For a long time I’ve been pulling an RSS feed from Twitter for the query: “guest post” OR “guest author” [TOPIC] into my Google Reader. Every morning I would check it, blaze through 15-20 URLs -- most of which were the same URL being tweeted. Then, I'd record the best guest post opportunities, reach out to bloggers, publish a guest post and get links. It was a great strategy and resulted in a lot of guest post links.
Although having an RSS feed was a bit more efficient than performing a Twitter search every day, it was boring, time consuming and I just really didn’t like doing it. Things you don’t like, don’t last.
So, I made a tool that does all the heavy lifting. This tool pulls the same RSS feed that I had in my Google Reader into Google Docs, finds all of the t.co URLs, enlarges them, eliminates duplicates based on domain, and presents them in a nice package.
Because it has helped me tremendously, I thought it could also help out other agency SEOs and small business marketers / owners.
How to use it
1. Go to https://ow.ly/8x9gF.
2. Make a copy of the sheet.
3. Type a one word topic that most describes your client / niche in cell B1.
You’ve likely chosen a topic too narrow if you’re seeing an error.
4. You’ll notice a bunch of t.co links populating cell A2. Wait five seconds (I know, tough, right?) and they will change into unique URLs.
5. Copy 5-6 URLs:
6. Paste them into Ontolo’s Link Reviewer: https://ontolo.com/link-building-url-reviewer
7. Click “Review URLs” and watch all of the URLs open in new tabs in your browser:
8. When you find a viable linking opportunity, paste the URL in column D:
9. Because no one expects you to remember all of the linking prospects in column D, it will tell you if there’s a duplicate in column F:
10. Now, add your link prospect’s contact info in column G.
11. Go to your calendar, create an event about an hour after you wake up that says, “Find Guest Posts Via Twitter” and add this link: https://ow.ly/8x9gF in the event. Set it to repeat every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
12. Lastly, perform outreach. Use John Doherty's Twitter outreach article as a base and start building links!
Parting Remarks
Because the guest post opportunities are curated by Twitter users, it could pick up posts that might not explicitly say guest post in the title or even in the body of the article, yet be a guest post. So it should help you uncover some gems that you might not find via Google.
Next Versions
In next versions, expect to see Google Blog Search, multiple queries and URL analysis. That’s what I had in mind but I’d love to hear what you would like to see in the next version of this tool.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post / watch the video and hopefully you can benefit as much as I have. Looking forward to your thoughts!
This is a fantastic idea! Guest posting is very effective and the problem in the past was finding these opportunities. Great solution to that problem, I'm going to start using it right away.
Thank you!
Great list of things to do for me to start working on. Time for more guest posts!
Keri, Jen... this.must.go.on.main.blog >>> better visibility and more people will be reached and blessed by this Gold Post.
Ethan, you're a genious. I was using a similar approach with Google Reader, but didn't thought to evolve that intuition into a tool like this!
Thanks Gianluca! Glad you like it. I'm going to include Blogspot and search in later versions... that way, if a competitor is receiving a link, you'll know about it, along with all of the other linking opportunities (via Twitter, Blogspot, etc). SO, you just check in every day to see all of your linking strategies at once!
It's going to take a while, but I think it's attainable and will let you know when it's live.
Thanks again for sharing.
- Ethan
Totally agree. In fact, Moz readers will be angry if it doesn't get promoted me thinks! Different permuations of this could be awesome; Tumblr, Google+, StumbleUpon, Diigo bookmarks in the last 7 days etc.
Commence Hacking...... ;)
Haha, thanks! I just created one for Diigo and am trying it out to see if it'd be valuable. Love the idea!
You deserve a hot swedish massage while someone else feeds you grapes and succulent herbs. This tool will make my life so much easier.
Fantastic tool thanks. I have been using it all day on various clients and it has helped with some competitive keywords that I have been struggling to find links for.
I wanted to just say that the post was written really well and the structure of it was very helpful. I liked the addition of the video and then a step to step guide. Also not used Ontolo before so thanks for opening my eyes to that as well.
I am tring this out and I must say this is one of the best share in seomoz. Thumbs up to you man. I hope to see more contribution from you in future.
