How to Analyze Websites for Guest Posting: A Complete Checklist

Guest posting can be an incredibly powerful SEO strategy — but only if you choose high-quality websites. The wrong choice can mean wasted effort, poor results, or even penalties. So how do you pick the right ones?

I use a two-step approach, which I call “quantitative” and “qualitative” analysis:

Quantitative Check: Fast, numbers-based filtering to weed out obviously weak sites.
Qualitative Analysis: A deeper manual review to assess a site’s quality and long-term potential.

Let’s go through each step in detail. I’ll show you what to check and why it matters

1. Quick Filtering: Mass Check of Basic Metrics

The first stage of the process is quick filtering based on key metrics. This is a high-level check, which I usually perform using an Excel spreadsheet with data extracted from SEO software, so I’m not manually reviewing each website. This allows me to filter out the websites that don’t meet the minimum requirements for guest posting.

Domain Rating (DR): Minimum 20
Organic Keywords: At least 3,000
Monthly Organic Traffic: At least 1,500

If a website doesn’t meet the minimum thresholds in any of these areas, I discard it and move on. This stage is all about quickly narrowing down the pool of potential sites.

2. In-Depth Analysis: Detailed Evaluation

Once the website has passed the quick filtering stage, I dive deeper into its metrics. This in-depth analysis is crucial to ensure that I’m choosing a high-quality site that will not only boost my SEO efforts but also provide long-term value. Here’s what I pay close attention to:

2.1 Traffic History: Evaluating Traffic Trends

When analyzing traffic, I look for a steady, gradual increase over time. A healthy website should have a consistent upward trend, with some minor fluctuations due to seasonal variations within the niche. For example, a website in the travel industry may see traffic spikes during holiday seasons, while a website focused on tech could experience steady growth year-round.

I typically look for a site that has been around for at least three years, which gives me enough data to make an informed judgment. However, significant drops or sudden spikes in traffic could indicate underlying issues. If the traffic suddenly drops, it may be due to penalties, a shift in the algorithm, or technical problems. On the other hand, a sharp rise could be a sign of artificial traffic generation, which could harm the website in the long run.

Bad example



Good example



2.2 Backlink Profile: Assessing Backlink Quality

A website’s backlink profile is crucial when evaluating its potential for guest posting. Here are the two main aspects I focus on:
• Referral Domains: These are the domains linking to the website.
• Linked Domains: These are the domains the website is linking to.

The first thing I check is the ratio of referral domains to linked domains. Ideally, the number of linked domains should not vastly exceed the number of referral domains. If a website is linking out to many more sites than it receives backlinks from, it may indicate that the site is more focused on selling links rather than promoting its own content.

I also pay close attention to the quality of the domains the site is linking to. I avoid websites that link to spammy or low-quality domains, such as gambling or adult sites. For me, any website that links to adult content is a red flag, and I would avoid placing a guest post on such a site.

2.3 Anchor Text Analysis

Anchor text is another critical aspect of a website’s backlink profile. I ensure that the site’s anchor texts are well-balanced and don’t include spammy or over-optimized phrases. Additionally, I look for a healthy distribution of anchor types, including:
• Brand Anchors: These are anchors that contain the brand name.
• Generic Anchors: Examples include “click here” or “read more.”
• Exact Match Anchors: These are anchors that match a target keyword.

Good example



The key is balance. A good website should have a variety of anchor types, with a healthy distribution that includes both branded and generic anchors in addition to exact match keywords.

2.4 Top Pages: Analyzing Top Performing Pages

At this stage, I analyze the website’s top pages to understand its traffic distribution. I’m particularly interested in identifying how many pages generate the majority of traffic. A site that depends heavily on just a few pages for most of its traffic is risky, as those pages could drop in rankings, leading to a drastic decline in traffic.

Additionally, by analyzing top-performing pages, I can also gather insights into which keywords are driving the most traffic to the site. This information is helpful because it can guide the topic for my guest post. For example, if a site receives most of its traffic from articles about “healthy recipes,” and I’m targeting the fitness niche, I might want to craft a guest post around health, fitness, or diet-related content to ensure it aligns with the site’s audience and ranks well.

Bad example



3. Spam Score: Checking for Spammy Content

Lastly, I assess the spam score of a website. I use Google operators like:
• site:domain.com to check how many pages are indexed.
• site:domain.com + intext:casino|essay|porno|gambling to identify if there are any spammy or irrelevant pages.

Ideally, less than 10% of a site’s pages should fall into these spammy categories. If I find that the site has a high spam score, I would reconsider my decision to place a guest post on it.


By following this detailed checklist, I ensure that I’m selecting websites for guest posting that will provide quality backlinks and contribute positively to my SEO strategy. While the quick filtering stage helps me narrow down potential sites, the in-depth analysis gives me a comprehensive understanding of the site’s quality and its potential to help improve my search engine rankings. This approach helps me avoid costly mistakes and ensures that my guest posting efforts are as effective as possible.

