How to Find Guest Post Opportunities

By Sabahat Ali – Link building expert since 2009 – 668+ clients served

Learn of the top 35 blogs accepting guest posts and how to find more [of such blogs] in this article.

Guest posting is one of OG link building techniques. And according to AIRA, it is a top-3 technique.

In essence, guest posting [or blogging] is popular and effective. There’s a caveat, however.

Guest posting opportunities are already drying up. How so?

• Top sites that matter are not as easy to come by.
• And even when you find them [the top sites], getting a feature is challenging.

These issues prompted me to write this article.

In this piece, I detailed everything you need to know about finding guest blogging opportunities, where to secure placements, and how to write irresistible guest posts.

Let’s dig in…

A little heads up: this blog post is a long read. So, if you’re only here for a specific part, use the outline on the left to get to it ASAP.

Types of Guest Posts

All guest posts are not the same. They differ in approach and value [their backlinks. In other words, the opportunities you seek are of different types.

So, what are these different types?

You can either guest write on:

• Authority guest blogs,
• Influencer guest blogs,
• Educational guest blogs,
• Free submission sites, or
• Sponsored blogs

Authority Guest Blogs

These are simply the authoritative sites in your niche. Consider featuring your guest post on the HubSpots and Buffers in your field. Imagine the brand exposure and referral traffic of sites. Such are the benefits of authority blogs.

Influencer Guest Blogs

Also called promotional blogs, these are partnerships with influencers to market your brand or product. The idea is to secure interviews with niche influencers.

In the end, your opinion will be published as a guest feature. More importantly, you’ll get a backlink.

IMO, influencer guest blogs get the most reach as they [the influencers] promote it [the post] via social media and emails to their readers.

Educational Guest Blogs

While all blogs should be educational, these posts are strictly so. How so?

Are you familiar with blogs like Search Engine Journal (SEJ)?

If not, SEJ is a site/blog to read all the latest news about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). They do interviews and feature influencers like news sites. But at the core, the aim is to educate readers.

Getting backlinks on such a site will cement your expert status. Furthermore, it will boost how readers perceive your EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trust).

Free Submission Sites

These sites are microblogs like LinkedIn, Medium, and Reddit. Anyone can register and start pushing out posts — since they are free to use.

But the “free” part is not the most exciting thing about free submission sites. What is?

Parasite SEO!

Parasite SEO means leveraging trusted sites to rank your articles and affiliate offers. How so?

If you’ve noticed, you’ll find that articles on Reddit and LinkedIn, particularly, rank higher than other sites on search results.

Bottom line: guest posting on powerful microblogs will boost the ranking ability of your articles. As a result, you’ll get referral traffic from the backlinks.

Sponsored Blogs

These are the complete opposite of free guest posting sites. They [sponsored blogs] require payment for features.

Isn’t payment against Google’s link building spam?

Google is not against sponsored posts. However, they must carry the tag.

But what is the essence of the payment?

• You’ll avoid long queues of pitches awaiting replies
• Your chances of a feature jump from unlikely to assured posting
• Depending on the site, you’ll enjoy perks like permanent links, images and editing
• More importantly, your guest posts will be promoted to a niche audience ready to buy your products or services.

Overall, for whichever one of the options you seek, it is best to guest blog on niche-relevant sites. This helps to expose your brand to your exact target audience.

That said, let me show you how to find opportunities for the different types of guest posts listed.

5 Ways to Unearth Guest Blogging Opportunities

• Search operators
• Ahrefs content explorer
• Competitor analysis
• Social media
• Blogger outreach services

Search Operators

These search terms you can use to reveal guest-post-accepting sites/blogs. Here is how it works:

• Ideally, there are sites with dedicated “write for us,” “contribute to our blog,” and “guest post” pages
• Search operators [write for us, guest post, etc.] will reveal such pages in search results

Now, you understand how the concept works. I’ll show a simple practical.

Let’s say you’re a realtor looking for guest posting opportunities.

• Go to Google Search
• Type in “a search operator” like this:

• Change the search operator to get even more sites
• Compile your findings into a spreadsheet
• Then, contact the sites for a feature — but only after reading through their guest post guidelines.

Ahrefs Content Explorer

Frankly, this method is the most straightforward yet robust method for finding guest posting opportunities.

📌 Starting with the “robust” part.

Ahrefs has one of the most active crawlers after Google. So, rest assured that the metrics and recommendations are stats-based.

