Do you have a website or a blog? Would you like more people to visit it? Marketing yourself to make people discover your site is a heavy task. The internet is a vast place. It is a massive library of billions of books. How do you make a person discover your book?

Guest posting and blog submission sites are two primary SEO techniques that people employ to attract more visitors. These two are confounded by many. They are alike, yet so different. You can make your website powerful. The other may even be detrimental to it.

To understand why this is important, let us consider some of our simple numbers:  

  • Guest posting boosts organic traffic by 18–32%, while blog submissions drive 4–11% growth.
  • Editorial guest post backlinks are 3–6× more powerful than submission-site links.
  • Blog submissions generate 3× more backlinks, but typically from DA 10–40 domains.
  • Guest posts attract 2.3× higher-converting referral traffic compared to submission sites.
  • Guest posting demand grew 22% YoY, while blog submission usage increased 12% YoY in 2025.
  • Blog submission backlinks index 30% faster than in 2023 due to improved crawling.
  • Guest post pages see 12–19% CTR improvement, strengthening keyword performance.
  • Spam risk on blog submission sites rose 18%, making quality filtering crucial.
  • Hybrid strategies (guest posts + selective submissions) grew 35% among SEO agencies.

We are aware, therefore, that blogs are significant. We know people read them. And we understand they are suitable for business.

We now have to have a way of getting our writing in front of all those readers. That is why we have to compare guest posting and blog submission websites. It is a matter of selecting the appropriate one. One is by building a strong house of bricks, and the other is by creating a house of cards. We shall jump in and hear about the two.

What is Guest Posting?

Guest posting, in simple terms, is writing an article (a post) on the blog of another person. Consider it in the following manner: Your friend possesses a very popular, cool clubhouse. There are already 100 members of this clubhouse attending on a daily basis. You don’t have a clubhouse yet. Your friend allows you to visit and spend a day as a guest speaker. You narrate an excellent story or educate the members on something new. At the bottom, you say,

 “Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I am making my own clubhouse at [Your Website]! 

You are a “guest” on their blog. You have a helpful, interesting article that you write to their readers. In exchange, the blog owner will allow you to include a little note about yourself at the bottom. 

This is referred to as an author bio. This bio contains a link that leads to your own site.

Check our curated list of top Guest posting sites.

How Guest Posts Work

  • Identify Relevant Websites: Find niche-related blogs or publications that accept guest contributions. High-authority sites provide more substantial SEO value.
  • Pitch Your Topic: You send a personalized outreach email suggesting a topic that fits the host Site’s audience. Many websites also have contributor guidelines.
  • Write High-Quality Content: You create a well-researched, valuable article that matches the host Site’s publishing standards.
  • Insert Contextual Backlinks: Within the article, you include relevant, natural backlinks to your website, helping boost your SEO and authority.
  • Submit the Article for Review: The host’s editor reviews, edits, and approves the content.
  • Publication & Promotion: Once published, the guest post appears on their Site—often shared on their social channels—giving you referral traffic and visibility.
  • SEO Impact Over Time: As the guest post gets indexed, the backlink strengthens your domain authority, keyword rankings, and organic traffic.

Benefits (The Good Stuff)

This would be a burdensome task, huh? It is. But the rewards are huge.

1. You Get in Front of New People

The blog already possesses an audience. They trust the owner. They also have faith in you when they read your article. And otherwise they may not find you at all. They are now able to read your article and use your link to get to know more about you.

2. You Build Authority (You Look Like an Expert)

When a reputable blog accepts you to write on their blog, it is a seal of approval. It makes people know that you are talking about what you know. People can think about you as an expert in training dogs if your article is published on a blog of a well-known dog trainer.

3. You Get a High-Quality Link

Search engines such as Google attempt to identify the most appropriate sites. They count “votes.” Another site linkage is a vote.

4. You establish Real Genuine Relationships.

You’re not just getting a link. You’re making a friend. The blog owner now knows you. They could repin your other posts later. There might be a second collaboration. You join their society. A link in itself is nothing but worthless.

Blog Submission: What are they?

Blog submission is an off-page SEO practice where you submit your blog posts, articles, or website links to blog directories, content-sharing platforms, or submission sites to increase visibility, build backlinks, and gain referral traffic.

Blog submission sites (also referred to as article directories) are entirely different from the guest posting process.

Consider it in the following manner: When you are posting as a guest at a personal clubhouse, a blog submission site is an enormous, public bulletin board in a disorganized field.

Anybody can come by and pin their article to the board. These are the websites that do not have the primary aim of writing to their readers (there are not many). You want to post an article: any article, to get a link.

You do not have to send mail to anybody. You do not need permission. You open an account, copy and paste your article, and press submit.

Explore the List of High DA Blog Submission Sites to build quality backlinks.

How Guest Posts Work

It is a far easier process than guest posting. And that is one of the problems.

Step 1: You Write an Article

You write a post. People would sometimes write a single low-quality article (possibly 400 words) to make it good enough.

Step 2: You Find a List of Sites

You would do a Google search on blog submission websites or free article directories. You would get a list of 100 sites.

Step 3: You Submit Accounts and Create.

You would visit each of them, register, and paste your article in their form. You would provide a connection to your webpage in the article.

Step 4: You Repeat

Individuals would submit the same article to 50 or 100 various submission sites. They thought, “Wow! I just got 100 links in one day!”

