What “legitimate” means in guest posting
A legitimate guest post opportunity isn’t just any website where you can create an account and add a link. It is a publishing route where the content has a real audience, a clear topic, reasonable editorial expectations and a purpose beyond placing a commercial URL.
That distinction matters.
Some platforms let you publish directly under your own profile. Others review articles before publication or accept contributor pitches. Both can help in the right situation, but neither should be treated as a shortcut to building large numbers of links.
Before approaching any platform, check whether your topic genuinely helps its readers. A thoughtful technical guide can suit a developer publication. A practical B2B insight may work on a professional platform. A promotional article with no clear value is unlikely to be a good fit anywhere.
The following are credible publishing platforms and contributor routes to consider. They are not guaranteed guest-post placements, and their editorial rules can change, so always review the current guidelines before submitting.
1. Medium
Medium is best known as an open publishing platform for essays, analysis, practical guides and thought-leadership articles. You can publish from your own profile, and some independent Medium publications also accept submissions.
It can help you repurpose a strong insight-led article, share a founder’s perspective, or test whether a topic attracts interest. It is not a replacement for earning editorial coverage on an independent industry website.
If you submit to a Medium publication, read its individual requirements carefully. Some accept submissions from all writers, some accept only approved contributors, and some close at certain times. Medium’s own guidance confirms that each publication controls its submission rules.
2. LinkedIn Articles
LinkedIn Articles are particularly useful for B2B professionals, agency owners, consultants and SaaS teams. They allow members and page administrators to publish longer-form expertise directly to a professional audience.
This is not traditional guest posting because you publish under your own profile or company page. However, it can be a credible part of a wider content-distribution strategy when the article offers genuine experience, data, opinion or a useful framework.
For example, a link-building agency could publish a practical piece about evaluating publisher quality, then direct readers to a more detailed resource on its own site. Keep the external reference natural and make the LinkedIn article valuable enough to stand on its own.
3. HackerNoon
HackerNoon is a technology-focused publication and contributor platform. It is most relevant for software, AI, development, startups, cybersecurity, product work and technical business topics.
Articles are submitted for editorial review rather than appearing automatically. That makes it a better fit for writers with a genuinely useful technology story, a practical case study, or first-hand technical knowledge to share.
A strong pitch might cover how a SaaS team solved a specific problem, lessons from launching a product feature or an original analysis of a change in the technology market. A thin promotional article about your company will not be enough.
4. DEV Community
DEV Community is an established space for developers and technical writers. It is suitable for coding walkthroughs, engineering lessons, product-build stories, open-source updates and practical developer-facing content.
The audience is highly specific, so relevance matters more than broad SEO goals. If you work with a developer tool, technical SaaS product, or software consultancy, a helpful article can build awareness with the right people.
Do not use the platform to publish general marketing content that has no value for developers. Explain something useful, show the work and let any brand reference remain secondary.
5. Hashnode
Hashnode is another strong option for technical blogging, particularly for developers, product engineers and software founders. It is designed for publishing original technical content and can also support a writer’s own domain.
It is useful when a business has enough genuine technical knowledge to create tutorials, explain implementation decisions or share experience from building a product. It is not the place for recycled sales copy.
Hashnode works well as a long-term, owned publishing route. Think of it as a place to establish a technical voice, rather than a one-off backlink opportunity.
6. DZone
DZone is a contributor platform for software professionals. It is relevant for in-depth engineering, development, architecture, cloud and enterprise technology content.
Its contributor process expects a properly formatted, substantial article and editorial review. That makes it better suited to subject specialists than general outreach campaigns. DZone’s current guidance requires English articles with meaningful depth and clear formatting.
For the right technical client, a useful DZone contribution can be far more valuable than a generic placement on a broad high-metric website.
7. SitePoint
SitePoint remains a relevant contributor route for developers, designers and people working with web technologies. It looks for informative content on topics such as web development, design tools, programming, UX, and practical digital skills.
The key word is informative. A strong idea teaches the reader something, uses examples, and comes from someone with genuine knowledge of the topic. This is a good reminder that the best opportunities usually come from the quality of the idea, not the size of the marketing budget.