📌 For the “easy” part:

You don’t need any search operators or memorize any search string. The Content Explorer already has preset “use cases” for guest blogging opportunities.

Let me show you how to use the tool.

• Go to Ahrefs > Content Explorer.
• Enter a topic of choice [I’ll stick to the real estate used in the first method]
• Click “use cases” > link building > guest blogging opportunities

• Check the websites to confirm their authenticity > then send your pitch

Competitor Analysis

While the Content Explorer method is simple, it doesn’t offer assurance. You never know if your pitches will be accepted or if the site [despite being a perfect place for guest posting] will consider guest authors.

This lack and gap is where competitor analysis comes in. What this strategy does is find websites/blogs where your competitors already feature. And so?

The idea is simple: if a website/blog accepts guest posts from your competitors, it’ll likely listen to you.

That said, let me show you how to do competitor analysis for guest posting.

• First, find your competing domains
• Second, find the guest posts where your competitors feature

📌 Find your competing domains

• Go to Ahrefs > Site Explorer > input your domain
• Once the overview loads, check for “organic competitors” under “organic search” in the left tab.

📌 Find your competitor’s guest post placements

• Plug your competitor’s URL into Site Explorer

• Once the overview loads, check for “best by links” under “pages” at the left tab
• Now, apply these filters:
  • Dofollow
  • Best links only
• You’ll see a list of the best pages with backlinks like this:

• Pick one of the pages > click “links to page.”
• Manually check through the referring pages for guest blogging opportunities.

• Check the sites for their guest posting guidelines > send your pitch

Social Media

Quick note: promoting your posts on FB or building a brand on Twitter with a content calendar differs from guest posting.

You can’t precisely guest post on social media. So, how does the latter help?

1. Network with bloggers
2. Search operators
3. Monitor competitors

📌 Networking with other guest bloggers

Regardless of your guest blogging experience level, you’ll find people willing to help in online communities.

Beyond the help, you can post direct requests for a specific niche — like this fellow:

Of course, you’ll likely pay to get features.

📌 Search Operators

Like we did with Google earlier, you can also use search operators on social media to find guest blogging opportunities.

Here is an example:

📌 Monitor Competitors

For this, you only have to check the recent updates of your competitors. Then, ask these questions:

• What posts are your competitors promoting?
• Are the posts published on their [the competitors’] URL or another website?

If the posts are blogs published on another website, they are likely guest features. Follow the link and find the “submit guest posts” page.

Blogger Outreach Services

It’s one thing to get your guest posts published. They [the posts] still need promotion. This point is where blogger outreach services come in.

These services find top influencers in your niche and convince [or pay] them to share your posts. The idea is to leverage the influence of these top voices for a better reach.

But that’s not all.

You can also use blogger outreach for guest posting promotion. Some services are even 100% hands-off. How so?

• You only have to state your target guest blog.
• The service providers will write guest posts, include a backlink, and get the articles published.

Note: if the manual searching methods for guest blogging opportunities are hectic, you can also run with vetted blogs.

I compiled 35 of such sites — 5 per 7 popular niches. Check them out below.

35 Sites That Accept Guest Posts

• Social media marketing & marketing blogs
• Web design and development blogs
• Finance blogs
• Health, fitness, and wellness blogs
• Travel blogs
• Entertainment & sports blogs
• Self-development & making money online blogs

Social Media Marketing & Marketing Blogs

1. CoSchedule blog
2. HubSpot blog
3. Socialnomics
4. Agorapulse
5. Cloudways

• CoSchedule Blog

Domain Rating: 86

Trusted by 200k+ marketers worldwide, the CoSchedule blog gives you access to tools and training that will help you scale as a marketer.

The CoSchedule blog is ideal for trading your insights for backlinks and increasing brand/product exposure.

• HubSpot Blog

Domain Rating: 93

Hubspot is one of the major B2B and SaaS brands. Their products are for customers in marketing, sales, and services.

If this is your target audience, Hubspot blog is the place for you.

Bonus tip: the HubSpot blog accepts many guest posts, so you have a good chance here.

• Socialnomics

Domain Rating: 72

Socialnomics is a blog that provides valuable insight into the newest developments in the tech industry.

As a tech-savvy writer, your content should be on Socialnomics, and the good news is – they accept guest posts.

• Agorapulse

Domain Rating: 80

This blog is one of the best spots for social media tips and best practices for businesses and agencies.

