How to Track the Success of Every Guest Post: The Mansoor Method

Getting your article published on someone else’s popular website is a big win. This is called a Guest Post Submission, and it helps you get a High Authority Backlink. But just hitting ‘publish’ is not enough. You need to know if that hard work actually helped your website grow. Many people write great guest posts and then just walk away. They forget to check if anyone clicked the link or if Google noticed the new connection. This guide shows you the clear, step-by-step way to track the success of every single Guest Post Submission. I am Mansoor, and I have seen what works and what fails for years. We will use simple tools to see real results. This is the definitive, practical guide to measuring your link building efforts.

Why Tracking Your Guest Posts Matters

Think of sending out a guest post like planting seeds. You put effort into finding the right garden, preparing the soil, and planting the seed. If you never check the garden later, how will you know if the seed grew into a strong plant? Tracking is your checkup.

If you do not track, you waste time. You might keep sending posts to websites that give you nothing back. You might miss a great chance to thank a site owner because their post brought you many visitors. Tracking shows you where to spend your energy next. It turns guessing into knowing.

Step 1: Before You Publish, Set Your Markers

Tracking starts before the article even goes live. You need a starting line. If you do not set up your checks now, you will never know what happened later.

A. Know Your Goal for the Link

What did you want when you made that Guest Post Submission? Was it for traffic? Was it for Google’s trust? Or both?
1. Traffic Goal: You want people to click the link in your author bio or within the article text.
2. SEO Goal: You want the link to make your main website look better to Google. This means getting more search traffic over time.

B. Use URL Parameters (The Magic Sticker)

This is the most important tracking step for traffic. When you link from the guest post back to your own site, you need to add small tags to the end of that link. These tags are called UTM parameters. They are like secret stickers only Google Analytics can read.

Let us say your main website link is https://yourwebsite.com/. You want to track clicks from a guest post on Blogger Site X.

You will change your link to something like this:

https://yourwebsite.com/?utm_source=blogger_site_x&utm_medium=guest_post&utm_campaign=mansoor_blog_post

utm_source: Tells you where the click came from (Blogger Site X).

utm_medium: Tells you how it arrived (It was a guest post).

utm_campaign: Helps you name the specific effort (The Mansoor Blog Post).

You must use these tags on every single link you get from that submission, especially the one in your author box. If the editor forgets to put the link in, or if they put it somewhere strange, the UTM sticker stays with it. This makes seeing the traffic later very clear.

C. Prepare Your "Target" Page

Decide which page on your site you want the High Authority Backlink to point towards. Is it your homepage? Or is it a specific article that needs a boost?

For SEO tracking, it is smart to link to a page that needs help ranking. For example, if you want to rank for "best dog food," link the guest post to your "best dog food" article.

If you are sending multiple links to the same page, make sure the anchor text is different. Anchor text is the clickable words. If every link says "dog food," Google might think it looks fake. Change it up: "read about canine nutrition," or "this great article."

Step 2: Recording Your Submissions (The Master List)

You need one central place to keep track of every single Guest Post Submission. A simple spreadsheet (like Google Sheets or Excel) works perfectly. This list is your command center.

Your spreadsheet needs clear columns. Here are the must-have columns:

Column Name	What It Tracks	Example Entry
Site Name	The website where you posted.	Foodie Monthly
URL of Post	The direct link to your published article.	https://foodiemonthly.com/my-great-recipe
Live Date	The day the post went live.	2024-05-15
Target Page	Which page on your site the link points to.	Homepage
Link Type	Where is the link? (Bio, Body, or Both).	Bio Only
Anchor Text Used	What words were clickable?	Best Recipe Ideas
Status	Is it live, pending, or dead?	Live
Traffic Check Date	When will you check traffic next?	2024-06-15

Expert Tip: Keep this spreadsheet updated as you pitch. Do not wait until the post is live. If you have 20 pitches out, keep 20 rows ready to fill in. This stops things from getting lost.

Step 3: Checking the Traffic Success (The Click Count)

This is where those UTM stickers pay off. We check traffic in Google Analytics. Google Analytics is the free tool that shows you who visits your website and how they found you.

How to Find Your Guest Post Clicks

Go to Google Analytics. You need access to the website where you own the content.

Look for Reports. Navigate to the ‘Acquisition’ section. This section tells you where your visitors come from.

Find Traffic Sources. You are looking for the ‘Traffic Acquisition’ or ‘Source/Medium’ report.

Filter Your Results. Since you used UTM tags, you can search for them easily.
- Look under the ‘Source’ column for entries like blogger_site_x.
- Look under the ‘Medium’ column for entries like guest_post.

If you see 50 users came from blogger_site_x / guest_post, that means 50 people clicked your link! That is traffic success confirmed.

When to Check: Check this data one month after the post goes live. Why a month? It takes Google time to notice the new link and send traffic. Checking too soon gives you a sad, low number. Wait 30 days for a fair report card.

What If There Are No Clicks?

If your traffic report shows zero clicks after one month, do not panic right away. It might mean:

The link is in a hard-to-see spot (like the very bottom of a long author bio).

The audience on that site is not interested in your topic.

If the link is hidden, you can politely email the site owner and ask if they could move the link higher up. Ask nicely. Say something like, "I noticed readers seem very interested in my topic. Would it be possible to move the link a bit higher so more people see it?"

Step 4: Checking the SEO Success (The Authority Boost)

Traffic is nice, but the long-term gain from a High Authority Backlink is better search rankings. This tracking takes more patience. You are checking to see if Google trusts your site more because of that new link.

A. Monitoring Keyword Rank Changes

You need a tool that tracks your keywords (like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or even a basic free rank tracker).

