Content syndication SEO

7.3.1 What Is Content Syndication?

Content syndication means republishing web-based content, such as posts, news, infographics, and more, on one or more third-party websites with its author’s consent.

Third-party websites get relevant, high-quality content free of cost. On the other hand, the author or content creator earns publicity and exposure on renowned platforms for free. In addition, including backlinks to the originally published article in republished content helps them boost its online visibility, generate organic traffic, and reach.

Here’s an excellent example of a syndicated article. Lauren Latin first published a post about work-life balance on The Muse.

The original post: Source

Notice how Lifehacker republished the same post.

Republished post: Source

They marked the syndicated content with the below-shared text –

“This post originally appeared in The Muse.”

This practice allows third-party websites to give credit to the original content creator and avoid duplicate content issues.

Although some websites edit content to fit their style or only publish excerpts via online, offline, or mobile channels, most pieces of republished content are unedited versions of an entire article.

How Is Content Syndication Different from Guest Posting?

As we explained, content syndication involves republishing content on third-party websites. Whereas, guest posting requires publishing original content on third-party websites.

Comparing the two, content syndication is an easier and quicker way to generate traffic and backlinks. Unlike guest posts, you do not need fresh content to be submitted to third-party websites. You can leverage the same content on multiple platforms. Additionally, websites do not allow reusing guest post content anywhere else once it’s published. Content syndication is thus more scalable than writing guest posts.

Finally, in the content syndication process, content producers can either work directly with content syndicators or contract a broker, such as Leading Edge, to act on their behalf.

Some of the leading news syndicators include Match Group, EBSCO Industries, InterActiveCorp, and Cox Automotive, as well as social media sites Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

7.3.2 Why Is Content Syndication Important? 

Digital audiences demand more content that is relevant and convenient. For example, 86% of Americans access news on their digital devices instead of relying on television or print media.

In addition to the pandemic-driven shift toward greater digital-based engagement, the availability of consumer data has seen an explosion of new content tailored toward specific audiences. And with more content competing for their attention, publishers need to find new ways to connect with their target audiences by running quality content on more channels.

Publishers can maximize the value of their best content by republishing it on channels with higher readership. The more strategic the syndication is, the more page views it will likely attract, potentially opening the door to higher sales and revenue.

Readers, on the other hand, can benefit from the content provider’s thought leadership and topical authority, especially when the intent is to appeal to a niche audience.

Finally, content syndication benefits the digital media publishing realm. This includes small outlets that want to introduce their content to new audiences, free syndication platforms such as LinkedIn, Medium, Quora, Reddit, and Slideshare, and cost-per-click (CPC) syndication websites such as Outbrain and Taboola that offer native ads.

Advantages of Syndicated Content 

Now, let’s explore its best benefits for digital media publishers.

• Cultivates the Brand: Content syndication helps boost brand awareness and familiarity through relevant content. Audiences can develop an affinity for the brand, especially when the information suits their interests.

• Builds Trust: Serving relevant and meaningful content on prominent platforms, such as NewsBreak, Inkl, Flipboard, and more, that meets users’ needs can help build readers’ trust in the brand. It helps improve brand image and credibility by keeping it on the top of readers’ minds when they search for a product or service.

• Develops Loyalty: According to Invesp, customer acquisition can cost five times more than retaining them. Hence, building loyalty makes more business sense than acquiring new customers and can be achieved by publishing insightful syndicated content.

Creating syndicated content that complies with Google’s E–E-A-T parameters (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) can help publishers improve customer engagement and loyalty, thus boosting customer retention and revenue.

• Generates Leads: Content syndication allows republishing content on high-performing and relevant platforms where the audience is already searching for the kind of content (addressing their needs) you have to offer. Organic traffic referrals driven via content syndication can bring in leads that are interested in the content provided.

• Establishes Topic Authority and Expertise: Publishers can position themselves as providers of reliable information and valuable insights. They can publish authoritative content that delivers value to the readers and earn the status of a thought leader in the industry through multichannel marketing.

According to a Semrush survey, 65% of businesses have incorporated thought leadership into content strategy, while 29.5% are planning to work on it.

• Builds Backlinks: Content syndication sites publish the content, whether it’s articles, infographics, or videos, and credit the content providers by linking back to their content. This can help improve the author’s website SEO and boost their rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Check out the example shared below. Observe how the original article is linked at the end of the post, providing credit to its author.

Disadvantages of Syndicated Content 

While it remains a critical strategy for many creators to position their content in front of a larger audience, content syndication also has its downsides.

