You’ve spent days on a guide. You checked the bus times twice, took the photos and wrote every tip you could think of. Then it sits on page 5 of Google with no links and a handful of readers.
I’ve been there. I started Bel Around The World in 2015 to document a student exchange in Europe, and for years my blog was all over the place, with posts on the US one week and Africa the next and nobody linking to any of it.
Today, blog outreach is one of my 5 income streams, which means I pitch editors on behalf of clients every month. I know what gets a reply and what gets deleted.
In this guide, I’ll break down exactly how you can earn links, mentions and readers: by publishing something worth citing, pitching it properly and keeping the whole thing sustainable. It’s the same approach behind my link building services, and none of it starts with begging for links.
READ ALSO: How My Income Exploded 211% When I Turned Full-Time How To Become A Digital Nomad – The Starter Guide
3 Ways To Create Value On Your Travel Blog
Speaking at Hoi An Travel Massive’s event.
First-hand experience is your biggest advantage as a travel writer. It only becomes valuable to someone else when it answers a specific planning question.
1. Answer A Specific Question, Not A Whole Destination
“A weekend in Lisbon” is a broad topic. A guide to getting from Lisbon airport to 3 neighbourhoods late at night, with realistic journey times and trade-offs, is far easier to use and far easier to recommend.
A day of logistics deserves its own section far more than another list of beaches. Nobody needs a 10th roundup of Tortuga Bay, but plenty of people need to know whether 2 ferries in one day is doable.
I learnt the same lesson the hard way when island-hopping in Greece. I moved islands every 3 days with my parents one summer, the ferry timings and travel time ate into the trip far more than I’d expected, and I burnt out. A post that tells you how many island moves are realistic is worth more than one more sunset photo.
2. Include The Details Your Reader Will Act On
Before you publish, ask yourself one thing: what does your reader need to actually do this? A post that inspires someone to go is only half the job. The other half is giving them what they need to book, budget and plan, because that’s what keeps them on your page and brings them back.
Go through your draft and check that it answers the questions a reader would have when planning:
- Timing: seasonal opening changes, days of the week it’s closed, and the best time of day to go.
- Getting there: transport options, how long each takes, and whether you need to book ahead.
- Costs: entry fees, rental prices, and what a typical meal or day costs.
- Accessibility: steep climbs, stairs, uneven paths, and anything that could limit who can go.
- Alternatives: the difference between the famous viewpoint and the quieter one 10 minutes down the road.
That last point is where your own experience matters most. Anyone can list the famous spot, but only someone who has been can say which one is worth the crowds and which one isn’t.
Vague words don’t help a reader plan. “Affordable” or “pricey” means something different to everyone, so give the figure and let them decide. When I tell you bike rental on Rottnest Island cost me USD 20, you can budget for it. “Affordable” tells you nothing.
Always say when you visited and which details might change. A line like “prices checked in September 2026” takes 5 seconds to write, and it lets your reader judge whether the advice still holds.
3. Create Something Original Other Writers Can Cite
Original material is what turns a nice post into a citeable one. You could compare ferry schedules across a season, map the walking time between a town’s main sights, or ask locals what visitors always get wrong.
Keep your method simple and say it out loud: what you checked, when you checked it, and what the results do and don’t show. Google’s own guidance on creating people-first content asks the same questions, including whether your content shows first-hand experience and original information.
This is how we run our travel eSIM guides. We test the eSIMs ourselves on the road. In El Salvador, I used a Simbye eSIM along the surf coast in El Tunco and El Zonte, and the network held up well.
That’s a small, honest finding, and it’s far more useful than a sweeping “best eSIM in the world” claim copied from a press release.
3 Ways To Give Other Publishers Something To Cite
Beach Meets with other digital nomads
Think beyond the standard “top 10 things to do” roundup. Other sites link to resources that fill a gap in their own coverage, not to articles that repeat what they’ve already written.
1. Build Resources People Can Use
A downloadable packing checklist for a specific climate, a clear breakdown of regional rail passes, or an accessible map of public toilets and water refill points can help readers even if they never read the full article.
My digital nomad packing list works this way. It’s built from what I actually carry for full-time travel, so you don’t need to read anything else on the site to use it.
These resources only work if you keep them updated. Put a review date on anything that changes often, and fix outdated details instead of leaving an old page to mislead people.
That’s why my eSIM guides carry the year in the title. When new providers come onto the market, they go into the existing best eSIM for Bali guide rather than a brand-new post that splits the page’s authority in 2.
2. Match Your Resource To The Right Publisher
Travel publishers, local organisations and specialist writers will share your resource if it fills a gap in their coverage. Look for a close match between their audience and your material.