Note Your Starting Ranks: Before the guest post goes live, write down where your target page ranks for 3 to 5 main keywords.

Check Again Later: Wait 60 to 90 days after the post goes live. Check those same keywords again.

If your page was ranking on page 3 (position 25) and now ranks on page 2 (position 15), your Guest Post Submission worked for SEO! That High Authority Backlink helped Google move you up.

The Mansoor Rule on Patience: SEO results are slow. You will not see a jump the next day. Give Google at least two full months to see the link, check the content quality, and decide to boost your rank.

B. Checking the Link Status and Anchor Text

You must confirm the link is still there and is the right kind of link.

Use a Link Checker Tool: You can use tools like the one in Ahrefs or SEMrush to check all links pointing to your site. Search for links coming from that specific website.

Verify Do follow vs. No follow: When you agreed to the Guest Post Submission, you likely aimed for a ‘Do follow’ link. A Do follow link tells Google to pass authority. A ‘No follow’ link does not pass much authority. Use a browser extension (like the one from Moz or Ahrefs) to quickly check if the link is Do follow or No follow when you visit the live article.

If It Is Nofollow: If you were promised a Dofollow link and it came out as Nofollow, you have a good reason to politely contact the site owner. They might have made an honest mistake.

Step 5: Handling Broken or Changed Links

Sometimes, a website owner changes things months later. The article might move, or worse, they might remove your link entirely. This happens especially if the site changes its rules or if the editor moves on.

You must check your spreadsheet every six months to check the status of your top 10-20 links.

If you find a broken link (a 404 error):

Check if the site is still up. If the whole site is gone, you lost the link. Move on.

If the site is up but the article is gone: Contact the site owner. Say something like, "I noticed my post from last year is no longer showing up. I was hoping to keep the link live for my readers. Is there a way to restore it, or could you perhaps point it to a new article?"

If they cannot restore the link, ask if you can update the old link with a new Guest Post Submission. Show them you are a good partner who brings quality content.

Deep Dive: Advanced Tracking for Advanced Bloggers

If you are sending out many guest posts, you need more depth in your tracking. This section goes beyond just counting clicks.

Tracking the Quality of the Traffic

Clicks are just the start. Are the people clicking actually interested in what you offer?

In Google Analytics, when you check the traffic from your UTM tags (from Step 3), look closely at these numbers:

Bounce Rate: This shows how many people clicked your link and left your site right away without looking at anything else. A high bounce rate (over 70%) suggests the traffic was not a good match. Maybe the anchor text was misleading.

Pages Per Session: How many pages did they look at on your site? If they view 3 or 4 pages after clicking the guest post link, that is fantastic. It means they trusted the link and kept reading your site.

Time on Page: How long did they stay? Longer times mean better engagement.

If a High Authority Backlink brings in traffic that stays a long time, that link is gold.

Analyzing Anchor Text Performance

Remember we talked about using different clickable words (anchor text)? Now, let us see which words worked best for SEO.

You need to group your links in your master spreadsheet by the anchor text you used.

Group A: Links using "best WordPress guide."

Group B: Links using "learn SEO fast."

After 90 days, check your keyword rankings (Step 4) for the pages linked to by Group A versus Group B.

If Group B links caused a bigger jump in ranking for your target keywords, you know that specific phrase worked better for passing authority. Next time, use more variations like those in Group B. This fine-tuning makes your next Guest Post Submission outreach much more focused.

Competitor Analysis in Link Tracking

Experienced SEOs do not just track their own links. They see where the competition gets their best links.

Use an SEO tool to look up your top competitor’s website.

Find the section that shows all their backlinks.

Look for guest posts. You can often spot them because they look like articles written by someone who is not the main author.

If you see your competitor has a High Authority Backlink from a site you have not tried yet, add that site to your outreach list immediately.

This is tracking the success of their efforts to fuel your future success.

Putting It All Together: A Real Life Example

Let us track one single Guest Post Submission from start to finish using the Mansoor Method.

The Pitch: Mansoor pitched a local gardening blog, "Green Thumb Weekly," about composting.

Step 1: Setup

Goal: Get traffic to a new "Composting Guide" page and boost its ranking.

UTM Tag Created: ?utm_source=green_thumb_weekly&utm_medium=guest_post&utm_campaign=compost_guide_launch

Anchor Text Chosen: "Simple Home Composting."

Step 2: Recording

Added a row to the master sheet: Site Name (Green Thumb Weekly), Target Page (Composting Guide), Anchor Text (Simple Home Composting), Status (Live on 5/1).

Step 3: Traffic Check (June 1)

Checked Google Analytics. Found 75 users from the green_thumb_weekly / guest_post source.

Result: Excellent traffic success. The audience cared. Bounce rate was low at 45%.

Step 4: SEO Check (August 1)

Checked the rank for the keyword "easy backyard compost."

Starting Rank: Position 42.

New Rank: Position 18.

Result: Good SEO success. The High Authority Backlink helped push the page onto the second page of search results.

Step 5: Follow Up

Since the traffic and rank were good, Mansoor sends a thank you email to the editor and mentions he has an idea for a new article about indoor herbs, keeping the relationship warm for future Guest Post Submissions.

By following these five practical steps, every piece of content you place elsewhere becomes measurable. You stop guessing if link building works. You know it works, and you know exactly which sites provide the best results for your business.

Meta Title: Track Guest Post Success: The Definitive High Authority Backlink Guide

Meta Description: Learn the expert way to track every Guest Post Submission for traffic and SEO results. Get Mansoor’s practical steps for High Authority Backlink success using simple tools.