Ultimate Guide: Niche Edits vs Guest Posts - Warning

In this article, we will consider the merits of Niche Edits vs Guest Posts.

Guest blogging is one of the most popular ways to achieve better SEO results for your website. It is a great way to build relationships with other bloggers and influencers in your industry, as well as generate new leads and traffic. But not all businesses are able to do guest posts because it can be difficult to find relevant blogs that will accept content from you.

Niche edits are another option that many people don't know about but offer benefits over guest posting. In this article, we'll discuss how they compare and which strategy might work best for you!

Importance of links as ranking factor

When you want your website to appear high in the SERPS, link building is one of the most important factors. The higher your domain authority, the more likely you are to rank well in Google, and domain authority is increased by links to your site.

Getting or creating links is therefore important to most website owners who don't wish to rely on advertising for all their website traffic.

Not all backlinks are created equal, but some will have more weight than others. Links from high-quality sites that are relevant to your content, and with a lot of authority behind them like .edu's or .gov's (even if they're not on the topic), will help you rank better in Google search results.

The best links are editorial links, those created by human beings who have a vested interest in the quality of their site. The more editorial backlinks you have from authoritative, relevant sites, the better your domain authority will be and the higher Google will rank your web pages for relevant keywords.

We're going to look at two link building tactics that implement the editorial link strategy, niche edits and guest posting.

Before we get started, with our comparison of Niche Edits vs Guest Posts, it is worth defining some concepts that we will be using:

Topical relevance is how closely the content of a web page matches your subject matter.

Domain Authority is how much Google trusts your site, and it determines where your pages rank in search engine results. The higher domain authority you have, the better chance that people will see your web pages at or near the top of their searches.

Contextual links are any links to a relevant site within a body of text. The linked site should be relevant to the context of the link.

What are Niche Edits?

So what are niche edits? Niche edit link building is a tactic in which contextual links are added into existing, topically relevant, blog posts and pages on websites.

So here's an example: You supply yoga mats and want a link to a product page for the 'flying carpet', a unique yoga mat.

If you imagine a website that's all about yoga and it has an article discussing yoga mat selection.

If you obtained a link from that article with the text "one of the best mats in the flying carpet from Flying Yoga Inc", that link would be a niche edit.

The link is from a relevant article and is contextually relevant for your requirement (talks about your product and topic).

What are the Best Niche Edits?

The best niche edits (nicheedits) would have the relevance described already but additionally, would be from a highly authoritative source, so a website with high domain authority.

The website with the link to you would have a very low Spam score.

The article containing the link would be aged, it would have a high Page Authority (gained a strong backlink profile) and have a good amount of organic traffic.

How do I get a Niche Edit?

White hat niche edits are the safest form of link building. The link builder uses traditional outreach strategies such as broken link building or relationship building with blog site owners to look for opportunities to build links that benefit both parties.

It's the safest form of link building because it is not manipulative and doesn't violate google guidelines on what type of links to build. It also creates a win-win situation for all parties involved where each party gets something out of the relationship but neither is harmed by this process.

So if you want to use an SEO agency to do this for you, find one that offers top a top quality white hat link building service. White hats SEOs offer the safest and most guaranteed type of niche editing.

Black hat niche edits are unsafe with respect to Google, they are manipulative and may lead to penalties from Google.

Agencies using black hat methods generally hack into websites and then sell niche edits on those sites. The site owners are usually unaware that they've been hacked until many edits have been made to their site.

As you can see, black hat niche editing is done without the permission and consent of the blog content, post, or link owner, so you should avoid this type of link building.

Having discussed black hat and white hat niche edit link building, we should next cover the remaining type of service.

Grey hat is the way most SEO agencies provide Niche Edit link building. You pay the SEO agency for a Niche Edit link. The agency then uses outreach and approaching appropriate website owners to find link building opportunities. They offer the website owners money in return for the niche edit on their site.

What are Guest Posts

The other form of link building we are going to look at is Guest Posting, this is where you provide original content that is posted on another website, and in return, the website owner will include a link to your site.

With most guest posting opportunities, the new post will start in a prime position on the blogs home page. Then as more and more articles are added, your guest post slips off to page 2, then page 3, etc

Why does this matter? Well, whilst your fresh guest post is on the blog's home page, that's when it has the most natural visibility. When it would get the most attention, links from the guest post to your own site will have their highest authority.

Once your guest post slips off the home page, it's page authority drops and it then follows that the link to your site reduces in power.

What are the Best Guest Posts

The best guest posts opportunity would be on a website that is relevant to your niche. So if you're a yoga instructor, then a blogging opportunity on a site that is all about yoga equipment would be a perfect fit.

Next, you want the blog to be highly authoritative having a high Domain Authority. A DA of 60 is considered good, but anything over 80 would be fantastic.

Thirdly, you want the blog site owner to agree to give you a dofollow link that isn't marked as sponsored.

Fourth, it's important to make sure the site is one that will have a good amount of traffic and consistent visitors - not just an occasional visit from someone looking for yoga equipment on their lunch break at work.

How do I get a Guest Post

Finding guest posting opportunities can be tough and often time-consuming. Because of this most site owners reach out to SEO agencies to manage this process on their behalf.

The SEO agents perform the research needed, they often have content for the guest blog post written and they manage the process from start to finish.

Note that if you buy guest post links, this is considered to be against the Google Webmaster Guidelines, but you'll see that it's not uncommon, go search for: buy new york guest post links, and you'll see heaps of SEO companies selling such links:

Niche Edits vs Guest Posts - So which is best to help search rankings?

If you were to consider the link types side by side, you may decide that link edits are the most attractive option. But it is worth remembering that you need a mix of links types, you need a natural-looking link profile so as not to look suspicious.

Looking at relative costs, a high-quality niche edit can cost several hundred dollars/pounds. A guest post on a high authority blogs site would typically be cheaper, but you need to factor in the cost of building additional links to your blog post to ensure it has enough authority to be worthwhile.

To answer the Niche Edits vs Guest Posts - which is best for SERPS - You'd have to say neither, they are both effective to increase your chances of moving up the search engine results.

Warning

Use trusted high-quality link building services.

Don't use extremely cheap services that offer page 1 on google for less than the cost of a good meal out. You do get what you pay for.

Conclusion

The consequences of using low-quality link building services, or not following Google guidelines can be serious. It's always best to speak with a professional if you are unsure about what links types are appropriate for your business website and how much it should cost.

Recommended reading: SEO 101 - Top 22 questions answered