Is guest posting effective in building backlinks?

Are you a new website or a low domain authority website struggling to build backlinks? Many experts suggest tactics, like guest-posting, that worked for them 5-10 years back. But now, the game has changed. The same methods do not work as effectively as they once did; one such tactic is Guest-blogging. Many go down that route but, is guest posting effective in building high-value backlinks for new websites?

Guest posting is not the most ideal method to build backlinks. It takes a lot of time and you often get no response from the website owners or you have to pay them. Plus, you have to give away your content which could otherwise benefit your website.

Google is not a big fan of paid guest-blogging. Backlinks are supposed to be a result of high-quality content, not of trade. In the long run, once Google catches up, your paid guest post backlinks will come back to bite you.

Besides wasted time and the potential to cause Google penalties, here are a few more reasons why the guest posting for backlinks is ineffective for new websites.

1. Your publish schedule goes for a toss.

If you write your own content, how long do you plan to keep it offline? When you approach blogs for guest-posting, you need to wait 2-4 weeks for a response. Often, you don’t even get a response.

If you publish your content on your own website, it will be indexed by Google by the time someone responds to your outreach.

2. You play by the rules.

Every blog that accepts guest posts has a unique set of guidelines. Your guest posting outreach is rarely even limited to 1 blog, so you need to create and track different versions of your blog. You have a 1500 word piece for website A and a 2200 word blog for website B, both on the same topic!

In addition, you need to supply images, by-lines, gravatar profile, LinkedIn profile; the list is endless. All for 1 backlink!

3. The host blog quality can be deceptive.

Many high DA websites have almost no traffic. This is because they do not rank for any keyword on Google!

Why? Because these websites exist only to sell backlinks. They need the dollar, not the quality. If you give them 50$, you will get a backlink, no matter if you spent 10 minutes on the content or 10 hours.

Such websites may boost your domain authority, but they send no traffic to your website.

You need to be picky about blogs you choose for your guest post. But as a new website, you can’t be choosy. Catch-22.

4. Guest-blogging is not a sustainable tactic.

A single guest post can’t drive traffic to your website consistently. Even if you get a backlink, you need to keep getting more for any measurable traction.

5. Guest-posting can go blackhat without you knowing.

Once you give away your content, you have no rights over it.

The host blog can give away syndication rights to low-quality websites in return for money. Many such spammy websites will now feature your website. Your authority goes for a toss. It completely defeats the purpose of your guest-blogging

Also, paying for guest-posting is a blackhatsy technique. Google prefers natural link building, as mentioned in the introduction.

Still have this question: Is guest posting effective in building backlinks? Okay, now that we have covered your perspective, let us step into the shoes of a genuine blogger who accepts guest posts. Assuming your pitch is on point, we will walk through some reasons why they won’t accept your guest post.

6. Your tone does not match their website’s tone.

Bloggers are particular about writing styles. Even with grammar consistency and content quality at top-notch, bloggers need to align the content to suit their audience.

7. Publishing guest posts is time-consuming.

Some bloggers may like the concept and topic of your guest post but editing a piece is a time-consuming process. Guest-posting is supposed to partly relieve them of their writing responsibilities. However, if it’s easier to write a blog than edit yours, they may not be motivated to respond to your mail.

8. They get too many blog posts requests every day.

High domain websites are spoilt for choice. They get tons of guest-post requests every day, and yours might just be lost in the mailbox somewhere, only to be deleted a week later.

They have a choice to do a quick check of the domain authority of every requester and skip emails from low-DA websites.

9. They know all the guest-blogging templates by now.

Every SEO expert suggests a guest posting email template. The bloggers who accept guest posts get tons of emails, all copies of each other, with different signatures.

They know you have personalized it for them. Guest-post outreach has become too marketsy for them, and they just don’t care anymore until you are willing to pay for a guest post or you already have high domain authority.

Final Words

We have written a lot against the guest-posting tactic of link building, but we are not against it.

Once your website authority grows, you must go for guest-posting. Not for backlinks or traffic, but to build your brand.

But till the time you get there, make sure you adopt link-building methods that are more effective than guest blogging.

A lot of people wonder if guest posing is dead in 2023. It’s not dead; it is dying.