How to write a guest post that gets accepted

Most guest posts are rejected for one reason: the writer answered a brief the site never set. This guide starts from the site's rules and takes one article from a blank page to a link confirmed live.

Step 1: Pick where it's going

1. Open Submit Guest Post, under Guest Posts in the sidebar, and search for a site. Only sites open to submissions appear.
2. If the site you want isn't on Rankbench, use Invite a website. It's free for them to join.

If someone sent you their public submission link, it opens with their site and rules already selected, and keeps your place through signup.

Step 2: Read the rules before you write a word

Choosing a site shows its rules and asks you to accept them. These ten minutes decide the outcome. Look for:

1. Topics they never accept. If comparisons are on the list, don't write one.
2. The minimum word count. The editor can send back anything shorter, so clear it with room to spare.
3. How many links you get, and where they may point.
4. The wording rules for links. Many sites block exact-match anchors.

Accepting pins your submission to that version of the rules, so a later change can't move the goalposts.

Step 3: Write against their brief

Pick a topic from their accepted list rather than your own plan. Aim above their minimum length, and plan one link to a genuinely relevant page of yours, not your homepage.

If you'd rather write in Google Docs, that works too. Set sharing to anyone with the link can view, then paste the link. That sharing setting is the most common import failure.

Step 4: Review your links like an editor

1. Press Review links & continue.
2. Click each highlighted link and ask: could I defend this if someone asked why it's here?
3. Cut the links you added because you felt you should.
4. Send it. Your draft locks while they read.

Step 5: Handle the change request

Changes requested is the normal result for a first article. It means somebody wants to publish it.

1. Read all the feedback before changing anything.
2. Reply to any comment you disagree with or don't understand. The reply stays on the article.
3. Make the changes. Re-import the same Doc, or edit in place if you used the editor.
4. Send it back.

Step 6: Get it verified live

They publish it and submit the live address. Rankbench opens the page and checks that it can be reached, is indexable, matches what was approved, and has the agreed links with the agreed wording. When that passes, the article is verified live and joins your Content Library.

What to do next

• Tracking your guest posts
• When the editors ask for changes
• How to use articles you published elsewhere in backlink exchanges