Love this! Already using it and made contact with 2 potential guest posts. So how much do I owe you?
Hey Mike - Too funny! Hopefully you get some great links out of it!
- Ethan
This is a brilliant tool. Thanks for taking the time to create it and share it with us!!
Yes, I agree. Thank you for this very useful tool! You are great!
Ethan- great post and thanks for the Google Doc download. This is definitely going to help find some new sites to guest post on.
As for the next versions, I recommend including Domain Authority and some social metrics for the websites, to further help decide if it's worth pursuing the contribution of a guest blog post.
Hey Anthony - Thanks for taking the time to check out the tool! DA, PA and social metrics would be fantastic. Already working with Mr. John Doherty to make it happen.
- Ethan
Nice one! In order to improve it further, if you use Chrome (and you really should! J ) at Step 6 you could use Linkclump extension. You only need to right click and drag along the D cells and it opens your tabs directly from Google Docs.
Thanks for sharing it, really great!
Hey There - I added it to my Chrome browser but it's not working in Google Docs. Webpages, yes, but not Google Docs. Am I doing something wrong here?
- Ethan
I cannot see why it doesn't work in Google Docs (after all, it is only a webpage too). Maybe you have a conflict with some other extensions? Can you see the orange-ish rectangle when you try to drag ?
Flo
I figured out why it wasn't working today... I'm on a Mac, using a trackpad so the right click doesn't work in this instance.
Thanks for the tip guys!
- Ethan
Awesome Ethan, big thumbs up!
I think a lot of us SEOers get tunnel visioned at some point just finding contacts with Google searches. It's great to learn about new ways to find link opportunities using social media. Yet another awesome tool I've found on SEOmoz today.
Thanks Ethan
Amazing Tool, thank you....
Love this idea. Thanks!
I like the look of this. I am not a techy, but I think I may be able to follow those instructions. I currently guest blog through MyBlogGuest, but it is probably about time I contacted people direct rather than put my work out to tender.
Ethan, you are a smart man! I absolutly love it!
There are lots of options here. The main point is to sort through them all, but without hahaped it’s quite hard
It's a good idea. I'll try it. https://www.jobnak.com
That's so cool. Thanks for giving away that tool for free!
Thanks for sharing this with all of us and making my life easier, Ethan! I've already used the tool to place a few posts.
Ethan,
more of what everyone seems to be saying - excellent resource! thank you for sharing. Might be nice if the twitter handle that had the link was populated as well.
Thanks again
Very cool - thanks for sharing. Now to work in some scaiability and automation.
Would be nice to enter a list of keywords and it runs through the list and outputs all results into that first column.
Would also like to use it run automatically every X period and just send you a report or queue up all the results for you.
I feel a bit guilty.... your step by step instructions and the tool itself make it so easy. Thanks Ethan.
This is awesome. I had never thought of using twitter in that way. Thanks for sharing!
Ethan, this is awesome! Always looking for new guest post opportunities and this is a very unique approach. Thanks for sharing!
Brilliant stuff, we need moar people posting vids on how they actually go about. Seeing is often easier to comprehend than reading when trying to get a method across.
Wow! I wish I had something that useful to give back in appreciation...it seems to good to be free. For now I hope a "thanks very much" is payment enough. This tool is going to be very useful! :)
Ethan,
Nice Tool. This is whay makes people like you a vaule to the SEOmoz community!
Thanks for sharing this great tool. Very useful!
My company also has one we have used for doing something similar with operators in Google search. However, this tool having the social aspect included makes it a lot more useful.
Thanks again!
Seriously, This is an Awesome thing to use for Guest Posting. Well Is there any other tools also for the same thing?
Thanks :)
@Ethan: You Rock Man :)
Hi Ethan, many thanks for shring this wonder and fast tool, I would request you to share more such tools with us. Once again heartful thanks.
Hi Ethan,
Thank you for posting this fantastic tool.
I faced some problems while trying to install it. Step 2: I cannot make the copy of the sheet as it is not activated when I open file menu.
Do you have any suggestions?
Many Thanks!
