

Backlinko analyzed 912 million blog posts and found that:

• Long-form content earns more social media shares
• Long articles get over 77% more backlinks than short articles

The most successful blog posts tend to have 1,000-2,000 words. Try to get your word count over 1,000 words but don’t exaggerate. 

Target high-quality sites

When you decide to post your blog you should aim to get it submitted to a high-quality website. You will find hundreds of websites offering guest blogging but you should be wary about posting your blog on a website that has zero readers or is poorly ranked in Google.
When you start searching for websites you could write for, make sure they are highly reputable. @Medum is a great example of a highly-reputable website that allows bloggers to frequently submit their blogs. It’s well ranked in Google search results and has a huge reader base.
But there aren’t many websites like @Medium out there. Out of hundreds of website, it’s best to choose sites that are relevant to your industry, so you can naturally infuse the links. There’s a high chance that a website will accept your blog post if it matches its theme.

How do you estimate the authority of a website to know if it's worth targeting?

• You need to be a bit of SEO savvy to assess a website’s authority. See how it ranks when you make a relevant search on Google. 
• Use tools like SEMrush and Moz’s Moz bar to understand the website’s domain authority. Check the PageRank and other relevant ranking factors.
• Domain authority between 40 and 50 is considered average, between 50 and 60 is considered good and over 60 is considered excellent. So look for blogs that have a DA between 40 and above. 

Only include links relevant to the post

 Never spam your blog post. The website owner will outright reject your guest blog if they notice that you’ve spammed your own blog with numerous irrelevant hyperlinks.

The same applies to readers. They will click the link only when it matches the context of the blog or if the ‘anchor text’ promises to deliver more from what they’re looking for.

Avoid short anchor texts like ‘avocado recipes,’ ‘responsive website,’ and ‘5 SEO techniques.’ The anchor text has to be relevant to the post, and the link must be relevant to the anchor. It must fit in flawlessly such as ‘local SEO techniques for small business,’ ‘Avocado recipes to try at home,’ etc.

Don’t place too many links in your article unless it’s necessary. You can place links for quotes, references, or sources to news sites, educational blogs, etc.

Mind the headline

A blog post will acquire more readers when the headline is concise and specific-to-the-topic. Avoid using cliché headline like ‘Best SEO techniques.’ A small business owner may have a very different SEO need than a medium or a large enterprise. If your targeted audience is a small business, then you should consider adding a headline relevant to what they are looking for.

In their Guest Posting in 2018 report, the State of Digital found that guest post headlines with eight words (40-60 characters) boosted the average "link acquisition" by 110%!

A concise headline is enough to tell potential readers exactly what value they're going to get from your article. The headline, after all, is what prompts people to read your post in the first place.

To create a great headline:

• Use specific numbers or data (e.g. "6 Steps to..." "How to get 127% return...")
• Tell people what they'll get (steps, strategies, principles, etc.)
• Make it actionable ("...to earn more traffic," "...to get more sales calls," etc.)
• OR, state the question people are asking "How can you use Google maps to drive attention to your business")

Build lasting connections with editors

Guest blogging is a mutual relationship. You get something and you give something back. In this case, you give them content, and they give you a backlink. Frequently post high-value blogs for a single website. This will help to get you in the good books of the editor. The next time you submit your blog, they may offer you an opportunity to add more links in your article, a ‘featured position’ on their homepage, etc.

To boost SEO, you should not only worry about creating more backlinks but submitting relevant and niche blog posts in the high domain authority websites. Your guest posting strategy will be beneficial only if it’s based on high-quality content.

Quick tips to improve your Guest Blogging Strategy

• Use the boilerplate to the maximum. Write a clear and concise author bio. Add a backlink to your company website. Your bio tells about you and it can be useful for readers if they wish to contact you or use your services in the future.
• Try to include at least one relevant internal link back to one of the company’s previous blog posts within your guest post. They’ll appreciate the research you’ve done and this small act helps increase their own authority and traffic.
• Conclude each post with a “Call-to-action.” Call-to-Action puts emphasis on the readers to leave comments or share your blog post.
• The guest blogging doesn’t just end with you posting a blog you would need to promote it yourself. Consider sharing the blog link in your own social media networks. Share it with friends, customers, and other potential readers. This will help to promote your blog as well as create a dedicated reader base
• Use Google Analytics to track how much traffic your guest post is generating. This will give you a broader idea of what readers want to hear about and see what is working for your business.

Here is the detail information about the info graphics on 5 ways to boost SEO through guest blogging. 

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