• May Affect SEO Ranking: If a syndicated page has a higher domain authority, and the original article page is not canonicalized for search engines, the original version could rank lower. Refer to the section below on how to prevent content syndication from hurting the original content’s SEO.

• Not All Audiences Are Leads: Many of those who will read the republished content will not bother to click the referral link.

• High-Quality Leads Are Not Guaranteed: Not all users who click on backlinks are credible leads. Low-lead quality can skew data in the long run.
• Not a Complete Solution: Content syndication should not be treated as the only method to generate leads. However, when done strategically to complement other marketing efforts, content syndication efforts can produce desired results.

7.3.3 How Does Content Syndication Impact SEO?

Publishers can gain more organic referral traffic to their sites if they have more backlinks, according to an Ahrefs study. Greater traffic sends signals to Google that a web page is credible and useful to visitors.

But it takes careful planning, as well as the right partnerships, for content syndication to improve a publisher’s SEO. Publishers that do too little will see limited results, while those that overdo it can end up hurting their SEO efforts.

Here’s how –

When republishing content on a third-party website, the syndicated content may outrank the original site content in the SERPs.

The reason?

Google doesn’t index multiple versions of the same content while providing rankings. It is more likely to index the version that appears on a high-traffic website, has greater domain authority, better page quality, is served via HTTPS, and highlights other crucial factors (ranking signals).

Here’s what Google has to say about it –

“If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer.”

There’s no benefit in gaining exposure by content syndication if you lose organic traffic. The key to success here is ensuring that content is indexed correctly on both websites.

We will discuss the best content syndication practices in the next section. Before that, let’s address the most common query that content creators have –

Can Google penalize syndicated content considering it to be duplicate?

The simple answer to this question is – no!

Google understands the reason for replicating content. So, there’s no harm in content syndication. Ensure that the search engines and readers know that the content is a syndicated piece.

The following section answers this query with the best practices to leverage content syndication. Implement them to improve your Google SERPs rankings and organic traffic.

7.3.4 Best Practices to Prevent Content Syndication Impacting SEO

For a piece of content to be considered duplicate, it has to appear identical or nearly the same on at least one web page with a different URL.

When Google detects multiple versions of content, it selects one URL as a canonical version and then will seldom crawl the rest of the duplicate content.10 Remember that Google still considers pages with minor modifications as duplicated content.

While Google does not penalize duplicate content if a publisher leaves it up to Google to figure out which page is the original the search engine may end up selecting a duplicate. This will result in the original page being crawled less.

To help avoid syndicating content from negatively affecting SEO, follow these best practices below.

1. Canonicalize

While syndicated content is simply a duplicate version of an original post, publishers can overcome this issue by adding a canonical tag to the original content. The rel=canonical tag alerts Google that the source is the version that should receive the credit.

Below is an example of a canonical tag.

The canonical link tag does not force Google to index the original content, however, since Google’s choice will still depend on several factors, such as the intent of the query and the authority or performance of the website.

In particular, when the website with syndicated content is highly authoritative and has information that ranks for a particular niche, then Google will most likely rank the republished content higher than the original post.11

So, there is still a chance that the syndicated page may appear higher on SERPs instead.

In the case of crawling and indexing syndicated news articles, Google does not guarantee that a news article will appear in Google News. However, following best practices such as adding the site operator “site:yoursite.com” may help the content to be discovered.13 Once Google identifies the news report as syndicated, it does not categorize it as copied content (PDF download).14

However, publishers looking to use syndicated content heavily should be wary about the impact it can have on their site. Google wants to show that sites holding original content and reporting, are considered topic authorities, or are local publications.

Google tends to frown on sites that rely on stories syndicated from another platform for the majority of their content and recommends writing original articles.15

2. Use 301 Redirects as Needed

Upon updating an original article’s link, use a 301 redirect to maintain the backlink from the syndicating website. When users click on the referral link, they will be automatically redirected to the original article’s new URL.

In addition, it also helps Google and other spiders when searching for content that has permanently moved to a new domain.16

Google also recommends 301 redirects over canonical links because these are well-supported and are known by most users.17

Google has also assured that adding 301s will not hurt the PageRank of the website that contains the original post.18

3. Take Action Against Scraped Content

A good practice among content syndicators is to always acknowledge the author and the website where the content was sourced.

Usually, the syndicating site will publish the article with the words, “Originally appeared in,” while other sites contain, “A version of this article originally appeared on” or “This story originally appeared on” with the correct backlink.

Below is an example.