Well this is a brilliant tool. At first I was wondering what it was all about. Just finding random links that are guest posts but it's more than that. It tells you that the specific site actually accepts guest posts - though I guess it's harder to tell whether it will be a good opportunity for you.
Thanks! Great tool. Can't wait to use it and see what other uses it can also perform!
Hi Ethan,
Thank you for giving us this great tool. I gave it a test run and it is easy as 1,2,3.
I will use this the coming weeks and def. will let you know how I got on.
Thanks!
Rutger
The link for this tool is not working anymore. Any update on this?
This is great Ethan been using it for a while now.
I was trying to get the array formula to work in Excel for trimming the domain but its shouting back at me saying somethings not right, any ideas?
Cheers,Jamie
Hello Ethan,
Thank you for sharing this information, I've made a copy of the tool 30 minutes ago and now I'm already doing guest post to different sites using this tool.
Thanks again.
Steph
Well the most easiest way to get guest blog oppurtunity is checking it via www.socialmention.com & i usually do it by searching this on www.google.com "Guest Post" "My Keyword" thats it!
Hi Rafay.. The same thing happens in tweetdeck.. But this tool is simply superb you can get the oppurtunies in your same niche, that's what important
Ethan - just wanted to say a quick 'thanks'. Have been using this since you wrote the first post... great to see it's updated so much too :)
Hey Ethan,
Thank for the tool, this is great!
I'm new to SEOmoz and this is my first visit to the blog, certainly not my last.
I used your app with no problems, made a post to the resultant (is that even a word?) and I will use it again.
I'm in the dental tourism industry, so it's hard to find one word to use as my search term. I used 'dental' which yielded two sites. I posted on one of them.
I can't seem to find another single word that gets results. Can I use two words, e.g. 'dental implants'?
Either way, thanks so much,
Kurt in Tennessee
I'm not able to use this sheet. It doesnot allow you to make a copy.
Any other way to use it...?
I was having the same issue until I signed in to my Google account. Try that... hope it helps.
Ethan, Having a practicle tool like this makes the marketers life so much simpler. Grat job!
Ethan I am really not sure that whether should I say "WOW" first or "Thanks" for this tool so I just gonna say Wow Thanks Ethan.I am totally impressed by the way it works. Finding the guest posting opportunities was never this easier.I have to try this tool.
Fantastic! I pay money for tools like this. At some point, as the tool develops, you'll have to start charging.
This is a great idea! Thanks for providing the link to your tool, so that we can use it.
Great idea Ethan!, anything that helps to scale "guest posting" tasks is a big help.
This tool is awesome. Thank you, sir!
Ethan, That's indeed a fabulous tool! The Reason i am thanking you for this tools is because of it's simplicty and clean way of representing results. I tried many Twitter related tools but the main problem was related to the representation of the Reulting URL's. I had to go through every t.co url and filter them from the duplicated one..Gosh that was much frustrating, thanks to you, My work got more cleaned!! I am curiously waiting for it's next version with more features. Thanks Ethan.. Lots of thumb up to you for offering us something useful, actionable and to show others(with proud)!
I don't have much to add to your genius here other than a thank you. This is brilliant stuff.
Consider me flattered :) Thanks for checking it out David!
- Ethan
Love it Ethan. Ill describe it as massive and quick :) Thanks for the doc share and of course I cant wait for the next version. Haha
Thanks Jayson! It will only get bigger from here on out :)
- Ethan
Apparently the Make a copy item menu is disabled ... :(
Hey Andrea - Are you logged into gmail? If not, log in, then try again. Let me know if you are still not able to make a copy. Sound good?
Thanks for giving the tool a try!
- Ethan
Hi Ethan
This is great! I am a new comer to SEO and this will save me lots of time! One question...where do I put the url when I am creating the google calendar event???
Many thanks!!
Hey Nicola - Thanks for taking the time to check it out! Try putting it into the description :)
- Ethan
thanks for the tools and thoughts about using twitter. It's a great idea, I've been thinking about guest posting so this comes at a great time. Thanks!
Perfect! Glad it could help you out Holly. Would love to here some other ways you're using Twitter for linkbuilding.
- Ethan
I love adding to to the link building tool set thanks this is great!
