How to do blogger outreach: a step-by-step process that editors respond to

Blogger outreach means contacting site owners and editors to propose content or collaborations that include a link to your site. It's the process behind most guest posts. Done carelessly, it's spam. Done well, it builds relationships with publications your audience actually reads. This guide walks through a process you can run yourself, or check a provider against. If you'd rather buy it as a service, read our guest posting services guide.

Before you start

• Choose the target pages you want to support, and what each is about.
• Know what you can offer: expertise, data, a unique perspective, a well-written article. “A link for us” isn't an offer.
• Set up a sending address on your real domain, with a real name and signature.
• Prepare a tracking sheet (see step 7) before you send anything.

Step 1: Prospecting

Build a list of sites that publish content your audience reads. Practical sources:

• Search results for the topics you cover: the sites ranking for informational queries in your niche.
• Sites that already link to similar resources or to competitors.
• Industry newsletters, associations and the blogs your customers mention.
• Authors who write about your topic across several publications.

Avoid lists sold as “guest post sites”. Sites that advertise accepting posts on any topic tend to exist to sell links, and are the ones you least want to appear on.

Step 2: Qualifying sites

Metrics such as Domain Rating can help sort a long list, but read the site before you pitch it. Relevance is the filter that matters.

Step 3: Finding the right person

• Look for contributor guidelines and follow them exactly.
• On larger publications, find the editor for the relevant section rather than a general inbox.
• On small blogs, the owner is usually the right contact.
• Use publicly listed contact details. Don't scrape personal addresses.

Step 4: Writing the pitch

A pitch that works is short and specific. Structure:

1. Why them: one sentence showing you've read the site.
2. The idea: a specific topic or angle their readers would value, ideally filling a gap in what they've published.
3. Why you: the expertise or data you bring.
4. The ask: would they like a draft or outline?

An original example (fictional sender and site):

Subject: Idea for your remote-teams series: async stand-ups that actually work

Hi Priya, your piece on meeting fatigue last month made a strong case for fewer calls. One gap I noticed: there's nothing on the series about running stand-ups asynchronously, which is where most teams get stuck.

I run operations at a 40-person distributed company, and we replaced daily calls with written stand-ups two years ago. I could write a practical piece with the templates we use and the mistakes we made. Would an outline be useful?

Thanks, Sam

Notice what's missing: no mention of links, no metrics, no flattery. If the article is good and relevant, a link to a genuinely useful resource on your site follows naturally, and the editor decides whether to include it.

Step 5: Following up

• One follow-up after about a week is reasonable. Keep it shorter than the original.
• If there's no reply after that, move on.
• If they say no, thank them. A good relationship can lead to a later yes.
• Respect opt-outs and local email rules. Repeated unsolicited emails can harm your domain's email reputation.

Step 6: Writing and delivering content

• Follow the publication's guidelines on length, format and style.
• Write for their readers first. The article should be worth publishing even without your link.
• Suggest, don't dictate, your link: one link to a genuinely relevant page, with a natural anchor. See the anchor text guide.
• Deliver on time, accept edits gracefully, and share the piece when it goes live.

Step 7: Tracking

A simple sheet is enough. Track for every prospect:

Running outreach white label

Agencies often run outreach for clients under the client's brand, or have a partner do it white label. The process is the same, with additions:

• Agree who the sender is, and that they're authorised to represent the client.
• Get client approval for topics, sites and anything published under the client's name.
• Keep the tracking sheet as the agency's record, not only the partner's.
• Report live URLs, anchors and attributes in the agency's branded report.

See our white label SEO guide for the wider model.

Paid requests and disclosure

Some sites will ask for payment to publish. Google's spam policies treat “exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links” as link spam when the links pass ranking credit, and say paid links are fine when qualified with rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored".^[1] If you agree to pay, ask for the link to be marked sponsored, or decide knowingly that you're accepting the policy risk. Our buying backlinks guide explains the trade-off.