Benefits (The “Old” Benefits)

This strategy appeared to be effective years ago (10-15 years ago). The benefits, as thought by people, were as follows:

1. It Was Fast and Easy

This was the biggest appeal. You did not need to search blogs, read the rules, or compose polite emails. You never had to face rejection. It was possible to obtain 100 links in a few hours.

2. You Got a Lot of Links

Its central thought was quantity over quality. The people thought that 100 links even on weak sites were better than 0 links. This, they believed, would fool Google into believing that their site was popular.

3. It Was Hands‑Off

You have just sent the article and forgot about it. You did not need to respond to comments (there were never many) or establish relationships.

Pros and Cons of Each Strategy

Guest Posting

One more time, let us dissect it.

The Good Stuff (Pros):

  •  Establishes your reputation: It makes people begin to think of you as an expert.  
  •  Acquires new clients: Your brand gets to a new target audience.  
  •  Good relationships: You receive good web votes, which contribute to your search engine positioning.  
  •  Meet new friends: You have new genuine relationships with other people in your field.  
  •  Enduring: A quality guest post will make visitors come to your site year after year.

The Hard Parts (Cons):

  •  It consumes much time: You are required to research, email and write good content.  
  •  You can be turned down: A large number of blogs will either say no or will not even respond. That is normal.  
  • Rules: You have to stick to rules: You are not allowed to write anything you want, you have to adhere to the laws of the blog.  
  •  It is difficult to find good blogs: It is time-consuming to locate the best blogs to write in.

Blog Submission Sites

The Good Stuff (Pros):

  •  It is quick: It is possible to file an article in a short time.  
  •  It is simple: You do not have to consult anybody or seek permission. That is the pro and only, and it is not a good pro.

The Bad Stuff (Cons):

  •  It can damage your site: Google can punish your site in the case of spammy links. This is the most significant danger.  
  •  It wastes your time: The links are not helpful, and so all the time spent on it is wasted.  
  •  It kills your content: You should have a good article on your blog or a good guest blog. It is as though putting it on a submission site and throwing it away.  
  •  No actual audience: No one reads such sites. You are not benefiting anybody and acquiring new customers.  
  • It causes you to be associated with spam: When others find your article on a spammy site, your brand appears cheap and desperate.

Which Strategy Works Best?

It is pretty simple to answer this question: Guest posting is the apparent winner. There’s no debate. Guest posting is a factual, long-term brand-building method. The sites of blog submission are aged, useless and hazardous.

Think about it like food:

  • Guest posting: A healthy meal is analogous to a healthy meal in a guest posting. It is time-consuming, laborious and requires quality ingredients yet it will make you strong, healthy and happy. Your friends share it, the blog owners.  
  • Blog submission sites: They are like discovering a half-eaten burger in a trash heap. They resemble food, though using them, you will fall ill.

Write one excellent guest post in a reputable blog using your energy. Such a single post will work better on your Site than 1,000 free link submissions. The best thing is quality and not quantity.

Which is better to use a blog or a site?

It is an excellent question that human beings tend to ask. It is a bit of a question, Is it better to have a car or an engine? Let’s make it simple. Your entire online home is your website. It has all the main rooms:

  • The “About Us” page (who you are).  
  • The page titled (what you sell) Products/Services.  
  • The contact page (how to reach you).

A blog is a special room within your house. It is the place where you update new posts, stories, and useful articles. It is the news section.

The most suitable solution is therefore to have both. The site should contain a blog.

Is it Better to Have a Blog or a Website?

  • It makes your site updated: Google prefers active websites. Posting a blog weekly will cause Google to think that you are at home and cleaning your house.
  • It Gives You a “Home Base“: When writing a guest post, you must link to your main site. It is also possible to post a link to a helpful blog post on your own site.  
  • It answers questions: You have a splendid blog where you respond to the frequent questions of customers. You can write a post such as “Is This Treat Safe for Puppies”, in case you sell dog treats.  
  • It shows you are an expert: Your blog will enable you to leave your best tips and this creates trust.  

Your online store is a website. A blog is your great, friendly, helpful voice, which creates a community around the store. You need both to succeed.  

Conclusion  

We have learned a lot. It is challenging to get visitors; however, there are good and bad methods of doing it. Guest posting is a good way. It is like being a guest speaker. It is hard work, but it will enhance your reputation, expose you to new people, and establish good ties that Google favors.  

The bad way is blog submission sites. They are spammy bulletin boards. They are an ancient gimmick that does not work, wastes your time, and may even damage your Google page. So, what should you do?  Never mind that blog submission sites are relevant.  

Instead, devote your time to what is essential.  

  • Write good, helpful articles on your personal blog first.  
  • Identify one or two other blogs that you really like.  
  • Write perhaps one fantastic, helpful guest post.  

It is slower. It is harder. But it is the only means of making something enduring.  

FAQs  

1. Is guest posting free?  

Yes. You must not pay to be a guest poster, nor should they pay you. The free article you write is your payment and the author bio and the link are your reward.  

2. What should I write about the number of guest posts?  

Start with one. Focus on making it perfect. A single good guest post on a large, reputable blog will be worth more than ten hastily written posts on small blogs. Quality over quantity.  

3. Do all blog submission sites suck?  

Yes. Any website that allows the posting of an article by anyone without scrutinizing its quality is poor. The connections are futile and may be detrimental. This is unlike a local business directory such as Yelp which is acceptable.  

4. Is it possible to place my own blog post on another site?  

No. That is duplicate content. Your guest post should be one hundred percent original and a post that has been explicitly composed to that blog. Google does not like the presence of the same article on two sites.