We'll definitely be trying this out--thank you for the great resource!
Ok so maybe I am missing an important step. But I clicked the link that took me to the google docs spreadsheet. The copy function is greyed out, so I downloaded it. No problem there. Once I change Cell B2 and put in my topic, what action are we suppose to take to get Twitter to start searching? I don’t see a button or anything.
Are you logged in? Try logging into Gmail and giving it another go. Let me know if it still doesn't work.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out!
- Ethan
thanks Ethan. way cool how to.
I do like how Ontolo splits out a stack of URL's, been looking to do that for ages! I use a Chrome Extension to do the opposite and place all open tabs into a single bit.ly URL. (it's called Tab Bundles) Maybe that could be of use with your Gdocs next iteration for column D somehow?
Bitly bundles are nice as you can set them to private/public, invite collaborators and there's a Disqus discussion function within the bundle.
Hey Paul - I've never heard of that extension so thanks for sharing. It looks like you can filter certain parts of the URL, such as https, but would that work if the URLs have the same structure?
Interesting idea. I love the collarboration element.
- Ethan
Interesting idea - may have to play with it a bit and see.
Hey James - One tip to consider when you start... the broader your query, the more likely you are to find opportunities. So instead of "bank loans" you might want to consider "finance." Hope that helps and I'd love to get your feedback.
Thanks,
-Ethan
Very clever idea, nice!
On this topic and for anyone looking out for more good ways of finding guest blog opportunities, BloggerLinkUp.com is looking like a great resource. It came up super recently in a post on YouMoz, but for anyone who missed that, definitely a (free) service worth looking at.
Hey Aaron - Thanks for checking out the tool! I believe we take advantage of BloggerLinkUp.com at SEER and it's been pretty helpful. https://guestr.com/ is also a good resource as well.
Thanks again for taking the time to check out the tool.
- Ethan
Nice one, Ethan! I've been using both Google Alerts and Proxy VPN to scout for guest blog opportunities, your idea is a great addition to my link scout activites! All the best!
Amazing app. Thanks for sharing this.
maybe this is a dumb question, but I write for a very specific audience, is there a way to search for a specific industry or keyword?
Over in step 3, you put in the keyword or two that's specific to your industry.
Thanks for jumping in here Keri! Couldn't agree more. Just go as broad as possible and you should be fine.
- Ethan
Wow, what a great tool and it works well. I have already set it up and played around with it. Good work thank you. And adding the Google Blogs to the tool sounds like a great idea too.
Thanks Mark! Glad it's working well for you. I've also considered setting up a Google Search feed so you can monitor competitors...
Also, I see you're from Rochester, NY. I grew up in Henrietta and moved to Philly about three years ago. I miss the fish and chips and Fuller's London Pride from Old Toad...
Thanks again for taking the time to check out the tool and hopefully it helps you build some links!
- Ethan
Yeah great stuff!!! :-)
I like the idea of the Google search feed so i can monitor my competitors.
Do you have an good way to find other competitors?
Have just had a play around with this and have already found some really good quality sites.
Thanks for sharing this and great post by the way!
That's awesome Ally. Check it every couple of days, mess around with different queries and it should be a sustainable source for link prospecting.
Thanks for taking the time to check it out!
- Ethan
Hi Ethan,
Could you give me a hand here.
It looks like my File -> Make a copy | option is not active.
I am loged in google docs but ...
Please le tme know if you can help
Hey Cornel - Of the people that have not been able to make a copy, they usually just need to log in and it works, so I'm not 100% sure what's going on. Have you logged out, logged back in and tried it again?
Sorry I cannot give you a definite answer.
- Ethan
Hi Ethan,
It worked, I don't know how or why but I was finally able to make a copy.
Good work, thank you.
Cornel
Perfect! Glad it worked out.
Very nice, informative post Ethan!
The spreadsheet worked well for me, I will play with it and see how it helps me to get some useful links for guest postings. Thanks for your help :)
Hey Kumail - Thank you for taking the time to check out the tool. Would like to get your feedback after you have a chance to test it out.
