Guest posting in Finland means writing an article in Finnish for another website, usually with a link back to your own site. It’s one of the most common ways foreign businesses try to build Finnish links. It still works, but not in the way many link builders expect. Google treats links in guest posts cautiously, and Finnish law requires any paid guest article to be labelled as advertising. The real value of guest posting in Finland lies in reaching Finnish readers, building a reputation, and earning links on sites that choose to give them.
This post explains how guest posting works in Finland, how to find and pitch the right sites, and what to expect from it.
What is guest posting in Finland?
Guest posting is publishing an article you’ve written on someone else’s website. In Finland, it takes three main forms:
- Unpaid guest articles: a Finnish blog or specialist site publishes your article because it’s useful to its readers.
- Expert columns: many Finnish newspapers have a vieraskynä (guest column), which publishes pieces by experts from outside the newspaper, often placed opposite the editorial and separate from readers’ letters. Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest newspaper, uses its guest column for experts’ views on current topics.
- Sponsored articles: you pay for the article to be published. In Finland, that makes it advertising, with its own rules (covered below).
Google defines guest posts in a similar way: articles written by or in the name of one website and published on a different website.
Does guest posting still work for SEO in Finland?
Guest posting still has value in Finland, but mainly for visibility, reputation and referral traffic, not as a reliable way to get followed links.
What Google says about guest post links
Google’s position is clear. When it announced its link spam update in 2021, it said it had seen campaigns of low-quality sponsored and guest posts made mainly to gain links. It also said that while it had become much better at detecting and nullifying such link schemes, it still strongly recommends that site owners apply the appropriate rel values to these links. For guest posts, Google’s guidance is to mark the links with rel=”nofollow”.
Google has also warned of consequences. When it detects sites publishing or acquiring links through excessive sponsored and guest posting without proper link tags, it may apply algorithmic and manual actions.
What guest posting is still worth
A good guest article on a respected Finnish site still does several useful things:
- It reaches real Finnish readers, some of whom will click through to your site.
- It builds your reputation as an expert in your field in Finland.
- It can lead to more coverage, as journalists and editors notice your name.
- It sometimes earns a followed link. Whether a link is followed is the publisher’s decision, and a publisher who genuinely values your article may choose not to tag the link.
The approach that fails is producing large numbers of low-quality guest posts mainly for links. That’s exactly the pattern Google says it detects and ignores.
How do you find Finnish sites that accept guest articles?
Start with Google searches in Finnish, then look at where your competitors and industry peers publish.
Search in Finnish
Finnish sites describe guest posting in Finnish, so English searches like “write for us” miss most of them. Combine Finnish phrases with your topic to find opportunities.
Finnish search phrases for finding guest post opportunities
Combine each phrase with your topic in Google
| Finnish phrase | Meaning | What it finds |
|---|---|---|
| kirjoita meille | write for us | Sites that invite contributions |
| vieraskirjoitus | guest article | Published guest articles |
| vierasblogi | guest blog | Blogs with guest posts |
| vieraskynä | guest column | Expert opinion columns in newspapers |
| yhteistyö | collaboration | Sites open to partnerships |
| kaupallinen yhteistyö | commercial collaboration | Paid content (must be labelled) |
Example search: vieraskirjoitus sähköautot finds guest articles about electric cars.
Check where competitors publish
Your competitors’ backlinks show which Finnish sites already publish guest articles in your field. In Ahrefs, Semrush or similar tools, look at the Finnish sites linking to competitors, and open the linking pages to see whether they’re guest articles. See our guide to SEO tools for the Finnish market for which tools handle Finnish data best.
Look at trade media and associations
Finnish trade magazines, industry associations and professional organisations often publish expert articles from people in their field. These are usually some of the most relevant guest opportunities, because the audience matches your business closely.
Check every site before you pitch
A site that accepts guest posts isn’t automatically a good one. Check its Finnish traffic, topics, ownership and whether it sells links to anyone. Our guide on how to evaluate a Finnish website covers each check.
How many Finnish sites are there in your niche?
In most niches, the pool of good Finnish guest post opportunities is small, often a few dozen sites rather than hundreds. There’s no reliable public count by niche, so the best approach is to size your own pool:
- Collect candidates from Finnish searches, competitor backlinks, trade media and associations.
- Remove sites without a Finnish audience, using traffic by country in your SEO tool.
- Remove sites that aren’t relevant to your topic.
- Remove sites that sell links to everyone, such as blogs with unlabelled sponsored posts on unrelated topics.
- Count what remains. That’s your realistic pool.
A small pool has two consequences. You can’t rely on guest posting alone to build a Finnish link profile. And each site matters, so a rejected pitch or a burned relationship costs more than it would in a large market. Combine guest posting with digital PR in Finland and other methods from our main guide to link building in Finland.
How do you pitch a guest article to a Finnish site?
Pitch in Finnish, with one specific idea, to a named person.
How to pitch a guest article to a Finnish site
- Read the site firstKnow its topics, tone and recent articles before you write.
- Find the right personAn editor or the site owner, not a generic contact form if you can avoid it.
- Write the pitch in FinnishShort, personal and written by a native speaker.
- Offer one clear ideaA specific angle the site hasn’t covered, with a working title.
- Show why you’re the right writerYour expertise, data or experience in one or two sentences.
- Be open about links and paymentSay whether you expect a link, and whether anything is paid.
- Follow up onceA polite reminder after a week or two, then move on.
Finnish editors receive many generic English pitches, and most go unanswered. A short, personal pitch in natural Finnish with a clear, relevant idea stands out immediately.
Expect competition for the best spots. Helsingin Sanomat publishes guest column texts on journalistic grounds: a text must open a new discussion or bring a fresh perspective to an ongoing one. In 2015, the paper said roughly 15% of submitted texts were published. National newspaper columns are for genuine expertise and opinion, not for links.
