What Is a Guest Post?
A guest post is an article written by someone outside a publication and published on that site under the guest's name, usually with a short author bio and one or more links back to the writer's own site. Done well, it reaches a new audience, builds credibility and earns a relevant backlink.
Also called: guest posting, guest blogging, guest articleUpdated
Why founders write guest posts
- Audience: you get in front of readers who already trust the publication.
- Credibility: a byline on a respected site in your field is a signal people and AI assistants notice.
- Links: a relevant contextual backlink from an editorial page in your niche.
The audience and credibility often matter more than the link, especially for a new product.
What Google says about guest posting
Google's spam policies list "large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links" as an example of link spam. Guest posts that are paid for are paid links and should be qualified with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
That does not make guest posting bad. A genuinely useful article for a relevant publication, with a natural author-bio link, is ordinary publishing. The problem is volume and intent: dozens of thin posts on unrelated sites, each with an exact-match keyword anchor, written only for the link.
Guest post vs. sponsored post vs. niche edit
- Guest post: you write a new article that the publication accepts on its merits.
- Sponsored post: you pay for an article to be published; it should be labeled and its links qualified.
- Niche edit (link insertion): a link added to an existing article, often for a fee.
Many "guest post services" sell what is really a sponsored post. Ask what you are buying, and see our comparison of backlink services for SaaS.
How to land a good guest post
Pick publications your buyers read, study what they publish, and pitch a specific idea only you can write, backed by your own data or experience. Our guest posting guide covers finding sites, pitching and writing.
Illustrative examples
Hypothetical scenarios that show how the term applies. They are not reports of real cases.
- A developer-tool founder writes "What we learned migrating 10 TB to Postgres" for an engineering blog, with a bio link to the tool's homepage.
- A marketing site publishes a paid "guest post" stuffed with three exact-match commercial links: really a sponsored post, and a link spam risk.
Frequently asked questions
Is guest posting still worth it?
Yes, when it is about the audience and the article is genuinely useful. It is not worth it as a mass link-building tactic on unrelated sites, which Google's spam policies specifically call out.
Should guest post links be nofollow?
If you paid for the post or the link, Google says the link should be qualified with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". An unpaid, editorially accepted article with a natural bio link is ordinary publishing.
Go deeper
Backlinks
How to Get Backlinks for a New Website (Fast, and Without Risky Shortcuts)
Backlinks
Guest Posting Guide: How to Land Guest Posts That Bring Traffic and Links
Backlinks
Buying Backlinks: Risks, Google's Link Spam Policy and Safe Alternatives
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