Thanks,
- Ethan
so i clicked the link, but cant copy the spreadsheet, so I downloaded it. What am i missing? I put my keyword in and how do i get started? I dont see a submit button
Hey There - Are you logged into Gmail? Log into Gmail and try it again and let me know if it doesn't work.
Thanks for checking it out,
- Ethan
What a great idea, thank you Ethan. A linkbuilding and timesaving tool in 1.
Thank you Olya! Hope you also get some awesome links as well :)
- Ethan
Thanks for that. We need all the help we can get when it concerns link-building.
Thanks for explaining the guest post process. That is a good idea to have.
Cheers!
https://winedinedaily.com
I feel a bit forunate, as I was just thinking to search for some blogs for guest posts to write some content for one of my new project, and you shared the easiest way to do that.
I am deeply obliged to you. Thanks for the tool.
Regards
Sasha
Hi Ethan,
I just tried to save as a copy, and it wouldn't let me.
(Update - never mind. I wasn't signed into Google. Ahem)
Ian
Hi Ethan,
Thanks for this great post. Its was good information.
Tim
Outstanding, Ethan - thank you!
Excellent tool, thanks for sharing, am already in the process of using this.
Fantastic tool sir! I really appreciate the effort you put in to make this tool working and eve more you share it to the awesome community we love in... As a Mozzer i really thank you for this! The most frustrating part and that is to find a blog related to the industry is now as easy as 1 2 3...
Boom! GREAT stuff here Ethan, and thanks for sharing it with the Moz crowd. This was super helpful for me recently to find some good guest post prospects that are turning into posts and solid links for a client.
Once again, good sir, your Excel/Gdocs skills amaze me!
Hello Ethan,
first of a - THANK You! This poece of code makes everyone who has to do with linkbuilding his life much easier.
But I would like to ask some question as well. I tried the spreadsheet with a couple of search string and came to the conclusion - it only work with english ones - am I right? As to comment of some post before - it would be also helpfull to make the "unique" search String "guest post" editable because in German you could even look up for "Gastartikel".
ok please foregive - but I am blind - take a look at sheet 1 and modify and everything will work - really great work!
As i am new to this SEOmoz, i spent some time to know about Mozpoints. After read out the help of MOZpoints i prepared myself to get more points in any way in SEOmoz. So i came to home page to make a comment in any post. But i stunned after read out your post. oh what a informative info you given here Ethan.
Really i love this post. Your step by step guide make me to think about your helping tendancy and your responce for all comments shows your good charactor. I just reviwed your tool, this is helping not only for SEOmoz readers like me but also it will be helpful for all SEOs to be shine in their profession.
Thanks, and welcome to the Moz community! SEOMoz has an incredibly intelligent, helpful and generous community so stick around :)
superb trick, this toll will save now more time and efforts
Thanks Ethan - giving this a try right now
Hey Terry - Thanks for taking the time to check it out. Would love to get your feedback on making it better!
- Ethan
Wow, what an awesome post. Thank you Ethan for taking the time to share this!
I just decided to start using Google Docs, since we've had Business Apps account for 2 years and am just realizing all the cool stuff you can do with scripts, froms, etc.
Question (for anyone out there): Does any know, or has anyone been able to take a tool like this and export the results, such as the domain in column 'D', to a to-do list in Basecamp?
Just curious =)
Ethan - Just wanted to say thanks for the awesome post and the great tool. Already put it to use and so easy and straightforward to use.
Cheers
-Dave
Hi Ethan,
flip this looks pretty awesome. I would like to implement but first need to udnerstand if this is a way to find places where I can guest blog or if this is a way to find people I can invite to guest blog on my blog?
How to I make sure that I receive your comment as I don't see a field to check.
Larry Page & Brin made Google...and people like Ethan are working hard to make it more and more usable !
Thanks for sharing such a handy tool Ehtan. Looking forward to see few more in furure ! :)
Cheers
Ankit
Hi Ethan,
great post thanks!! one question, how can i change the query for Twitter... like changing "guest post" and "guest author" ?
Thanks and Kind Regards,
David
Found it ;-) Sheet1! Awesome man!!
Brilliant tool, Ethan. I've amalgamated it with the excellent Google docs and Linkscape walkthrough, cheers!