However, content can be copied without consent. Google classifies scraped content as republished copy from other sites that may be either an exact duplicate or contains substantially the same content without adding any value.21 If the content has been scraped by another website through bots, then this is a serious copyright issue.22

However, the scraped content won’t affect website search ranking, as confirmed by Google. Even if the scraped content has links to the original site, it can help improve ranking.23

But when too many bots scraping a website affect Google’s crawl speed of the said site, or if content scrapers outperform on SERPs, Google recommends taking action by considering a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) request or filing a spam report.

4. Focus on Improving Website Quality

Google has admitted that it favors syndicated content from websites with higher authority over original content from a website with low-quality backlinks and low domain authority.24

Some syndicators will also rank higher than originators because Google considers other elements such as additional information found on the site and user comments.25

In this regard, aside from good quality backlinks, it pays to have unique and original main content with high-level expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).14

7.3.5 How to Start your Content Syndication Strategy

Content syndication remains a preferred option for many marketers. To expand one’s audience and generate more leads, publishers must follow content syndication best practices that will optimize their strategy.

1. Establish Goals for Content Syndication

Be very clear and specific about objectives and goals when starting down the content syndication path. This includes attracting more readers, expanding reach to other geographic markets, increasing authority in the industry, or improving online reputation. This will serve as a benchmark to evaluate your content syndication campaign performance.

In addition, set a time frame for your content syndication campaign. For instance, decide if you want to run it until you earn a specific number of leads or for a specified time based on your budget. This can help you track the results of your campaign more effectively.

2. Research the Target Customer

Define who your target audience is. Discover the potential customer’s pain points by conducting online surveys, assessing online reviews, social listening, and consulting with in-house sales teams.

In addition, consider people who might benefit from your content. Your target audience may not always be your potential customers, but they can help you attract them.

For example, you may be looking to target marketing managers and decision-makers in the automobile sector. So, if your content speaks about automobiles, automobile professionals may reshare it with their team and help you gain more exposure.

Keep your vision broad while creating the draft. Aim to reach wider audiences who can help you spread brand awareness, thereby becoming brand advocates. These approaches will help to identify what topic to write about with a view to syndication.

3. Develop Copywriting and Outreach Activities

Assemble a team that can execute the content syndication plan. The team should be well-versed in conducting extensive research. They should proactively research, find the name and email address of the third-party publication owner or editor, and connect to them to understand their content syndication process.

Often, high-traffic websites and publications have a big team of editors handling different content topics. Reaching the right professionals is crucial to simplify the process. These stakeholders will also identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor your campaign’s performance.

4. Create Exceptional Content

Create high-quality content that addresses the target audience’s pain points, interests, and more. A key tip to remember is to avoid explicitly selling or advertising anything, as this will frustrate readers.

Explore crucial communication channels in your industry to find relevant content topics:

• News resources (online and offline)

• Webinars, seminars, and conferences

• Social channels, such as Medium and LinkedIn

• Online forums and communities

• Competitors in the industry

Keeping a tab on industry trends can you get a better understanding of the pain points of your target audience.

Pro Tip: Count on tools like Google Trends and Answer the Public. These platforms can help you discover trending topics in your niche and create a winning content strategy.

In addition, consider syndicating existing original content that has already performed well in terms of views and engagement.

5. Choose a Suitable Content Format

Here are the top content syndication formats to consider.

1. Blog Posts: This is the most popular content syndication format. Creating engaging and informative content and publishing it across several platforms can help you build a sizeable audience.

Here’s an excellent example.

Source

With over 29M monthly organic traffic, The Wall Street Journal, the business-focused online digital news publication, has earned massive popularity through content syndication. Their highly engaging, SEO-optimized posts have been published in Morningstar Inc, MarketWatch, and more.

Follow their footsteps to take your content syndication campaign to the next level.

2. Infographics and Charts: With this format, you can dissect complicated topics into simple ideas. Syndicate the content as appealing visuals like charts and infographics to bring more engagement. 

For instance, notice how Branticles, a leading publisher in educational content on digital marketing and SEO, published an email marketing guide in infographic format on multiple platforms.

Source

They syndicated it on multiple high authority platforms, including Agility PR, Site Pro News, and others.

3. Videos: Create insightful videos to build high audience engagement.

Take inspiration from Moz, a well-known publisher in the SEO and inbound marketing domain. It builds SEO tools to help businesses scale. Their team publishes articles by embedding videos on helpful SEO topics, every Friday.

Source

Notice how they republish the same content on YouTube to drive better reach and traffic.

Source

4. Audio: You can syndicate any written content in audio format. Visit audio hosting sites like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and convert your content into audio.

“Leveling Up” podcasts are an excellent example of audio content syndication. They publish informative podcasts to help entrepreneurs (their audience) learn actionable business insights.

