Answer: Not that much definitely. People I know in the industry infrequently ask me to jot down an article for them and I do so. This is usually on an issue I’m very familiar with so it doesn’t take long to knock out 1,500 or 2,000 words. I rarely hunt for guest post alternatives but will contact the webmaster if I find a very good site in my niche. Once they check me out they are often happy to accept a piece of writing.
I do perhaps half a dozen such articles in the year. Sometimes they link back to me and infrequently they DON’T!But even the latter is ok. I don’t chase follow links or links above the fold or any of the other SEO “principles”.