What is the biggest grind in the daily life of a professional SEO?
Without a doubt: It is cold-emailing hundreds or thousands of sites to ask for a reciprocal link or a guest post. Also known as syndicating your content.
No matter how narrow your niche, there is always another website that wants free content about the same topic. And since backlinks are what make the Internet what it is, this grueling process is unavoidable.
If you are a business owner, you may be asking: Why should I give other websites free content?
Short answer: You get a valuable link back to your site (known as a backlink in marketing lingo), maybe some referral traffic, maybe a shout out to their social media followers if they promote your syndicated content on their social platforms.
Content syndication means putting your words and thoughts out into the world and letting them have a life outside of your “owned properties.” And as long as backlinks are one of the cornerstones of SEO, syndicating your blogs is going to be well worth the effort. Don’t just post your blogs to your site, Tweet a link, and walk away. Amplify your content the right way.
What Is Content Syndication, Anyway?
Google it. In this post, I’m not going to go into the specifics of what content syndication is all about (if you need a primer, Larry Kim at Wordstream wrote this for you).
Uh. Okay. So Where Can I Syndicate My Content?
Glad you asked!
I’m going to show off a few approaches that I’ve had success with.
First, here’s a link I’ve had saved for a while: 500 Places to Syndicate your Content by BuzzBlogger (Kim Roach) It’s from 2010, so take with a grain of salt. It lists a lot of industry-specific sites that accept guest posts. Find one that matches your business, and if they’re still around (I mean, the list is 10 years old, so you never know), send them a piece of content that links back to your site.
But here’s where you can really get busy:
Try some of the following search suggestions (replacing “keyword” with your industry or your focus keyword).
- (“KEYWORD”) (“submit blog” | “guest post” | “submit an article” | “suggest a guest post” | “send a guest post”)
Click here to see this search in action, with “law firm” as the keyword.
- “[KEYWORD]” “add blog” OR “guest bloggers wanted” OR “contribute to our site” OR “become a contributor” OR “become * guest writer”
Click here to see this search in action, with “law firm” as the keyword.
- “[KEYWORD]” “guest blogger” OR “blog for us” OR “write for us” OR “suggest a guest post”
Click here to see this search in action, with “law firm” as the keyword).
Can I Find Content Syndication Opportunities On Twitter?
Of course you can.
Here’s the same principle for those of you seeking guest-posting opportunities on Twitter:
- site:twitter.com (“KEYWORD”) (“guest post” | “guest blog” | “guest author”)
Click here to see this search in action, with “law firm” as the keyword.
As you may have guessed, “or” and the pipeline (“|”) are interchangeable.
Here are a few other phrases you can throw into the mix:
- “submit a guest post”
- “become a guest blogger”
- “become a guest writer”
- “submit post”
- “become an author”
- “guest column”
Note: Unfortunately, Google is constantly deprecating search operators; I’ll update this post if something changes. For example, the link:domain.com was a great way to find sites that linked to a given site. Google put the kibosh on that in 2017.
How To Get Guest Blogs On Your Site
Be our guest, Be our guest, Put our service to the test …
First, off, there’s some grumbling these days about Google not liking guest posting. This doesn’t mean you should not allow guest posts on your site. It just means that you need to be pickier. Make sure the content provides value to your reader, and don’t allow a bunch of spammy links.
So how do you let authors know that you accept content? I actually found a website that accepts guest posts and made themselves findable by actually putting the following on their site:
You probably found us by using Google’s search like:
“your keyword” “guest post”
“your keyword” “write for us”
“your keyword” “guest article”
“your keyword” “guest post opportunities”
“your keyword” “this is a guest post by”
“your keyword” “contributing writer”
“your keyword” “want to write for”
“your keyword” “submit blog post”
“your keyword” “contribute to our site”
“your keyword” “guest column”
“your keyword” “submit content”
“your keyword” “submit your content”
“your keyword” “submit post”
“your keyword” “This post was written by”
“your keyword” “guest post courtesy of ”
“your keyword” “guest posting guidelines”
“your keyword” “suggest a post”
“your keyword” “submit an article”
“your keyword” “contributor guidelines”
“your keyword” “contributing writer”
“your keyword” “submit news”
“your keyword” “become a guest blogger”
“your keyword” “guest blogger”
“your keyword” “guest posts wanted”
“your keyword” “looking for guest posts”
“your keyword” “guest posts wanted”
“your keyword” “guest poster wanted”
“your keyword” “accepting guest posts”
“your keyword” “writers wanted”
“your keyword” “articles wanted”
“your keyword” “become an author”
“your keyword” “become guest writer”
“your keyword” “become a contributor”
“your keyword” “submit guest post”
“your keyword” “submit an article”
“your keyword” “submit article”
“your keyword” “guest author”
“your keyword” “send a tip”
“your keyword” inurl: “guest blogger”
“your keyword” inurl: “guest post”
allintitle: “your keyword” + guest post
“your keyword” “my posts on other blogs”
“your keyword”: “guest post”
“your keyword” “my guest posts”
“your keyword” “my guest blogs”
“your keyword” “posts on other blogs”
“your keyword” “I’ve been featured on”
“your keyword” “sites I’ve written for”
contribute guest article “your keyword”
“Article written by” “your keyword”
“submit a guest post” “your keyword”
“accepting guest posts” “your keyword”
“guest post guidelines” “your keyword”
“guest post by” “your keyword”
“guest post written by” “your keyword”
“guest author today” “your keyword”
“my guest posts” “your keyword”
I think their having included an actual list is brilliant. After all, it led to me finding them.
Need Help Finding Places To Syndicate Your Content?
Try some of these searches out and let me know how they work for your link-building effort.
If you need help, reach out to me via the form below.