Most guest posting mistakes are not about writing quality. They are about process failures: pitching before researching the publisher, ignoring editorial guidelines, placing links unnaturally, submitting the same content to multiple sites, and treating the relationship as purely transactional. This guide covers every meaningful do and don’t across the full guest posting process: from initial publisher research through pitch, article writing, link placement, submission, and post-publication behaviour. Follow these and your acceptance rate, link quality, and publisher relationships will all improve significantly.
⚡ Quick Summary
- The most common guest posting failures are process failures, not writing failures
- Research the publisher before pitching. Every strong pitch demonstrates genuine knowledge of the target site
- Never submit the same article to multiple publishers simultaneously
- Read editorial guidelines before writing. Missing a guideline is one of the most avoidable rejection reasons
- Links placed naturally in body content carry more SEO value than links crammed into author bios
- Treat publisher relationships as long-term assets. Repeat contributors get faster acceptance and better placement
The Dos: What to Do at Every Stage
Before you write: research and pitch
Do: Research the publisher before pitching
Read 5 to 10 recent articles on the target site before sending any pitch. Know the tone, the average word count, the heading structure, and the evidence standard the publication expects. A pitch that references a specific article from the publisher and explains why your topic fills a gap in their content converts at 3 to 5 times the rate of a generic pitch. See the guest posting complete guide for the full research process.
Do: Address the editor by name
Find the editor’s or content manager’s name before sending any outreach. A pitch addressed to a name shows you have done research. A pitch addressed to “Dear Webmaster” or “To Whom It May Concern” signals immediately that you are sending a template mass outreach and gets lower priority. For outreach templates and personalisation techniques, see our link building outreach guide.
Do: Pitch 2 to 3 specific topic options
Give the editor options rather than a single idea. If one topic does not fit their current editorial schedule or they have recently covered it, they can choose from your alternatives rather than declining entirely. Each option should include a one-sentence explanation of why it serves their audience, not a lengthy description that becomes homework for the editor to review.
Do: Read editorial guidelines before writing
Most publications have guest post or contributor guidelines covering word count, formatting, link limits, image requirements, and submission format. Many rejections and revision requests happen because the writer ignored guidelines that were clearly stated. Search the publisher’s site for “write for us,” “contributor guidelines,” or “guest post guidelines” and read every requirement before starting the article.
Do: Include links to previous published work in your pitch
Editors need to assess your writing quality before accepting a pitch. Include 2 to 3 links to previously published articles in your pitch email. These should be similar in topic or style to what you are proposing. If you have no published work, include links to the highest-quality writing on your own site. The goal is to reduce the editor’s uncertainty about whether your article will be worth publishing.
When writing the article
Do: Match the publisher’s style, tone, and depth
An article that reads as though it belongs on the publisher’s site gets published faster and with fewer revision requests than one that feels out of place. Match the formality level, the heading style, the average sentence length, and the evidence standard of the publication’s existing articles. The best guest posts feel like they were written by the publication’s most skilled regular contributor, not by an outsider. For the complete writing process, see our how to write a guest post guide.
Do: Place your link naturally in body content
Your primary link should appear in the article body, not only in the author bio. The link should be contextually relevant to the sentence it is in. Read the sentence without the link. Then read it with the link. If the link adds genuine reference value to the reader, it will pass editorial review. If it feels forced, it will be removed. Include 2 to 3 internal links to other articles on the publisher’s own site as well. This demonstrates editorial awareness and is consistently appreciated by editors.
Do: Write original content not published elsewhere
Every guest post must be 100% original content written exclusively for the target publisher. Many publications explicitly prohibit republishing their guest content elsewhere. Even those that do not prohibit it will drop you as a contributor if they discover your article appearing on other sites. Duplicate content also causes SEO issues for both sites. Keep a simple tracking record of where each article has been submitted and published to avoid accidental overlaps.
Do: Support claims with specific data and examples
Generalisations without evidence are the most common reason quality editors send articles back for revision. Every significant claim should be supported by a specific data point, a named example, or a concrete demonstration of the principle in action. The more specific and verifiable your evidence, the more credible the article becomes to both the editor and the publisher’s audience.
Do: Proofread before submitting
A typo in a guest post is harder to correct than one on your own site. You have to ask the editor to log in and fix it, which is additional work you are creating for them. Read the article once for content, once for grammar, and once for formatting. Use a grammar checker as a baseline but do not rely on it to catch every error. Errors in a submission signal that you did not take the article seriously enough to review it before sending.
