Target Selection
Finding Guest Post Sites Search Operators Competitor Analysi
Combining targeted search operators with competitor backlink analysis surfaces far more qualified guest posting opportunities than manual browsing alone.
Reading time · unlocks the next lesson
0:00 / 5:00 · pausedSearch operator patterns that work
Specific search strings reveal sites that have explicitly opened themselves up to guest contributions, and running several variations across your core topics and adjacent topics multiplies your discovered inventory quickly.
- "keyword" + "write for us"
- "keyword" + "guest post guidelines"
- "keyword" + "submit a guest post"
- "keyword" + "become a contributor"
- "keyword" + inurl:guest-post
Mining competitor backlinks for guest post sites
Search operators only find sites that publicly advertise the opportunity; many good targets accept pitches without ever publishing formal guidelines. Pull your top three competitors' referring domains inside RankLinks and filter for pages where the byline is clearly not the site's own staff, since these are proof the site accepts outside contributors even without a public policy page.
Cross-reference these discovered domains against your five-point evaluation checklist before adding them to your prospect list, since a competitor having published there once does not guarantee it clears your quality bar today.
Consolidating discoveries
Feed every qualified discovery, from both search operators and competitor mining, into a single RankLinks prospect list rather than maintaining separate spreadsheets, so your outreach and follow-up tracking in later lessons has one clean source of truth.
Key takeaways
- ✓Run multiple search operator variations across core and adjacent topics
- ✓Mine competitor backlinks in RankLinks for sites accepting guest authors
- ✓Re-apply the five-point checklist to every discovered domain
- ✓Consolidate all discoveries into a single prospect list
Why this lesson matters
This lesson belongs to Target Selection, the part of Guest Posting Pro System where the goal is: identify and organise a large, qualified list of guest posting opportunities.
Read it once, then do it straight away on a real site inside RankLinks. Nothing here is theory for its own sake — every step produces something you can show a client.
Do it now
- 1Open RankLinks with sample data already loaded, so you are not stuck on setup.
- 2Browse real placement inventory.
- 3Build your first 50-site opportunity database inside RankLinks.