Optimizing guest posts (the ones you get)

For those of you who have/manage a website that accepts guest posts, are you optimizing the content you receive?

For example, if an article you get is nothing close to optimized, but quality content, are you making edits to add keywords where necessary?

I get a decent number of guest posts but it's not always easy to optimize them for specific keywords without changing a lot. Just curious what process do you follow there, if any.

I don't add stuff on my own, especially if the buyer specifically instructs me not to alter the content in any way. If they don't say anything, or if I ask them and they don't mind, then yes, I add an image, maybe some sub-headings that I think are relevant, but I still don't modify the content too much. But then again, I never receive guest posts (I only got 1 so far since 2009 that I've been doing SEO, so...)

tazarbm said:

I never receive guest posts (I only got 1 so far since 2009 that I've been doing SEO, so...)

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Huh, that's strange. You don't even get random requests from people to post something?

Do you have a websites/blogs with decent traffic and following or is it mostly PBNs and similar?

I find it strange because the 3 websites I manage get dozens of guest posts request weekly. Sometimes the content is good and unique so I accept it and I wonder if I should optimize it.

Aleksandar916 said:

You don't even get random requests from people to post something?

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a couple of them have contacted me this year, but when I told them the whopping ZERO traffic that my websites get they have never replied back

Aleksandar916 said:

Sometimes the content is good and unique so I accept it and I wonder if I should optimize it.

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my content is good and unique, too, but I guess the lack of traffic deters them from guest posting on my sites. Or the fact that I ask for money because I'm hungry for it, I'm piss poor and I need that money, and these mother fuckers don't want to pay even for SEO value. What has this world come to? (just kidding )

Aleksandar916 said:

I wonder if I should optimize it.

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I already told you what I would do but if you're still unsure just ask them if it's OK for you to optimize the content and see what they say. I think this is the best course of action actually...

tazarbm said:

my content is good and unique, too, but I guess the lack of traffic deters them from guest posting on my sites. Or the fact that I ask for money because I'm hungry for it, I'm piss poor and I need that money, and these mother fuckers don't want to pay even for SEO value. What has this world come to? (just kidding )

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Just curious, what do you use websites with zero traffic for? PBN for SEO services?

Also I meant the content they want to publish is unique and good so I accept it.

Aleksandar916 said:

Just curious, what do you use websites with zero traffic for? PBN for SEO services?

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to rank them so I can make money, but apparently I chose the wrong keywords and competitive niches (pregnancy for example is a competitive niche, and some of my content is less than 1000 words and I know that in competitive niches you can't go by with such thin content... also the domain name is expired and might have some shitty backlinks, I don't know, nor do I care too much about this site to bother checking what's wrong with it, I just slammed 10 or so articles on it and let it go and gets a few impressions per week every now and then, and 1-2 clicks a year lol.... fuck my life!)

Anyway, that's one of the sites (one that I don't care too much about, yet, but which still looks good and compelling enough to attract guest posters), but the other sites I do care about but I don't know what's wrong with them. I have my suspicions, but until I get my hands on delicious tools like ahrefs or semrush I can only guess.

Aleksandar916 said:

Also I meant the content they want to publish is unique and good so I accept it

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well, yeah, I would accept good content, too, but I also want money for it, otherwise what's the point??

tazarbm said:

to rank them so I can make money, but apparently I chose the wrong keywords and competitive niches (pregnancy for example is a competitive niche, and some of my content is less than 1000 words and I know that in competitive niches you can't go by with such thin content... also the domain name is expired and might have some shitty backlinks, I don't know, nor do I care too much about this site to bother checking what's wrong with it, I just slammed 10 or so articles on it and let it go and gets a few impressions per week every now and then, and 1-2 clicks a year lol.... fuck my life!)