Submission and after publication
Do: Provide everything the editor needs in one message
Send the article, bio, headshot, and any required images or assets in a single submission. Editors who receive complete, well-organised submissions publish faster and remember those contributors positively for future pitches. Editors who have to send follow-up emails to chase missing bio text or a headshot are less likely to prioritise that contributor next time.
Do: Promote the published post on your own channels
Share the published article on your social media, email newsletter, and any relevant content hubs. This drives traffic to the publisher’s site, which demonstrates to the editor that your contributions are genuinely valuable rather than purely transactional link-building exercises. It also increases referral traffic from your author bio link. Publishers who see contributors actively promoting their work are far more likely to accept future pitches.
Do: Follow up once if you have not heard back within 2 to 3 weeks
One polite follow-up is appropriate after 2 to 3 weeks of silence on a pitch or submitted article. Keep the follow-up brief: confirm they received the pitch or article and ask if they need anything else to proceed. If there is no response after the follow-up, move on and pitch the topic to another relevant publisher. Do not send multiple follow-ups in quick succession as this damages the relationship with the editor.
Do: Build the publisher relationship for future contributions
A single guest post placement is a transaction. A repeat contributor relationship is a compounding asset. After a successful placement, maintain contact with the editor by sharing relevant industry updates, commenting on their content, and following up with new pitch ideas 6 to 8 weeks later. Editors who know you and trust your work process pitches faster and give you more editorial latitude on link placement and topic selection.
The Don’ts: What to Avoid at Every Stage
Don’t send template pitches with no personalisation
Editors who receive multiple guest post pitches per week can spot a template instantly. Pitches that open with “I’ve been following your blog for a while” with no specific reference to any actual content signal immediately that the writer has not read the site. Every pitch should reference at least one specific article from the publisher and explain why your topic complements or extends what they have already published.
Don’t submit the same article to multiple publishers simultaneously
Submitting the same article to multiple publishers at once and accepting whoever responds first is both unprofessional and potentially damaging. If two publishers accept the same article, you are committed to publishing duplicate content on both sites, which creates SEO issues for both of them and will end both relationships. Pitch one publisher at a time for each article, or pitch different topic ideas to different publishers.
Don’t ignore editorial guidelines
Submitting an 800-word article to a site whose guidelines specify 1,500 words minimum, or including 5 outbound links when the guidelines allow 2, signals that you read the guidelines and chose to ignore them anyway. This is worse than not having found the guidelines at all. It tells the editor that future working with you will involve similar non-compliance with their requirements.
Don’t force commercial anchor text
Exact-match commercial keyword anchors that read unnaturally in the surrounding sentence are the most common reason editors remove links from guest post submissions. “Best digital marketing agency” used as an anchor in the middle of a sentence about something unrelated to digital marketing agencies will get cut every time. Vary anchor text across your campaign and prioritise natural phrasing over keyword precision for individual placements.
Don’t write content focused on your products or services
A guest post that reads like a product advertisement will be declined or heavily edited before publication. Guest posts succeed when they provide genuine value to the publisher’s audience. Your brand or product can be mentioned, referenced in an example, or briefly noted in the author bio. It should not be the primary subject of the article unless the publication specifically runs product-focused editorial.
Don’t submit to irrelevant publishers
A link from a site with no topical relevance to your niche provides minimal SEO benefit regardless of the site’s DR. Worse, a pattern of links from completely unrelated sites can look unnatural in your backlink profile. Keep your publisher targeting aligned with your niche or clearly adjacent topics. A finance brand earning links from a cooking site is a red flag in any backlink audit.
Don’t treat a declined pitch as the end
A declined pitch from one publisher is not a declined article. A rejection from one site means either the topic was not right for that publication specifically, or the pitch format was not compelling enough. Neither of these is permanent. Refine the pitch, adapt the topic angle for a different publication, and submit again. The reality of guest posting at scale is that most pitches require multiple attempts before they land. Persistence with quality beats a single perfect pitch.
Don’t overload an article with outbound links to your own site
Including 4 or more links to your own site in a single guest post article is excessive and will typically result in the editor removing all but one or two. This also signals that the article is primarily a link acquisition exercise rather than a genuine editorial contribution. One to two body content links plus an author bio link is the standard that works across most quality publishers without friction.
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Quick Reference: Guest Posting Dos and Don’ts
Use our link building checklist to run through a quality control process for every guest post before submission. And see the full outreach process in our link building outreach guide.
