Most “guest post submission” lists are 100+ names long and mostly unverified. This one is shorter, checked by hand, and comes with the framework to vet whatever you find on your own.
Quick answer
Guest post submissions are articles you write and submit to another website’s editorial team, usually in exchange for a byline, an author bio, and – on sites that allow it – a link back to your own site. The opportunities worth pursuing are relevant to your niche, reviewed by a real editor, and transparent about their rules. The rest is either link-selling or low-value volume, and Google’s own spam policies now say so explicitly.
Guest post submissions are articles written by someone outside a publication’s regular staff and submitted for review by that publication’s editorial team. If accepted, the piece runs under the writer’s byline with a short author bio, and – depending on the site’s policy – one or two links back to the writer’s own site or business. It’s also called guest blogging, guest posting, or contributing.
The exchange is straightforward on paper: the site gets free, hopefully useful content for its readers; the writer gets exposure to a new audience, a credibility signal, and sometimes a backlink. Where it goes wrong is when either side treats the arrangement as a link transaction first and a piece of writing second – which is exactly the pattern search engines have gotten much better at spotting.
Guest posting sits at the intersection of content marketing and link building, and it earns its place in an SEO strategy for reasons beyond the link itself:
A contextual link from a relevant, editorially reviewed site is still one of the clearer trust signals available - provided it's earned through genuine editorial review, not paid placement.
A well-placed post on a site with real readers sends people who are already interested in your topic, which converts better than most cold traffic.
Appearing regularly in front of a niche's audience builds recognition that compounds - a single post rarely moves the needle, a consistent presence does.
A good pitch and a well-edited post can turn into a recurring contributor slot, a co-marketing opportunity, or a source relationship - value a one-off link never provides.
Links and mentions from sites that are actually about your subject matter carry more weight than links from unrelated, high-metric domains.
Bylined contributions on respected, niche-relevant sites are one of the more concrete ways to demonstrate real-world experience and expertise - the "E-E" in Google's quality guidance.
The part most lists skip
Quality and relevance matter more than the number of links you accumulate. One guest post on a site your actual customers read is worth more than twenty placements on generic, unrelated “write for us” pages — and, per Google’s own link spam policy, large-scale guest posting with optimized anchor text is treated as manipulation, not marketing. More on that in the SEO-value section below.
You will find sites that aren’t on any list, including this one. Before you pitch, run them through the same checks we used to build the table below.
Every site below currently publishes its own guest contribution or “write for us” guidelines in its own words – we read each one directly rather than pulling from another list. We skipped domain authority and traffic numbers here on purpose: third-party metrics change constantly and are easy to fake in a screenshot. Check current metrics yourself with any SEO toolbar before you pitch.
| Website | Submission method | Link opportunity | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Engine Journal SEO & Digital Marketing | Pitch specialist-niche article titles through the contributor form - no unsolicited full drafts or syndicated posts | Byline + bio; recurring contributor cadence preferred | |
| Smashing Magazine Web Design & Development | Submit a 200–300 word outline via the contact form before writing the full piece | Byline + bio; editorially reviewed, no promotional or ghostwritten posts | Front-end developers and designers with practical, non-promotional expertise |
| Techopedia Technology (IT / Enterprise) | Fill out the contributor form with a writing sample attached | Paid; byline | Working IT professionals who can explain enterprise tech clearly |
| MakeUseOf Technology (Consumer) | Formal contributor application - an ongoing role, not a one-off submission | Writers wanting a recurring, paid role in consumer tech | |
| BiggerPockets Blog Real Estate | Follow the published guest blogger guidelines and pitch your topic to the editorial team | Byline + bio | Real estate investors, agents, and lenders with practical, firsthand experience |
| mindbodygreen Health & Wellness | Email a pitch or draft to their submissions address per the published process | Byline + bio; every health claim must cite a credible or peer-reviewed source | Health practitioners and credentialed wellness experts |
| Content 1Matador Network Travel | Pitch through the Matador Creators platform - two paragraphs, not a finished draft | Paid; byline | Travel writers with a specific angle, not diary-style trip reports |
