Content syndication is an important component of modern growth marketing. It has always been that way.
However, content syndication methodologies and the content formats that fuel it have evolved.
Syndication is still important today, even though SEO has advanced over the years. Previously, blog posts were the only type of content that was syndicated. However, other types of content are now syndicated as well.
But, what exactly is content syndication? Why is it critical for your SEO? This post will go over all of these topics and more.
What Exactly Is Content Syndication?
The process of publishing your online content on a third-party platform is known as content syndication.
The primary goal of content syndication is to reach a larger audience via a third-party website and direct that traffic to your own. It can also be used as a growth hacking strategy to reach a larger audience and increase brand awareness.
So, how exactly does content syndication work?
To begin, you must have a solid content syndication strategy in place. You can do content syndication in a variety of ways, including:
- Republishing the entire piece of content
- Editing the content to publish a shorter version of it
- Posting an excerpt or summary from the original work
Why Should You Syndicate Content?
Consider content syndication to be a barter system. The third-party platform receives free, useful content for its audience. At the same time, the creator of the content gains exposure to a larger audience.
This exchange system, however, is not new.
Even before digital marketing became popular, major media outlets published syndicated content from freelancers and smaller websites. Because of content syndication, freelancers and smaller publications received recognition for their work, while larger outlets did not have to invest in the resources needed to publish content.
But, after all, why do marketers use content syndication now?
The publisher and content creator do it for various reasons, including increasing website traffic, generating leads, building backlinks, and so on.
What Distinguishes Syndication From Plagiarism?
Syndicated content is not a different content format in and of itself. It’s a duplicate of the content you’ve already created.
But isn’t that the same as Plagiarism?
No. Plagiarism and content syndication are not the same thing. When you take original content from a website and republish it without crediting the author, you have plagiarized the content.
On the other hand, Syndicated content specifies where the original post was published with a statement such as “Published originally on website name on the date.”
However, you’re treading on thin ice here. It’s also possible that your content will be considered plagiarism if you don’t syndicate it properly.
Content syndication is not the same as content curation. In the case of content curation, you gather content from various sources and organize it so that readers can get the most out of it.
The idea is that you will bring content from various sources and add additional commentary to it. However, regardless of who you are or your vendors, you will always produce the core content.
This is not the same as content syndication, which allows you to publish your original content on other publications or channels.
The Advantages Of Content Syndication
Brands that have syndicated their content have seen increased product coverage and review volume.
In fact, after syndicating their content, brands selling consumer electronics saw a 324 per cent increase in reviews and a 26 per cent increase in product coverage.
But those aren’t the only advantages of syndicating your content. Let’s look at some of the other advantages of content syndication.
- Content Exposure
Content syndication exposes your content to prospects, viewers, and readers who might not have discovered your brand organically.
It increases the number of people who follow your brand and content and increases traffic. As a result, your website, social media profiles, and other channels can reach a larger audience.
- Generating Leads
Content syndication is a quick and efficient method of demonstrating thought leadership.
Each piece of content that syndicates gated content can generate substantial revenue. Prospects must enter their information before they can download their content assets. This syndication lead generation strategy will allow you to capture the prospect’s information, which you can then use to target them and convert them into customers.
- Creation Of Hyperlinks
Content syndication sites can publish your content, including articles, videos, and graphics, and credit you for it by linking back to it.
This aids in the improvement of your website’s SEO, which in turn aids in the improvement of your rankings in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). As a result, your brand’s online authority will grow.
How To Syndicate Content Successfully?
While content syndication may appear to be every content marketer’s dream (who wouldn’t want more exposure, right?), you must do it correctly.
Why? When done incorrectly, syndicated content may be perceived as duplicate content, as we have seen above. This can harm your online reputation, have an impact on your SEO, and much more.
To avoid such situations, let’s take a look at some steps you can take to syndicate content successfully.
- Create Linkable Content.
Your marketing revolves around content creation. Only after you’ve created some content can you syndicate it. Furthermore, if you want to syndicate content on high authority platforms, you must ensure that the content you create is of exceptionally high quality.
- Make Contact With The Appropriate People.
Creating good content isn’t enough; you also need to syndicate it on the appropriate platforms. Examine the publications that your target audience reads.
When syndicating content, aims to collaborate with platforms with a larger audience than your own. These partners have established themselves as market leaders in your industry. Their collaboration will assist you in improving your brand reputation while also establishing your authority as a thought leader in the space.
Use Appropriate Content Syndication Methodologies.
You should use the following methods to inform search engines that the content you’ve syndicated is not plagiarised:
- Tag rel=canonical
You should use the “rel=canonical” tag on the syndicated content’s URL.
- Tag meta noindex
The meta noindex tag functions similarly to the rel=canonical tag, except it completely removes the noindex page (the syndicated page) from indexing.
- Regular Backlinks
Regular backlinks are ideal for marketers and distributors who have not experienced coders or have stringent code implementation standards.
It’s the least desirable option, but it’s the most practical for this group of marketers.
- Monitor The Effectiveness Of Your Content.
To generate high-quality leads from syndicated content, you must evaluate and optimize it.
Pay attention to the following metrics to better understand lead quality:
- Engagement Rate: The number of leads with whom your sales executives can connect or engage.
- Lead Qualification Rate: The percentage of leads that met the lead qualification criteria.
- Conversion Rate: The rate at which qualified leads move through the sales pipeline.
- Win Rate: The number of opportunities converted into customers.
However, there are some secondary factors at work as well. Brand lift and traffic can also indicate campaign success, even if ROI for those outcomes is difficult to determine.
- Assess And Improve
No strategy works on the set-and-forget model. The goal of any campaign should be to evaluate and improve outcomes by refining your approach constantly.
The return on investment (ROI) from content syndication is the actual determining metric of success in content syndication. Keep track of it, experiment, and, if successful, repeat with additional publications. This can assist you in scaling your syndication strategy.
Sites That Allow For The Syndication Of Content
Here are some websites that allow you to syndicate your content.
- Free
Of course, free content syndication is available because no money is required to syndicate the content.
You will, however, need to spend some time locating publications that are willing to allow free content syndication. Sites like Business 2 Community, Lifehacker, and HuffPost are examples.
When words like “originally appeared on,” “originally published in,” and “republished with permission” appear in a post, it usually means that the content has been syndicated.
Contact the editors of these blogs and ask them to syndicate your content with canonicals and links back to your site, as we discussed above.
- Paid
Some syndication services are only intended for content syndication and charge you per click. On the other hand, these sites rely on overly clickbait headlines to generate those clicks.
The problem is that these headlines do not correspond to the content, resulting in extremely high bounce rates – the exact opposite of what you want. Outbrain and Taboola are two examples.
- Owned
This method is similar to free syndication, but you won’t have to contact editors or negotiate canonical tag terms – you’ll roll in the hay on your own.
LinkedIn and Medium are two such sites. You can publish your content on these platforms with the line “originally published on” and a link back to your original content. You can also syndicate guest posts you’ve written for other publications across these channels.
Conclusion
Ensure that your online content is syndicated on the appropriate websites and in the appropriate manner. If you don’t, you won’t be able to reap the many benefits of content syndication, which could result in more loss than gain.
With this post, you have the tools, facts, and recommendations you need to get started.
So, syndicate your content to expand your content marketing strategy and grow your brand.