What makes a good Finnish guest article?
A good Finnish guest article is written for the site’s readers first, and would be worth publishing even without the link.
Is your Finnish guest article ready?
Check before you send it to the editor
Three points matter most:
- Native Finnish. Translated articles are easy to spot and often rejected. See Finnish content localisation.
- Something new. Original data, practical examples or real expertise give editors a reason to publish.
- Natural anchor text. Because of Finnish inflection, natural anchors vary. An exact-match keyword anchor looks manipulative, and Google names optimised anchor text in guest posts as link spam. See anchor text in Finnish.
What if you pay for a guest article?
If you pay for a guest article, it’s advertising under Finnish law and a paid link under Google’s rules.
Finland’s Consumer Protection Act requires marketing to clearly show its commercial purpose and on whose behalf it’s carried out. This applies to all media. KKV notes that an advertorial, an ad that looks like an ordinary article, must always be easy for readers to tell apart from editorial content, and that including the text “Advertisement” makes it easier to identify. The Nordic consumer ombudsmen have stressed that publishers, advertisers and professional bloggers are all responsible for making covert advertising visible online.
Payment doesn’t have to be money. Under the Consumer Protection Act, all activities that seek to influence consumers commercially are essentially marketing, and even sending free products to a blogger counts.
For Google, paid links need rel=”sponsored”. Our guide to paid links, Google’s rules and Finnish advertising labelling explains both sets of rules, and Finnish backlink prices covers what paid placements cost.
Which types of guest posting work best in Finland?
The best guest posting opportunities in Finland are the ones where your expertise is the reason for publication.
| Type | Where | Link outcome | Reputation value | Effort | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expert column (vieraskynä) | National and regional newspapers | Often no link, or the publisher’s choice | Very high | High | Low |
| Expert article | Trade media and association sites | Publisher’s choice | High | Medium | Low |
| Unpaid guest post | Relevant Finnish blogs and specialist sites | Publisher’s choice; Google recommends nofollow | Medium | Medium | Low |
| Sponsored article, labelled | Finnish blogs and media | rel=”sponsored” | Low to medium | Low | Low if labelled and tagged |
| “Write for us, any topic” sites | Low-quality sites | Often followed, but likely ignored by Google | None | Low | High |
What are the pros and cons of guest posting in Finland?
The main advantage is reaching Finnish readers through trusted sites. The main limit is that guest post links carry less SEO weight than many expect.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Puts your expertise in front of Finnish readers | Google recommends nofollow on guest post links |
| Builds your reputation and can lead to media coverage | Small pool of good Finnish sites in most niches |
| Brings referral traffic from relevant readers | Needs native Finnish writing, which takes time and money |
| Strong relationships with Finnish editors pay off over time | Paid articles need labelling and tagging |
What are the most common guest posting mistakes in Finland?
The most common mistake is treating guest posting as a volume game.
- Sending English pitches to Finnish sites.
- Publishing translated articles instead of native Finnish content.
- Chasing followed links instead of readers and reputation.
- Using exact-match anchor text in every article.
- Publishing on “any topic” sites that sell space to everyone.
- Hiding payment. A paid article without a label breaks Finnish law, and an untagged paid link breaks Google’s rules.
- Pitching the same few sites repeatedly with weak ideas, which damages relationships in a small market.
How SEO Butler approaches guest posting in Finland
SEO Butler Limited, which runs backlinksfinland.com, has a native Finnish writer in-house, and all Finnish content is reviewed by a Finnish speaker before publication. If you’d like help finding relevant Finnish publishers, you can browse Finnish publishers in the SEO Butler backlink marketplace.
Disclaimer: This post is general information about guest posting and link building in Finland. It isn’t legal advice and doesn’t guarantee any ranking results. Paid or sponsored content must be labelled as advertising under Finnish consumer protection law; see the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority’s guidance on the identifiability of advertising. Links in guest and sponsored posts should follow Google’s guidance on qualifying links. backlinksfinland.com is owned by SEO-Butler Limited, which sells link building services.
Reference sources
- Google Search Central: A reminder on qualifying links and our link spam update
- Search Engine Journal: Google link spam algorithm update
- Vieraskynä (Finnish Wikipedia)
- Kaskas Media: Näin kirjoitat hyvän Vieraskynä-tekstin
- KKV: Identifiability of advertising
- KKV: Nordic consumer ombudsmen comment on covert online marketing
- Castrén & Snellman: Responsible influencer marketing
- Google Search Central: Spam policies for Google web search
Frequently asked questions
Does guest posting still work in Finland?
Yes, but mainly for reaching Finnish readers, building reputation and referral traffic. Google recommends that links in guest posts carry rel=”nofollow”, and it ignores links from low-quality guest post campaigns, so guest posting shouldn’t be relied on for followed links.
How do I find Finnish websites that accept guest posts?
Search Google in Finnish, combining phrases like “kirjoita meille” (write for us) or “vieraskirjoitus” (guest article) with your topic. Also check where competitors have published, and look at Finnish trade media and industry associations.
Should guest post links be nofollow?
Google’s guidance is to mark links in guest posts with rel=”nofollow” and links in paid posts with rel=”sponsored”. Whether a link is tagged is ultimately the publisher’s decision.
Do paid guest posts need to be labelled in Finland?
Yes. A paid guest article is advertising under the Consumer Protection Act and must clearly show its commercial purpose and who it’s for, for example with the label “Mainos” (Advertisement).
What is a vieraskynä?
A vieraskynä is a guest column in a Finnish newspaper, where experts from outside the newspaper publish their views on current topics. Newspapers such as Helsingin Sanomat decide on publication on journalistic grounds.
