How to Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz to Find Guest Posting Prospects

You can use all three tools together by following one workflow: mine competitor backlinks and topical content with Ahrefs and SEMrush, then qualify and prioritise those prospects with Moz (plus traffic/DR/authority metrics from the others). Below is a concise, practical process.

1. Start with a seed list of relevant sites

1. Make a list of:

   • Your main competitors
   • Leading blogs/publications in your niche

2. You will feed these domains into Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz in the next steps.

Focus on sites whose audience matches yours first, authority second; relevance beats pure metrics for guest posting ROI.

2. Use Ahrefs to find guest post prospects

A. Find sites that already accept guest posts

1. Content Explorer

   • Search queries like:
     • your topic + guest post
     • your topic + "write for us" / "contributor"
   • Filter by:
     • Language, DR (e.g. DR 30–80), traffic, and “one article per domain”.
   • Export results – these are pages that either are guest posts or live on sites that accept them.

2. Site Explorer → Backlinks / Referring domains
   For each competitor domain:

   • Open Site Explorer → Referring domains.
   • Filter:
     • Dofollow only
     • DR range (e.g. 20–80)
     • Exclude obvious directories/forums.
   • Scan anchor texts like “guest post”, “contributor”, author names; add those domains to your prospect list.
   • Export to CSV for bulk processing.

3. Link Intersect

   • In Ahrefs: Link Intersect (domains linking to your competitors but not to you).
   • These domains already link to similar sites; many will have guest posts or other editorial opportunities.
   • Manually check a sample for guest-post-like articles and keep the qualified ones.

B. Qualify prospects with Ahrefs metrics

For each candidate domain or page, check in Site Explorer:

• Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR) for authority.
• Organic traffic: avoid sites with zero or near-zero traffic unless they’re high-trust brands.
• Top pages & keywords: confirm they publish on your topic and rank for it.

Remove sites that are:

• Off-topic
• Thin / low-quality content
• Overloaded with obvious paid guest posts

3. Use SEMrush to expand and refine the list

A. Mine competitor backlinks & outreach-ready domains

1. Backlink Analytics → Backlinks / Referring domains

   • Enter each competitor and export referring domains.
   • Filter for:
     • Follow links
     • Category / industry where available
   • Identify repeated domains linking to several competitors (highly likely to accept contributors).

2. Link Building Tool

   • In SEMrush, start a Link Building project for your domain.
   • Enter:
     • Target keywords
     • Competitors
   • SEMrush suggests domains by:
     • Competitors’ backlinks
     • Keyword/topic relevance
   • Tag those that look like blogs, magazines, or content sites – many are suitable for guest posts.

B. Use keyword and topic tools to find topical sites

1. Keyword Magic Tool

   • Enter your core topics.
   • Pick related keywords and note the high-intent or niche variants your audience cares about.

2. Domain Overview / Organic Research

   • Plug promising domains into Domain Overview / Organic Research to:
     • Check traffic volume and trend
     • See if they rank for your topic clusters (confirms topical fit).

Prioritise domains where:

• Traffic is stable or growing
• Top keywords align with your content and offers
• Content recency is good (active blog)

4. Use Moz to score, de‑risk, and prioritise

Moz is especially useful for a quick quality filter:

1. Link Explorer / MozBar / integrated metrics

   • Check:
     • Domain Authority (DA)
     • Spam Score
   • Outreach tools like BuzzStream can pull Moz DA and spam data to vet prospects at scale.

2. Practical thresholds (adapt to your niche)

   • DA: typically 20–80 is a good working range (avoid very low unless brand is strong; very high may be hard to land).
   • Spam Score: avoid obviously high‑risk sites.

3. Combine with Ahrefs/SEMrush:

   • Keep domains that have:
     • Decent DA
     • Low spam score
     • Some organic traffic (from Ahrefs/SEMrush)
     • Clear topical relevance (from their recent posts).

5. Build a single master prospect sheet

Create a spreadsheet with columns like:

• Domain
• Homepage URL
• Contact / “Write for us” URL
• Topic focus / niche
• Ahrefs DR / UR
• SEMrush estimated traffic
• Moz DA & Spam Score
• Notes (guest post proof, author guidelines, pitch angle)

Then:

• Deduplicate between Ahrefs and SEMrush exports.
• Sort by your main priority (e.g. audience fit → traffic → authority).

6. Manually confirm guest post viability

For top prospects:

• Check the site for:
  • “Write for us”, “Contribute”, “Guest post guidelines”
  • Multi‑author blog with external contributors
• Skim last 5–10 posts:
  • Topic alignment with your buyer persona
  • Content quality and editorial tone
  • Reasonable publishing cadence

Discard sites that:

• Look like pure link farms
• Are filled with spun / very low‑effort content
• Are off‑topic even if metrics are good

7. Map angles and outreach based on tool insights

Use what you saw in the tools to pitch smarter:

• From Ahrefs/SEMrush:

  • Find content gaps: topics competitors get traffic for that the target site has not covered in depth.
  • Note which post types get links/traffic (how‑tos, case studies, data posts).

• From Moz & traffic metrics:

  • Reserve your best, most resource‑heavy ideas for higher‑authority, higher‑traffic sites.

Outreach tips (tool‑driven):

• Reference specific articles and keywords the site ranks for (Ahrefs/SEMrush Organic Research).
• Propose 2–3 titles clearly aligned with their high‑performing topics.
• Track responses and live links; later, use Ahrefs/SEMrush to see which placements drove the most traffic and rankings, then double down on similar sites and topics.

8. Simple workflow summary (repeatable)

1. Collect competitors and key topics.
2. Use Ahrefs:
   • Content Explorer + Site Explorer + Link Intersect → raw prospect list.
3. Use SEMrush:
   • Backlink Analytics + Link Building tool + Organic Research → expand and enrich the list.
4. Use Moz:
   • DA + Spam Score → filter and prioritise.
5. Manually check sites; build a clean master sheet.
6. Pitch tailored topics; track performance and refine targets over time.

If you tell me your niche and current Ahrefs/SEMrush/Moz access level (plans you have), I can turn this into a very concrete, tool‑specific checklist with example filters and queries.