| Userpilot SaaS - Product / UX / Growth | Pitch a topic or submit a finished draft as a Google Doc | Byline + bio | Product managers, UX researchers, and SaaS growth practitioners |
| Process Street SaaS / Business Operations | Follow the guest posting guidelines page; selective, high editorial bar | Byline + bio | Ops, workflow, and SaaS writers who can back claims with real experience |
| Entrepreneur - Leadership Network Business & Entrepreneurship | Byline + bio; roughly one article per month | Founders and operators wanting a recurring platform, not a one-off link | |
| onEntrepreneur Business, Startups & Finance topics | Submit original content per the published write-for-us guidelines | Byline + bio | Writers who want an easier entry point than top-tier business titles |
| Edutopia Education (K–12) | Email a pitch with an outline and educator bio to their guest blog address | Byline + bio; unpaid | Practicing teachers, school leaders, and instructional coaches |
| TargetBay E-commerce / SaaS | Submit via the guest post guidelines page as a Google Doc | Byline + bio | Established ecommerce professionals with platform-specific expertise |
SEJ runs a structured contributor program: you pitch your specialist niche and a few titles, an SEO content strategist evaluates the fit, and accepted contributors are encouraged into a recurring cadence rather than a single drive-by post. Syndicated or previously published material is not accepted.
Both run paid contributor programs rather than free one-off guest posts. Techopedia leans enterprise/IT and wants contributors who “work in the field, follow the news, and know how to tell a good story.” MakeUseOf skews consumer tech and is explicit that it’s looking for an ongoing relationship, not a single article.
Smashing wants an outline first, not a finished article – it lets their editors help shape a piece before you invest in writing it. They’re explicit that content-marketing-flavored submissions from a nameless team member will be rejected; they want an individual expert with a point of view.
The BiggerPockets Blog reaches investors, agents, lenders, and other real estate professionals and explicitly wants how-to posts, tips, and well-researched lists over generic market commentary.
mbg’s guidelines are unusually specific about sourcing: any health claim needs a link to a peer-reviewed study, academic journal, or credible news outlet. That bar is exactly why a placement there carries more weight than a generic wellness blog.
Matador pays contributors and pitches move through a dedicated Creators platform. Editors are explicit that they want a specific, well-scoped angle – “history of food culture in Hokkaido,” not “things to do on Route 66” – and no personal diary-style trip reports.
Userpilot accepts thought-leadership pieces on product management, UX, and customer success, and checks submissions for plagiarism. Process Street describes itself as “very picky” – a large, engaged blog audience with a correspondingly high bar for what gets published.
Entrepreneur’s Leadership Network is a vetted, ongoing contributor membership rather than a single pitch – expect a real application process and a monthly publishing cadence once accepted. onEntrepreneur is a more accessible entry point for business, startup, and marketing topics if you’re not ready for a top-tier masthead yet.
Edutopia wants pitches from people actually working in education – the guidelines ask for your role in a school or classroom, not your marketing title. It’s unpaid, but the audience is exactly the practitioner readership most education-adjacent brands want to reach.
TargetBay’s blog is aimed at merchants on Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and similar platforms, and asks specifically for contributions from established ecommerce professionals rather than generalist marketers.
Where we couldn’t verify an open program – and what to do instead
Finance, mainstream lifestyle magazines, and local business publications are genuinely harder categories for open guest posting. Many of the largest finance and lifestyle titles publish through staff writers or a closed, invite-only expert network rather than a public submissions page – Practical Ecommerce, for instance, states outright that it “never publishes free posts, guest posts, or unsolicited posts,” despite ranking well and looking, on the surface, like a guest-post-friendly site. Rather than pad this list with unverified “finance write for us” pages (most of the ones we checked were exactly the kind of multi-niche, keyword-stuffed pages this guide tells you to avoid), the more reliable paths in these categories are: pitching smaller, vetted fintech or proptech company blogs directly; pursuing quoted-expert placements through journalist-source platforms (see the comparison table below); and, for local businesses, targeting local news outlets, chambers of commerce, and community sites instead of national “write for us” pages.
