When considering guest blogging versus focusing on SEO for your own site, I wouldn’t say that you have to choose one over the other or that one technique is better. I think both work well together to help you achieve your content marketing goals. Making sure that you have both in your toolkit can really go a long way towards helping you drive more traffic to your site and generate leads.

The Relevance of Blog Posts

I have years of experience in this field and while I find that guest blogging is effective for building authority, credibility, and raising your search engine rankings, it can’t do everything you need. It does bring you closer to your content marketing goals, but I recommend that you be more innovative with your approach. What do I mean by this? For starters, don’t simply write a typical blog post. Try to incorporate other media types that can help your post stand out and become more engaging. For example, videos can help, as will adding well-placed images and infographics.

Of course, you have to double-check what you’re allowed to include, based on the guest posting guidelines of the site you’re contributing to. Generally, however, most editors will appreciate any effort you’re making to ensure that your contribution is engaging, shareable, and readable.

Adding relevant keywords to your guest post should almost go without saying. Make sure your post can be searchable to people who are looking for it—which leads us to…

The Importance of SEO

SEO is best known for increasing your searchability and visibility online, but it can offer so much more. Because 53% of website traffic actually comes from organic search results, it’s important that you recognize the importance of ranking well on search engines, as that will become a primary source of website traffic.

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SEO can also build a solid foundation of trust among your audience that ultimately translates to credibility over time. As you build quality backlinks from your guest posts and incorporate relevant keywords in your posts, you eventually grow your authority.

Focusing on your SEO also means you get to boost your audience engagement, site traffic, and conversions. You even have the option to optimize locally so you get a more targeted audience that you have better chances of converting.

Keep in mind, however, that SEO best practices are constantly evolving. Depending on search engine algorithm updates and industry rules and regulations, it’s always best to be proactive and stay on top of these changes.

At the end of the day, SEO for your own site and guest posts is always going to be a good idea. It’s effective, relatively cheap, and the payoff for your efforts are considerable. If you have any questions, feel free to join the conversation on our Twitter or LinkedIn—or simply leave a comment below.