Guest Posting Vs. Niche Edits: Which Is Better?

When it comes to scoring top-notch links, guest posting and niche edits are hands down two of the most actionable strategies to acquire ones.

And it's not just some random claim. Whether you're talking to SEO veterans or beginners, most of them stand by these link-building strategies as they see real, tangible results in their day-to-day work.

See for yourself!

📈 In 2022, Aira’s report showed that content-led link building was the top choice, with guest posting coming in third — 47% of surveyed SEO experts voted for it.

📈 As per our own 2024 survey of 113 SEO experts worldwide, 38.9% say guest posting is the second most important link-building strategy — just behind Digital PR  (67.3%).

📈 15.9% of SEO experts in the same survey also believe niche edits are a solid strategy for grabbing quality links.

📈 Authority Hacker's survey of 755 link-builders reveals that 64.9% believe guest posting is the top link-building tactic.

Looking at these stats, a legit question comes to mind: with all the buzz around guest posts vs niche edits, which one’s actually better?

That's exactly what we're breaking down in this article — so stick around!

What Are Niche Edits?

Niche edits, often called “link insertions”, involve adding links to existing pages on other websites. The goal is to level up your rankings by snagging backlinks from trusted, high-traffic sources — no need to create new content!

Let’s say you’ve found a classic high-ranking listicle with "top"/"best" link-building software, or something similar in your niche.

If your product or service can add extra value to the curation, it's the perfect opportunity to reach out. Send the site owners a quick, catchy blurb about your product's benefits, and they might just slot it into their popular post — earning you a link insertion redirecting to your site.

What Are Guest Posts?

Guest posting is pretty much about trading your writing skills for a link. You create a post, article, or long-read for someone else's website, and in return, you get a link back to yours.

The trick is to offer a top-notch piece of content to a high-ranking website, so you can tap into its traffic and audience to showcase your service.

💡Pro-tip! But how do you reel in a big catch like Search Engine Land? Here are a few tips to help you find guest post opportunities:

👉 Google like a pro: use search operators like “your niche” + “write for us”.

👉 Check your competitors' backlink profiles — especially their blog links — to see if you can pitch your content to those sites. Ahrefs or Semrush are perfect for this.

👉 Connect with top voices in your niche: go to Ahrefs Content Explorer and seek industry bloggers with search operators like “your niche” + author name” — this is how you’ll look where they’ve posted. Spot the best sites and make a pitch!

How to Choose Between Niche Edits and Guest Posts

Alright, enough chit-chat! Let’s finally unpack niche edits vs guest posts, break down their pros and cons, and help you pick what’s best for your individual needs.

👆 Note: We’re comparing guest posting vs niche edits based on the following criteria.

Indexing

The first major difference between these two is how the links get indexed. With a niche edit, you’re adding your link to an existing page, allowing you to gauge its authority, traffic, rankings, and index status — all before making a move. Naturally, niche edits tend to deliver results faster since you’re linking to a page that’s already indexed.

Guest posts, on the other hand, can be a bit trickier. Here’s why: when you publish fresh content, the page takes time to get indexed. But that shouldn’t be your biggest concern — if needed, there are plenty of ways to speed up the process.

💡Pro-tip! To get your link indexed faster, you can use specialized backlink indexing tools, ask the site owner to fix issues (like a blocked or "nofollow" link), or even have them run your link through Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool. And there are even more options!

The problem with guest post indexing runs deeper — it’s not just about speed. In fact, it’s even worse — over time, guest posts can totally disappear from the index!

SEO expert Sergei Prakapovich nails this observation in his private SEO blog on Telegram.

🔎 Details: Sergei looked into the issue by checking how many guest posts stayed indexed over a one-year period. He examined a random sample of 203 guest posts, which cost around $31,404 (excluding copywriter fees), all posted in January 2024. Just to clarify, these weren’t link inserts — they were brand-new pages with fresh content!

When Sergei checked them using the Index Status Checker tool (a feature by SE Ranking), he found that by 2025, only 126 out of 203 sites were still indexed. In other words, about 10% of the guest posts disappeared over the year, mostly due to webmaster mistakes — a drop-off rate that Sergei notes is pretty common with guest posts.

👉 BOTTOM LINE: With guest posting, you can end up wasting a significant amount of money over the course of a year, only to see your posts drop out of the index.