Thanks for the checklist.. it looks nice.

Do you written this content by yourself or copied from somewhere..

And how to know the correct price for a site that meets your criteria.

back2form said:

Thanks for the checklist.. it looks nice.

Do you written this content by yourself or copied from somewhere..

Click to expand...

Thank you. I wrote this myself from my own experience.

GTC said:

And how to know the correct price for a site that meets your criteria.

Click to expand...

This question isn’t so easy to answer because it really depends on your expectations, niche, and budget.

Each website sets its pricing based on its own performance, audience size, and the effort required to maintain the site. That’s why it’s important to assess costs based on your own experience and research. By reaching out to multiple websites within your niche, you’ll start to get a sense of the average pricing.

For example, when I was exploring websites in the legal niche, I started with a rate of $25 per 1,000 visitors. At the same time, the maximum budget I could allocate for a single publication was $250.

This budget was quite limited, which made finding high-quality, relevant websites a time-consuming process. However, with persistence, I was able to identify suitable options — and I’m sure you will, too.

Thanks for sharing. It seems that my previous guest post publishing strategy had some problems and wasted a lot of money.

Do you publish guest posts or link insertions through this strategy, or a mixture of the two?

At the same time, for guest posts, how many backlinks do you often place? (Do you only place 1 backlink in the article to maximize the effect)

For the keywords you need to rank, how many guest posts or link insertions did you publish using this strategy? and how long did it take to push the keyword ranking to the top 3 on the Google homepage?

I use both guest posts and link insertions in my strategy.

For guest posts, I typically include 2-3 backlinks if the site allows and they fit naturally. If only one link is permitted, I choose the most relevant and impactful anchor.

For link insertions, I focus on well-indexed pages with traffic, ensuring they pass strong link equity and align with my SEO goals.

As for ranking a keyword, I base my approach on competitor analysis, so the number of links needed varies by niche. Generally, mid-competition keywords take 3-6 months to reach the top 3, but results depend on multiple factors.

Emily Willson said:

I use both guest posts and link insertions in my strategy.

For guest posts, I typically include 2-3 backlinks if the site allows and they fit naturally. If only one link is permitted, I choose the most relevant and impactful anchor.

For link insertions, I focus on well-indexed pages with traffic, ensuring they pass strong link equity and align with my SEO goals.

As for ranking a keyword, I base my approach on competitor analysis, so the number of links needed varies by niche. Generally, mid-competition keywords take 3-6 months to reach the top 3, but results depend on multiple factors.

Click to expand...

For link insertion, I use site:domain.com "keywords"，to find out the most relevant pages for my keywords and niche websites, but most of these pages often have no traffic, so is it not worth it to place links on these pages? Is it a waste of money?
PS: I saw some of my good competitors, when they placed inserted links, many of the articles where they placed links also had no traffic.

What tool are you using to do this research?

robin222 said:

For link insertion, I use site:domain.com "keywords"，to find out the most relevant pages for my keywords and niche websites, but most of these pages often have no traffic, so is it not worth it to place links on these pages? Is it a waste of money?
PS: I saw some of my good competitors, when they placed inserted links, many of the articles where they placed links also had no traffic.

Click to expand...

Personally, I prefer either articles with existing traffic or recently published content that still has the potential to attract visitors. If an article doesn’t have traffic yet, I analyze whether it has the potential to rank well and gain traffic over time.

Another approach I use is offering to improve or rewrite the content myself. In many cases, outdated or poorly optimized articles fail to get traffic simply because they don’t target the right keywords or lack structured formatting. By refreshing the content, improving headings, and adding better keyword targeting, I can increase the chances of the article performing well in search results. Many site owners are open to this if they see value in updating their posts.

picapiedra18 said:

What tool are you using to do this research?

Click to expand...

I’ve tried different tools for SEO analysis, but I keep coming back to Ahrefs—it just feels the most convenient to use. In my experience, it provides the most accurate data.

I Understand

Links Builder rank said:

I Understand

Click to expand...

Good

Thank you for providing such information!

Useful information for SEO members

Basically, traffic will tell everything, all these metrics like DR, TF, CF are all unnecessary. If the site has traffic from competitive key phrases, then it is a great site, if from weak key phrases, then it is worse, but can also be considered for placement.

Yez16 said:

Basically, traffic will tell everything, all these metrics like DR, TF, CF are all unnecessary. If the site has traffic from competitive key phrases, then it is a great site, if from weak key phrases, then it is worse, but can also be considered for placement.

Click to expand...

It’s not just about getting traffic but also understanding where it comes from and whether it’s sustainable. Black-hat techniques might boost numbers temporarily, but they don’t guarantee long-term stability.

By analyzing how a site gains and maintains its rankings, we can better predict if it will hold its position over time. This is especially important when deciding whether to get backlinks from it—particularly if they’re paid. If a site is built on shaky SEO tactics, investing in links from it might not be worth it in the long run.