How to Research and Shortlist Guest Posting Opportunities in Your Niche

You research and shortlist guest posting opportunities by first defining what a “good” site looks like for your goals, then systematically finding, qualifying, and organising prospects before outreach.

Below is a practical, step‑by‑step workflow you can follow.

1. Define Your Niche & Guest Posting Criteria

Before searching, be clear on:

• Topic / niche scope
  • Core topics you want to be known for (e.g. “B2B SaaS SEO”, “keto recipes”, “creator economy marketing”).
• Target audience
  • Who you want to reach (job titles, industries, problems). Audience‑first targeting helps you focus on sites your ideal readers already consume.
• Minimum quality thresholds (set these up front so shortlisting is easy):
  • Topical relevance: at least 70–80% of their content is on or adjacent to your niche.
  • Organic traffic: e.g. 2k–5k+ visits/month (adjust for how narrow your niche is).
  • Domain Authority / DR: e.g. DA/DR 30+ if you care about SEO, again adjusting for niche.
  • Engagement: posts have comments and social shares, not a “dead” blog.
  • Outbound link quality: they don’t look spammy or sell lots of links.

Put this into a simple checklist you’ll use to qualify each site.

2. Build a Longlist: Find Guest Post Prospects

Use multiple methods so you don’t just find the same “write for us” pages as everyone else.

A. Google search operators

Use combinations of your main keywords with “guest post”–style footprints.

Example queries:

• your topic + "write for us"
• your topic + "guest post"
• "your keyword" + "submit an article"
• "your keyword" + "become a contributor"
• intitle:"guest post" "your topic"

Scan beyond page 1 (aim for 5–10 pages) to find less‑obvious opportunities.

B. Competitor backlink analysis

This is one of the fastest ways to find proven guest post sites.

1. List 5–10 close competitors.
2. Use a tool (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Similarweb, etc.) to export their backlinks.
3. Filter URLs that contain:
   • /guest-post/, /contributor/, author/your-competitor, or “guest post” in anchors.
4. Identify patterns:
   • Sites that host multiple competitors are likely open to more guest posts.

Add all relevant domains to your sheet even if they don’t have a “write for us” page — you can pitch them cold.

C. Content & tool explorers

Tools like Ahrefs Content Explorer let you search for content in your niche and then filter by metrics.

For each keyword:

• Filter by:
  • Domain Rating / DA
  • Organic traffic
  • Language & region (if relevant)
• Open top sites and check:
  • Do they publish external contributors?
  • Do author bios link out?

Even if they don’t say “guest post”, any site using multiple external authors is a candidate.

D. Social media & communities

Use social listening and niche communities to spot active opportunities.

• Search X (Twitter), LinkedIn for:
  • "guest post" your topic
  • "looking for contributors" your niche
  • "accepting submissions" your niche
• Join relevant:
  • Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, Slack/Discords, Reddit communities.
  • Watch for “we’re looking for writers” threads.

E. Author tracking

Find people in your niche who already guest post, then follow their trail.

• Search their name in Google + guest post, contributor, or just their name.
• The publications they repeatedly write for are likely open to pitches.

F. Industry events, podcasts, and tools

• Conference speaker lists: speakers often write for industry blogs; many will introduce you to editors if you can add value.
• Podcasts in your niche: hosts often have blogs that accept contributed content or will refer you.
• SaaS / tools you use: many maintain blogs and like case studies or integration content.

3. Create a Prospecting Sheet

Centralise everything in one spreadsheet or CRM so you can qualify and prioritise logically.

Include columns like:

• Domain
• URL of guidelines / “write for us” page
• Niche relevance (High / Medium / Low)
• Audience type (e.g. e‑com founders, marketers, parents)
• DA / DR
• Est. organic traffic
• Avg. social engagement
• Guest post policy (yes / no / unclear)
• Links allowed (dofollow? contextual? only in author bio?)
• Content type accepted (how‑to, case studies, data studies, opinion)
• Status (to review / shortlisted / pitched / accepted / rejected)

This makes shortlisting objective instead of emotional.

4. Qualify Each Site: Is It Worth Guest Posting There?

Use a mix of qualitative and quantitative checks.

A. Relevance & audience fit

Open the blog and scan:

• Topics: Are they strongly aligned with your niche and your buyers’ problems?
• Audience level: Beginner vs advanced? Matches your expertise?
• Existing guest posts: look for “guest author”, “guest post by”, “contributor”.

Reject sites that are off‑topic or target the wrong people (even if their metrics are high).

B. Authority & SEO value

Use tools to check:

• DA / DR and organic traffic.
• Ranking for key industry terms.
• Backlink profile quality (few spammy links; links from real industry sites).

If SEO is a major goal, downgrade:

• Sites that barely rank for anything.
• Sites with obviously manipulated link profiles or lots of casino / gambling / “write for us” spam.

C. Engagement & brand quality

On the blog and social profiles, check:

• Comments on recent posts.
• Social shares (X, LinkedIn, Facebook).
• Posting frequency: at least somewhat active, not dormant for months.
• Editorial quality: solid editing, proper formatting, not AI sludge.

High engagement suggests your post will get exposure, not just a backlink.

D. Guest post & link policy

Locate their contributor or guideline page.

Check:

• Are they still accepting pitches?
• Do they charge for “guest posts” (avoid pay‑to‑play link farms)?
• Link rules:
  • Dofollow vs nofollow
  • Whether contextual links to your site are allowed, or only in the bio
• Content standards:
  • Word count, research level, tone, required media, originality.

If there’s no guidelines page, check recent posts to see if external authors are still being published and how they’re credited.

5. Shortlist & Prioritise

From your longlist, choose the sites that best match your goals and constraints.

Use a simple scoring approach (e.g. 1–5 for each):

• Relevance
• Authority / SEO value
• Engagement
• Link value
• Brand fit

Then create tiers:

• Tier 1 (high priority): high relevance + good authority + visible engagement + clean link policies.
• Tier 2: decent authority or reach, but maybe lower engagement or more restrictive link rules.
• Tier 3: experiments or niche sites (good fit but very small, new, or unproven).

Plan your outreach pipeline to focus mainly on Tier 1, with some Tier 2 for volume.

6. Map Topics to Each Shortlisted Site

This increases acceptance rates and stops you sending generic pitches.

For each shortlisted site:

• Identify their content gaps:
  • What have they not covered in depth yet?
  • Which posts are outdated and could be modernised?
• Look for the expertise intersection:
  • Where your unique knowledge overlaps with their audience’s needs and editorial focus.

Examples:

• You specialise in email onboarding and they cover “SaaS growth”: pitch “Data‑Backed Onboarding Flows That Cut Churn by X%”.
• You specialise in Xiaohongshu marketing and they’re a Western marketing blog: pitch “How Western Brands Can Adapt Content Strategies for Xiaohongshu Success”.

Keep 2–3 tailored topic ideas logged per site in your spreadsheet.

7. Maintain & Refine Your List Over Time

Guest posting is ongoing, not one‑off.

• Regularly:
  • Remove sites that look spammy or stop publishing.
  • Add new sites from competitor backlink checks and social listening.
• Track results:
  • Traffic and leads from each guest post.
  • Referral conversions.
  • Backlink impact (rankings and authority changes).

Over time you’ll learn which types of sites produce real business results for you (not just links), and adjust your criteria accordingly.

If you tell me your niche and primary goal (SEO vs leads vs authority), I can help you design a ready‑to‑use spreadsheet template and a short qualification checklist tailored to your situation.