Should I Write Guest Blogs? [SEO Tips]

Since the very beginning of my business, I’ve gotten consistent requests to write guest blogs for other websites - and if you have any kind of online presence, I’m sure you’ve gotten the same ‘offers.’ When the first email came across I’ll admit I was fairly flattered, but by the time dozens of requests had landed in my inbox, I realized that most of the time, it was a ploy to boost the presence of the requestor, and wouldn’t help my business at all. I started deleting every email I got, ignoring every request, and put the idea aside in my head.

The more I learned about Search Engine Optimization, though, the more I realized that there might be some benefit to some of these requests. While I still say no to a large majority of the emails I receive, I have a much more thorough way of reviewing the potential benefits and downside of writing guest blogs. I know the benefits that backlinks can have for SEO (more on that here!), and I want to take advantage of every opportunity I can get.

So…should you guest blog? The answer is a big maybe, and it depends on a few factors.

1) Is the website audience relevant to your business?
You don’t want to write a helpful article for a competitor, and you probably wont be asked to do that. But make sure the other website content is at least somewhat relevant to what you do. Personally, I look for websites that other small business owners could potentially visit, since that is my ideal client.

2) Will you have a follow link or not?
This is a little-known trick in the online world, but there are such things as no-follow links. In short, these are links that will not contribute to your SEO, since the back-end coding indicates that the website owner is not endorsing your business. While no-follow links exist everywhere (think social media!), they are generally not very helpful in long-term marketing success. The exception would be if the audience is rather large and you will continue to get referrals from that single article or blog.

3) Are you the only person marketing the article?
You may have to dig a little, but it’s helpful to look at the track record for the brand. Will you be the only person sharing the article, or will the link be shared to social media accounts and/or in an email newsletter? If the only person sharing the article is you, the benefit will likely be very small or nonexistent! In fact, besides gaining a little credibility as a guest blogger, you are helping the website out more than you will be helped by the mention.

While there are other factors that can come into play, these are the three big questions I ask when I review a request to guest blog. If the answer to all three is no, then it’s clear that the time I spend writing will not pay off in the end. But if I can answer yes to most or all of those questions, I’ll start brainstorming and writing as soon as possible.