Inbound Marketing and SEO: Insights from the Moz Blog

Chapter 18: Putting Guest Post Outreach Theories to the Test [With Some Real-World Data]

By James Agate

Editor's Note: Almost three months after this post was originally published to The Moz Blog (on Feb. 9, 2012), Google rolled out the Penguin algorithm update. Penguin changed the game for link builders who previously relied on generic, mass-solicited guest blogging campaigns as their primary means of acquiring links. Guest blogging is no longer an effective strategy for building links in and of itself, and quality and diversity of links matters much more than quantity does. Nevertheless, high-quality guest blogging it is still a valuable activity that can effectively supplement both comprehensive link building and content creation strategies that make use of diverse tactics, especially when it is approached on a personal level that is far more organic than scientific.

I wanted to bring you all some data right from a few of our real-world campaigns. As a business, we systemize a great deal and monitor a lot of processes, so it made sense for me to put some of this data to use and try to prove/disprove any commonly held theories about outreach.

The following is based on a sample of 400 guest posts that we placed for clients over a three-month period (Nov. 2011 through Jan. 2012). While the data isn't conclusive, I feel it does provide some good starting points for you to explore in your own outreach campaigns. As with most things, the best strategy is for you to test it out for ...