Anyway, that's one of the sites (one that I don't care too much about, yet, but which still looks good and compelling enough to attract guest posters), but the other sites I do care about but I don't know what's wrong with them. I have my suspicions, but until I get my hands on delicious tools like ahrefs or semrush I can only guess.


well, yeah, I would accept good content, too, but I also want money for it, otherwise what's the point??

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I don't know how to multi quote so I'll just reply to your entire post

-Sorry to hear some of the websites aren't doing well. Are you looking stats in GSC? You could always get semrush or similar tools on trial and do the analysis.

Regarding the content - I look at it this way - good content, yes. Mutual benefit. "Meh" content - yes, if they pay.
I don't charge for quality content people will share/read, plus if I can optimize it to rank, that would be a jackpot.

Aleksandar916 said:

I don't charge for quality content people will share/read, plus if I can optimize it to rank, that would be a jackpot.

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I do, because I need the money. Once I make a few 1000s EUROS / USD per month I will not worry about the money, but now I need it, so...

Aleksandar916 said:

Sorry to hear some of the websites aren't doing well

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it's OK! I got used to the failure so much that I am actually genuinely interested in doing something about it now

Aleksandar916 said:

Are you looking stats in GSC? You could always get semrush or similar tools on trial and do the analysis

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yes, GSC for now. Next week I'm getting "group buy" membership and will be able to access 10 SEO tools for like $14 or something, and 2 of those will be ahrefs and semrush. I don't need their garbage trials, I want RAW POWER for peanuts. And I'll get it.... one way or another....

Aleksandar916 said:

I don't know how to multi quote so I'll just reply to your entire post

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no problem. Just highlight the entire sentence or paragraph, phrase or words you want to quote and a "reply" word will appear and you click on that and the quote gets automatically inserted into your reply field. Then, after replying, hit the ENTER key on your keyboard to move the mouse cursor on the next line and highlight the next words that you wish to quote and click on "reply" again and write your comment again. Rinse and repeat until your quote the living crap out of everything

Of course, you need to optimize the content you receive. It would also be a good idea to post information and conditions for publishing guest posts on your site. It is necessary to write that you reserve the right to edit articles so that they are better suited for your readers

Aleksandar916 said:

are you optimizing the content you receive?

For example, if an article you get is nothing close to optimized, but quality content, are you making edits to add keywords where necessary?

I get a decent number of guest posts but it's not always easy to optimize them for specific keywords without changing a lot. Just curious what process do you follow there, if any.

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Yes,
I do receive quite a lot of trash tier articles. I send it back and tell them it's not up to standard to be placed on my site.
They need to review it or it doesn't go up. (sounds tough, it is, my #1 priority is to protect my site)

If it's just minor changes, I make the changes, send it back to them and let them know these are the changes made.

Aleksandar916 said:

I don't know how to multi quote so I'll just reply to your entire post

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Here is how you multiquote.

I’ve received guest posts in the past, and the way I optimized it is actually pretty simple yet powerful.

When people ask for guest posts, I spell out in the rules that the guest post must be all about what I need.

“Forget about your keyword target; forget about what you need, and focus on what I need.”

I make that abundantly clear.

And here's the funny part: it filters away all the drive-by linkers, the junk spam auto-posters, and all that riffraff.

In other words, it scares off the people who normally abuse guest posting.

The ones that are left are serious content contributors who are willing to put in the time, effort, and energy to create some sort of win-win situation.

That's the first step.

The second step is, when I give them my topic requests, I bake into that request an outline that spells out the major headings that involve my keyword targets.

They have to comply with that outline.

This means that the content that they produce has to actually add value to the lives of my readers.

Real flesh-and-blood human beings will be reading this content; this is not just “made for link-building purposes.”

This is the real deal.

For my previous blogs that took in guest posts, it worked well!

So what am I saying?

I'm saying you “optimize” your guest posts from square one.

In other words, the way you structure how you publicize the fact that you take guest posts and your interaction with potential contributors must be focused on you getting keyword-optimized and value-driven information.

That's how you create a consistent and workable win-win situation.