Guest posting is dead
Today’s opinion post is by Alyssa Shupnacki, Content Lead at Thrive Media Group. She has over 15 years of experience in marketing, SEO, and analytics.
Guest posting is dead. I’ve watched it decay over the past decade, from a promising tactic to an exhausted strategy that needs to be put to rest. After managing content for years, I’ve seen firsthand how desperately we cling to familiar approaches, even when they stop delivering results.
Back in 2015, guest posting was my go-to move. I’d spend hours crafting pitches, building relationships with editors, celebrating each acceptance. Now those same sites that once felt like gold mines are drowning in mediocre content from writers more focused on dropping links than adding value.
The industry’s obsession with churning out guest posts reminds me of a content mill I worked with briefly (never again). Writers rushed through assignments, recycling the same tired ideas across different sites. Quality? An afterthought. The goal was just ticking boxes and securing backlinks.
Google caught on ages ago. Their algorithms have evolved past simple link counting - something I learned the hard way after an algorithm update tanked a client’s rankings. These days, they’re tracking user behavior, content depth, and dozens of other signals that guest posting just can’t game.
Most marketers still pushing guest posts are working from an outdated playbook. I recently audited a company’s content strategy where they’d spent months guest posting religiously. Their traffic? Flat. Their authority? Unchanged. Their budget? Wasted.
There’s a better way forward through genuine partnerships. I’ve pivoted my entire approach to focus on creating lasting value.
- Build relationships with industry peers for deep-dive collaborative content that pools real expertise
- Get into podcast guesting and webinar speaking where you can showcase actual knowledge
- Create substantial resources like data studies or comprehensive guides that naturally attract attention
This shift means investing time in fewer but deeper relationships. Last month, a single collaborative research project with an industry partner drove more qualified traffic than six months of guest posts.
Trust comes from consistent value delivery, not scattered backlinks. My most successful clients are the ones who’ve stopped chasing quick wins and started building content that helps their audience solve problems.
Pouring resources into mediocre guest posts is like filling a leaky bucket. Instead, I’ve seen better results from building robust content hubs and focusing on depth over distribution. One client’s technical guide from 2021 still drives more engaged traffic than all their guest posts combined.
Time to face reality: marketing evolves. Guest posting served its purpose, but now it’s just noise. Focus instead on creating content worth reading, partnerships worth building, and resources worth sharing. That’s how you build lasting authority in 2023.