Writing your guest post rules

Your rules are what a writer reads before pitching you. On your site's Settings, the Rules for writers row says what they are now, or "Nothing specific yet. Writers can pitch any topic." Its panel says who reads them: "What writers read before they pitch redmonark.com." <!-- example -->

Rules for writers opens in a panel beside your site's settings. It is one form with one button: every rule is on screen, one row each, with what it means on the left and your choice on the right. Fill it in and publish.

Start from a preset

Three, one per line, described as "Fills in everything below. Nothing goes live until you publish."

Easy-going: "500+ words, up to 3 links, images optional."

Balanced: "800+ words, original content, 2 links."

High bar: "1,500+ words, expert-led, 1 link, no AI-only content."

A preset is a starting point, not a commitment. Apply the closest one and adjust.

If you are unsure, start at Balanced. Easy-going brings volume you will spend your evenings rejecting; High bar on a new site brings almost nothing.

Topics

What writers can pitch you.

Topics you accept: "Leave empty to take any topic." Pick from the list, or choose Other and type your own.

Topics you never accept: "Turned down, however good the article."

That second field is the highest-value one on the page and the one most sites leave blank. Every editor has a category they always decline: competitor comparisons, gambling, crypto, anything with an affiliate link in it. Writing it down converts a rejection you would have written by hand into a pitch that never arrives.

The article

What it has to include: the quality bar, the shortest length, images and the author bio.

Shortest length: writers see it before they start, and their draft shows its own word count as they write. Rankbench does not reject a short article for you; you can send it back or reject it with a note. Set it to a number you actually believe in.

Images: what the writer has to supply.

Author bio: whether there is one, and if it can carry a link. This is the one writers care most about, so being explicit saves a round trip.

Links

How many, where to, and the wording.

Link rules apply to every link in the article.

Most links to other sites caps the outbound links, not counting the author bio.

Link text is where you block exact-match anchors, which the form notes is what most owners block.

Be specific here. "Natural anchor text" means different things to you and to somebody being paid per placement.

Your reply time

What writers can expect from you: Review and publishing, your review and publication timescales.

Fill these in honestly rather than optimistically. A writer who is told five business days and hears nothing for three weeks does not write for you again. A writer told three weeks and answered in two is delighted.

Publishing

One button, which stays at the bottom of the panel as you scroll. Beside it the form says what happens: "Writers see new rules once you publish." On a computer it adds: "Anyone who already submitted keeps the rules they saw."

That second half is the important guarantee, in both directions. You can tighten your rules without moving the goalposts under somebody mid-draft, and a writer cannot be rejected against a rule that did not exist when they started.

Where to go next

Reviewing a submission is what happens when the rules do their job.