Is It a Genuine Guest Post?
If you have a well-established website or have been blogging for some time, you will most likely receive a steady number of guest post requests.
How can you tell if a potential guest post request is genuine or not? Some individuals fail to operate in accordance with the whole-disclosure principle, pretending to inquire whether you would be interested in taking part in guest posting without revealing that they are representing a client.
In most cases, fake guest postings are sponsored articles in disguise.
Have you ever gotten emails from novice freelance writers eager to contribute to your website? Their first communications are typically very complimentary (typically copied and pasted paragraphs) and general, claiming how wonderful your website is but without demonstrating that they’ve actually read any of your content.
The first indication that a freelance writer is interested in becoming a regular contributor is when they express an interest in doing so. These individuals might be working for SEO businesses attempting to get articles placed on several websites on behalf of their clients.
When it comes to outreach for link-building services, users are employed to find websites that may be added as links by their clients. The individuals assigned with reaching out to bloggers frequently use an email address without including the agency’s domain name in it. They utilize a Gmail address and do not include a complete email signature, for example. Clients may pay several hundreds of dollars each month to link with an external website using a link from a link-building agency.
How to Recognize a Non-Genuine Guest Post
Aside from the generic beginning of contact, as previously said, there are several red flags that a guest posting request is fraudulent.
A Skeptical Portfolio
The sort of material published by the writer in their portfolio is another indicator that a guest post request is fraudulent. You may or may not receive links to previously published articles, and you’ll have to request them. Sponsored posts will look very different from organic articles. They will only include two links, one of which will be for a product or service.
Hidden Sponsorship
It’s common for guest posting websites to charge a fee, which is why it pays to check if they’ve been paid compensation by a third party before submitting. While most publishing outlets may provide this information without charge, not all will. Some unscrupulous agencies posing as guest post requesters might request that the author do not disclose that the articles they submit are sponsored posts.
For example, I was once approached by a firm that offered greater sponsored posting chances if articles weren’t labeled as sponsored features: “Will the post be branded as sponsored or paid? (It would be really beneficial and I could provide you with additional postings if they weren’t labeled anything)”. This agency did not pretend to be a freelance writer, yet it charged an exorbitant price for sponsored posts. Please remember that you, as the publisher, are responsible for any loss incurred from publishing a non-organic link.
Poor Writing Grammar
Unfortunately, some preliminary emails from fraudulent guest bloggers may contain numerous grammatical errors. In a way, this makes it simpler for you to remove fake requests. As an illustration, I once got an email that said, “I went through your blog and it was a good draw for me. I am pleased to inform you that I am very interested in contributing a guest post on your blog.” Obviously, I didn’t even bother replying to it.
Agencies posing as genuine guest bloggers frequently request that the linked page be do-follow.