Source

6. Research Where to Republish 

Search for relevant syndicating content websites, preferably within the same industry. Narrow down the choices according to reputation, active audiences, and openness to developing a content syndication partnership.

For this, check the categories that the publisher offers. For instance, if you publish content on digital marketing, see whether the publisher posts about it. If yes, analyze their audience engagement and reach out to their team.

But first, find the sites that allow content syndication.

Here’s how –

Publications that post syndicated content are more likely to be receptive to accepting your content. Often, these websites link back to the original site using the below-shared phrases –

• Originally appeared on

• Republished with permission

• Originally published on

Leverage Google to identify syndication opportunities.

Simply type –

“originally appeared on” + [domain or topic of your interest]

This Google search will offer you websites that have republished content on the topic.

Notice how we searched “originally appeared on” + [marketing] to get a list of publications that republish content related to marketing.

In addition, you can use tools like Ahrefs Site Explorer to find top-rated websites posting syndicated content.

Here’s how –

Paste the author’s website into the Site Explorer tool. Next, go to the “Backlinks” section, and add one of the footprints in the “Include” box.

This will give you a list of sites that have republished syndicated content from the target domain. Create a list of relevant websites you might want to connect to.

7. Develop a Strategy 

You can reach out to publications and request them to republish your content. Alternatively, you can opt for paid syndication or self-syndicate.

Here are a few content syndication options to consider.

• Free Platforms: If you have engaging, relevant, and informative content that adheres to Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Expertise) guidelines, sites such as Business2Community, HuffPost, Lifehacker, HuffPost, and others can syndicate it for free.

• Paid Platforms: Syndication providers such as Taboola and Outbrain can help you republish content on premium sites like The Guardians, MSN, CNN, and more by paying a certain amount.

• Self-Syndication Platforms: Use your company’s social media accounts and syndicate your content on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Analyze your content quality and budget and decide whether to pay for distribution to more audiences or leverage free-of-cost syndication networks to drive referral traffic. Do not forget to consider how many websites to syndicate content to as well.

8. Measure the Results

Find out the return on investment (ROI) of the content syndication campaign by using relevant metrics to gauge its success. However, the final ROI can take time to ascertain. The key metric that can help you evaluate ongoing campaign status is the quality of leads.

Focus on the following metrics to understand lead quality.

• Engagement Rate: The number of leads your team can engage or connect with.

• Qualification Rate: The total number of leads that fit the ideal customer (target audience) profile.

• Conversion Rate: The speed at which qualified leads converting across the sales pipeline.

• Win Rate: The number of quality leads that convert to customers. You can calculate it by dividing the number of closed-won leads by the number of leads you had in the pipeline.

9. Update Strategies as Needed

Using results from Step 8, evaluate how the syndication process can be improved. This may involve revising the copy or assessing whether the syndication platform still aligns with the campaign’s goals. In the long run, the target audience may also change and may need new information.

7.3.6 Examples of Sites Done Well

Now that you know how syndicating content can bring tangible benefits, let’s look at publishers that leveraged it to maximize their reach, engagement, and ROI.

Case Study #1: HuffPost

HuffPost is a digital publication that offers content on news, politics, business, satire, technology, popular media, and more.

Armed with successful content, HuffPost began building relationships with top syndicating publishers. Their team regularly published syndicated helpful content to top-rated sites, such as MSN, Lifehacker, and others.

The result? With monthly organic traffic of 9.6M and domain authority of 94, HuffPost’s content syndication strategy became quite successful. It helped them drive high traffic and engagement.

Case Study #2: Search Engine Journal

Search Engine Journal produces content on the latest search news, including the best practices and how-to guides for the marketer and SEO community.

Anna Crowe, the assistant editor at Search Engine Journal, ran a small content syndication experiment. She syndicated high-quality SEJ posts on Medium and LinkedIn for one month, twice a week.

Anna republished eight articles on LinkedIn and Medium. This strategy helped her earn a whopping 34% page view increase on the original blog posts.

Source

7.3.7 Actions and Takeaways

Information that resonates with target audiences can be optimized by republishing on new channels. With content syndication, publishers can extend their reach to the right audiences, increase brand awareness, boost reputation and drive more traffic.

However, they still need to proceed with caution, given that this strategy also comes with the risk that it may undermine either their SEO efforts or harm their wider reputation.

Nevertheless, content syndication will continue to be an important marketing strategy that will complement other initiatives to accelerate addressable customers’ buy-in. With the right content paired with a strategically aligned publishing partner, publishers have a better chance of being seen while climbing the SERP rankings.