Relevance to your niche and audience matters more than raw traffic or authority metrics.
Word count, topic scope, and formatting rules are usually published - ignoring them is the fastest way to get rejected.
Understand the tone, depth, and what's already been covered so your pitch isn't a repeat.
A pitch that references what they haven't covered signals you've actually done the reading.
A named contact beats a generic submission form, which beats a general "info@" inbox.
See the template below - specific and brief outperforms long and generic almost every time.
Follow up once, politely, only after the timeline they gave you has passed.
Length, structure, sourcing, and image requirements - treat their guidelines like a client brief.
Even if it means fewer links than you hoped for. Sites notice when contributors push back on this.
If you haven't heard back within their stated timeline, one polite check-in is appropriate - repeated follow-ups are not.
The best pitches are short, specific to the publication, and make it obvious you’ve read their site. Here’s a structure to adapt – not to copy word-for-word.
Subject: Guest post idea for [Publication] — [topic in 5–8 words]
Hi [Editor’s first name],
I’ve been reading [Publication] for a while – [specific recent article] was genuinely useful because [one honest reason].
I write about [your specific area of expertise] and noticed you haven’t covered [specific gap]. I’d like to pitch two angles:
1. [Title idea one] — [one line on the angle]
2. [Title idea two] — [one line on the angle]
A little about me: [1–2 sentences of relevant experience]. Here’s a sample of my writing: [link].
Happy to adjust either idea to better fit what you need. If one’s a fit, I’ll follow your submission guidelines from there.
Thanks,
[Your name]
Requirements vary by site – always defer to the specific publication’s page over this list – but these show up often enough to plan around:
Unpublished, non-syndicated content, usually checked with a plagiarism tool.
Commonly 800–2,000 words, though ranges vary widely by publication.
Claims and statistics backed with links to credible or peer-reviewed sources, especially in health and finance.
Typically 2–3 sentences, sometimes with a headshot and one link.
Often one contextual link in the body plus one in the bio - some sites allow none in the body.
Most explicitly reject content that reads as an ad for your product or company.
Short paragraphs, subheadings, and scannable structure are near-universal expectations now.
Original or properly licensed images only - stock photos with unclear rights are commonly rejected.
A growing number of sites now explicitly restrict or ban undisclosed AI-generated submissions - check for this specifically.
While researching the list above, we read through dozens of “write for us” pages that didn’t make the cut. The pattern was consistent enough to build a checklist from it.
Yes, with real conditions attached – and no, they don’t guarantee rankings. Google’s own spam policies for web search explicitly list “links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites” as an example of link spam, particularly when the arrangement is paid or done at scale. That guidance dates back to a 2017 warning about large-scale article and guest-post campaigns, and it has only been reinforced since.
What that means in practice:
The honest framing: guest posting works best as a way to reach a real audience and build a real relationship with a publication. When it does that well, the backlink is a reasonable byproduct – not the entire point.
| Strategy | What it involves | Typical effort | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guest posting | Write a full article for another site's editorial team, usually with a byline and limited links | Medium–High | |
| Digital PR | Pitch a newsworthy angle, original data, or study to journalists for uncredited coverage that includes a link | High | You have a genuinely newsworthy asset - original research, a survey, a timely hook |
| Resource link building | Ask sites that maintain "resources" or "further reading" pages to add your existing content | Low–Medium | You already have a strong reference asset - a tool, calculator, or comprehensive guide |
| Broken link building | Find dead links on relevant pages and suggest your content as the replacement | You have content that's a genuine, close match for what broke | |
| Journalist source platforms | Respond to reporter source requests with a specific, quotable answer for a chance at a credited mention | Low per pitch, ongoing | You want quoted-expert links from major outlets without writing full articles |
| Business directories | List your business on reputable, niche-specific or local directories | Low | You're a local business needing foundational citations, not editorial authority |
| Niche citations | Get listed on industry-specific "best of" pages, associations, or directories | Low–Medium | You want topical relevance signals within a specific vertical |