Looking at the example we discussed, if you divide the total spend of $31,404 by the 203 posts, you get about $154 per post (assuming they stay indexed).

However, in reality, since many posts didn’t stay indexed, the true cost per post doubles. If you divide $31,404 by the 126 posts that remained indexed, the cost per post jumps to around $249.

With niche edits, you're always working with well-indexed pages, which makes this option more result-driven in the short term. The only advice Sergei Prakapovich offers when using niche edits is to make sure the donor page is already indexed with your backlink on it.

We totally agree with that, by the way!

Link placement control

Comparing guest posts vs. niche edits based on this criterion, you definitely get more control over your link placement with a guest post than with niche edits.

This level of control gives guest posts an edge over niche edits. With guest posts, you know exactly where your link will be placed and the context around it. Sure, over time, webmasters might add competitor backlinks to your content — that’s out of your hands. But at least you know how your link ties into the value of the content you’ve created, and since it's your content, it’ll stay connected to your brand.

Niche edits, on the contrary, give you less control over the surrounding content since your link is added to someone else's pre-written piece. That makes it less likely to build long-term brand value for your product or service.

Content expenses & quality

When deciding between niche edits vs guest posts, remember that with the latter, you not only need to offer cool, engaging content but also cover the copywriter’s fee — unlike with niche edits.

It's not just the cost that comes into play when using copywriters for guest posts, but also their expertise. If you're aiming to land a guest post on top sites like the Ahrefs Blog, Search Engine Land, or Backlinko, your content has to be well-researched, data-driven, and meeting their high standards.

Chances are, a writer from Fiverr charging $50 – $100 just won't cut it.

👉 BOTTOM LINE: In this case, niche edits are the way to go—they get the job done faster and without the extra costs for copywriting, proofreading, or months of pitching to high-authority sites.

Pricing

Aside from the other things we've talked about, for many businesses, picking between guest posts vs niche edits is typically budget-tied.

On average, niche edits are easier on the wallet than guest posts. Lower-end edits run between $50 and $85, while mid-range ones go for around $100 to $150 — a solid bang for your buck. But if you’re after high-end niche edits with prime placement and strong domain authority, expect to shell out between $300 and $365.

💰 Buzzstream puts the average price for a link insertion at around $141.

💰 Ahrefs study suggests that the average cost of a paid niche edit link is $361.44.

If you’re going for guest posts, prices start around $80 to $150. Mid-level DR (about DR40) will run you $130–$300, while top-tier sites with DR50+ can cost anywhere from $800 to thousands, depending on quality and reputation.

💰 Ahrefs states that the average price of guest post links is $77.80.

💰 Based on Buzzstream’s research, the average cost of a guest post is $220, with high-quality guest posts reaching up to $609.

So, Niche Edits or Guest Posting?

After weighing the pros and cons, it’s clear the winner is niche edits. Here’s why: they’re super convenient. You can handpick an already high-ranking, indexed page with solid backlinks, and — bonus — no content creation is needed! Easy win.

Another win for niche edits: lightning-fast indexing. When you snag a niche edit on a high-traffic site, your link gets indexed at bullet speed — sometimes even the same day it’s placed!

💡Pro-tip! Check out Nathan Gotch's research on niche edits — it’s eye-opening! He found that niche edits had a 70% success rate out of 239 backlinks studied. Pretty solid proof they work!

Some folks might still argue that niche edits aren’t exactly organic, but let’s be real — websites are in a constant cycle of updates, tweaks, and new links. That’s just how they evolve.

👆Note: Speaking of “natural link building”, you can't really call those link farm sites — stuffed with low-quality, off-topic posts and a bunch of commercial anchor texts — natural too, right?

Same thing with niche edits — people love to point out that they link to existing pages, which might have some questionable backlinks in the mix. But for some reason, nobody seems too bothered by link farms passing their so-called "link juice" to thousands of guest posts next door — posts that, by the way, never attract any solid backlinks themselves. Funny how that works, huh?

So, once again, in the battle of guest posts vs. niche edits, our final vote goes to niche edits — hands down!

Final Thoughts

We've laid out our take on both options, but at the end of the day, the choice is always yours. But if you're having a hard time landing quality guest post spots or link inserts, remember, you can always count on Editorial.Link. Reach out NOW and get the best of both link types!