The short version: Hundreds of sites accept guest posts, but most lists online are years out of date and full of dead links. The sites worth pitching in 2024 fall into three buckets: paid guest posts (yes, some pay $300 to $1,000 per piece), free placements on high-authority domains that will move your SEO, and niche community blogs where the audience quality beats the domain authority every time.
Why most "guest post sites" lists are a waste of your time
I have been doing content marketing since before most people knew what it was. I have pitched hundreds of sites over the years, and I can tell you plainly: the giant spreadsheets of 500 guest post sites that circulate on Pinterest and Reddit are mostly garbage. Half the sites are defunct. A quarter have switched to a pay-to-play model they do not advertise upfront. And a lot of the rest get so many pitches they auto-delete anything that does not follow their very specific submission format.
So instead of handing you a bloated list, I am going to give you the sites that are open right now, what they want, and how to pitch them in a way that gets read.
Sites that pay for guest posts
Let us start here because nobody talks about this enough. You can get paid to write guest posts. Not everywhere, but in enough places that it should change how you think about your time.
Smashing Magazine
Pays between $200 and $250 per article. They cover web design, UX, front-end development, and CSS. The editorial bar is high. They want original research, detailed tutorials, and genuine technical depth. If you can write code and explain it clearly, this is one of the best placements you will find. Their domain authority is enormous and the audience is senior.
CSS-Tricks (now part of DigitalOcean)
Still accepts community posts. Not the same as the old paid model but a placement here carries real weight in the developer community. Worth it for the backlink and the audience even without payment.
Copyhackers
Joanna Wiebe's site pays for conversion copywriting content. Rates are not publicly listed but they are known to pay well for the right piece. They are extremely selective. They want case studies with real numbers, not theoretical frameworks. If you have a copywriting win you can document in detail, pitch them.
Listverse
Pays $100 per published list article. Format is strictly 10-item lists on any interesting topic. This is not going to build your professional reputation in marketing circles, but if you want to practise writing and get paid while doing it, it is legitimate and they pay via PayPal promptly.
Income Diary
Pays up to $200 for posts on blogging, online business, and making money online. Long-form content preferred, minimum 1,500 words. They are upfront about what they want on their write-for-us page.
High-authority sites that accept free guest posts worth submitting to
Some placements are worth doing for free because the domain authority, the audience, or the editorial credibility does real work for you. Here are the ones I would prioritise.
HubSpot Blog
HubSpot accepts guest contributions across their marketing, sales, and service blogs. The process is competitive and slow. It took me two follow-ups on one pitch before I got a response. But a byline on HubSpot carries weight with clients in a way that most blogs do not. Their editorial team will rewrite parts of your piece, so go in knowing that. Their guidelines are on the site under "write for us."
Search Engine Journal
SEJ is one of the best placements in SEO and digital marketing. They accept contributor applications rather than one-off pitches. You apply, they review your existing work, and if accepted you get a contributor account. The audience is professional and the traffic is real.
Search Engine Land
Similar model to SEJ. Strong editorial standards. Great for anyone in paid search, SEO, or local search. Having a byline here puts you in front of agency decision-makers who read it daily.
Social Media Examiner
They have tightened their submission process but still accept pitches from practitioners with genuine platform experience. Emphasis on practical, step-by-step content. They do not want opinion pieces. They want "here is exactly how I did this thing."
Business 2 Community
Easier to get into than most of the above. The bar is lower, which means the audience is more mixed, but the domain authority is solid and it is a good starting point if you are building a portfolio of placements.
Moz Blog
The SEO community's publication of record. Accepting contributors via their community section called Moz Blog Community Posts. Full editorial pitches for the main blog are still possible but competitive. If you have original data, a novel framework, or a new angle on an SEO topic, pitch the main blog. Otherwise use the community section to get started.
Niche sites worth more than their domain authority suggests
Here is the thing the SEO crowd often misses. A placement on a blog with 40,000 monthly readers who are all freelance designers is worth more to a freelance design tool company than a placement on a DA 70 generalist blog. Audience specificity is underrated.
- Freelancer's Union Blog: Accepts guest posts on freelancing, contracts, taxes, and career development. The readership is exactly what it sounds like. Highly targeted.
- She Owns It: A community for women business owners. Accepts contributed articles on marketing, finance, leadership, and business growth. Good audience, straightforward submission process.
- Convince and Convert: Jay Baer's site. Very selective but well-read by senior marketers. If you pitch here, make it data-driven and original.
- Problogger: Still active, still read by bloggers and content creators. Guest posts accepted, focused on blogging craft, content strategy, and monetisation.
- GrowthHackers: Community-driven. You can post articles directly. Not traditional guest posting but functions similarly for visibility in the growth marketing community.
How to find guest post opportunities yourself
Do not rely entirely on lists. Including this one. Here is how I find fresh opportunities when I need them.
Search Google for: "write for us" + [your niche] or "guest post guidelines" + [your niche] or "submit a post" + [your niche]. These search strings surface live, active opportunities that list-makers have not catalogued yet.
Check who is linking to your competitors using Ahrefs or Semrush. If a site has published a piece by someone in your space, they will very likely publish a piece by you too. This is the most targeted prospecting method I know.
Look at the bylines of writers you respect. Where are they publishing? Go to those sites directly.
The pitch that works
I have reviewed pitches. I have sent pitches. Here is what the good ones have in common.
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- They reference a specific recent post on the site by name and say something true about it.
- They propose three headline options, not one, so the editor has room to say yes to something.
- They include one or two links to published work that is close in topic to what they are pitching.