Writers in social media marketing looking for exposure are an excellent fit for this platform.

• Cloudways

Domain Rating: 90

With a fast and reliable cloud hosting platform, Cloudways helps e-commerce or online businesses improve their website’s performance.

You should write for Cloudwaysto to gain connection if you are an expert in niches like WordPress, Magento, PHP, WooCommerce, core web, and affiliate marketing.

Web Design and Development Blogs

6. A List Apart
7. Hongkiat
8. Creative Bloq
9. Smashing Magazine
10. Colossal

• A List Apart

Domain Rating: 86

Focusing on online standards and best practices, A List Apart is a web design magazine for those who create websites.

This magazine is always interested in new authors. So, this is a good platform for writers in this niche to share their insights for increased exposure.

• Hongkiat

Domain Rating: 81

Besides HongKiat being a top site for design and tech, they also publish new and inspiring content.

Notably, they look out for guest posts from new authors ready to share their expertise for a well-deserved engagement.

• Creative Bloq

Domain Rating: 87

Over the years, this art and design site has been home to digital artists, web designers, illustrators, and more.

Get in touch to share your creative insights, and you’ll get the exposure you need for your brand.

• Smashing Magazine

Domain Rating: 90

Smashing Magazine provides valuable and practical articles for web designers and developers.

With over 2M+ page views, this is the perfect space to share your tips and tricks about web design and development to gain backlinks to your site.

• Colossal

Domain Rating: 80

Colossal is an online art magazine focusing internationally on upcoming and established artists.

Founded by a writer, the magazine exposes writers’ vast knowledge of NFT, AI, VR, music, and other arts.

Finance Blogs

11. Finances Online
12. Modest Money
13. Bigger Pockets
14. Wise Bread
15. Investing

• FinancesOnline.com

Domain Rating: 85

Besides primarily covering B2B, SaaS, and B2C content, this blog welcomes guest posts on other general financial topics.

Write for FinancesOnline.com and get benefits like website exposure, brand promotion, and quality website backlinks.

• Modest Money

Domain Rating: 69

ModestMoney.com provides unbiased reviews of top investment products and services for their users.

With their growing popularity, the blog is open to writers who want to share financial experiences in exchange for backlinks and visibility.

• BiggerPockets

Domain Rating: 80

For everyone interested in real estate investment decisions, BiggerPockets offers help through tools, insights, and 2M+ community members.

Do you have some great real estate investment tips to share? This is a great place to gain exposure and connections.

• Wise Bread

Domain Rating: 76

Wise Bread is a community of bloggers focused on tips about financial independence.

This platform is excellent for personal finance and credit card writers to earn site backlinks.

• Investing.com

Domain Rating: 80

With 29 editions in 23 languages, Investing.com, a global financial portal, offers news, analysis, and other data about the world’s financial markets.

Get exposed to their 3B+ monthly views by guest posting with them.

Health, Fitness, and Wellness Blogs

16. KevinMD
17. Well-being Secrets
18. Natural News
19. T Nation
20. Mind Body Green

• KevinMD.com

Domain Rating: 76

KevinMD.com is a top online platform for health practitioners and patients to share their insights and stories.

Engage this influential audience with your health-related articles to increase your exposure.

• Well-Being Secrets

Domain Rating: 62

A group of enthusiastic health professionals from Canada founded Well-being Secrets to share health tips with everyone who is interested.

This platform will provide exposure if you work in the health field and love to write to share your knowledge with others.

• Natural News

Domain Rating: 82

With the help of many writers and researchers, Natural News empowers its audience with factual information from original articles about health and wellness.

Writing for this site will earn you enormous publicity or even backlinks to your website.

• T Nation

Domain Rating: 74

T Nation provides top expertise for anyone who wants to get fit and improve their general health.

This blog is the best spot to exchange your insights for exposure if you write about health and fitness in general.

• Mindbodygreen

Domain Rating: 86

Simply put, mindbodygreen is a blog where you will find valuable insight about connecting the soul and science.

As a writer who loves to share your insight in this niche, this is an excellent opportunity to earn visibility and connections.

Travel Blogs

21. eDomain Dreams
22. Boarding Arena
23. Planet D
24. Nomads World
25. Go Abroad

• eDomain Dreams

Domain Rating: 68

eDomain Dreams blog about travel, sights to see, local cuisine to try, and lots more.

