How to Find Guest Post Sites That Are Worth It

Guest posting means writing an article that another site publishes under your name. Done well, it puts your expertise in front of an audience that already trusts the publication, and it often earns you a link back to your site. Done badly, it means paying for articles on sites nobody reads, which does nothing for your business and can run against Google's spam policies.

This guide is about the first kind. It covers how to find sites that accept contributions, how to tell a real publication from a link farm, which red flags to walk away from, and how to write a pitch an editor will actually answer.

Start with the right goal#

Before you search for anything, decide why you're guest posting. The best reasons are:

• Reaching readers who could become customers
• Building a reputation as someone who knows the subject
• Earning a relevant link from a site in your field

If the only goal is the link, you'll end up choosing sites for the wrong reasons. Google's spam policies define link spam as creating links mainly to manipulate rankings, and they specifically mention paid articles that carry ranking-passing links. A guest post written for readers, placed on a relevant site, is a different thing entirely.

Finding sites with search operators#

Most publications that accept contributions have a page explaining how. You can find those pages with a few search patterns. Replace keyword with your topic, for example gardening, personal finance or B2B marketing.

"keyword" "write for us"
"keyword" "guest post guidelines"
"keyword" "submit a guest post"
"keyword" "become a contributor"
"keyword" "contributor guidelines"
"keyword" intitle:"write for us"
"keyword" inurl:contribute
"keyword" "this is a guest post by"
"keyword" "guest author"

A few tips make these searches more productive:

• Try several phrasings of your topic. "Indoor plants", "houseplants" and "urban gardening" return different sites.
• Look for who your competitors write for. Search for a competitor's founder name plus "guest post" or "author". Sites that published them may be open to you as well.
• Check the date. A "write for us" page from years ago may no longer be active. Look for recent contributor posts before pitching.

Searching by hand works, but it's slow. Our Guest Post Finder speeds this up: it opens every suggested site live and only confirms the ones with a page that actually explains how to submit. That saves you from pitching dead pages and sites that stopped accepting contributions.

Vetting a site before you pitch#

Finding a site that accepts guest posts is the easy part. Deciding whether it's worth your time is where most of the value is. Work through these checks for every site on your list.

1. The guidelines page is live and current#

Open the submission page. Does it describe what they want, how to pitch, and who to contact? A thoughtful guidelines page is a good sign that someone is actually reading submissions.

2. There are real editorial standards#

Look for signs that the site edits and rejects content:

• Clear topic requirements and a word count
• A request for pitches first rather than finished articles
• Rules about links, such as "one author bio link" or "no commercial links in the body"
• Contributor posts that read well and don't all follow the same template

A site that will publish anything is a site whose links won't mean much.

3. The topic fits your audience#

Read the category pages. If you sell project management software, a site about remote work and team operations is a strong fit. A general "business, tech, health and lifestyle" site covering everything is usually weaker.

4. There are real audience signals#

You can't see another site's analytics, but you can see evidence of an audience:

• Recent comments from real people, not just "Great post!" spam
• An active newsletter or social accounts with genuine engagement
• Named authors with real profiles elsewhere
• The site showing up when you search for topics it covers

Our Domain Authority Checker shows the NewBacklink Domain Score, our own metric built from the Common Crawl web graph, which is handy for comparing a shortlist. It's not Moz DA and Google doesn't use it, so treat it as one signal among several, never a pass/fail test.

5. The domain history makes sense#

A site claiming to be an established publication should have a domain and archive to match. A domain registered recently, or one that switched topics abruptly, deserves a closer look. See how to check domain age for how to do this.

Red flags that mean walk away#

Some signs are reliable indicators that a site exists to sell links rather than to serve readers:

• A price list for "dofollow" posts. Paying for editorial-looking links that aren't qualified goes against Google's policies.
• Guarantees about metrics. Offers like "DA 50+ guaranteed" are about selling a number, not reaching people.
• Unrelated outbound links everywhere. Casino, loan, CBD or crypto links inside articles about unrelated topics.
• Spun or boilerplate content. Awkward phrasing, repeated structures, and posts that say nothing specific.
• Every post has two or three commercial links. That's a pattern of a site built to host links.
• No named people. No editor, no about page, no way to find who runs the site.
• "Write for us" pages in dozens of unrelated categories, often a sign of a network of similar sites.

If a site shows several of these, skip it even if its metrics look impressive.

Paid guest posts must be sponsored#

Some reputable publications charge for contributed content, and that can be a legitimate marketing expense. The rule is simple: if you paid, or gave anything of value in return for the article, the link must be qualified. Google's guidance on qualifying outbound links says to mark paid placements with rel="sponsored":

<a href="https://www.example.com/" rel="sponsored">Example Project Tools</a>

If a publisher charges you and refuses to mark the link, or promises the link will be "dofollow", that's the site telling you it doesn't follow Google's policies. Look elsewhere.

How to pitch#

Editors get many generic pitches. A short, specific one that shows you've read the site stands out.

A good pitch:

1. Uses the editor's name if it's listed.
2. Shows you know the site, for example by mentioning a recent article and what you liked about it.
3. Offers two or three specific topic ideas that fill a gap on their site, each with a one-line summary.
4. Explains why you're qualified, in one or two sentences.
5. Links to one or two writing samples.
6. Follows their guidelines exactly, including the subject line format if they specify one.

Here's an example:

Subject: Guest post pitch: A pre-launch checklist for small online stores

Hi Maria,

Your recent article on choosing a payment provider answered a question our
customers ask us every week, so I shared it with our team.

I run an e-commerce setup agency and would like to contribute to your
"Getting Started" section. Three ideas:

1. A pre-launch checklist for small online stores (testing checkout,
   shipping rules, tax settings, and email notifications)
2. How to write product descriptions that answer the questions customers
   actually ask
3. What to track in your first 90 days after launch, and what to ignore

Samples: [link 1], [link 2]

Happy to adapt any of these to fit your guidelines.

Thanks,
Sam

Writing the post#

Once a pitch is accepted, write the best article you can. It's going out under your name.

• Make it genuinely useful. Specific steps, real examples, and advice readers can act on.
• Link naturally. One relevant link to your site, placed where it helps the reader, is plenty. Use descriptive or branded anchor text rather than a keyword-stuffed phrase. See our anchor text guide.
• Link to other sources too. Referencing other useful resources makes the article better and shows you're not only there for your own link.
• Respond to comments after it's published.

Track your outreach#

A simple spreadsheet keeps things organized. Columns worth tracking:

Follow up once, politely, about a week after pitching if you haven't heard back. After that, move on.

The bottom line#

The best guest post sites are real publications with real readers, clear editorial standards, and a topic that matches yours. Find them with targeted searches, vet them carefully, skip anything that looks like a link shop, and mark any paid placement as sponsored. Write for the readers first, and the link becomes a byproduct of good work rather than the whole point.