- They are under 200 words. Editors are not going to read an essay to decide whether to commission an essay.
- They do not attach a full draft on first contact unless the guidelines specifically ask for one.
The biggest mistake I see is generic pitches sent to dozens of sites at once. Editors can smell a mail merge. One sentence that proves you read the site is worth more than three paragraphs of credentials.
One thing the other lists will not tell you
A lot of sites that claim to accept guest posts are selling links and calling it editorial. The tell is usually a fast yes with no editorial questions, a request to include two or three specific links in the piece, and sometimes an invoice request from their end. This is paid link placement dressed up as guest posting, and Google has been penalising both sides of these arrangements since the link scheme updates of the past few years. If a site says yes without reading your pitch, that is a red flag, not a win.
The placements worth having take a bit of work to get. That is the point. The editorial friction is what makes the link valuable.
Related reading: instant approval guest posting sites.
What My Last 50 Pitches Looked Like
Last year I tracked every guest post pitch I sent over three months, out of curiosity more than anything. Fifty pitches, sent to a mix of marketing blogs, business publications, and a few sites I found through this exact kind of list. Eleven replies. Six acceptances. Two of those six never got published because the editor went quiet after the "yes." That is an 12% publish rate from cold pitching, and I have been doing this for over a decade with an established name attached to every email.
The pattern that mattered most was not the subject line or even the pitch length. It was whether I had commented on or shared three of the site's articles on Twitter or LinkedIn before pitching. Pitches to editors who had seen my name somewhere already got a reply within four days on average. Cold pitches to editors who had never heard of me took two to three weeks, if they answered at all. So the real lever is not a cleverer template, it is showing up on their radar before you ask for anything.
The rejections that came with actual feedback (only four of the eleven replies bothered) all said some version of the same thing: the pitch was too broad. "How to improve your social media strategy" got rejected twice. "Why we stopped posting on Instagram Stories for client accounts and what we did instead" got accepted the same week. Specific, slightly contrarian, tied to a real decision someone made, that combination outperformed generic value-add topics every time in my own data.
One more thing worth saying plainly: three of the six sites that accepted my pitch asked, after the fact, whether I would pay for a "featured placement" or backlink upgrade. I said no each time and the posts stayed up fine. If a site accepted your pitch for free and then tries to charge you after the draft is in, that is a site to cross off your list for next time, not a fee to negotiate.
Frequently asked questions
Which sites pay the most for guest posts?
Smashing Magazine pays $200 to $250 per accepted article, making it one of the highest-paying guest post sites in the tech and design space. Copyhackers pays competitively for conversion copywriting case studies, though rates are negotiated individually. Most mainstream content sites do not pay at all, so any payment is notable.
How do I find sites accepting guest posts in my niche?
Search Google using the phrase "write for us" plus your niche keyword, or "guest post guidelines" plus your niche. You can also use Ahrefs or Semrush to find sites that have already published content from writers in your space, then pitch those sites directly.
Is guest posting still worth doing for SEO in 2024?
Yes, but only when the placement is editorially genuine. Google's guidance targets paid link schemes, not real guest contributions. A byline on a site like Search Engine Journal, Moz, or HubSpot still carries real link equity and, more importantly, sends qualified referral traffic that can convert.
How long should a guest post pitch be?
Under 200 words. Reference a specific post on the site to show you read it, propose two or three headline ideas, and include one or two links to relevant published work. Editors are time-poor. Shorter pitches with clear ideas get read; long pitches usually do not.
Related reading: Indeed Virtual Assistant Jobs: The Real Money, The Catch, And How To Land One and How to Get Paid Freelance Writing Jobs (Not the Scam Ones).
Related: how to make money on instagram with just 1k followers
Related: Lilach Bullock free list of 5,000+ websites that accept guest posts.
Frequently asked questions
Which paid guest post sites are the best starting point for a small business owner who writes their own content?
For small business owners writing their own content, Money Crashers (personal finance, pays up to $200), The Write Life (writing and freelancing, pays $75 to $150), and Listverse (any topic in list format, pays $100 per accepted post) are all actively open to pitches in 2024 and pay on acceptance rather than on publication. Start with Listverse if you are unsure, as their format is the most predictable and their acceptance criteria are clearly published on their submissions page. Avoid sites that ask you to pitch a topic and wait weeks for approval before you write anything, as that process eats time a small business owner simply does not have.
Are there any free guest post placements that will really help my SEO without paying for a link?
Yes, and the ones worth your time are sites where you earn the placement through editorial quality rather than a fee. HubSpot, Search Engine Journal, and Smashing Magazine all accept unpaid contributor pitches and carry genuine domain authority that passes real SEO value. The catch is that you must pitch a data-backed or experience-led angle, not a generic how-to, and you must follow their contributor guidelines to the letter before you send anything.
How do I choose between a high-authority site and a niche community blog for my guest post?
Ask yourself one question: do you want SEO juice or do you want buyers reading your post this week. A high-authority site like Forbes or Entrepreneur will build your backlink profile slowly, but the audience is broad and often not your customer. A niche community blog, say a trade association site for your specific sector, puts you in front of people who are already in buying mode, which tends to convert far better for small businesses with a tight target market. My advice is to do one of each per quarter rather than chasing volume on either side.
What is the most common mistake small businesses make when pitching guest posts?
Sending a pitch that is really a sales letter in disguise. Editors at quality sites reject these instantly because they damage the trust the site has built with its readers. Your pitch should lead with a specific working title, two or three bullet points showing what the reader will take away, and one sentence explaining why you are qualified to write it, with no mention of your product or service at all. Save any business reference for your author bio, which is where it belongs.