This is one of the most fantastic places to write for engagements if you have an intriguing trip story or travel advice to share.

• BoardingArea

Domain Rating: 74

This travel blog provides news, information, and advice for frequent flyers.

Share the insight you’ve gained during your flight travels on BoardingArea to receive the attention you deserve.

• The Planet D

Domain Rating: 75

Named as one of the top travel influencers by Forbes Magazine, Planet D is a go-to source for detailed city guides, personal travel tips, inspiring stories, and more.

Writing for this blog will help your travel stories reach a wider audience and build your page authority.

• NomadsWorld

Domain Rating: 53

With a network of hostels spanning 20 countries, NomadsWorld offers travelers a one-of-a-kind travel experience.

Guest posting on their blog can expose your work to over 200k monthly views. They share their blog posts on social media as well.

• Go Abroad

Domain Rating: 75

Go Abroad creates and shares new resources and opportunities for international travel.

With their 200k+ members and numerous visitors, you’ll gain the proper exposure for sharing your abroad experience.

Entertainment & Sports Blogs

26. Contact Music
27. Milwaukee Magazine
28. LWOS Network
29. Cric Tracker
30. Bollywood Shaadis

• ContactMusic.com

Domain Rating: 74

Contactmusic.com has been a reliable and frequently cited source for over ten years for the most recent information on music and entertainment news.

Among other excellent benefits, guest posting on this blog will expose you to a monthly audience of over 6M people worldwide.

• Milwaukee Magazine

Domain Rating: 71

With over 220k readers, this monthly magazine focuses on the people, places, and issues of Milwaukee and the surrounding area in southeast Wisconsin.

As a lifestyle-savvy writer, this is an excellent platform to gain visibility.

• LWOS Network

Domain Rating: 65

LastWordOnSports.com shares daily sports content, including news, feature articles, and sports analysis.

Connect with over 400 writers on LWOS Network to expand your writing career, establish your brand, and obtain high-quality backlinks to advertise your website.

• CricTracker

Domain Rating: 69

Be it news, tips, analysis, and lots more, CricTracker covers all aspects of cricket.

Do you like to write about cricket? – get the opportunity to reach 30M+ global monthly readers by guest posting on CricTracker.

• BollywoodShaadis.com

Domain Rating: 61

With 18M+ monthly visitors, this is India’s most popular entertainment and celebrity wedding news website.

Why should you write for them? – you get instant recognition, quality backlinks, maximum exposure, and increased credibility.

Self-Development & Making Money Online Blogs

31. Your Tango
32. Leaving Work Behind
33. Life Hack
34. Income Diary
35. Dumb Little Man

• YourTango

Domain Rating: 80

YourTango is a publisher focusing on relationships, love, emotional health, and personal growth.

Share your narrative essays, service pieces, and personal essays on YourTango to gain visibility.

• LeavingWorkBehind.com

Domain Rating: 69

The blog shares personal stories, experiences, successes, and failures about quitting jobs and building online businesses.

Leaving work behind.com will accept guest posts about your personal and unique growth experience in exchange for the visibility you desire.

• Lifehack

Domain Rating: 87

Millions worldwide rely on Lifehack as a trusted source for self-improvement tips.

Join them as a guest writer to receive attention and engagement from millions of readers.

• IncomeDiary.com

Domain Rating: 71

IncomeDiary offers high-quality content for web entrepreneurs, including training courses and software tools.

When you write for IncomeDiary.com, your articles will appear under your name, and your post will be exposed to 10k+ readers on their mailing lists and social media accounts.

• Dumb Little Man

Domain Rating: 74

Dumb Little Man began as a small blog but has grown into a comprehensive information platform that provides necessary tips to lead fulfilling lives.

Share your unique and captivating lifestyle piece on this platform to maximize your visibility.

📌 Need more sites for guest posting?

Check out AllTop. It is a curation of blogs in diverse niches. But note that the blogs don’t necessarily accept guest features. Regardless, sending a pitch wouldn’t hurt. So, go for it!

How To Write Irresistible Guest Posts

1. Read guest post submission guidelines
2. Keyword research
3. Use the skyscraper technique
4. Adopt on-page SEO best practices
5. Interview industry experts
6. Edit like a pro
7. Focus on building relationships

Read Guest Post Submission Guidelines

It doesn’t matter if you’re Neil Patel or Jon Morrow; no one will publish your guest post if you don’t follow simple instructions.