A family travel site will want practical information on travelling with kids. A hiking publication cares about trail conditions and route planning. Editors can tell when you’re sending the same pitch to every outlet.
A short note explaining exactly how your resource adds to one specific article works far better. You’re making the editor’s job easier, not asking for a favour.
3. Choose The Right Outreach Method
There are several ways to earn editorial links: original research, digital PR, expert commentary and fixing broken links on other sites. If you’re not sure where to start, this overview of editorial link building strategies can help you choose a method that suits the material you’ve already got.
I do this work every month for clients, and the rule never changes. Make a useful contribution, contact the right person, and let them decide whether it belongs in their coverage.
Build Relationships Before You Need A Link
Digital nomad community in Chiang Mai
Most bloggers only email an editor when they want something. That’s exactly why most of those emails get ignored.
1. Personalise Your Pitch
Good outreach is specific and low-pressure. Name the story or resource, explain in one sentence why it helps that outlet’s readers, and make it easy to review.
Don’t ask for a guaranteed link, don’t send generic praise, and never imply an editor owes you coverage. If it’s not a fit, thank them and move on.
Pitching took me years to get right. I had to learn what to lead with, how to price my work and how to follow up without being annoying, and once I systemised it, brand partnerships stopped being unpredictable.
I turned that framework into the No BS Pitch Formula, and the same principles apply whether you’re pitching a brand deal or a resource to an editor.
2. Keep Showing Up
Relationships grow when you’re useful first. Answer a journalist’s question when you actually know the answer, share accurate local knowledge with another writer, or point out a correction that would improve their guide.
None of this guarantees a mention next week. It does make you the person editors remember when they need a source, which is the whole point when you position yourself as an expert.
I’ve spoken for travel and digital nomad networks like Traverse, Travel Massive, The Nomadic Network and Location Indie. Those rooms are full of the writers and editors you’ll want to pitch one day, so get to know them before you need them.
For travel topics, precision matters. Separate your personal experience from official guidance, and send readers to the right authority for rules that change, such as entry requirements.
The UK government’s foreign travel advice pages are a good example, and it matters most on posts like Indonesia visa requirements, where the rules can change with little warning.
Keep Your Publishing Effort Sustainable
Dream BATW team in Lombok, Indonesia!
Let me be honest with you: as an independent creator, you’re probably the writer, photographer, editor and marketer all at once. Without a simple plan, outreach turns into an endless second job.
1. Focus On Priority Stories
Pick 1 or 2 priority stories, block out time to check and update them, and keep a simple spreadsheet of the publications and communities you’ve contacted.
You’ll stop pitching the same editor twice, and you’ll see which angles actually get replies.
2. Measure What Actually Matters
Count useful outcomes: qualified readers, replies from relevant editors, newsletter sign-ups and better engagement. The number of links on its own tells you very little.
The Performance report in Google Search Console shows which pages pull in search clicks, so you know which resources are worth pitching harder.
I track my own time just as closely in my monthly income reports. The tracking showed how many hours I worked, how many I used to explore around, and eventually gave me a number for how I make hourly that month. That kind of pattern only shows up when you measure it.
3. Get Help Before Outreach Swallows You
Social platforms help a travel guide reach people who might use it or share it. Posting alone won’t fix weak reporting, though.
Before you hand anything over, define the social media role: decide whether you need someone to plan content, edit short videos, manage a community or report on performance.
Osdire’s hiring guide is a useful place to compare what each arrangement involves, and clear responsibilities make it much easier to choose support that fits your workload and budget.
I hired a virtual team before I felt ready, and I got it wrong a few times. I under-briefed people and then resented them for not reading my mind, and I over-managed others until they never felt they could own anything. Both were on me.
Today, my small team runs the operations, content and outreach side of BATW. That’s the only reason I could spend 16 days on a Canada road trip this July without working a single hour.
At the end of the day, the most reliable way for travel bloggers to earn attention beyond the itinerary is to publish something that respects your reader’s time. Make the details dependable, be upfront about the limits, and offer expertise nobody else could easily recreate.
Links, shares and mentions will follow. The real test of a travel resource is whether it helped someone make a better decision about their trip.
If you’re just starting out, set up a professional-looking blog first, then pick one story you know better than anyone and build from there.
Earning attention is a long game: it’s how a day in the life of a travel blogger went from a hobby nobody took seriously to a business that funds my financial freedom as a digital nomad.
Got questions about pitching, outreach or building resources people actually link to? Drop me a DM on Instagram. I read every single one 🙂