When building a shortlist, use the Publisher Quality Checker to review topical relevance, audience fit, traffic signals, and editorial quality before deciding whether a site is worth pursuing.
8. Substack
Substack is a newsletter-led publishing platform that works well for subject experts, consultants, journalists and founders with a clear point of view.
It is especially useful when the goal is to build a regular audience around a specialist subject rather than publish a single article and move on. A strong Substack publication can include practical guides, commentary, case studies and curated industry insight.
For SEO and guest-posting campaigns, don’t use it to republish the same article repeatedly. A better use is creating distinct supporting content that gives readers a reason to subscribe or learn more.
9. Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is a respected contributor route for people working in web design, UX, accessibility, front-end development and related digital disciplines.
It is not a quick placement opportunity. Articles need genuine expertise, a clear original angle and a useful lesson for people who work on the web. The publication makes clear that it works with individual authors and expects meaningful, relevant submissions.
For the right writer or technology client, this type of editorial opportunity is far more valuable than a generic “high DA guest post” because the audience and context are highly relevant.
10. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is a legitimate hosted publishing platform for businesses, writers and specialist projects. It gives users their own space to publish articles, guides and supporting resources.
It is not an independent guest-post placement. Treat it as an owned publishing route.
That means it can work for a genuinely separate publication, a resource hub, or an expert-led content series. Don’t use it to create thin pages only for links. If the content does not serve a real audience, it is unlikely to create meaningful value.
11. Blogger
Blogger is another long-standing hosted-blogging platform. Like WordPress.com, it is best viewed as a way to create and manage an independent blog rather than an editorial guest-post site.
It may suit a small niche publication, a project journal or a supporting educational resource with a clear purpose. It isn’t suitable for producing mass content just because publishing is easy.
The quality of the work, the topic and the audience still matter more than the platform itself.
12. Vocal
Vocal is a writing and storytelling platform with topic-led communities. It suits certain lifestyle, personal-interest, creative, or human-interest topics where the article is genuinely written for readers.
This is unlikely to be the first choice for a technical SEO campaign or a B2B software company. However, for the right subject, it can be a credible distribution channel.
As with every open publishing platform, check the community’s tone, content rules and audience before committing time to a piece.
13. HubPages
HubPages is a long-established community publishing site. It is more suitable for useful evergreen articles, guides and explanatory content than for overtly commercial promotion.
The platform is only worth considering where the article can stand alone as genuinely helpful content. If the sole goal is to insert a commercial backlink, it is unlikely to be a good fit.
A useful rule is simple: if removing your own link would make the article pointless, the content needs more work.
14. GuestPost.UK
GuestPost.UK provides a genuine guest-post publishing route for suitable submissions through its participating publication network.
Before submitting, review the guest-post guidelines, keep the article useful and relevant, and avoid over-optimised anchor text. A well-prepared contribution should make sense to the host publication’s readers first.
For a more tailored campaign, use Guest Posting Services or Blogger Outreach Services when you need relevant publisher research, outreach support and editorial placements rather than a self-service publishing route.
15. Relevant niche publications found through targeted research
The final, and often most valuable, route isn’t a famous publishing platform at all. It is a smaller, relevant industry publication found through proper research.
For example, a SaaS business may need technology, startup or B2B marketing websites. A travel business may need destination, airline or hospitality publications. A local trades company may benefit more from credible local and property-related sites than from a broad international platform.
Use searches such as:
your niche + write for usyour niche + contributor guidelinesyour niche + submit an articleyour niche + guest authoryour country + industry publication
Then assess every prospect carefully. The Guest Post Site Finder can help you discover suitable options, while the Publisher Quality Checker helps you review relevance, audience fit, editorial quality, traffic signals and value before proceeding.
Use the list as a starting point, not a shortcut
These 15 platforms and routes are legitimate places to investigate, but they do not all serve the same purpose.
Some are open publishing tools. Some involve editorial review. Some are relevant only to technical or specialist content. A good campaign uses the right route for the topic, audience and business objective rather than treating every website as interchangeable.
The strongest guest-post opportunity is usually one where the article would still deserve to be published even without a backlink.