And guess where you’ll find these instructions…

In the guest blogging guidelines; so read it!

Besides, how will you craft a personalized pitch if you don’t read the guidelines?

How will you understand what is expected of you [from site owners and readers]?

Keyword Research

Ideally, you’ll find the topics that interest a site/blog on its submission guidelines. However, those [topics] are too broad. And often, such would already have been covered extensively.

In other words, you need to find less discussed sub-topics. Those will attract the blog and get you a shoo-in.

How can you find the said attractive sub-topics?

Keyword research!

With keyword research, you’ll unearth low-competitive search terms with little to no need for backlinks and commendable traffic potential. When you write around such terms, your content will rank, the blog will benefit, and your site will also receive referral traffic.

No site owner will turn down such a lucrative deal.

Use the Skyscraper Technique

The chances are that someone is already ranking for your search term — even if it was a zero-volume keyword. This is where the skyscraper technique will come in handy.

How does it work?

Coined by Brian Dean [Backlinko founder], the skyscraper technique means studying high-ranking articles for a search term and matching them in all departments.

The ultimate aim of this technique is to outperform the competing pages on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) and outrank them.

So, how does this concern guest posting?

Everyone likes retaining the top spot of search results. It is not only a bragging right; it is an asset.

According to X, no 1 search results get 2x more traffic than other results.

Any blogger will love such traffic and be charmed by your guest post.

Adopt On-Page SEO Best Practices

On-page SEO means the in-content tweaks that will boost the chances of your articles ranking high on search results. It also includes meta tags — meta description and title tag.

So, how do you go about this?

While you can scrap on-page elements manually, it is stressful. Plus, I won’t recommend it.

Instead, use tools like Surfer, Optimizer Pro, or Fraze. These tools scrape the net for high-ranking articles’ keywords [and how they were used]. They then use that to guide you on optimizing your content for search and people.

How does on-page SEO help guest posting?

A well-optimized guest submission reduces the workload of site owners. They save time and money. And that will increase the chances of getting a “yes; we’ll publish this.”

Interview Industry Experts

The truth is everyone [or almost everyone] can read guidelines, do keyword research, and adopt the best on-page SEO practices. In other words, you might not yet stand out and be irresistible.

Enter interviewing industry experts…

What’s the big deal?

By including expert opinions, your content will stand out from the regurgitated stuff on SERPs. More importantly, you’ll boost the reach of the content. Here is how:

The experts will likely share the content once published. Even if they don’t, you can still tag them on social media — and leverage their audience.

Either way, you’ll boost the reach of your post.

How does this help guest posting?

Interviewing experts can be exhausting. You might need to use HARO [Help a Reporter Out], Terkel, Help a B2B Writer Out or ask manually.

These processes take time. Now imagine someone doing it all for free just to feature on your blog.

Would you turn such an offer down? Unlikely…

Edit Like a Pro

I understand that editing can be quite a redundant task. So, I’ll recommend Brooklin Nash’s [Founder, Beam Content] process, a 3-day writing process:

1. Draft on the first day
2. Write on the second day
3. Edit on the third day

I’ve tried the method; it works. Why?

Spreading idea generation, writing, and editing lets you soak in each step. This way, you can focus on one thing at a time and be most effective.

Beyond the 3-day writing process, you must know what you’re editing. Here’s a quick tip:

Ask these editing questions:

• Does your article match the tone of the blog?
• Do you include enough examples?
• If you remove a word or phrase, will the sentence make sense?
• Does your article seem lifeless?
• Would you publish what you wrote after the third day of the writing process?

If the answer is negative, keep chiseling until the post is perfect. Even after that, get a friend or another writer to take a look.

Focus on Building Relationships

The ultimate way to make your guest post irresistible to bloggers is to actually offer value. Think of the blog as your own. Treat it as such.

This way, you’ll get guest post backlinks and build relationships with a vast network of bloggers. And you can continually leverage such for future guest posts.

Summary

There are generally two ways to find guest posting opportunities:

• Do it yourself with search operators, social media, and third-party SEO tools, or
• Subscribe to blogger outreach services

Either way, ensure you make your guest posts irresistible. One way to do that is to prioritize the needs of the guest posting sites you start writing guest posts.

Hope this helps

For guest post costs, see our pricing guide ($100-$500 per placement). For managed campaigns, see our guest posting service. For alternative strategies, try niche edits or HARO.